VA -- Newport News -- Mariner's Museum -- USS Monitor Center:
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2018_VA_ABT_Fort_Wool_180601: ABT Annual Conference (2018) in Yorktown, VA -- Explore the Civil War at Fort Wool (96 photos from 2018)
2018_VA_Mariners: VA -- Newport News -- Mariner's Museum (17 photos from 2018)
2018_VA_Mariners_Monitor: VA -- Newport News -- Mariner's Museum -- USS Monitor Center (429 photos from 2018)
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MARMO1_180601_009.JPG: Souvenir Spoons
Commemorative Medal
MARMO1_180601_011.JPG: Souvenir Spoons
Commemorative Medal
MARMO1_180601_014.JPG: The Meaning of the USS Monitor:
Immediately following the Monitor's historic engagement with the CSS Virginia, the northern section of the nation embraced "Our Little Monitor" as the savior of the Union. The public responded with a craze for "all things Monitor" that continues to this day. In the 1880s, the traveling Merrimack and Monitor Panorama, which re-enacted the battle, was a popular tourist attraction from Virginia to Alaska. The Monitor's unique image was used to lend its spirit of American ingenuity and victory to market commercial products, and John Ericsson, the Swedish-born designer of the Monitor, finally became an American hero.
MARMO1_180601_032.JPG: Finding and Saving the Monitor
MARMO1_180601_037.JPG: The Monitor's "Lonely Light"
MARMO1_180601_042.JPG: The Monitor's "Lonely Light"
MARMO1_180601_052.JPG: Naval Technology
Before the Monitor
MARMO1_180601_117.JPG: The First Steam-Powered Warship, 1815
MARMO1_180601_119.JPG: The First Ocean-Going Steamship, 1819
MARMO1_180601_121.JPG: The Navy's Largest Sailing Warship, 1837
MARMO1_180601_123.JPG: America Launches a Steam Ship, 1841
MARMO1_180601_128.JPG: John Ericsson
MARMO1_180601_130.JPG: The First Steam-Screw Warship, 1843
MARMO1_180601_138.JPG: Who Invented the Screw Propeller?
MARMO1_180601_143.JPG: Sail to Steam
MARMO1_180601_148.JPG: Awful Explosion of "Peacemaker" on Board U.S. Steam Frigate Princeton
MARMO1_180601_150.JPG: Shot to Shell
MARMO1_180601_153.JPG: USS Barge George Washington Parke Custis
Floyd D. Houston, Modelmaker
MARMO1_180601_165.JPG: Civil War Spies and Leaks
MARMO1_180601_169.JPG: Intelligence Leaks
MARMO1_180601_174.JPG: Lack of Censorship:
If you wanted to know how the two ironclads were coming along, all you had to do was look in a newspaper, for the press routinely ran articles about them. Both Scientific American and Harper's Weekly published detailed articles about the USS Monitor, and it didn't take much effort to obtain a copy. For their part, southern newspapers were so eager to praise the Virginia that some believe Mallory planted stories criticizing his ironclad just to mislead the north.
MARMO1_180601_177.JPG: The War from The Air:
An early use of hot air balloons provided Federal forces with some overhead surveillance of Confederate defenses throughout the Hampton Roads areas, when John LaMountain ascended in a balloon from Fort Monroe on July 31, 1861. Both Union and Confederate balloons became a common site during the Peninsula Campaign of 1862.
"The woman had passed through the lines, at great risk to herself."
Mary Louvestre was a slave working in the commandant's quarters overlooking Gosport Navy Yard during the conversion of the USS Merrimack into the Virginia. In late February 1862, she received permission from her owners to visit a sick relative in northern Virginia. Instead, she traveled to Washington, DC to meet secretly with Federal Navy Secretary Gideon Welles. Louvestre carried information concerning the Virginia she had obtained from a shipyard worker with Union sympathies. Louvestre informed Welles that the 'Merrimack' was nearly finished, had come out of the dock, and was receiving her armament. Welles recalled, "The woman had passed through the lines, at great risk to herself, to bring me information... [that] made us not less anxious for the speedy completion of the battery [Monitor]."
MARMO1_180601_181.JPG: "The woman had passed through the lines, at great risk to herself."
MARMO1_180601_183.JPG: Limitations of the Design:
The CSS Virginia was a fearsome ship launched in remarkably short time, but she had her share of problems. She had inherited weak engines and a deep draft from the scuttled USS Merrimack, and these flaws would have serious consequences in battle. New problems cropped up, too:
* The last-minute addition of the ram resulted in a cracked flange
* The connection between the new casemate and the existing hull was not perfect
* A miscalculation in the vessel's displacement caused an unexpected vulnerability in her hull.
"Radically Defective" Engines:
The Merrimack's engines had also been weak and prone to breaking down -- but then, the Merrimack was primarily a sailing ship that didn't need to rely on her engines very often. By the time the Confederates had raised the scuttled Merrimack, her engines had been laid up for fifteen months, including one month submerged in salt water. Chief Engineer William Williamson returned the Virginia's engines to working order, but they remained "radically defective."
MARMO1_180601_185.JPG: Limitations of the Design:
The CSS Virginia was a fearsome ship launched in remarkably short time, but she had her share of problems. She had inherited weak engines and a deep draft from the scuttled USS Merrimack, and these flaws would have serious consequences in battle. New problems cropped up, too:
* The last-minute addition of the ram resulted in a cracked flange
* The connection between the new casemate and the existing hull was not perfect
* A miscalculation in the vessel's displacement caused an unexpected vulnerability in her hull.
"Radically Defective" Engines:
The Merrimack's engines had also been weak and prone to breaking down -- but then, the Merrimack was primarily a sailing ship that didn't need to rely on her engines very often. By the time the Confederates had raised the scuttled Merrimack, her engines had been laid up for fifteen months, including one month submerged in salt water. Chief Engineer William Williamson returned the Virginia's engines to working order, but they remained "radically defective."
MARMO1_180601_190.JPG: Deep Draft:
The Confederates saved weeks -- maybe months -- by using the Merrimack's existing hull. But doing so meant that the Virginia was stuck with the 22-foot draft of an enormous sailing frigate. This would prove to be a problem in Hampton Roads, with its shallow shoal waters and shortage of deep channels. In the end, it was the draft that would be the Confederate ironclad's undoing.
MARMO1_180601_193.JPG: Faulty Ram:
Mallory hoped the Virgina's ram would have the effect of the "bayonet charge of the infantry." But as luck would have it, a heavy sledgehammer used to attach the 1,500-pound ram seriously cracked one of the flanges holding the ram in place. While the ram succeeded in sending one opponent to the depths of Hampton Roads, it became a casualty of the battle itself and may still be lying near its victim, the USS Cumberland.
Displacement Miscalculation:
Displacement was a critical calculation, and Porter got it wrong. When the Virginia was launched in February 1862, the armored shield barely reached below the water's surface. As the ship consumed both fuel and ammunition in the course of combat, she would ride higher in the water, perhaps even exposing the wooden hull to enemy fire. Executive Officer Catesby Jones complained, "We are least protected where we need it most."
MARMO1_180601_199.JPG: Construction Delays on the CSS Virginia:
The Virginia had a sizable head start on the Monitor. But the Confederates ran into problem after problem, beginning with a shortage of skilled workmen. Eventually three shifts of more than 1,500 men worked around the clock to finish the ironclad, but design changes, material shortages, and transportation snags delayed the project. So the ship that was supposed to have been launched in November 1861 was instead launched on February 17, 1862, more than two weeks after the Monitor.
Iron Shortages:
For the South, which had little large-scale industry, 1,000 tons of iron was a lot of iron. But that's how much Porter calculated would be needed to armor the CSS Virginia. By the summer of 1861, Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, the contractor chosen to produce the ship's plate, had already used up its pre-war supply of iron. Hundreds of tons of old tools, obsolete guns, and railroad iron had to be melted down and rolled into plate to armor the newfangled ship.
Plate Thickness:
Brooke was pretty sure that 1-inch-thick plate -- the thickest Tredegar could produce -- would not be enough to protect the Virginia. A test conducted on Jamestown Island in early October 1861 showed that he was right: solid shot from an 8-inch Columbiad shattered an iron plate and went 5 inches into the wood backing. Tredegar was forced to retool its machinery to produce 2-inch-thick plate, and the Confederates were faced with yet another delay.
MARMO1_180601_207.JPG: "A Means of Perfect Protection":
By the summer of 1861, it was clear that the Confederacy had embarked on an ironclad building program in Hampton Roads. In response, the US Congress authorized $1.5 million for the construction of "Iron-Clad Steam Vessels" for the US Navy. Classified ads ran in newspapers throughout the North, and by early September 1861, 16 proposals had been submitted for consideration tot he newly formed Ironclad Board.
The Monitor would be the seventeenth.
MARMO1_180601_213.JPG: Horizontal Back Acting Engines
Similar to those used on the USS Merrimack/CSS Virginia. These engines consumed nearly 3,400 pounds of coal per hour while under way.
MARMO1_180601_222.JPG: CSS Virginia's Engines:
From Auxiliary to Necessary: The Virginia's Engines:
The USS Merrimack's "two horizontal, jet condensing engines" were designed to be purely auxiliary -- her primary power was through her sails. But the Virginia had no sails, and those same engines had spent time on the bottom fo the Elizabeth River. Still, her engineers made do with that they had and coaxed the cranky engines into service as the Virginia's primary mode of power. In smooth water, uninfluenced by wind or current, the engineers could expect a maximum speed of nine knots. The reality was more sobering -- the Virginia averaged about five.
By the Numbers:
The Virginia's engines were large and hungry. They occupied a space that was 20'3" long, 22'6" wide and they stood 12' high. The engines were powered by steam from four boilers, which, when filled with water, weighed an impressive 129 tons combined. Water was heated to 137 degrees Fahrenheit before it entered the boilers, and the furnaces consumed on average 3400 pounds of anthracite coal per hour.
MARMO1_180601_226.JPG: From Auxiliary to Necessary:
The Virginia's Engines
MARMO1_180601_227.JPG: By the Numbers
MARMO1_180601_229.JPG: The Casemate:
The casemate was what defined a Confederate ironclad. The Virginia's casemate, or shield, was 170 feet long, beginning 29 feet from the bow. The walls of the casemate were 28 inches thick, constructed in five layers of 8-inch-wide by 8-foot-long sections of timber and iron.
The layers were arranged this way from interior to exterior:
* 16 inches of pine laid vertically
* 4 inches of pine laid horizontally
* 4 inches of oak laid vertically
* 2 inches of iron plate laid horizontally
* 2 inches of iron plate laid vertically
Constructed Like an Arch:
The Virginia's shield was a clever piece of work. With alternating horizontal and vertical layers, it was resilient and nearly impossible to penetrate. The layers of wood provided shock absorption, and additional "knees" -- brackets of live oak -- were added under the original Merrimack gun deck to support the weight of the casemate. The roof and the casemate walls worked together like an arch, protecting the guns and gun crew.
MARMO1_180601_234.JPG: The Guns:
The USS Merrimack's engines may have been weak, but her guns were not. In fact, the Confederates kept many of the Merrimack's original IX-inch Dahlgrens as part of the CSS Virginia's battery. The Dahlgrens were already powerful guns, but Brooke made them even more devastating by modifying two of them to fire hot shot. A special furnace was installed in the engine room to prepare shot for the guns during combat.
Four more guns rounded out the battery. At the bow and stern was a 7-inch Brooke rifle on a pivot mount which allowed it to be moved to three available gunports. In the broadsides there were two 6.4-inch Brooke rifles.
MARMO1_180601_237.JPG: The CSS Virginia's Gun Deck:
The gun deck of the Virginia was a crowded and dangerous place. The sharp slope of the casemate meant only 7 feet of headroom and a beam of 30 feet. In order to allow room for recoil and loading, the guns had to be staggered along the two broadsides. Ten guns could fit on the deck this way, but handling the guns during combat was tricky. Still, Brooke wanted to give the Virginia the most devastating battery she could carry.
Life on Board:
There was nothing comfortable or healthy about life on the Virginia. There wasn't even enough space to bunk 320 men, so the crew usually quartered on shore until they went into battle. When they had to stay on board, they slept in leaky, poorly ventilated quarters. At any given time, at least one-third of the crew was sick and in need of transfer off the ship. The officers asked for replacements as often as they could.
MARMO1_180601_241.JPG: Flag Officer Franklin Buchanan:
For a while, no one knew for sure what Maryland would do. Flag Officer Franklin Buchanan, a 61-year-old Maryland native and career navy officer, resigned his US Navy commission when it appeared that his home state would secede in April 1861. When Maryland did not secede, Buchanan applied for reinstatement, but Federal Navy Secretary Gideon Welles turned him down. Buchanan then joined the Confederate navy and Mallory quickly named him commander of the James River Defenses. The CSS Virginia was his flagship.
MARMO1_180601_243.JPG: Lt. John Taylor Wood:
Lieutenant John Taylor Wood had serious connections. A nephew by marriage of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and a grandson of President Zachary Taylor, Wood had taught at the US Naval Academy before the war but resigned his commission after the bombardment of Fort Sumter. Like other US Navy officers who "went south," Wood was considered a deserter. He had to move several times to avoid arrest before joining the crew of the CSS Virginia.
Captain Thomas Kevill:
The ironclad's first battle was just two days away when Captain Thomas Kevill and 31 members of Company E, 41st Virginia Infantry Regiment, volunteered to serve on the Virginia and scrambled aboard. Company E was a pre-war militia group that happened to include several experienced sailors. Most of the men were assigned as gunners of the Virginia's Gun #9, serving under Kevill's command.
MARMO1_180601_245.JPG: Captain Thomas Kevill:
Lillian Freiman, c 1938
Kevill was captain of a group of 31 artillerymen from the United Artillery which was attached to the 41st Virginia Infantry as 1st Company E. They volunteered to serve aboard the CSS Virginia during the battles of March 8 and March 9, 1862. In his official report of the March 8th engagement, Flag Officer Franklin Buchanan wrote of Kevill and his men: "The muzzle of their gun was struck by a shell from the enemy, which broke off a piece of the gun, but they continued to fire as if it was uninjured."
MARMO1_180601_247.JPG: Chief Engineer H. Ashton Ramsey:
Like many other naval officers, H. Ashton Ramsey "went south," joining the fledgling Confederate Navy in May 1861. A talented 25-year-old engineer working on the conversion of the USS Merrimack, Ramsey was named acting chief engineer of the soon-to-be-christened CSS Virginia. It would be Ramsay [sic] who would coax the most out of the Merrimack's pathetic engines during the Virginia's assault on the Federal fleet and her historic clash with the USS Monitor the following day.
Private Richard Curtis:
Private Richard Curtis was a boatman before the war, he served in the Army of the Peninsula, and was a veteran of the Battle of Big Bethel in June of 1861. He was transferred to the Virginia to serve as an ordinary seaman -- a step below seaman, which required two years' experience. Curtis and his fellow crewmen received $18 per month plus 4 cents a day for grog, a traditional naval drink of watered-down rum.
MARMO1_180601_251.JPG: Private Richard Curtis
MARMO1_180601_253.JPG: Recruiting the Crew:
While there was an excellent pool of former US navy officers from which to choose, ordinary sailors were harder to find. When recruiting stations in Norfolk and Richmond failed to yield the 320 men needed to man the CSS Virginia, artillerymen from nearby Confederate Army units were recruited. Finally, on March 6, 1862, the last contingent was mustered when Captain Thomas Kevill and his United Artillery Company "volunteered to go on board the Ironclad Steamer Virginia."
Lt. Catesby AP Roger Jones:
Lt. Jones was watching the Merrimack conversion like a hawk. A noted US Navy ordnance expert, Jones had served on the Merrimack and in November 1861 Mallory appointed him executive officer of the ship in hopes that he'd be able to move the project along. Late on March 8, when the Virginia's commander was wounded, Jones would assume command, taking her into the historic battle with the USS Monitor the next day.
MARMO1_180601_256.JPG: Lt. Catesby AP Roger Jones
MARMO1_180601_258.JPG: The Pivot Gun:
Brooke installed 7-inch rifles of his own design in the CSS Virginia's bow and stern, each mounted on a pivot that allowed the gun to be aimed through one of three gun-ports at the ends of the casemate. This arrangement offered greater flexibility in aiming the gun without having to turn the ship.
MARMO1_180601_262.JPG: The Pilothouse:
Seeing through the CSS Virginia's view slits was not easy. The pilothouse -- a conical cast iron structure protruding from the top of the casemate -- was designed for protection, not easy viewing. In order to see out, the captain had to stand on a platform inside the gun deck. When the Virginia was under way, the platform might hold the captain and his lieutenant, and one or two pilots. Acting Master William Parrish served as the principal pilot of the Virginia. He was assisted by four civilian pilots: William Clarke, Thomas Cunningham, Hezekiah Williams and George Wright.
MARMO1_180601_269.JPG: 6.4-Inch Brooke Rifle
MARMO1_180601_285.JPG: Bushnell, Lincoln & Ericsson:
"On the Matter of Ironclad Ships":
The Ironclad Board questioned the seaworthiness of Bushnell's USS Galena. However, a chance encounter with Cornelius Delamater at the Willard Hotel in Washington, DC, led Bushnell to New York to consult with John Ericsson. Ericsson quickly determined that the Galena was seaworthy, but asked Bushness if he had time to look at Ericsson's own design. Bushness was impressed with what he saw and took Ericsson's plan back to the Ironclad Board -- along with the Galena, of course.
"It Strikes Me There's Something in It":
The Ironclad Board was not pleased when it learned that the design Bushnell was promoting belonged to John Ericsson. But Bushnell would not give up. He used his friendship with Welles to insinuate himself into a meeting with President Lincoln and the Ironclad Board on September 13, 1861. Lincoln was impressed with Ericsson's model and reportedly said, "All I have to say is what the girl said when she stuck her foot into the stocking. It strikes me there's something to it."
[I've talked to a number of people and we have no idea what this quote actually means.]
MARMO1_180601_289.JPG: "On the Matter of Ironclad Ships"
MARMO1_180601_292.JPG: "It Strikes Me There's Something In It"
MARMO1_180601_295.JPG: "The image of nothing..."
Commodores Smith and Paulding were willing to consider Ericsson's proposal. But Captain Davis adamantly refused, even with the President's endorsement. He told Bushnell to "take the little thing home and worship it, as it would not be idolatry, because it was in the image of nothing in the heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters under the earth."
Bushnell realized the only way to truly persuade the board was for Ericsson to explain his strange version in person.
"...worthy of the genius of an Ericsson."
Ericsson was adamant in his refusal to speak with the Navy. Bushnell would have to play to Ericsson's vanity to get the imperious Swede to Washington.
Bushnell told Ericsson, "Paulding says that your boat would be the thing to punish those Rebels at Charleston." He continued, "You have a friend in Washington -- Commodore Smith. He worships you. He says those plans are worthy of the genius of an Ericsson."
Then he slyly mentioned that "Captain Davis wants a little explanation in detail which I could not give."
But Ericsson could explain. So he announced, "I will go today!"
"Your duty to the country..."
On September 15, 1861, Ericsson appeared before the Ironclad Board, only to be told his plan had already been rejected. This was unacceptable to the enormously self-confident Ericsson, who told them, "Gentlemen... I consider it to be your duty to your country to give me an order to build the vessel before I leave this room."
MARMO1_180601_297.JPG: "...worthy of the genius of an Ericsson."
Ericsson was adamant in his refusal to speak with the Navy. Bushnell would have to play to Ericsson's vanity to get the imperious Swede to Washington.
Bushnell told Ericsson, "Paulding says that your boat would be the thing to punish those Rebels at Charleston." He continued, "You have a friend in Washington -- Commodore Smith. He worships you. He says those plans are worthy of the genius of an Ericsson."
Then he slyly mentioned that "Captain Davis wants a little explanation in detail which I could not give."
But Ericsson could explain. So he announced, "I will go today!"
MARMO1_180601_300.JPG: "Your duty to the country..."
On September 15, 1861, Ericsson appeared before the Ironclad Board, only to be told his plan had already been rejected. This was unacceptable to the enormously self-confident Ericsson, who told them, "Gentlemen... I consider it to be your duty to your country to give me an order to build the vessel before I leave this room."
MARMO1_180601_302.JPG: "Wanted: Iron-Clad Steam Vessels"
In early August 1861, a notice from the US Department of the Navy appeared in the major Northern dailies requesting proposals for "Iron Clad Steam Vessels..." for sea or river service." The Navy desperately wanted a vessel that could answer the USS Merrimack's challenge.
The design criteria were introduced to produce a warship suited to the unique challenge of confronting the CSS Virginia in Southern waters. The ship had to have:
* Shallow draft to navigate shallow coastal waters and rivers
* Iron armor
* Powerful guns
* Sails and rigging
* A fast-track construction schedule
Some Outlandish Proposals:
By early September 1861, the Ironclad Board had received sixteen proposals, including one for a rubber-clad ship. After much debate, the three officers chose two proposals for construction. Both designs represented only a moderate departure from traditional warship design. One of these would be named the USS New Ironsides, the other the USS Galena.
MARMO1_180601_305.JPG: The Northern Response: The Ironclad Board:
Federal Navy Secretary Gideon Welles had made a dangerous mistake. As late as April 1861, he had rejected a proposal to build iron warships to control the Mississippi River, preferring instead to find wooden ships to enforce the Union blockade. But that was before intelligence had reached him concerning the conversion of the former USS Merrimack into a Confederate ironclad. Acting on this information, Welles recommended that the US Congress immediately appoint an ironclad committee. On August 3, 1861, Congress authorized $1.5 million for the construction of armor-clad vessels and established an Ironclad Board to review design proposals.
"We have no experience in this department..."
The naval officers Welles appointed to the Ironclad Board were all veterans of the traditional sailing navy. Sixth-four-year-old retired Commodore Hiram Paulding, had fought in the War of 1812. Commodore Joseph Smith, 71, was the chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks. Captain Charles Davis, 54, although younger, was no expert on either construction or steam machinery. Smith himself stated that, in terms of ironclad vessels, "We have no experience in the Department of naval architecture, and must depend on information obtained as best we can from across the Atlantic."
MARMO1_180601_311.JPG: "The Most Practicable One for Heavy Armor":
Merrick and Sons of Philadelphia used the basic design of the French ironclad Gloire for the USS New Ironsides. With an angled casemate made of 4-1/2 inches of iron plate, a submerged ram, and a battery of sixteen heavy guns, the New Ironsides was the most powerful of the Civil War ironclads.
New Ironsides:
As the flagship of the Atlantic Blockading Squadron, the New Ironsides saw action more times than any other Union blockading ship. She took part in the assault on Fort Fisher in January 1865, an attack that led to the fall of Wilmington, the last Atlantic port controlled by the Confederates.
MARMO1_180601_315.JPG: The Inside Bid:
The iron gunboat USS Galena was a 210-foot-long, sail-rigged vessel with six guns in her broadside. Designed by Samuel H. Pook of Connecticut, she featured a curved, sloped casemate, 3-1/4 inches of iron plate, and an unarmored deck.
The conservative Galena was just the kind of ship the Ironclad Board liked, but she had a secret advantage too: Pook's design was submitted by Cornelius S. Bushnell, a powerful Connecticut financier with connections in Congress.
Galena:
It was not long before the Galena's design flaws began to show themselves. During her first engagement at Drewry's Bluff on the James River in May 1862, Confederates high on the river bluffs fired down on the ironclad's unarmored deck. She survived the encounter but was soon stripped of her armor and recommissioned as a wooden gunboat.
MARMO1_180601_319.JPG: Samuel Pook
Naval Constructor, 1841
by Henry Cheever Pratt
MARMO1_180601_327.JPG: Portrait of Lieutenant Henry Rodgers, USN, circa 1851
by Charles Bird KIng
MARMO1_180601_332.JPG: The Contracts:
The Navy's terms were strict. They included a money-back guarantee if the vessel failed in any way and a requirement for space to store provisions and fuel for up to three months. [? Not sure what this sentence actually means ?] The vessel would be 179 feet long and 41 feet wide, and be built for $275,000. But most surprisingly, the contract contained a requirement for masts, sails, and rigging, which would defeat the ship's most important design feature: her revolving turret.
True to form, Ericsson simply ignored the various terms of the contract that he did not like.
"All the labor necessary":
Thomas Rowland's Continental Iron Works in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, would be the primary base of operations for constructing Ericsson's ironclad. In a contract dated October 25, 1861, Rowland agreed "to furnish all the tools and facilities, and do all the labor necessary to execute the iron work of an Iron Battery Hull... [and] to do the said work in a thorough and workmanlike manner and to the entire satisfaction of Captain Ericsson in the shortest possible space of time."
The ink was barely dry on the contract when Rowland's workmen laid the keel of the ironclad that same day.
MARMO1_180601_335.JPG: 100 Days to Build a Warship
MARMO1_180601_338.JPG: A Novel Process to Build a Novel Vessel:
It usually took about 550 days to build a warship, and Ericsson had 100. The task was enormous: constructing an entirely new kind of warship, made primarily of iron, with nine different fabricators and countless sub-contractors working in several states, in just over three months. But news of the CSS Virginia's progress at Gosport was a powerful incentive. Ericsson had no choice but to use a novel building process.
MARMO1_180601_359.JPG: After the Deadline:
1862:
* March 6 -- Ordered to Hampton Roads
* March 4 -- Successfully completes sea trials
* February 27 -- Steering malfunction due to a misbalanced rudder.
* February 25 -- Monitor commissioned as a 4th rate ship.
* February 20 -- Steering problems require significant repair
* February 19 -- Monitor delivered to US Navy for testing at Brooklyn Navy Yard.
* February 9 -- Turret assembled.
* January 30 -- Ship launched at Continental at 10:00am.
* January 30 -- All turret armor placed aboard by 4:30pm.
* January 30 -- Ericsson advised that two XI-inch Dahlgrens will be transferred from the USS Dacotah.
* January 29 -- Ericsson names the USS Monitor.
MARMO1_180601_362.JPG: The Armor Belt
MARMO1_180601_366.JPG: Theodore Ruggles Timby:
John Ericsson may be remembered for the first warship with a turret, but Theodore Timby was the American who held the patent on the turret. Born in Dover, New York, in 1822, Timby first conceived of the rotating gun turret when he was 19 years old. Between 1841 and 1848 Timby presented his plans to a variety of US government officials, including Jefferson Davis, but the government did nothing. In 1856 Timby sought an audience with Emperor Napoleon III of France to promote his turret concept but the emperor was also uninterested.
But Timby's work had not gone unnoticed. Recognizing that Timby had a patent, Ericsson's financial backers arranged in 1862 to pay Timby a royalty for every turret constructed on an Ericsson vessel. Timby never received all the money due to him, and died in 1909.
MARMO1_180601_371.JPG: Cowper Phipps Coles:
While Theodore Timby was discussing his turret with Napoleon III, Cowper Coles, a captain in the British Royal Navy, was putting a turret into action near Sebastopol. The protective turret sat atop a raft and worked well enough that Coles drafted plans and applied for a patent as early as 1859.
Coles continued to perfect his creation, and in 1866 the Royal Navy agreed to the construction of a low-freeboard turreted vessel -- the HMS Captain. Unfortunately the need for auxiliary sails and rigging to make the Captain a seagoing vessel also made her unstable, and led to the death of Coles, who went down with his ship in 1870. He was 51.
MARMO1_180601_374.JPG: Why "Monitor"?
Almost everything about the ironclad was Ericsson's idea -- even her name. Throughout construction, the ship had been referred to as "Ericsson's Battery." In a letter to Assistant Secretary of the Navy Gustavus Fox, Ericsson wrote that the "impregnable and aggressive character" of the ship "will admonish the leaders of the Southern Rebellion that [their] batteries... will no longer present barriers to the entrance of Union forces. The iron-clad intruder will thus prove a severe monitor..." The name struck, and on January 20, 1862, the ironclad became the USS Monitor.
MARMO1_180601_376.JPG: Building the Union Ironclad:
Ericsson claimed he could deliver an ironclad in 90 days -- the Navy gave him 100. But Ericsson had already been hard at work even before the contract was signed on October 4, 1861. They laid the keel on October 25th at the Continental Ironworks in Brooklyn.
To save time, nine contractors and an unknown number of subcontractors worked simultaneously in at least seven different cities to produce the components for assembly at Continental. It was an extraordinarily complex manufacturing process -- but then, this would be no ordinary ship.
MARMO1_180601_379.JPG: John Ericsson
MARMO1_180601_385.JPG: The Battles of Hampton Roads:
It wasn't really the Battle of Hampton Roads that changed naval warfare forever, but the Battles of Hampton Roads -- for what happened on March 9, 1862, cannot be separated from what had taken place the day before.
On March 8, the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia entered Hampton Roads to challenge the Federal Blockading Squadron. By the end of the day, she had destroyed two of the Union's finest warships and threatened to turn the tide of war. It looked as if nothing would be able to stop the Virginia's rampage.
Then the Monitor appeared.
MARMO1_180601_386.JPG: Ericsson in America
MARMO1_180601_393.JPG: A World Is Watching
MARMO1_180601_396.JPG: March 8, 1862: The Confederates:
"Sink before you surrender"
-- The last signal inserted into the CSS Virginia's signal book by Flag Officer Franklin Buchanan on the morning of March 8.
"... our ram had opened her side wide enough to drive in a horse and cart"
-- Lt. John Taylor Wood, Virginia, describing the hole made in the USS Cumberland.
"We've sank the Cumberland ... our cleaver fairly opened her side".
-- Flag Lt. Robert Dabnet Minor, Virginia, after ramming the Cumberland.
"... frying from one end to the other."
-- Midshipman Hardin Littlepage, Virginia describing how the Virginia's sides, coated with grease, began to crackle and pop in the heat of battle.
"Jack, don't this smell like hell?"
"It certainly does, and I think we'll be there in a few minutes."
-- Jack Cronin and John Hunt, Virginia, talking about the heated grease on the casemate.
MARMO1_180601_399.JPG: March 8, 1862: The Federals:
"I wish you would take the glass and have a look over there, sir... I believe that thing is a-comin' down at last."
-- Quartermaster Edward Shippen, USS Congress, on first seeing the CSS Virginia
"... [our shot] glanced off like pebble stones."
-- Lt. Thomas O. Selfridge, USS Cumberland, describing the effect of shot and shell on the Virginia
"I could see the iron ram projecting... it was impossible for our vessel to get out of her way."
-- Pilot AB Smith, Cumberland, looking on the Virginia's prow
"Give them a broadside boys, as she goes."
-- Lt. George Upham Morris, Executive Officers and acting commander Cumberland, as the Cumberland was sinking.
"Our hearts were so very full and we vowed vengeance on the Merrimack."
-- Lt. Samuel Dana Greene, Executive Officer, USS Monitor, on arriving at the scene of the Virginia's rampage in Hampton Roads on the evening of March 8.
MARMO1_180601_402.JPG: March 9, 1862: The Confederates:
"It must be confessed that both sides were queer-looking craft, as grotesque to the eyes of the men of '62 as they would appear to those of the present generation."
-- Chief Engineer Ashton Ramsay, CSS Virginia, remembering the two ironclads on the 50th anniversary of the battle
"Why are you not firing, Mr. Eggleston?"
"Why, our powder is very precious, and after two hours incessant firing I find that I can do her just about as much damage, by fashing [snapping] my thumb at here every two minutes and a half."
-- Lt. Catesby ap Roger Jones to Lt. John Randolph Eggleston, Virginia, during the battle with the USS Monitor
"Monitor has given up the fight... had there been any sign of the Monitor's willingness to renew the contest we would have remained to fight her."
-- Lt. Catesbu ap Roger Jones, acting commander, Virginia, on seeing the Monitor break off battle after her pilothouse had been hit
MARMO1_180601_405.JPG: March 9, 1862: The Federals:
"Gentlemen, that is the Merrimack, you had better go below."
-- Lt. John L. Worden, Commanding officer, USS Monitor, on seeing the CSS Virginia enter Hampton Roads
".... much to my astonishment [the Monitor] laid herself right alongside of the Merrimac, and the contrast was that of a pygmy to a giant."
-- Captain Gershom Jacques Henry Van Brunt, USS Minnesota, on seeing the Monitor block the Virginia's path to the Minnesota
"The sounds of the conflict were terrible... the crash of solid shot against our sides and the bursting of shells all around us. Two men had been sent down from the turret, knocked senseless by balls striking outside the turret while they happened to be in contact with the inside wall of the turret."
-- Acting Assistant Paymaster William F. Keeler, Monitor
"Gentlemen, I leave it with you, do what you think best. I cannot see, but do not mind me. Save the Minnesota if you can."
-- Lt. John L. Worden, Commanding Officer, Monitor, after being temporarily blinded when the pilothouse was hit
"We have evidently finished the Merrimac."
-- Lt. Samuel Dana Greene, acting commander, Monitor, on seeing the Virginia steam toward Sewell's Point
"... you have saved this place to the nation by furnishing us with the means to whip an ironclad frigate, that was, until our arrival, having it all her way with out most powerful vessels."
-- Chief Engineer Alban Stimers, Monitor, in a telegraph to John Ericsson after the battle
MARMO1_180601_415.JPG: William Keeler's Cabin:
Acting Assistant Paymaster William Keeler.
It's lucky for us that William Keeler, who occupied this cabin, liked to express himself. A forty-year-old businessman from Illinois, Keeler became acting assistant paymaster on the USS Monitor, where he kept the ship's accounts, ordered provisions, and issued pay to the crew. He was a keen observer with time on his hands, and he wrote seventy-nine letters to his wife Anna in 1862 alone. These letters now offer us a window on the world of the Monitor.
Hoping his wife would be able to picture his daily life, Keeler sent this sketch to her. "Here is a plan that will give you a little idea [of how my room looks] -- A is my desk, B ios the door let down to write on, the iron chest is placed underneath."
Keeler continued, "C is the door, D is the shelf in which is my washbowl, underneath is another shelf in which holes are cut (remember that at sea nothing is placed on a shelf, but in it) for my slop jar... all of nice white ware with 'Monitor' ... in gilt letters. FF are two closets, ... but they are so high up & so far back that it is unhandy to get at them. Under the berth are four drawers. [They] ... are all of black-walnut, the curtains are lace and damask, or an imitation I suppose."
MARMO1_180601_419.JPG: "Medicine To Make Me Sick..."
The surgeons who served on the USS Monitor spent much of their time administering medicines for minor ailments and injuries, including seasickness, gout -- and in the case of the gun crews during the battle with the CSS Virginia -- mild concussions.
Fireman George Geer found that a naval surgeon's cure was often worse than the ailment. During a bout of jaundice, Geer lamented that, "what made [me] so sick then was that the Doctor gave me Medicine to make me sick to try and get the Bile thrown off of my Liver I threw up considerable..." Nevertheless, Geer found Daniel Logue "a much bettor Doctor than I had put him down for."
The apothecary bottles in this cabin were recovered from the wreck of the USS Monitor between 1994 and 2002, and are courtesy of NOAA's Monitor National Marine Sanctuary.
MARMO1_180601_422.JPG: The Surgeon's Cabin:
Fortunately for the crew, the ship's surgeon was mostly idle. Unfortunately for Assistant Paymaster Keeler, the stateroom next to his belonged at first to the overly talkative surgeon Daniel C. Logue. Keeler wrote, "The Dr. ... bores me to death by wanting to read me all his correspondence with his lady love & the newspapers ... but he is a good, genial warm hearted fellow & I humor him when I am not too busy."
Following Logue's reassignment, Grenville Weeks took over as the Monitor's surgeon.
MARMO1_180601_428.JPG: March 7, 1862:
CSS Virginia:
While the Virginia was considered ready for sea trials, she was far from finished. A storm kept her at Gosport on the 7th, allowing workers to continue readying her for service.
USS Monitor:
While the first day at sea for the Monitor was uneventful, March 7th was a different story. The same gale that kept the Virginia delayed at Gosport threatened to sink the Monitor off the coast of New Jersey. The ship began to leak as waves broke over the deck. The engine fires went out and suffocating carbon dioxide forced the officers and crew to the top of the turret. All night the men battled the elements. Assistant Payment William Keeler wrote that "things for a time looked pretty blue, as though we might have to 'give up the ship.' "
Executive Officer Samuel Dana Greene said of his first five days underway on the Monitor, "I think I lived ten good years."
MARMO1_180601_431.JPG: March 6, 1862:
CSS Virginia:
The last gunpowder shipment had arrived, but the Virginia still did not have a full crew. Captain Thomas Kevill and 31 members of the United Artillery (Company E, 41st Virginia Volunteer Infantry) from Fort Norfolk volunteered, thus filling the Virginia's complement. Flag Officer Franklin Buchanan intended to move the Virginia down the Elizabeth River that night, but a growing storm delayed his departure.
USS Monitor:
In the late morning, the steam tug Seth Low took the Monitor in tow, in company with the steamers Sachem and Currituck. By 4pm they had left New York Harbor and were heading south. A vessel carrying new orders from Gideon Welles was unable to reach them. The orders read: "proceed immediately to Washington."
But the Monitor was headed to Hampton Roads.
MARMO1_180601_436.JPG: The Race to Hampton Roads:
The potential clash of the ironclads was on everyone's mind in early March 1862. Facts and rumors were flying in the Confederacy and the Union, and both navies felt the pressure to be the first to put an ironclad into battle. The CSS Virginia was declared ready for sea trials before work on her was even completed. Meanwhile, the USS Monitor was preparing to steam south.
The race was on.
MARMO1_180601_438.JPG: The Battles of Hampton Roads:
It wasn't really the Battle of Hampton Roads that changed naval warfare forever, but the Battles of Hampton Roads -- for what happened on March 9, 1862, cannot be separated from what had taken place the day before.
On March 8, the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia entered Hampton Roads to challenge the Federal Blockading Squadron. By the end of the day, she had destroyed two of the Union's finest warships and threatened to turn the tide of war. It looked as if nothing would be able to stop the Virginia's rampage.
Then the Monitor appeared.
MARMO1_180601_441.JPG: Clash of Armor,
March 9, 1862
MARMO1_180601_444.JPG: Wood Meets Iron, March 8, 1862:
Around 12:45pm on March 8, a crew-member of the USS Congress at anchor off Newport News Point was hanging his laundry in the rigging when he spied "a great black thing belching black smoke" steaming out of the Elizabeth River. The ships of the Union Blockading Squadron scrambled to prepare for battle.
Within a few hours, the CSS Virginia had rammed and sunk the USS Cumberland and had set the stranded Congress ablaze. Only falling darkness and a receding tide saved the steam frigate USS Minnesota from the same fate.
With a single devastating weapon -- the Virginia -- the Confederate Navy had become the most powerful navy in the world.
But only for one day.
MARMO1_180601_450.JPG: The Berth Deck:
The berth deck was a large open space 16 feet by 25 feet stretching from the staterooms to a point beneath the turret. This was where the crew of about 49 men slept in hammocks, taking turns keeping watch. Oil lamps provided most of the light, as there were no deck lights to let daylight into the crew's quarters. When the upper hatches were opened, the crew enjoyed more light and air. Storerooms, including the powder magazine and the shell room, bordered the berth deck.
Writing from the berth deck:
Sitting just 20 feet away from Keeler's elaborate cabin, Fireman George Geer wrote to his wife Martha: "I have for my desk a water pail turned upside down..." In another letter, Geer apologized for not writing more, saying, "If you could see how I am writing this you would not expect a very long one. I am on the Hammocks, where I cannot sett up strait and can hardly move my arms."
MARMO1_180601_451.JPG: The Wardroom Table:
For the officers, the wardroom table was their social center. There they would meet to discuss strategy, enjoy their meals, and smoke cigars and drink whiskey after dinner. Meals were stylish affairs: stewards served the food on dishes embossed with the ironclad's name in gilt letters.
What was on the officers menu? For dinner, there was "a regular course, soup, fish, meats, puddings, fruits & nuts, winding up with a cup of strong coffee." Supper was less formal with "bread & butter, dried beef, cheese, crackers, coffee & tea."
MARMO1_180601_454.JPG: Natural Light on the USS Monitor:
The officers fared better than the seamen below decks. A series of decklights with iron-framed glass were set into 6-inch diameter holes to let light into each stateroom. The wardroom had two such lights. Although the decklights were often covered with water when the deck was awash, the light came through. According to Keeler, "when the sun shines bright it is sufficiently light to read and write without difficulty."
The decklights could be opened to let fresh air in when conditions allowed. At least once, Keeler found his decklight used as a mailbox when a fellow officer delivered his mail through the opening.
MARMO1_180601_457.JPG: The Officers' Wardroom:
The wardroom was the place for meals, official business, and socializing. Here the officers would read newspapers, re-fight old battles and even sing opera! Keeler recalled, "In the evening all gather around the warn room table & 'fight their battles o'er again' each one relating his individual experiences, stories are told & jokes cracked till 10 when all on board must be quiet & still."
To improve ventilation for the wardroom and the cabins that flanked it, Ericsson designed the space with short partitions and doors with louvered panels. Unfortunately, the features that allowed air to circulate also allowed voices to carry. Keeler complained, "While writing now, every word spoken... around the ward room table is audible as if they were seated by my elbow."
MARMO1_180601_461.JPG: Artificial Light on the USS Monitor:
For the most part, there was no natural light below decks. Therefore, Ericsson installed a series of oil lanterns every 6 to 9 feet along the port and starboard sides of the vessel. In addition, the officers' ward room would have had an elaborate lantern hanging over the table. These elegant brass fixtures were probably purchased ready-made from suppliers in New York.
Elaborate lantern in wardroom of USS Montauk, from The Soldier in Our Civil War, Vol II:
William Keeler had something to say about almost everything, including the lights in the staterooms: "The only objection is they are too dark. I have all my writing to [do] by candlelight & lamps are always burning in the ward room. If the sun ever shines again it may light us up a little better."
MARMO1_180601_473.JPG: Lt. Greene's Cabin
MARMO1_180601_480.JPG: 2nd Assistant Engineer:
The new class of engineering officers was looked down upon by the line officers on conventional ships. The engineers worked below decks like common sailors, and became grimy with coal dust and machine oil. But on a ship like the USS Monitor, which relied entirely upon machinery, engineers got a little more respect. The higher-ranking engineers even had staterooms. Albert B. Campbell, one of the 2nd assistant engineers, may have occupied this one.
MARMO1_180601_490.JPG: The Sinking of the USS Monitor
by William Richardson Tyler
MARMO2_180601_008.JPG: Shot to Shell
MARMO2_180601_010.JPG: Shot to Shell
MARMO2_180601_021.JPG: Explosive Shells, 1820s
MARMO2_180601_023.JPG: Improved Armaments Make Heroic Combat Obsolete
MARMO2_180601_025.JPG: Rifled Guns, 1845
MARMO2_180601_027.JPG: Rifled Guns, 1845
MARMO2_180601_030.JPG: The Crimean War Transforms Naval Power
MARMO2_180601_033.JPG: The First Effective Use of Explosive Shells, 1853
MARMO2_180601_036.JPG: Early Use of Shell Guns by the US Navy, 1855
MARMO2_180601_046.JPG: Last of the Wooden Sailing Ships, 1842
MARMO2_180601_048.JPG: USS Congress and USS Susquehanna at Naples, 1857 by DeSimone
MARMO2_180601_049.JPG: The US Navy's First Iron-Hulled Ship, 1843
MARMO2_180601_051.JPG: Ironclads in the Crimean War
MARMO2_180601_056.JPG: The Floating Ironclad Battery
MARMO2_180601_060.JPG: The First Ironclad Frigate
MARMO2_180601_062.JPG: The Iron Ocean-Going Iron-Hulled Warship, 1860
MARMO2_180601_064.JPG: Her Majesty's Iron Cases Screw Steam Frigate Warrior, 1860
MARMO2_180601_065.JPG: Firing a Carronade
MARMO2_180601_068.JPG: Life Aboard
MARMO2_180601_071.JPG: "A Magnificent Specimen of Naval Architecture"
MARMO2_180601_073.JPG: What's In a Name?
MARMO2_180601_077.JPG: The Delafield Report
MARMO2_180601_083.JPG: A House Divided
MARMO2_180601_101.JPG: A Question of Economics
MARMO2_180601_107.JPG: A Question of Society
MARMO2_180601_112.JPG: A Question of Rights
MARMO2_180601_117.JPG: A Question of Right
MARMO2_180601_123.JPG: A Question of Compromise
MARMO2_180601_129.JPG: A Personal Question
MARMO2_180601_138.JPG: "A Matter of the First Necessity"
MARMO2_180601_144.JPG: November 6, 1860
Abraham Lincoln Elected US President
MARMO2_180601_147.JPG: December 20, 1860
South Carolina Secedes
MARMO2_180601_150.JPG: April 12, 1861
Confederates Fire on Fort Sumter
MARMO2_180601_153.JPG: April 15, 1861
Lincoln Calls for Volunteers
MARMO2_180601_156.JPG: April 17, 1861
Virginia Secedes
MARMO2_180601_158.JPG: April 19, 1861
Lincoln Declares Blockade
MARMO2_180601_163.JPG: CSRS Confederate States
MARMO2_180601_166.JPG: Gosport Burning
MARMO2_180601_168.JPG: A Failure of Leadership
MARMO2_180601_174.JPG: The Burning of Gosport
MARMO2_180601_180.JPG: Gosport Navy Yard
MARMO2_180601_182.JPG: Gosport Navy Yard
MARMO2_180601_187.JPG: Re-creating the Virginia's Casemate
MARMO2_180601_189.JPG: Naval Strengths: North and South
MARMO2_180601_194.JPG: The US Navy
MARMO2_180601_198.JPG: The CS Navy
MARMO2_180601_206.JPG: Northern Strategy
MARMO2_180601_210.JPG: Naval Strategies: Union and Confederate
MARMO2_180601_213.JPG: The "Anaconda Plan"
MARMO2_180601_214.JPG: Southern Strategy
MARMO2_180601_218.JPG: Fighting the Blockade
MARMO2_180601_222.JPG: Strategic Significance of Hampton Roads
MARMO2_180601_225.JPG: The Strategic Significance of Hampton Roads
MARMO2_180601_227.JPG: Controlling the Roads
MARMO2_180601_236.JPG: "Contraband of War"
MARMO2_180601_240.JPG: Design and Construction of the CSS Virginia
MARMO2_180601_242.JPG: "A Class of Vessels Hitherto Unknown"
MARMO2_180601_245.JPG: A Floating Steam Battery
MARMO2_180601_248.JPG: "We have raised the Merrimack up..."
MARMO2_180601_250.JPG: USS Barge George Washington Parke Custis
Floyd D. Houston, Modelmaker
MARMO2_180601_254.JPG: Design Features of the CSS Virginia
MARMO2_180601_257.JPG: Design Features of the CSS Virginia
MARMO2_180601_268.JPG: Armored Sides
MARMO2_180601_272.JPG: Breakwater
Cast-Iron Ram
MARMO2_180601_274.JPG: Conversion of the CSS Virginia
MARMO2_180601_276.JPG: Confederate Phoenix
MARMO2_180601_279.JPG: The Conversion
MARMO2_180601_284.JPG: And Virginia Was Her Name...
MARMO2_180601_286.JPG: CSS Virginia By the Numbers
MARMO2_180601_290.JPG: After the Battle:
Word of what had happened in Hampton Roads on March 9 quickly spread far and wide. Both North and South claimed victory, saying the other had broken off the fight first. Both ship's crews were eager to meet again.
Today, most scholars believe the battle ended in a draw. The two ironclads remained in Hampton Roads for several months, but they never met in battle again -- and by the end of 1862, both had left the scene as dramatically as they had entered.
MARMO2_180601_294.JPG: Immediate Impact:
Global reaction to the battle was swift. When the CSS Virginia took on the Federal fleet on March 8, it was plain to see that the Age of Sail was over. And when the USS Monitor took on the Virginia the next day, the fate of wooden ships was sealed. The great global ironclad race had begun.
Shots Heard 'Round the World:
The Times of London declared "Whereas we had... 149 first-class warships, we now have two... The Warrior and her sister Ironside. There is not now [another] ship in the English navy... that it would not be madness to trust to an engagement with that little Monitor."
The Royal Navy's ironclads were oceangoing ships, so in fact the "little Monitor's" threat to British naval supremacy was small at best.
MARMO2_180601_297.JPG: 1862: A Fateful Year:
The careers of the CSS Virginia and the USS Monitor did not end on March 9, 1862. In the months that followed, the ironclads played limited, but important roles in the larger war -- the Virginia as an ever-present threat and the Monitor as the neutralizer of that threat. Two months after the historic clash, the crew of the Virginia would be forced to destroy their own vessel. Later in the year, the Monitor would disappear in the Graveyard of the Atlantic. But the age of the ironclads had just begun.
MARMO2_180601_300.JPG: The Ironclad in Pop Culture:
A new broadside ballad hit the streets of Philadelphia shortly after the March 9 battle. It boasted: "The Monitor went smack up to the Merrimac, and upon her sides played Yankee Doodle Dandy, O!"
Southern scribes were no less eloquent -- a broadside issued in late March focused on the terror the CSS Virginia had inspired in Washington. In it, Seward warns Lincoln that, "Jeff. is out in the Merrimac, he's laid the Congress on her back; and driven the Cumberland off the track, and will chase US yet out of Washington."
Clearly the two ironclads had struck a chord in popular culture on both sides.
MARMO2_180601_302.JPG: The Ironclad in Pop Culture:
A new broadside ballad hit the streets of Philadelphia shortly after the March 9 battle. It boasted: "The Monitor went smack up to the Merrimac, and upon her sides played Yankee Doodle Dandy, O!"
Southern scribes were no less eloquent -- a broadside issued in late March focused on the terror the CSS Virginia had inspired in Washington. In it, Seward warns Lincoln that, "Jeff. is out in the Merrimac, he's laid the Congress on her back; and driven the Cumberland off the track, and will chase US yet out of Washington."
Clearly the two ironclads had struck a chord in popular culture on both sides.
MARMO2_180601_307.JPG: Selling the Memory
MARMO2_180601_314.JPG: CSS Virginia: March 10 - May 11, 1862:
The presence of the Virginia effectively closed off the James River to the Federals, so it was urgent that repairs to the Confederate ironclad following the battle be made swiftly. Union troops transports were already underway in preparation for the Peninsula Campaign. Fortunately for the Confederates delays in starting McClellan's march allowed time for the Virginia to reappear in Hampton Roads -- complete with a new 12-foot long steel tipped ram and armor-piercing ammunition.
"The Monitor-less Roads"
The Virginia attempted to engage the USS Monitor several times during April and May, but the Union ironclad under orders, refused. Crews on both vessels were understandably frustrated at not being able to engage in battle, and Virginia crewmen grumbled about "roaming about the Monitor-less Roads." Crewman William Norris voices his frustration in a poem:
Supra mud-flattibus
Monitoribus jugattibus
Non est come-attibus
Virginiabus
"Mingled Pride and Grief"
With Union troops advancing in early May, Confederate Major General Benjamin Huger abandoned Norfolk in such haste on the 9th that he forgot to inform the Virginia of the evacuation. Unable to withstand the guns of Fortress Monroe, the Virginia could not make it out of Hampton Roads. Her deep draft precluded her from going up the James River -- even with all spare provisions, water and ballast thrown overboard. She could not risk capture. She must be destroyed.
Chief Engineer Ashton Ramsay recalled how "with mingled pride and grief [we] gave her to the flames." The Virginia burned for several hours before exploding spectacularly on May 11.
A court martial held in Richmond on July 5, 1862 granted Tattnall an honorable acquittal for the destruction of the Virginia -- stating that the scuttling was "deliberate and wisely done."
MARMO2_180601_316.JPG: CSS Virginia: March 10 - May 11, 1862:
The presence of the Virginia effectively closed off the James River to the Federals, so it was urgent that repairs to the Confederate ironclad following the battle be made swiftly. Union troops transports were already underway in preparation for the Peninsula Campaign. Fortunately for the Confederates delays in starting McClellan's march allowed time for the Virginia to reappear in Hampton Roads -- complete with a new 12-foot long steel tipped ram and armor-piercing ammunition.
"The Monitor-less Roads"
The Virginia attempted to engage the USS Monitor several times during April and May, but the Union ironclad under orders, refused. Crews on both vessels were understandably frustrated at not being able to engage in battle, and Virginia crewmen grumbled about "roaming about the Monitor-less Roads." Crewman William Norris voices his frustration in a poem:
Supra mud-flattibus
Monitoribus jugattibus
Non est come-attibus
Virginiabus
"Mingled Pride and Grief"
With Union troops advancing in early May, Confederate Major General Benjamin Huger abandoned Norfolk in such haste on the 9th that he forgot to inform the Virginia of the evacuation. Unable to withstand the guns of Fortress Monroe, the Virginia could not make it out of Hampton Roads. Her deep draft precluded her from going up the James River -- even with all spare provisions, water and ballast thrown overboard. She could not risk capture. She must be destroyed.
Chief Engineer Ashton Ramsay recalled how "with mingled pride and grief [we] gave her to the flames." The Virginia burned for several hours before exploding spectacularly on May 11.
A court martial held in Richmond on July 5, 1862 granted Tattnall an honorable acquittal for the destruction of the Virginia -- stating that the scuttling was "deliberate and wisely done."
MARMO2_180601_318.JPG: "The Monitor-less Roads"
The Virginia attempted to engage the USS Monitor several times during April and May, but the Union ironclad under orders, refused. Crews on both vessels were understandably frustrated at not being able to engage in battle, and Virginia crewmen grumbled about "roaming about the Monitor-less Roads." Crewman William Norris voices his frustration in a poem:
Supra mud-flattibus
Monitoribus jugattibus
Non est come-attibus
Virginiabus
MARMO2_180601_320.JPG: "Mingled Pride and Grief"
With Union troops advancing in early May, Confederate Major General Benjamin Huger abandoned Norfolk in such haste on the 9th that he forgot to inform the Virginia of the evacuation. Unable to withstand the guns of Fortress Monroe, the Virginia could not make it out of Hampton Roads. Her deep draft precluded her from going up the James River -- even with all spare provisions, water and ballast thrown overboard. She could not risk capture. She must be destroyed.
Chief Engineer Ashton Ramsay recalled how "with mingled pride and grief [we] gave her to the flames." The Virginia burned for several hours before exploding spectacularly on May 11.
A court martial held in Richmond on July 5, 1862 granted Tattnall an honorable acquittal for the destruction of the Virginia -- stating that the scuttling was "deliberate and wisely done."
MARMO2_180601_329.JPG: Hull fragment from the Virginia
Framed flag fragment from the Virginia
Souvenir horseshoe, Virginia (Old Dominion Iron & Nail Works)
Heart-shaped medal made from armor of he Virginia
MARMO2_180601_341.JPG: March 10th:
The Ironclads Undergo Repairs:
The battered CSS Virginia was placed in dry dock at Gosport after the battle. Workers fabricated a new ram to replace the one that had been left in the side of the luckless USS Cumberland. They also replaced armor plate that had been damaged in the battle.
The USS Monitor had proved her worth on March 9, but she had also proved how desperately the US Navy needed her. The naval command ordered that the Monitor be "not too much exposed" to possible damage or -- worse still -- capture.
MARMO2_180601_343.JPG: March 12th:
A New Commander for the USS Monitor:
Lt. Worden left big shoes to fill. At 20, Executive Officer Samuel Dana Greene was considered too young to permanently replace Worden. Twenty-six-year-old Lt. Thomas Selfridge relieved Greene the day after the battle. On March 12, Selfridge was replaced by the unpopular 36-year-old Lt. William N. Jeffers, an ordnance expert and protege of John Dahlgren.
MARMO2_180601_347.JPG: March 17th:
Peninsula Campaign Begins:
In mid-March 1862, Major General George Brinton McClellan began the transfer of the Union's Army of the Potomac to Fort Monroe in Hampton. When the march finally began on April 4, it included 121,500 men, 14,592 animals, 1,224 vehicles, 44 artillery batteries, and a mountain of equipment.
Post-Battle Modifications to the USS Monitor:
The Monitor's pilothouse had been damaged in the March 9 battle. Chief Engineer Alban Stimers redesigned the piilothouse with sloped sides to deflect shot. The smokestacks were raised. Firearms, grenades, and cutlasses were stored in the turret in case of boarders.
MARMO2_180601_350.JPG: March 21st:
A New Commander for the CSS Virginia:
The Virginia needed a new commander, too. Secretary of the Navy, Stephen Mallory, appointed sixty-seven-year-old Flag Officer Josiah Tattnall to replace the wounded Buchanan. His directive from Mallory was to make the Confederate ironclad "as destructive and formidable to the enemy as possible. The enemy... believes her to be disabled -- and to be undergoing extensive repairs... hence we may be able to surprise him and strike him a heavy blow in the Roads."
MARMO2_180601_353.JPG: April 4th:
A More Formidable CSS Virginia Leaves Gosport:
As fate would have it, the Virginia was finally ready on the day that the Union's McClellan began his march up the Peninsula. With the Virginia threatening Union naval forces in the James River, Federal naval support of McClellan's campaign was initially weak.
MARMO2_180601_355.JPG: April 5th:
Battle of Lee's Mill Halts the Campaign:
McClellan's Army of the Potomac was halted at Lee's Mill where Confederate General John Bankhead Magruder's 13,000-man army held a 12-mile line across the Peninsula.
Wanting to keep all of his resources in hand against the CSS Virginia, Union Flag Officer Louis Goldsborough, commander of the blockading squadron, refused to support McClellan's march. With no naval support to mount an amphibious operation to bypass Confederate lines, McClellan felt he had no choice but to besiege the Warwick-Yorktown Line.
MARMO2_180601_357.JPG: April 11th:
The CSS Virginia Comes Out:
The Virginia was itching to fight the Union Navy. But when she entered Hampton Roads early on April 11, Federal ships withdrew to the safety of Fort Monroe. The USS Monitor had strict orders not to engage the Virginia unless she moved into the deeper waters of the Chesapeake Bay. So "each party steamed back & forth before their respective friend's till dinner time," never firing a shot at the other.
MARMO2_180601_366.JPG: USS Monitor: Summer on the James
MARMO2_180601_369.JPG: "Heat, Mosquitoes and a Gouty Captain"
MARMO2_180601_372.JPG: April 12th:
Confederate Forces Reinforced and Reorganized:
Magruder's troops were heavily outnumbered. So the Army of Northern Virginia under General Joseph Eggleston Johnston moved from the Rappahannock River to the Peninsula. Magruder's command and Major General Benjamin Huger's Department of Norfolk were combined into the Army of Northern Virginia. Johnston was given control of all Confederate forces on the Peninsula to ensure Richmond's safety.
MARMO2_180601_373.JPG: May 5th:
Battle of Williamsburg:
Johnston ordered his Confederate troops to withdraw to Williamsburg on May 3, but Union troops did not begin their pursuit until the following evening. On May 5, 72,000 men clashed in the first pitched battle of the Peninsula Campaign. Union troops occupied Williamsburg while the Confederate Army continued its withdrawal up the Peninsula.
MARMO2_180601_375.JPG: May 6th:
President Lincoln Arrives at Fort Monroe:
President Lincoln was frustrated over the lack of progress in the Peninsula Campaign and was convinced that McClellan himself was to blame, saying of the general, "He has the slows." Concerned, Lincoln traveled to Fort Monroe to personally oversee military operations there. He visited the USS Monitor on May 7, where "he examined everything about the vessel with care."
MARMO2_180601_377.JPG: May 8th:
Union Attacks on Fort Boykin and Sewell's Point:
Lincoln ordered Goldsborough to launch his fleet against Norfolk and to open the James River in support of McClellan's advance toward Richmond. On May 8, the recently commissioned USS Galena and two other ships steamed into the James River and began bombarding Fort Boykin while the USS Monitor, the iron-hulled USRS Naugatuck, and three other vessels began shelling the Sewell's Point Battery. The shelling drew the CSS Virginia out of Gosport to challenge the Union assault, forcing the Federal fleet back to Fort Monroe.
MARMO2_180601_379.JPG: May 9th:
Union Troops Land at Ocean View:
Confederate Army Major General Huger asked for the CSS Virginia to position herself at Craney Island to cover the Confederate retreat from Norfolk and Portsmouth. But when Lincoln ordered a Union amphibious assault at Ocean View, northeast of Norfolk, Huger abruptly abandoned Norfolk without alerting the Confederate Navy.
MARMO2_180601_381.JPG: May 10th:
Tattnall Faces a Choice:
With Norfolk occupied by Union troops and the Confederate Army in retreat, Josiah Tattnall faced a difficult choice. He could attack the Union fleet, perhaps destroying several enemy vessels before going down in the blaze of glory. He could take the Virginia out to sea, where her fate would be uncertain. Or he could try to lighten the ironclad's load in order to clear the shallows at Harrison's Bar and take her up the James River.
MARMO2_180601_383.JPG: May 11th:
Fate of the CSS Virginia:
The crew threw almost everything overboard, but the Virginia's draft was still too deep to cross Harrison's Bar. Even worse, she was now so high in the water that her wooden hull was exposed.
Tattnall gave the order to destroy the Virginia. After running her aground at Craney Island, the crew spread combustibles and left. Catesby Jones and John Taylor Wood set a fuse and rowed for shore "by the light of our burning ship."
At 4:58am, she exploded. The sound brought the entire crew of the Monitor on deck.
MARMO2_180601_385.JPG: May 13th:
Crew of the CSS Virginia Tapped to Defend Richmond:
With Norfolk captured and the Virginia destroyed, what would stop the Federal fleet from steaming up the James River and capturing the Confederate capital of Richmond? The Confederates abandoned forts on the lower James and scrambled to strengthen positions upriver. Ordered to reinforce the Southside Artillery at Drewry's Bluff, the crew of the scuttled Virginia, under Lt. Catesby sp Roger Jones, hurried to build emplacements and mount heavy guns to harass the Union ships.
MARMO2_180601_387.JPG: May 15th:
"That is not the way to Richmond":
USS Monitor and her consorts anchored below Drewry's Bluff in the morning and began to bombard the defenses. But the Monitor was unable to elevate her guns enough to effectively participate in the bombardment. With high casualties and dwindling ammunition, the Union fleet retreated. From the bluff, Lt. John Taylor Wood shouted after the Monitor, "Tell Captain Jeffers that is not the way to Richmond."
MARMO2_180601_389.JPG: July 1st:
Battle of Malvern Hill Ends the Peninsula Campaign:
By the end of May, McClellan's army was nearing Richmond. Robert E Lee, now in command of the Confederate army, began his offensive, known as the Seven Days' Battle, on June 25 and had soon forced McClellan back to Malvern Hill. As part fo a Federal flotilla, the USS Monitor supported land operations and protected river transports during the Battle of Malvern Hill. The Federals fought off several assaults and retreated to safety at Harrison's Landing. But Lee's offensive had achieved its main objective: removing the threat to Richmond.
MARMO2_180601_391.JPG: July 9th:
The USS Monitor Poses for the Camera:
The summer was a mostly idle time for the Monitor's crew, whose main concern was surviving the heat and the mosquitoes. On July 9, after a visit from President Lincoln, officers and crew posed for photographer James Gibson, who took the only know photographs of the Monitor and her crew.
MARMO2_180601_393.JPG: September 30th:
The USS Monitor Goes to Washington Navy Yard:
The Monitor's new commander, John Payne Bankhead (who replaced Commander Thomas Stevens) received orders to take the ironclad to Washington Navy Yard for repairs on September 30. There the ship's hull was scraped, davits and cranes were added for handling the ship's boats, telescoping funnels were installed and interior changes made. The Monitor was a popular tourist attraction during her stay. Curiosity seekers came daily, and often left with unauthorized souvenirs.
MARMO2_180601_395.JPG: November 10th:
The USS Monitor and "Merrimac-on-the-brain":
On November 10, the Monitor returned to Hampton Roads to handle a new ironclad threat -- the "Merrimack II" (actually named the CSS Richmond) -- rumored to be nearing completion in Richmond. Impatiently awaiting the coming battle, Keeler complained, "Some of us will die off one of these days with 'Merrimac-on-the-brain.' The disease is raging furiously..."
The Richmond would not be commissioned until 1863.
MARMO2_180601_397.JPG: December 24th:
The USS Monitor Ordered South:
In December, the USS New Ironsides arrived in Hampton Roads, freeing up the Merrimac for duty elsewhere. On Christmas Eve, Bankhead received orders to take the ironclad to Beaufort, North Carolina. Crewman Jacob Nicklis wrote home to his father, "They say we will have a pretty rough time a going around Hatteras but I hope it will not be the case."
MARMO2_180601_399.JPG: Ironclads Influence the Course of the Civil War:
After March 9, both North and South put their ironclad-building programs on the fast track. Over the course of the war, the Union would build sixty-four monitors and nineteen other armored vessels. The Confederacy would build twenty-two casemate rams of the forty ironclads it built or bought. Some vessels were more successful than others -- but most were plagued by problems in the same areas as their prototypes: speed, power, stability, seaworthiness, and draft.
MARMO2_180601_401.JPG: Ironclads Influence the Course of the Civil War:
After March 9, both North and South put their ironclad-building programs on the fast track. Over the course of the war, the Union would build sixty-four monitors and nineteen other armored vessels. The Confederacy would build twenty-two casemate rams of the forty ironclads it built or bought. Some vessels were more successful than others -- but most were plagued by problems in the same areas as their prototypes: speed, power, stability, seaworthiness, and draft.
MARMO2_180601_403.JPG: Confederate Casemate Ironclads:
The Confederates didn't have the luxury of building many ironclads to order, so they converted the hull of the blockade-runner CSS Finfal into the casemate ironclad Atlanta. During an engagement with two Passaic-class monitors in June 1863, the CSS Atlanta ran aground and was forced to surrender.
Despite the Atlanta's undignified end, the Confederacy continued to build casemate-style ironclad vessels, though smaller and of lighter draft. The first of these was the CSS Richmond -- a flat-bottomed, shallow-draft design that was re-created in several lengths.
MARMO2_180601_405.JPG: USS Monitor
Replica designed and built for
Newport News Shipbuilding
A Division of Huntington Ingalls Industries
Christened June 11, 2006
Mrs. Nancy Briggs Petters, Sponsor
MARMO2_180601_444.JPG: An Upside-Down Time Capsule:
You are now standing on the ceiling of the USS Monitor's recreated gun turret. Keep in mind that the turret was upside down when it was recovered, and will remain upside down until it is fully conserved.
Here you see the turret as it would have appeared in the fall of 2002 during various stages of excavation and conservation. All structural features are accurate including the Dahlgren and carriage, cannon dents, and texture fo the concreted sediment.
Hundreds of artifacts were removed from the turret during the course of the excavation as well as the remains of two of the Monitor's crew.
MARMO2_180601_447.JPG: Cast of Starboard Dahlgren Gun Engraving:
Ericsson, Monitor & Merrimac
While the USS Monitor was undergoing repairs at the Washington Navy Yard in November, 1862, her guns were engraved to commemorate their finest moment. Fireman George Geer wrote to his wife Martha, "They have named her Guns Worden and Ericsson, and have the names engraved on them in very large Lettors..." Conservators created castings of the engravings, one of which you see here.
MARMO2_180601_454.JPG: The Recreated USS Monitor:
What you see before you is a full-size replica of the exterior of the Monitor. She is shown in "battle trim," similar to her appearance on March 9, 1862, when she engaged CSS Virginia in the historic first "Battle of the Ironclads."
The replica was designed and built by the men and women of the Northrop Grumman shipyard in Newport News. Built of large steel plates that are welded together, rather than smaller wrought iron plates riveted together, the replica provides the "feel" of the original Monitor. Imagine yourself alongside her crew by walking onto her deck through the doors to your left and right. You can also access the lower hull of the replica from the lower level.
MARMO2_180601_456.JPG: Design and Construction of the Monitor Replica:
The Northrop Grumman shipyard in Newport News built the replica as a contribution to the Monitor Center. Shipyard designers worked closely with historians and archaeologists of NOAA's Monitor National Marine Sanctuary, and with the curators and conservators of The Mariners' Museum to design a replica that could be built using modern materials and processes. The steel used in construction was donated by the US Navy.
MARMO2_180601_466.JPG: USS Monitor 2002: Raising the Turret:
On August 5, 2002, at 5:47pm, NOAA archaeologists and US navy divers accomplished what some thought was impossible -- the recovery of the Monitor's rotating gun from 240 feet below the ocean's surface off the coast of Cape Hatteras, NC. This spectacular feat was the culmination of five years of planning and successful recoveries from NOAA's Monitor National Marine Sanctuary. Raised from its watery grave with all of its contents intact, the turret was a veritable time capsule from December 31, 1862
Planning and Preparation:
In 1996, when the Monitor was deemed "at risk," NOAA devised a comprehensive plan for shoring up the crumbling hull and recovering some of the ship's key components. In preparation, the wreck site was surveyed and documented and the weak areas shored up. Because the turret was resting upside down underneath the stern portion of the hull, several major components of the Monitor had to be removed before the turret could be safely accessed. Anxiety prevailed until the turret landed safely on the recovery barge, Wotan, on August 5, 2002.
MARMO2_180601_468.JPG: Planning and Preparation
MARMO2_180601_470.JPG: A Floating City at Sea:
In the summer of 2002, NOAA and the US Navy made the last major expedition to the Monitor wreck site. For forty-one days, they lived aboard the 300-foot derrick barge, Wotan, which was equipped with saturation and surface diving equipment, a 500-ton crane, and an underwater remotely operated vehicle. The expedition objectives including removing decking and a section of armor belt that lay atop the turret and partial excavation and recovery of the turret.
MARMO2_180601_472.JPG: Monitor Recovery Expedition 2002:
On June 24, NOAA and US Navy personnel departed Norfolk, VA aboard the Wotan for NOAA's Monitor National Marine Sanctuary. After arriving they deployed eight 20,000-pound anchors to maintain position over the wreck. Next, they removed debris from Monitor's stern. A 30-ton section of hull structure was removed after cutting through layers of iron and wood. After nine days, Monitor's turret was completely uncovered for the first time since it sank on December 31, 1862.
Preparing for Turret Recovery:
With the turret exposed, divers began to install the 57,000-pound lifting frame, known as the "spider" and began excavating the interior of the turret. The turret was filed with layers of iron fragments, iron concretions, coal, and other hull debris. Excavation proceeded smoothly until July 10 when the weather turned. Squalls, thunderstorms, and strong bottom currents slowed operations. By 4:00am on July 10, surface-supplied diving had to be suspended, but saturation dividing continued.
Two Mysteries Solved:
On July 12, NOAA archaeologists uncovered one of the Dahlgren guns within the turret, ending speculation about their location. Then on July 24, a Navy saturation diver uncovered railroad rails that made up part of the turret's roof. "For years, historians debated whether or not the roof would still be in place because the Monitor's designer, John Ericsson, designed the roof for quick removal in two sections," said NOAA Historian Jeff Johnston. "We were very happy to see them."
MARMO2_180601_474.JPG: Preparing for Turret Recovery
MARMO2_180601_476.JPG: Two Mysteries Solved
MARMO2_180601_477.JPG: Understanding the Turret:
When the USS Monitor met the CSS Virginia on March 9, 1862 in the historic Battle of Hampton Roads, the men of the Monitor were understandably nervous about their untried vessel in combat. William Keeler recalled: "ours was an untried experiment & our enemy's first fire might make a coffin for us all." However, he continued, "if there had been a coward heart there its throb would have been audible, so intense was the stillness [before the battle]."
Firing on the Fly:
The crew of the Monitor had had virtually no time to become acquainted with their new-fangled ship and had little practice in operating the turret. During the battle it was quickly discovered that it was often difficult to stop the turning of the turret when the enemy was on target, so the guns fired while the turret remained in motion.
A 'Moving Target':
Although the Monitor's guns were frequently able to hit the Virginia, "firing on the fly" made it virtually impossible to concentrate fire on one particular spot, the Virginia's casemate. It also meant that the steadily rotating turret became a 'moving target' for the Virginia. This made it difficult for the Virginia to keep the Monitor's guns in its sights when she sought to disable them.
MARMO2_180601_482.JPG: Understanding the Turret:
When the USS Monitor met the CSS Virginia on March 9, 1862 in the historic Battle of Hampton Roads, the men of the Monitor were understandably nervous about their untried vessel in combat. William Keeler recalled: "ours was an untried experiment & our enemy's first fire might make a coffin for us all." However, he continued, "if there had been a coward heart there its throb would have been audible, so intense was the stillness [before the battle]."
Firing on the Fly:
The crew of the Monitor had had virtually no time to become acquainted with their new-fangled ship and had little practice in operating the turret. During the battle it was quickly discovered that it was often difficult to stop the turning of the turret when the enemy was on target, so the guns fired while the turret remained in motion.
A 'Moving Target':
Although the Monitor's guns were frequently able to hit the Virginia, "firing on the fly" made it virtually impossible to concentrate fire on one particular spot, the Virginia's casemate. It also meant that the steadily rotating turret became a 'moving target' for the Virginia. This made it difficult for the Virginia to keep the Monitor's guns in its sights when she sought to disable them.
MARMO2_180601_484.JPG: Firing on the Fly
MARMO2_180601_485.JPG: A "Moving Target"
MARMO2_180601_490.JPG: "Knocked Senseless" in the Turret:
The Monitor's crew were apprehensive about their untried, experimental vessel going head-to-head against the apparently invincible Confederate ironclad. These concerns were quickly dispelled when the Virginia's first shots failed to penetrate the turret. Monitor Fireman George Geer wrote, "Our ship resisted everything they could fire at her as though they were spit balls." Still, the shots had some effect on the crew, knocking the men who had been leaning against the turret wall off their feet.
MARMO2_180601_496.JPG: Adding to the Record:
Monitor's revolving gun turret will require many years of conservation. But this does not mean that her secrets are still locked away. By comparing original engineering drawings with archaeological data obtained from the gun turret after recovery, we have been able to clarify numerous details not previously known or understood about the turret, thus laying the groundwork for future study. Using this scholarship, Mariners' Museum and NOAA staff have been able to build this partial recreation of the Monitor's turret highlighting construction details such as the layering of plates in a staggered pattern (in order to leave no weak points) and the additional diagonal bracing that does not appear in Ericsson's original plans.
CAD drawing of turret structure by Christopher Voll:
Museum Exhibition staff took information from John Ericsson's original plans as well as from NOAA's archeological findings and created this cut-away view fo the turret. On the full-sized recreation, the first course of armor is shown in black, the other seven courses are shown coated with white zinc which was used as a corrosion inhibitor.
MARMO2_180601_499.JPG: Turret Features and Flaws:
Staggered Iron Armor Plates:
Ericsson was cautious and calculating in the design of his turret. Understanding that lining up each turret plate would result in weak spots or seams in the turret wall, he staggered the location of each plate in order to strengthen the overall structure. Archaeological evidence from the real turret, currently undergoing conservation, suggests the Ericsson's foresight proved invaluable. One exterior dent caused by cannon fire was so strong that it is clearly visible from inside the turret. A sot of this power would have easily penetrated any wooden warship of the era.
Ceiling and Roof Structure:
Prior to discovery, perhaps the least documented area of the revolving gun turret was the roof. The USS Monitor's roof was a combination of flat iron and perforated iron plates lightly bolted to inverted railroad rails that were mounted to cast-iron roof support beams. The perforations over the guns allowed heat and smoke to escape and offered some degree of light. The roof could not be overly fortified on the chance that structural repairs needed to be made inside the turret or to a Dahlgren gun.
Guns:
Although only one Dahlgren gun is visible, Monitor's turret held two XI-inch guns. At over 13-feet long, these guns occupied the majority of open space within the turret. In order to support the oppressive weight of these 8-ton monsters, Ericsson added additional diagonal bracing forward and aft that did not appear in his original drawings.
MARMO2_180601_502.JPG: Staggered Iron Armor Plates
MARMO2_180601_503.JPG: Ceiling and Roof Structure
MARMO2_180601_504.JPG: Guns
MARMO2_180601_507.JPG: Carriages and Gunslides
MARMO2_180601_508.JPG: The Revolving Turret in Action
MARMO2_180601_511.JPG: A Flag in the Design
MARMO2_180601_516.JPG: Anchor Chain
Shortly before midnight on December 30, 1862, Captain John Bankhead "ordered the anchor to be let go and all the chain given her" to help stabilize the USS Monitor as she fought the growing storm. Recovery crews found the anchor and its chain 400 feet off the starboard bow of the wreck in 1983.
MARMO2_180601_527.JPG: The USS Monitor Below the Deck:
Welcome below the deck of the Monitor. What you see in this large gallery are recovered and conserved components of the Monitor's stern areas, a glass panel print of her vibrating side-lever steam engine, and a view from below deck into the as-built revolving gun turret. These features have been recreated to add context to the recovered elements. Step back in time more than 140 years and experience life aboard the Monitor!
MARMO2_180601_533.JPG: The Engine
MARMO2_180601_535.JPG: The Engine
MARMO2_180601_537.JPG: Disassembling, Conserving, and Rebuilding the Engine
MARMO2_180601_540.JPG: How the Engine Worked
MARMO2_180601_544.JPG: In the USS Monitor's Engine Room:
You are now standing where the Monitor's two Martin boilers would have been. The diamond plate floor pattern marks the extent of the engine room floor. The port coal bunker in front of you was matched by an identical coal bunker on the starboard side. Space was tight and the atmosphere was very hot. As many as seven or eight men worked in the engine room. Engineers supervised all operations there. Firemen tended the boilers, and coal heavers kept the coal supply ready for the fires.
The Engineers:
Before the development of ironclads, officers-of-the-line had little regard for engineers. But with the introduction of ironclads, beginning with the Monitor, line officers became dependent on engineers. Their expertise was essential in the operation of a ship relying solely upon steam power. The engineers monitored closely the critical conditions, such as steam pressure and the salinity of the water in the boilers.
MARMO2_180601_548.JPG: "Donkey Engines"
MARMO2_180601_551.JPG: "Donkey Engines"
MARMO2_180601_557.JPG: Why a donkey?
MARMO2_180601_562.JPG: The USS Monitor -- Forward:
Forward of the midships bulkhead was the berth deck. This is where the Monitor's enlisted men "strung" their hammocks. The outboard sides of the berth deck were lined with storage closets, the ship's powder magazine and shell room. One ladderway provided access up into the turret, while another led up to a deck hatch forward of the turret. "Officer's country" was separated from the berth deck by a wood bulkhead. Forward of that bulkhead were eight officer's cabins, the wardroom, and the Captain's cabin and state room. The anchor windlass and pilot house were located forward of the Captain's quarters.
MARMO2_180601_569.JPG: Center Bulkhead and Turret Mechanism
MARMO2_180601_572.JPG: Lifting the Turret to Prepare for Action
MARMO2_180601_574.JPG: Rotating the Turret
MARMO2_180601_576.JPG: The "Heads"
MARMO2_180601_583.JPG: Engineers' Store Room
MARMO2_180601_591.JPG: Keeping the Fires Banked and the Coal Ready
MARMO2_180601_600.JPG: Protecting the Propeller:
Positioned beneath the extreme stern of the deck, the propeller was also protected by the armor belt of the upper hull. A cannonball fired at the propeller, or any other submerged part of the vessel, would have to pass through a massive wall of water to reach it. No projectile at that time could travel through that much water and retain enough velocity to do any damage. Ericsson also notched out a well in the underside of the overhand near the stern to give free sweep to the propeller blades.
Damage to the Propeller:
NOAA archaeologists discovered that three propeller blades were heavily damaged. Historical accounts state that the engine was shut down the night it sank -- it was not turning. The USS Monitor then landed upside down on the seabed with the propeller projecting up from the inverted deck. The propeller was probably damaged sometime after leaving the Washington Navy Yard in November 1862, but before the engines were shut down on December 30, 1862.
MARMO2_180601_603.JPG: Operating the Propeller
MARMO2_180601_606.JPG: John Ericsson's Propeller:
The 9-foot diameter propeller was an improvement of John Ericsson's own revolutionary design of the screw propeller. The USS Monitor's four-blade configuration was more efficient than the three-blade type and it became the standard for subsequent iron and steel warships. This design is still prevalent in modern warship construction. The propeller, recovered by NOAA in 1998, underwent six years of conservation and is believed to be the only existing example of an Ericsson screw propeller.
MARMO2_180601_621.JPG: USS Monitor 1998: Recovery of the Propeller
MARMO2_180601_622.JPG: USS Monitor 1998: Recovery of the Propeller
MARMO2_180601_625.JPG: 1995 Propeller Recovery Hampered by Severe Weather
MARMO2_180601_626.JPG: Successful Recovery of the Propeller
MARMO2_180601_630.JPG: John Ericsson's Propeller
The Monitor's propeller...
MARMO2_180601_634.JPG: What Happened Next to the Propeller?
MARMO2_180601_637.JPG: USS Monitor 2000: Recovering the Shaft and Skeg
MARMO2_180601_640.JPG: USS Monitor 2000: Recovering the Shaft and Skeg
MARMO2_180601_644.JPG: The final section of the Monitor's propeller shaft following recovery. A section of the bulkhead is attached to the shaft.
MARMO2_180601_647.JPG: Small Finds: 2000
MARMO2_180601_654.JPG: Not Soon Forgotten
MARMO2_180601_657.JPG: The Ancestor of All Modern Warships
MARMO2_180601_660.JPG: The Meaning of the USS Monitor
MARMO2_180601_670.JPG: USS Monitor's Engine Room Clock:
The clock in the Monitor's engine room helped the Engineers keep track of the hours the engine ran. Regularly scheduled maintenance and lubrication were required to keep the Monitor's engine and other machinery running smoothly.
When did the Clock Stop?
The hands of the clock have largely disappeared due to rust, but the remains of the hour hand are pointing to one o'clock. This is about the time the Monitor's survivors said she went down.
Will it run again?
No.. the brass parts of the clock are in such good condition after conservation that it might be possible to get it running, but this would result in wearing out the original historic parts which no longer have the strength they once did. After nearly 140 years on the ocean floor all the steel parts and screws have corroded. These parts have been carefully re-created by Roger Conner of Virginia Beach and re-assembled to show the clock movement as it appeared before the sinking.
MARMO2_180601_679.JPG: Will it run again?
No.. the brass parts of the clock are in such good condition after conservation that it might be possible to get it running, but this would result in wearing out the original historic parts which no longer have the strength they once did. After nearly 140 years on the ocean floor all the steel parts and screws have corroded. These parts have been carefully re-created by Roger Conner of Virginia Beach and re-assembled to show the clock movement as it appeared before the sinking.
MARMO2_180601_682.JPG: "My Dear Wife..."
MARMO2_180601_691.JPG: Gun from CSS Virginia
MARMO2_180601_693.JPG: Inscription on the gun
One of the Guns of the
MERRIMAC
In the action with the US Frigates
CUMBERLAND and CONGRESS
March 8th, 1862.
When the chase was shot off.
The mutilation of Trunnions &c shows the
ineffectual attempts to destroy the Gun when the US
abandoned the Norfolk Navy Yard. April 20th, 1861.
MARMO3_180601_001.JPG: Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark
Worthington Direct-Acting Simplex Steam Pump
1862
Seeking a way to inject water into a steam boiler when the engine it served was stopped, Henry R. Worthington (1817-1880) developed this simplex pump. Its steam and water pistons were directly connected, thus eliminating the crosshead, rod, and flywheel of earlier designs. The pump's small size and reliability made it ideal for marine and other confined-space uses.
Two simplex pumps were installed aboard the USS Monitor to handle water for boiler, bilge, and fire-fighting needs. They are the earliest known survivors of Worthington's pioneering design, the basis for a variety of industrial, utility, and marine applications.
ASME The American Society of Mechanical Engineers -- 2016
MARMO3_180601_005.JPG: ASM International
The Materials Information Society
has designated
USS Monitor
a historical landmark
"With innovations such as a revolving gun turret, steam-driving propulsion, and its iconic ironclad construction, the USS Monitor heralded the arrival of the modern warship."
2010
MARMO3_180601_012.JPG: The Engine and Condenser: 50 Tons of Mixed Materials:
Of all the objects recovered from the USS Monitor, the 40-ton steam engine and 10-ton steam condenser are made of many different materials, including copper pipes, iron washers, rubber gaskets, and lead solder. Objects made from more than one material are called "composite" artifacts.
Composite Challenges:
Composite artifacts can be a challenge for the conservator. Treatments that are appropriate one one kind of material are often not suitable for the other. The preferred plan for treating a composite artifact is to take it apart so that each piece can be treated individually. During disassembly, thorough documentation of the object is essential. The parts can then be reassembled correctly after treatment.
MARMO3_180601_015.JPG: The Engine and Condenser: 50 Tons of Mixed Materials:
Of all the objects recovered from the USS Monitor, the 40-ton steam engine and 10-ton steam condenser are made of many different materials, including copper pipes, iron washers, rubber gaskets, and lead solder. Objects made from more than one material are called "composite" artifacts.
Composite Challenges:
Composite artifacts can be a challenge for the conservator. Treatments that are appropriate one one kind of material are often not suitable for the other. The preferred plan for treating a composite artifact is to take it apart so that each piece can be treated individually. During disassembly, thorough documentation of the object is essential. The parts can then be reassembled correctly after treatment.
MARMO3_180601_032.JPG: Panoramic Interior View of the Turret:
There are a number of interesting features visible in this image of the interior of the Monitor's turret as it was undergoing excavation. See if you can find the gun port shutters, the roof rails, the turret sights and, of course, the dents. Some dents were made from cannonballs hitting the outside of the turret, while others resulted from the recoil of the guns inside the turret. It's not aas easy as it looks -- remember everything is upside down!
MARMO3_180601_038.JPG: The Revolving Gun Turret:
The USS Monitor's gun turret is constructed of eight layers of wrought-iron plates -- 192 separate plates in all. To insure that salts, accumulated in the iron after 140 years in the Atlantic, have been removed, the turret must undergo many years of desalination treatment before it can be allowed to dry out. Immersed in 90,000 gallons of water, the turret is now under an "impressed current system" to prevent further corrosion and to begin the chloride leaching process. The colored wires running across the tanks provide constant monitoring of the turret's corrosion potential and the acidity or alkalinity of the storage solutions.
This overhead view was taken as documentation of the turret before any support pieces or the guns and carriages were removed from the turret. The four gun slides and several other support pieces were removed to allow access to the guns and carriages.
MARMO3_180601_048.JPG: Conservators: The Object Doctors
MARMO3_180601_057.JPG: Dahlgren Guns and Carriages:
These XI-inch Dahlgren guns were cast at the West Point Foundry in Cold Spring, New York, in 1859. Although they were originally intended for use on another ship, they were installed in the USS Monitor's turret in early 1862. Each gun weighs approximately 8 tons and is 13 feet long. The gun carriages were designed by John Ericsson specifically for use in the Monitor's turret.
Conserving the Dahlgrens:
Because the guns are all metal, conservators can rely strictly on chemicals to inhibit corrosion. Sodium hydroxide keeps the pH of the solution very high and allows the chlorides to leach out, thus preventing further corrosion. The gun carriages, however, have a wooden frame under the metal covering. Organic materials cannot be stored in highly alkaline solutions, so the gun carriages are treated with an impressed current system for corrosion protection.
MARMO3_180601_060.JPG: A Cat in the Cannon?
An enduring legend surrounding the Monitor involves the Dahlgren guns. In an article published 23 years after the Monitor's sinking, Francis B. Butts, a crewman, wrote:
I took off my coat -- one that I had received from home only a few days before (I could not feel that our noble little ship was yet lost) -- and rolling it up with my boots, drew the tampion from one of the guns, placed them inside, and replaced the tampion. A black cat was sitting on the breech of one of the guns, howling one of those hoarse and solemn tunes which no one can appreciate who is not fulled with superstitions which I had been taught by the sailors, who are always afraid to kill a cat. I would almost as soon have touched a ghost, but I caught her, and placing her in another gun, replaced the wad and tampion; but I could still hear that distressing yowl.
MARMO3_180601_063.JPG: Here Kitty Kitty...
Despite the popularity of Butts's account, no evidence supports a cat on board the Monitor. No cat appears in any of the ship's photos, nor do any crewmen mention one in any of the letters or journals. In the fall of 2005, conservators excavated the bores of the guns. Because of limited space between the end of the muzzles and the tank walls, special tools were constructed with sectioned handles that screwed together. With approximately 98% of the bores excavated, conservators found no traces of boots, a coat, or a cat. Francis Butts evidently felt the truth about his fanciful tale would remain buried deep in the Atlantic Ocean. He could not have foreseen underwater archaeologists and conservators debunking his account.
MARMO3_180601_065.JPG: Conserving the Dahlgrens:
Because the guns are all metal, conservators can rely strictly on chemicals to inhibit corrosion. Sodium hydroxide keeps the pH of the solution very high and allows the chlorides to leach out, thus preventing further corrosion. The gun carriages, however, have a wooden frame under the metal covering. Organic materials cannot be stored in highly alkaline solutions, so the gun carriages are treated with an impressed current system for corrosion protection.
MARMO3_180601_073.JPG: Dahlgren Guns and Carriages:
These XI-inch Dahlgren guns were cast at the West Point Foundry in Cold Spring, New York, in 1859. Although they were originally intended for use on another ship, they were installed in the USS Monitor's turret in early 1862. Each gun weighs approximately 8 tons and is 13 feet long. The gun carriages were designed by John Ericsson specifically for use in the Monitor's turret.
Conserving the Dahlgrens:
Because the guns are all metal, conservators can rely strictly on chemicals to inhibit corrosion. Sodium hydroxide keeps the pH of the solution very high and allows the chlorides to leach out, thus preventing further corrosion. The gun carriages, however, have a wooden frame under the metal covering. Organic materials cannot be stored in highly alkaline solutions, so the gun carriages are treated with an impressed current system for corrosion protection.
MARMO3_180601_080.JPG: Conserving the Monitor
MARMO3_180601_088.JPG: Why Conserve?
MARMO3_180601_090.JPG: First Steps
MARMO3_180601_092.JPG: Lab Notes
MARMO3_180601_094.JPG: Metals
MARMO3_180601_096.JPG: Brass Engine Register from the Monitor
Non-ferrous metals include copper, brass, bronze, lead, silver, and gold. Non-ferrous metals are generally in better condition than those made from iron. Gold, the most "noble" metal, requires only desalinization and a final polish.
MARMO3_180601_098.JPG: The Conservation Wet Lab
MARMO3_180601_100.JPG: The Overhead Crane
MARMO3_180601_104.JPG: The Tanks
MARMO3_180601_110.JPG: Panoramic Interior View of the Turret:
There are a number of interesting features visible in this image of the interior of the Monitor's turret as it was undergoing excavation. See if you can find the gun port shutters, the roof rails, the turret sights and, of course, the dents. Some dents were made from cannonballs hitting the outside of the turret, while others resulted from the recoil of the guns inside the turret. It's not aas easy as it looks -- remember everything is upside down!
MARMO3_180601_112.JPG: It's Not All About Metal
MARMO3_180601_115.JPG: It's Not All About Metal
MARMO3_180601_117.JPG: Willow Ware plate fragment from USS Monitor
Glass wine bottle from Monitor
AAA "Gem": AAA considers this location to be a "must see" point of interest. To see pictures of other areas that AAA considers to be Gems, click here.
Wikipedia Description: Mariners' Museum
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Mariners' Museum is located in Newport News, Virginia. It is one of the largest maritime museums in the world as well as being the largest in North America.
History
The museum was founded in 1932 by Archer Milton Huntington, son of Collis P. Huntington, a railroad builder who brought the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway to Warwick County, Virginia, and who founded the City of Newport News, its coal export facilities, and Newport News Shipbuilding in the late 19th century.
Archer and his wife, the sculptor Anna Hyatt Huntington, acquired 800 acres (3.2 kmē) of land that would come to hold 61,000 square feet (5,700 mē) of exhibition galleries, a research library, a 167 acre (676,000 mē) lake, a five mile (8 km) shoreline trail with fourteen bridges, and over 35,000 maritime artifacts from around the globe. After acquisition took place, the first two years were devoted to creating and improving a natural park and constructing a dam to create Lake Maury, named after the nineteenth-century Virginia oceanographer Commodore Matthew Fontaine Maury.
Artifacts, paintings, models
The museum’s collection totals approximately 32,000 artifacts equally divided between works of art and three-dimensional objects. The scope of the collection is international and includes miniature ship models, scrimshaw, maritime paintings, decorative arts, carved figureheads, working steam engines, and the world's only known existing Kratz-built steam calliope. The museum holds important collections of paintings and drawings by marine artists James Bard and Antonio Jacobsen. The museum offers educational programs for all ages, a large research library and archives, as well as publications and Internet resources for teachers.
USS Monitor Center
The Mariners' Museum is home to the USS Monitor Center. In 1973, the wreck of the ironclad USS Monitor, made famous in the Battle of Hampton Roads in 1862 during the American Civil ...More...
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I still have them though. If you want me to email them to you, please send an email to guthrie.bruce@gmail.com
and I can email them to you, or, depending on the number of images, just repost the page again will the full-sized images.
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[Museums (History)]
2018 photos: Equipment this year: I continued to use my Fuji XS-1 cameras but, depending on the event, I also used a Nikon D7000.
Overnight trips this year:
(February) Greenville, NC for a Civil War Trust conference,,
(May/June) Newport News, VA for another CWT conference,
(July) my 13th consecutive trip to San Diego Comic-Con (including sites in Reno, Sacramento, San Francisco, and Los Angeles),
(August twice, October) three trips to New York City (including New York Comic-Con), and
(September) Chicago, IL for my CWT swansong event..
Number of photos taken this year: about 535,000.
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