CSS ''Virginia'' was the first steam-powered
ironclad warship
An ironclad is a steam-propelled warship protected by iron or steel armor plates, constructed from 1859 to the early 1890s. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or incendiary shells. T ...
built by the
Confederate States Navy
The Confederate States Navy (CSN) was the Navy, naval branch of the Confederate States Armed Forces, established by an act of the Confederate States Congress on February 21, 1861. It was responsible for Confederate naval operations during the Amer ...
during the first year of the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
; she was constructed as a
casemate ironclad
The casemate ironclad was a type of iron or iron-armored gunboat briefly used in the American Civil War by both the Confederate States Navy and the Union Navy. Unlike a monitor-type ironclad which carried its armament encased in a separate a ...
using the
razéed (cut down) original lower hull and engines of the
scuttled
Scuttling is the deliberate sinking of a ship. Scuttling may be performed to dispose of an abandoned, old, or captured vessel; to prevent the vessel from becoming a navigation hazard; as an act of self-destruction to prevent the ship from being ...
steam frigate
Steam frigates (including screw frigates) and the smaller steam corvettes, steam sloops, steam gunboats and steam schooners, were steam-powered warships that were not meant to stand in the line of battle. There were some exceptions like for exam ...
. ''Virginia'' was one of the participants in the
Battle of Hampton Roads
The Battle of Hampton Roads, also referred to as the Battle of the ''Monitor'' and ''Virginia'' (rebuilt and renamed from the USS ''Merrimack'') or the Battle of Ironclads, was a naval battle during the American Civil War.
It was fought over t ...
, opposing the
Union's in March 1862. The battle is chiefly significant in naval history as the first battle between
ironclads
An ironclad is a steam-propelled warship protected by iron or steel armor plates, constructed from 1859 to the early 1890s. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or incendiary shells. Th ...
.
USS ''Merrimack'' becomes CSS ''Virginia''
When the Commonwealth of
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
seceded from the
Union
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
in 1861, one of the important federal military bases threatened was Gosport Navy Yard (now
Norfolk Naval Shipyard
The Norfolk Naval Shipyard, often called the Norfolk Navy Yard and abbreviated as NNSY, is a U.S. Navy facility in Portsmouth, Virginia, for building, remodeling and repairing the Navy's ships. It is the oldest and largest industrial facility tha ...
) in
Portsmouth, Virginia
Portsmouth is an independent city in southeast Virginia and across the Elizabeth River from Norfolk. As of the 2020 census, the population was 97,915. It is part of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area.
The Norfolk Naval Shipyard and Naval M ...
. Accordingly, orders were sent to destroy the base rather than allow it to fall into
Confederate
Confederacy or confederate may refer to:
States or communities
* Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities
* Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...
hands. On the afternoon of 17 April, the day
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
seceded, Engineer in Chief
B. F. Isherwood managed to get the frigate's engines lit. However, the previous night secessionists had sunk light boats between
Craney Island and
Sewell's Point
Sewells Point is a peninsula of land in the independent city of Norfolk, Virginia in the United States, located at the mouth of the salt-water port of Hampton Roads. Sewells Point is bordered by water on three sides, with Willoughby Bay to th ...
, blocking the channel. On 20 April, before evacuating the Navy Yard, the U. S. Navy burned ''Merrimack'' to the waterline and sank her to preclude capture.
When the Confederate government took possession of the fully provisioned yard,
the base's new commander,
Flag Officer
A flag officer is a commissioned officer in a nation's armed forces senior enough to be entitled to fly a flag to mark the position from which the officer exercises command.
The term is used differently in different countries:
*In many countr ...
French Forrest
French Forrest (1796 – December 22, 1866) was an American naval officer who served first in the United States Navy and later the Confederate States Navy. His combat experience prior to the American Civil War included service in the War of 1812 ...
, contracted on May 18 to
salvage the wreck of the frigate. This was completed by May 30, and she was towed into the shipyard's only
dry dock
A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...
(today known as
Drydock Number One), where the burned structures were removed.
The wreck was surveyed and her lower hull and machinery were discovered to be undamaged.
Stephen Mallory
Stephen Russell Mallory (1812 – November 9, 1873) was a Democratic senator from Florida from 1851 to the secession of his home state and the outbreak of the American Civil War. For much of that period, he was chairman of the Committee on Na ...
,
Secretary of the Navy
The secretary of the Navy (or SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department (component organization) within the United States Department of Defense.
By law, the se ...
decided to convert ''Merrimack'' into an
ironclad
An ironclad is a steam engine, steam-propelled warship protected by Wrought iron, iron or steel iron armor, armor plates, constructed from 1859 to the early 1890s. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships ...
, since she was the only large ship with intact engines available in the
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the ...
area. Preliminary sketch designs were submitted by
Lieutenant
A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations.
The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...
s
John Mercer Brooke
John Mercer Brooke (December 18, 1826 – December 14, 1906) was an American sailor, engineer, scientist, and educator. He was instrumental in the creation of the Transatlantic Cable, and was a noted marine and military innovator.
Early li ...
and
John L. Porter
John Luke Porter (13 September 1813 – 4 December 1893) was a naval constructor for United States Navy and the Confederate States Navy.
Early life
Porter was born in Portsmouth, Virginia in 1813. His mother was Frances Pritchard, daughter of ...
, each of whom envisaged the ship as a casemate ironclad. Brooke's general design showed the bow and stern portions submerged, and his design was the one finally selected. The detailed design work would be completed by Porter, who was a trained
naval constructor
Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to befo ...
. Porter had overall responsibility for the conversion, but Brooke was responsible for her iron plate and heavy ordnance, while William P. Williamson, Chief Engineer of the Navy, was responsible for the ship's machinery.
Reconstruction as an ironclad
![Mariners Museum 2007 015a](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Mariners_Museum_2007_015a.jpg)
The hull's burned timbers were cut down past the vessel's original waterline, leaving just enough clearance to accommodate her large, twin-bladed
screw propeller
A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...
. A new
fantail
Fantails are small insectivorous songbirds of the genus ''Rhipidura'' in the family Rhipiduridae, native to Australasia, Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Most of the species are about long, specialist aerial feeders, and named as " ...
and armored casemate were built atop a new main deck, and a v-shaped (bulwark) was added to her bow, which attached to the armored casemate. This forward and aft main deck and fantail were designed to stay submerged and were covered in iron plate, built up in two layers. The casemate was built of of oak and pine in several layers, topped with two layers of iron plating oriented perpendicular to each other, and angled at 36 degrees from horizontal to deflect fired enemy shells.
From reports in Northern newspapers, ''Virginia''s designers were aware of the Union plans to build an ironclad and assumed their similar ordnance would be unable to do much serious damage to such a ship. It was decided to equip their ironclad with a
ram
Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to:
Animals
* A male sheep
* Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish
People
* Ram (given name)
* Ram (surname)
* Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director
* RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch
* ...
, an anachronism on a 19th century warship. ''Merrimacks steam engines, now part of ''Virginia'', were in poor working order; they had been slated for replacement when the decision was made to abandon the Norfolk naval yard. The salty
Elizabeth River water and the addition of tons of iron armor and
pig iron
Pig iron, also known as crude iron, is an intermediate product of the iron industry in the production of steel which is obtained by smelting iron ore in a blast furnace. Pig iron has a high carbon content, typically 3.8–4.7%, along with silic ...
ballast, added to the hull's unused spaces for needed stability after her initial refloat, and to submerge her unarmored lower levels, only added to her engines' propulsion issues. As completed, ''Virginia'' had a turning radius of about and required 45 minutes to complete a full circle, which would later prove to be a major handicap in battle with the far more nimble ''Monitor''.
![Remodeling the Merrimac](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Remodeling_the_Merrimac.jpg)
The ironclad's casemate had 14
gun port
A gunport is an opening in the side of the hull of a ship, above the waterline, which allows the muzzle of artillery pieces mounted on the gun deck to fire outside. The origin of this technology is not precisely known, but can be traced back to ...
s, three each in the bow and stern, one firing directly along the ship's centerline, the two others angled at 45° from the center line; these six bow and stern gun ports had exterior iron shutters installed to protect their cannon. There were four gun ports on each
broadside
Broadside or broadsides may refer to:
Naval
* Broadside (naval), terminology for the side of a ship, the battery of cannon on one side of a warship, or their near simultaneous fire on naval warfare
Printing and literature
* Broadside (comic ...
; their protective iron shutters remained uninstalled during both days of the
Battle of Hampton Roads
The Battle of Hampton Roads, also referred to as the Battle of the ''Monitor'' and ''Virginia'' (rebuilt and renamed from the USS ''Merrimack'') or the Battle of Ironclads, was a naval battle during the American Civil War.
It was fought over t ...
. ''Virginia''s battery consisted of four
muzzle-loading
A muzzleloader is any firearm into which the projectile and the propellant charge is loaded from the muzzle of the gun (i.e., from the forward, open end of the gun's barrel). This is distinct from the modern (higher tech and harder to make) design ...
single-banded
Brooke rifle
The Brooke rifle was a type of rifled, muzzle-loading naval and coast defense gun designed by John Mercer Brooke, an officer in the Confederate States Navy. They were produced by plants in Richmond, Virginia, and Selma, Alabama, between 1861 and 1 ...
s and six
smoothbore
A smoothbore weapon is one that has a barrel without rifling. Smoothbores range from handheld firearms to powerful tank guns and large artillery mortars.
History
Early firearms had smoothly bored barrels that fired projectiles without signi ...
Dahlgren gun
Dahlgren guns were muzzle-loading naval artillery designed by Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren USN (November 13, 1809 – July 12, 1870), mostly used in the period of the American Civil War. Dahlgren's design philosophy evolved from an accidental e ...
s salvaged from the old ''Merrimack''. Two of the rifles, the bow and stern
pivot gun
A pivot gun was a type of cannon mounted on a fixed central emplacement which permitted it to be moved through a wide horizontal arc. They were a common weapon aboard ships and in land fortifications for several centuries but became obsolete aft ...
s, were
caliber
In guns, particularly firearms, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviated as "cal") is the specified nominal internal diameter of the gun barrel Gauge (firearms) , bore – regardless of how or where the bore is measured and whether the f ...
and weighed each. They fired a
shell
Shell may refer to:
Architecture and design
* Shell (structure), a thin structure
** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses
** Thin-shell structure
Science Biology
* Seashell, a hard o ...
. The other two were cannon of about , one on each broadside. The 9-inch Dahlgrens were mounted three to a side; each weighed approximately and could fire a shell up to a range of (or 1.9 miles) at an elevation of 15°. Both amidship Dahlgrens nearest the boiler furnaces were fitted-out to fire
heated shot
Heated shot or hot shot is round shot that is heated before firing from muzzle-loading cannons, for the purpose of setting fire to enemy warships, buildings, or equipment. The use of heated shot dates back centuries; it was a powerful weapon agains ...
. On her upper casemate deck were positioned two anti-boarding/personnel
12-pounder Howitzer
A howitzer () is a long- ranged weapon, falling between a cannon (also known as an artillery gun in the United States), which fires shells at flat trajectories, and a mortar, which fires at high angles of ascent and descent. Howitzers, like ot ...
s.
''Virginia''s commanding officer,
Flag Officer
A flag officer is a commissioned officer in a nation's armed forces senior enough to be entitled to fly a flag to mark the position from which the officer exercises command.
The term is used differently in different countries:
*In many countr ...
Franklin Buchanan
Franklin Buchanan (September 17, 1800 – May 11, 1874) was an officer in the United States Navy who became the only full admiral in the Confederate Navy during the American Civil War. He also commanded the ironclad CSS ''Virginia''.
Early lif ...
, arrived to take command only a few days before her first sortie; the ironclad was placed in commission and equipped by her
executive officer
An executive officer is a person who is principally responsible for leading all or part of an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization. In many militaries and police forces, an executive officer, o ...
,
Lieutenant
A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations.
The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...
Catesby ap Roger Jones
Catesby ap Roger Jones (April 15, 1821 – June 21, 1877) was an officer in the U.S. Navy who became a commander in the Confederate Navy during the American Civil War. He assumed command of during the Battle of Hampton Roads and engaged in ...
.
Battle of Hampton Roads
![The Monitor and Merrimac](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/The_Monitor_and_Merrimac.jpg)
The Battle of Hampton Roads began on March 8, 1862, when ''Virginia'' engaged the blockading Union fleet. Despite an all-out effort to complete her, the new ironclad still had workmen on board when she sailed into Hampton Roads with her
flotilla
A flotilla (from Spanish, meaning a small ''flota'' (fleet) of ships), or naval flotilla, is a formation of small warships that may be part of a larger fleet.
Composition
A flotilla is usually composed of a homogeneous group of the same class ...
of five
CSN ''CSN'' may refer to:
Companies
* CSN Stores, former name of Wayfair, American e-commerce company
* CSN International (Christian Satellite Network), religious radio broadcaster based on radio station KAWZ in Twin Falls, Idaho
* ''Centrala Studies ...
support ships: (serving as ''Virginia''s tender) and , , , and .
![Cumberland rammed by Merrimac](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Cumberland_rammed_by_Merrimac.png)
The first Union ship to be engaged by ''Virginia'' was the all-wood, sail-powered , which was first crippled during a furious cannon exchange, and then rammed in her forward starboard bow by ''Virginia''. As ''Cumberland'' began to sink, the port side half of ''Virginia''s iron ram was broken off, causing a bow leak in the ironclad. Seeing what had happened to ''Cumberland'', the captain of ordered his frigate into shallower water, where she soon grounded. ''Congress'' and ''Virginia'' traded cannon fire for an hour, after which the badly-damaged ''Congress'' finally surrendered. While the surviving crewmen of ''Congress'' were being ferried off the ship, a Union battery on the north shore opened fire on ''Virginia''. Outraged at such a breach of war protocol, in retaliation ''Virginia''s now angry captain,
Commodore
Commodore may refer to:
Ranks
* Commodore (rank), a naval rank
** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom
** Commodore (United States)
** Commodore (Canada)
** Commodore (Finland)
** Commodore (Germany) or ''Kommodore''
* Air commodore ...
Franklin Buchanan, gave the order to open fire with
hot-shot on the surrendered ''Congress'' as he rushed to ''Virginia''s exposed upper casemate deck, where he was injured by enemy rifle fire. ''Congress'', now set ablaze by the retaliatory shelling, burned for many hours into the night, a symbol of Confederate naval power and a costly wake-up call for the all-wood Union blockading squadron.
''Virginia'' did not emerge from the battle unscathed, however. Her hanging port side anchor was lost after ramming ''Cumberland''; the bow was leaking from the loss of the ram's port side half; shot from ''Cumberland'', ''Congress'', and the shore-based Union batteries had riddled her smokestack, reducing her boilers' draft and already slow speed; two of her broadside cannon (without shutters) were put out of commission by shell hits; a number of her armor plates had been loosened; both of ''Virginia''s
cutters had been shot away, as had both 12 pounder anti-boarding/anti-personnel howitzers, most of the deck
stanchions,
railings, and both flagstaffs. Even so, the now-injured Buchanan ordered an attack on , which had run aground on a sandbar trying to escape ''Virginia''. However, because of the ironclad's
draft
Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to:
Watercraft dimensions
* Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel
* Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail
* Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vesse ...
(fully loaded), she was unable to get close enough to do any significant damage. It being late in the day, ''Virginia'' retired from the conflict with the expectation of returning the next day and completing the destruction of the remaining Union blockaders.
Later that night, arrived at Union-held
Fort Monroe
Fort Monroe, managed by partnership between the Fort Monroe Authority for the Commonwealth of Virginia, the National Park Service as the Fort Monroe National Monument, and the City of Hampton, is a former military installation in Hampton, Virgi ...
. She had been rushed to
Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads is the name of both a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James River, James, Nansemond River, Nansemond and Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's ...
, still not quite complete, all the way from the
Brooklyn Navy Yard
The Brooklyn Navy Yard (originally known as the New York Navy Yard) is a shipyard and industrial complex located in northwest Brooklyn in New York City, New York. The Navy Yard is located on the East River in Wallabout Bay, a semicircular bend ...
, in hopes of defending the force of wooden ships and preventing "the rebel monster" from further threatening the Union's blockading fleet and nearby cities, like
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
While under tow, she nearly
foundered twice during heavy storms on her voyage south, arriving in Hampton Roads by the bright firelight from the still-burning triumph of ''Virginia''s first day of handiwork.
The next day, on March 9, 1862, the world's first battle between ironclads took place. The smaller, nimbler, and faster ''Monitor'' was able to outmaneuver the larger, slower ''Virginia'', but neither ship proved able to do any severe damage to the other, despite numerous shell hits by both combatants, many fired at virtually point-blank range. ''Monitor'' had a much lower freeboard and only its single, rotating, two-cannon gun turret and forward
pilothouse
The interior of the bridge of the Sikuliaq'', docked in Ketchikan, Alaska">RV_Sikuliaq.html" ;"title="Research Vessel ''RV Sikuliaq">Sikuliaq'', docked in Ketchikan, Alaska
file:Wheelhouse of Leao Dos Mares.jpg, Wheelhouse on a tugboat, topp ...
sitting above her deck, and thus was much harder to hit with ''Virginia''s heavy cannon. After hours of shell exchanges, ''Monitor'' finally retreated into shallower water after a direct shell hit to her armored pilothouse forced her away from the conflict to assess the damage. The captain of the ''Monitor'', Lieutenant
John L. Worden
John Lorimer Worden (March 12, 1818 – October 19, 1897) was a U.S. Navy officer in the American Civil War, who took part in the Battle of Hampton Roads, the first-ever engagement between Ironclad warship, ironclad steamships at Hampton Roads, V ...
, had taken a direct gunpowder explosion to his face and eyes, blinding him, while looking through the pilothouse's narrow, horizontal viewing slits. ''Monitor'' remained in the shallows, but as it was late in the day, ''Virginia'' steamed for her home port, the battle ending without a clear victor: The captain of ''Virginia'' that day, Lieutenant
Catesby ap Roger Jones
Catesby ap Roger Jones (April 15, 1821 – June 21, 1877) was an officer in the U.S. Navy who became a commander in the Confederate Navy during the American Civil War. He assumed command of during the Battle of Hampton Roads and engaged in ...
, received advice from his pilots to depart over the sandbar toward Norfolk until the next day. Lieutenant Jones wanted to continue the fight, but the pilots emphasized that the ''Virginia'' had "nearly three miles to run to the bar" and that she could not remain and "take the ground on a falling tide." To prevent running aground, Lieutenant Jones reluctantly moved the ironclad back toward port. ''Virginia'' retired to the Gosport Naval Yard at Portsmouth, Virginia, and remained in drydock for repairs until April 4, 1862.
In the following month, the crew of ''Virginia'' were unsuccessful in their attempts to break the Union blockade. The blockade had been bolstered by the hastily ram-fitted paddle steamer , and SS ''Illinois'' as well as the and , which had been repaired. ''Virginia'' made several sorties back over to Hampton Roads hoping to draw ''Monitor'' into battle. ''Monitor'', however, was under strict orders not to re-engage; the two combatants would never battle again.
On April 11, the Confederate Navy sent Lieutenant
Joseph Nicholson Barney
Joseph Nicholson Barney (1818 – June 16, 1899) was a career United States Navy officer (1835–1861) who served in the Confederate States Navy in the American Civil War (1861–1865).
Personal life and family
Barney was born in Baltimore in 18 ...
, in command of the paddle side-wheeler , along with ''Virginia'' and five other ships in full view of the Union squadron, enticing them to fight. When it became clear that Union Navy ships were unwilling to fight, the
CS Navy squadron moved in and captured three merchant ships, the brigs ''Marcus'' and ''Sabout'' and the schooner ''Catherine T. Dix''. Their ensigns were then hoisted "Union-side down" to further taunt the Union Navy into a fight, as they were towed back to Norfolk, with the help of .
By late April, the new Union ironclads
USRC ''E. A. Stevens'' and had also joined the blockade. On May 8, 1862, ''Virginia'' and the
James River Squadron
The James River Squadron was formed shortly after the secession of Virginia during the American Civil War. The squadron was part of the Virginia Navy before being transferred to the Confederate States Navy. The squadron is most notable for its ...
ventured out when the Union ships began shelling the Confederate fortifications near Norfolk, but the Union ships retired under the shore batteries on the north side of the James River and on
Rip Raps
Rip Raps is a small 15 acre (60,000 m²) artificial island at the mouth of the harbor area known as Hampton Roads in the independent city of Hampton in southeastern Virginia in the United States. Its name is derived from the Rip Rap Shoals in Hampt ...
island.
Destruction of CSS ''Virginia''
![Destruction of Merrimac, May 11, 1862](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Destruction_of_Merrimac%2C_May_11%2C_1862.png)
On May 10, 1862, advancing Union troops occupied
Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
. Since ''Virginia'' was now a steam-powered heavy battery and no longer an ocean-going cruiser, her pilots judged her not seaworthy enough to enter the Atlantic, even if she were able to pass the Union blockade. ''Virginia'' was also unable to retreat further up the
James River
The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 to Chesapea ...
due to her deep draft (fully loaded). In an attempt to reduce it, supplies and coal were dumped overboard, even though this exposed the ironclad's unarmored lower hull; this was still not enough to make a difference. Without a home port and no place to go, ''Virginia''s new captain,
flag officer
A flag officer is a commissioned officer in a nation's armed forces senior enough to be entitled to fly a flag to mark the position from which the officer exercises command.
The term is used differently in different countries:
*In many countr ...
Josiah Tattnall III
Commodore Josiah Tattnall (November 9, 1795 – June 14, 1871) was an officer in the United States Navy during the War of 1812, the Second Barbary War and the Mexican–American War. He later served in the Confederate Navy during the American C ...
, reluctantly ordered her destruction in order to keep the ironclad from being captured. This task fell to Lieutenant Jones, the last man to leave ''Virginia'' after her cannons had been safely removed and carried to the Confederate Marine Corps base and fortifications at
Drewry's Bluff. Early on the morning of May 11, 1862, off
Craney Island, fire and powder trails reached the ironclads magazine and she was destroyed by a great explosion. What remained of the ship settled to the bottom of the harbor. Only a few remnants of ''Virginia'' have been recovered for preservation in museums; reports from the era indicate that her wreck was heavily salvaged following the war.
''Monitor'' was lost on December 31 of the same year, when the vessel was swamped by high waves in a violent storm while under tow by the tug
USS ''Rhode Island'' off
Cape Hatteras
Cape Hatteras is a cape located at a pronounced bend in Hatteras Island, one of the barrier islands of North Carolina.
Long stretches of beach, sand dunes, marshes, and maritime forests create a unique environment where wind and waves shape ...
, North Carolina. Sixteen of her 62-member crew were either lost overboard or went down with the ironclad, while many others were saved by lifeboats sent from ''Rhode Island''. Subsequently, in August 1973, the wreckage was located on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean about 16 nautical miles (30 km; 18 mi) southeast of Cape Hatteras. Her upside-down turret was raised from beneath her deep,
capsized
Capsizing or keeling over occurs when a boat or ship is rolled on its side or further by wave action, instability or wind force beyond the angle of positive static stability or it is upside down in the water. The act of recovering a vessel fro ...
wreck years later with the remains of two of her crew still aboard; they were later buried with full military honors on March 8, 2013, at
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...
in Washington, D.C.
Historical names: ''Merrimack'', ''Virginia'', ''Merrimac''
Although the Confederacy renamed the ship, she is still frequently referred to by her Union name. When she was first commissioned into the United States Navy in 1856, her name was ''Merrimack,'' with the ''K''; the name was derived from the
Merrimack River
The Merrimack River (or Merrimac River, an occasional earlier spelling) is a river in the northeastern United States. It rises at the confluence of the Pemigewasset and Winnipesaukee rivers in Franklin, New Hampshire, flows southward into Mas ...
near where she was built. She was the second ship of the U. S. Navy to be named for the Merrimack River, which is formed by the
confluence
In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main stem); o ...
of the
Pemigewasset and
Winnipesaukee
Lake Winnipesaukee () is the largest lake in the U.S. state of New Hampshire, located in the Lakes Region at the foothills of the White Mountains. It is approximately long (northwest-southeast) and from wide (northeast-southwest), covering & ...
rivers at
Franklin, New Hampshire
Franklin is a city in Merrimack County, New Hampshire, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 8,741, the least of New Hampshire's 13 cities. Franklin includes the village of West Franklin.
History
Situated at the confluence of the ...
. The Merrimack flows south across
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
, then eastward across northeastern
before finally emptying in the
Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...
at
Newburyport, Massachusetts
Newburyport is a coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, northeast of Boston. The population was 18,289 at the 2020 census. A historic seaport with vibrant tourism industry, Newburyport includes part of Plum Island. The mo ...
.
After raising, restoring, and outfitting as an ironclad warship, the Confederacy bestowed on her the name ''Virginia''. Nonetheless, the Union continued to refer to the Confederate ironclad by either its original name, ''Merrimack'', or by the nickname "The Rebel Monster". In the aftermath of the Battle of Hampton Roads, the names ''Virginia'' and ''Merrimack'' were used interchangeably by both sides, as attested to by various newspapers and correspondence of the day. Navy reports and pre-1900 historians frequently misspelled the name as "Merrimac", which was actually an unrelated ship, hence "the Battle of the ''Monitor'' and the ''Merrimac''". Both spellings are still in use in the Hampton Roads area.
Memorial, heritage
*A large exhibit at the
Jamestown Exposition
The Jamestown Exposition was one of the many world's fairs and expositions that were popular in the United States in the early part of the 20th century. Commemorating the 300th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown in the Virginia Colony, it w ...
held in 1907 at
Sewell's Point
Sewells Point is a peninsula of land in the independent city of Norfolk, Virginia in the United States, located at the mouth of the salt-water port of Hampton Roads. Sewells Point is bordered by water on three sides, with Willoughby Bay to th ...
was the "Battle of the ''Merrimac'' and ''Monitor''," a large
diorama
A diorama is a replica of a scene, typically a three-dimensional full-size or miniature model, sometimes enclosed in a glass showcase for a museum. Dioramas are often built by hobbyists as part of related hobbies such as military vehicle mode ...
that was housed in a special building.
*A small community in
Montgomery County, Virginia
Montgomery County is a county located in the Valley and Ridge area of the U.S. state of Virginia. As population in the area increased, Montgomery County was formed in 1777 from Fincastle County, which in turn had been taken from Botetourt Count ...
, near where the coal burned by the Confederate ironclad was mined, is now known as
Merrimac.
*The October 8, 1867, issue of the ''Norfolk Virginian'' newspaper carried a prominent
classified advertisement
Classified advertising is a form of advertising, particularly common in newspapers, online and other periodicals, which may be sold or distributed free of charge. Classified advertisements are much cheaper than larger display advertisements used ...
in the paper's "Private Sales" section for the salvaged iron ram of CSS ''Virginia''. The ad states:
A RELIC OF WAR FOR SALE: The undersigned has had several offers for the IRON PROW! of the first iron-clad ever built, the celebrated Ram and Iron Clad Virginia, formerly the Merrimac. This immense RELIC WEIGHS 1,340 POUNDS, wrought iron, and as a sovereign of the war, and an object of interest as a revolution in naval warefare, would suit a Museum, State Institute, or some great public resort. Those desiring to purchase will please address D. A. UNDERDOWN, Wrecker, care of ''Virginian'' Office, Norfolk, Va.
:It is unclear from the above whether this was the first iron ram that broke off and lodged in the starboard bow of the sinking USS ''Cumberland,'' during the first day of the Battle of Hampton Roads, or was the second iron ram affixed to ''Virginia''s bow at the time she was run aground and destroyed to avoid capture by Union forces; no further mention has been found concerning the final disposition of this historic artifact.
![CSS Virginia Anchor](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/CSS_Virginia_Anchor.jpg)
*Other pieces of ''Virginia'' did survive and are on display at the
Mariners' Museum
The Mariners' Museum and Park is located in Newport News, Virginia, United States. Designated as America’s ''National Maritime Museum'' by Congress, it is one of the largest maritime museums in North America. The Mariners' Museum Library, conta ...
in
Newport News
Newport News () is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the 5th most populous city in Virginia and 140th most populous city in the Uni ...
and the
American Civil War Museum
The American Civil War Museum is a multi-site museum in the Greater Richmond Region of central Virginia, dedicated to the history of the American Civil War. The museum operates three sites: The White House of the Confederacy, American Civil War ...
in
Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States
* Richmond, London, a part of London
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, California, ...
, where one of her
anchor
An anchor is a device, normally made of metal , used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ''ancora'', which itself comes from the Greek ἄγ ...
s resides on its front lawn.
*In 1907, an armor plate from the ship was melted down and used in the casting of the
Pokahuntas Bell for the
Jamestown Exposition
The Jamestown Exposition was one of the many world's fairs and expositions that were popular in the United States in the early part of the 20th century. Commemorating the 300th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown in the Virginia Colony, it w ...
.
['']Richmond Times-Dispatch
The ''Richmond Times-Dispatch'' (''RTD'' or ''TD'' for short) is the primary daily newspaper in Richmond, Virginia, Richmond, the capital of Virginia, and the primary newspaper of record for the state of Virginia.
Circulation
The ''Times-Dispatc ...
'',
Pokahuntas Bell for Exposition
", April 13, 1907
*Starting around 1883, numerous souvenirs, made from recently salvaged iron and wood raised from ''Virginia''s sunken hulk, found a ready and willing market among
eastern seaboard residents who remembered the historic first battle between ironclads. Various tokens, medals, medalets, sectional
watch fob
A pocket watch (or pocketwatch) is a watch that is made to be carried in a pocket, as opposed to a wristwatch, which is strapped to the wrist.
They were the most common type of watch from their development in the 16th century until wristwatc ...
s, and other similar metal keepsakes are known to have been struck by private mints in limited quantities. Known examples still exist today, being held in both public and private collections, rarely coming up for public auction. Nine examples made from ''Virginia''s iron and copper can be found cataloged in great detail, with front and back photos, in David Schenkman's 1979 numismatic booklet listed in the Reference section (below).
*The name of the
Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel, built in Hampton Roads in the general vicinity of the famous engagement, with both Virginia and federal funds, also reflects the more recent version.
See also
*
Bibliography of American Civil War naval history
Notes
References
*
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*
*
*
*
*
*Nelson, James L. (2004). ''The Reign of Iron: The Story of the First Battling Ironclads, the ''Monitor'' and the ''Merrimack'' '', HarperCollins Publishers, New York, .
*
*Park, Carl D., (2007) ''Ironclad Down, USS ''Merrimack''-CSS ''Virginia'', From Construction to Destruction'', Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. .
*
*Quarstein, John V. (2000). ''C.S.S. ''Virginia'', Mistress of Hampton Roads'', self-published for the Virginia Civil War Battles and Leaders Series by H. E. Howard, Inc.
*
*Schenkman, David, (1979). ''Tokens & Medals Commemorating the Battle Between the ''Monitor'' and ''Merrimac'' '' (sic), Hampton, Virginia, 28-page booklet (the second in a series of Special Articles on the Numismatics of The Commonwealth of Virginia), Virginia Numismatic Association. No ISSN or ISBN.
*
*Smith, Gene A., (1998). ''Iron and Heavy Guns, Duel Between the ''Monitor'' and ''Merrimac'' '' (sic), Abilene, Texas, McWhiney Foundation Press, .
*
Further reading
* 82 pages.
*
Baxter, James Phinney (1968).
The Introduction of the Ironclad Warship', Archon Books, p. 398.
*Besse, Sumner B., ''C. S. Ironclad Virginia and U. S. Ironclad Monitor'', Newport News, Virginia, The Mariner's Museum, 1978. .
*DeKay, James, (1997) ''Monitor'', Ballantine Books, New York, NY.
*
* .
External links
Library of VirginiaVirginia Historical SocietyMuseum of the Confederacyin Richmond, Virginia
Website devoted to the CSS ''Virginia''Hampton Roads Visitor GuideUSS ''Monitor'' Center and Exhibit, Newport News, Virginia
Mariner's Museum Newport News, Virginia
Hampton Roads Naval Museum
Civil War Naval History
{{DEFAULTSORT:Virginia
Ironclad warships of the Confederate States Navy
Shipwrecks of the Virginia coast
Ships built in Newport News, Virginia
Battle of Hampton Roads
1862 ships
Maritime incidents in May 1862
Shipwrecks of the American Civil War
Scuttled vessels
Naval magazine explosions