USS ''Merrimack'', also improperly ''Merrimac'', was a

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 exa ...

, best known as the hull upon which the

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. Th ...

CSS ''Virginia'' was constructed during 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 ...

. The CSS ''Virginia'' then took part in the Battle of Hampton Roads (also known as "the Battle of the ''

Monitor Monitor or monitor may refer to: Places * Monitor, Alberta * Monitor, Indiana, town in the United States * Monitor, Kentucky * Monitor, Oregon, unincorporated community in the United States * Monitor, Washington * Monitor, Logan County, West ...

'' and the ''Merrimack''") in the first engagement between ironclad warships. ''Merrimack'' was the first of six screw frigates (steam frigates powered by screw propellers) begun in 1854. Like others of her class (, , , and ), she was named after a river. The Merrimack originates in

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a 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 to the nor ...

and flows through the town of

Merrimac, Massachusetts Merrimac is a small town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, and on the southeastern border of New Hampshire, approximately northeast of Boston and west of the Atlantic Ocean. It was incorporated on April 11, 1876. It is situated alo ...

, often considered an older spelling which has sometimes caused confusion of the name.Nelson, J. The Reign of Iron. 2004.

History

Creation

''Merrimack'' was launched by the

Boston Navy Yard The Boston Navy Yard, originally called the Charlestown Navy Yard and later Boston Naval Shipyard, was one of the oldest shipbuilding facilities in the United States Navy. It was established in 1801 as part of the recent establishment of t ...

15 June 1855, sponsored by Mary E. Simmons, and commissioned 20 February 1856, Captain Garrett J. Pendergrast in command. She was the second ship of the Navy to be named for 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 M ...

Service

Shakedown cruises took the new screw frigate to the Caribbean and to Western Europe. ''Merrimack'' visited

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress * Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria * Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France ** Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Br ...

, Lisbon, and

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...

before returning to

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

and decommissioning 22 April 1857 for repairs. Recommissioning 1 September 1857, ''Merrimack'' got underway from

Boston Harbor Boston Harbor is a natural harbor and estuary of Massachusetts Bay, and is located adjacent to the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is home to the Port of Boston, a major shipping facility in the northeastern United States. History ...

17 October as flagship for the

Pacific Squadron The Pacific Squadron was part of the United States Navy squadron stationed in the Pacific Ocean in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Initially with no United States ports in the Pacific, they operated out of storeships which provided naval s ...

. She rounded

Cape Horn Cape Horn ( es, Cabo de Hornos, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which are the Diego Ramí ...

and cruised the Pacific coast of South and Central America until heading for home 14 November 1859. Upon returning to

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 ...

, she decommissioned 16 February 1860. ''Merrimack'' was still

in ordinary ''In ordinary'' is an English phrase with multiple meanings. In relation to the Royal Household, it indicates that a position is a permanent one. In naval matters, vessels "in ordinary" (from the 17th century) are those out of service for repair o ...

during the crisis preceding

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

's inauguration. Soon after becoming

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 ...

Gideon Welles Gideon Welles (July 1, 1802 – February 11, 1878), nicknamed "Father Neptune", was the United States Secretary of the Navy from 1861 to 1869, a cabinet post he was awarded after supporting Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 election. Although opposed ...

took action to prepare the frigate for sea, planning to move her to

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

. The day before the firing on

Fort Sumter Fort Sumter is a sea fort built on an artificial island protecting Charleston, South Carolina from naval invasion. Its origin dates to the War of 1812 when the British invaded Washington by sea. It was still incomplete in 1861 when the Battle ...

, Welles directed that "great vigilance be exercised in guarding and protecting" Norfolk Navy Yard and her ships. On the afternoon of 17 April 1861, 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 off; but the previous night secessionists had sunk light boats in the channel between Craney Island and Sewell's Point, blocking ''Merrimack''. On 20 April, before evacuating the Navy Yard, the U.S. Navy burned ''Merrimack'' to the waterline and sank her to preclude capture. USS Merrimack - NH 58880

The Confederacy, in desperate need of ships, raised ''Merrimack'' and rebuilt her as an ironclad

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 * ...

, according to a design prepared by Lt. John Mercer Brooke, CSN. Commissioned as CSS ''Virginia'' 17 February 1862, the ironclad was the hope of the Confederacy to destroy the wooden ships in Hampton Roads, and to end the Union blockade which had already seriously impeded the Confederate war effort.

Footnotes

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * Nelson, James L. 2004. ''The Reign of Iron: The Story of the First Battling Ironclads, the Monitor and the Merrimack''. HarperCollins Publishers, NY. .

External links

history.navy.mil/photos: USS ''Merrimack''Journal of a Cruise onboard U.S. Steam Frigate ''Merrimack'', 1856–1858, MS 15
held by Special Collections & Archives, Nimitz Library at the United States Naval Academy {{DEFAULTSORT:Merrimack 1855 Sailing frigates of the United States Navy Battle of Hampton Roads New Hampshire in the American Civil War Ships of the Union Navy Vessels captured from the United States Navy Shipwrecks of the American Civil War Shipwrecks of the Virginia coast Ships built in Boston 1855 ships Scuttled vessels Maritime incidents in April 1861