Despite the late start and the novelty of construction, Monitor was actually completed a few days before her counterpart Virginia, but the Confederates activated Virginia first. if (isRetina) { At dawn on March 9, Worden told the Minnesotas captain, I will stand by you to the last if I can help you.. var cookiePair = cookie.split('='); } else { At the urging of his wartime adviser, Francis P. Blair, Sr., Pres. }); On 8 March 1862 the Confederate ironclad ram, CSS Virginia destroyed two wooden battleships, which signified the end of the wooden warship era. var googletag = googletag || {}; With its ram stuck fast inside the Cumberland, the Virginia risked be carried under by the sinking Federal ship. Quotes by and about Battle of Hampton Roads. Impressed by the ease with which Virginia had sunk Cumberland, naval architects began to incorporate rams into their hull designs. [67], Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory wrote to Confederate President Davis of the action:[68]. The Battle of Hampton Roads is the most famous naval battle in history of the United States Civil War. [58], After fighting for hours, mostly at close range, neither could overcome the other. Though they had short lives, the naval battle between the two ironclads ushered in a new era in naval warfare. You have to do what you can to keep the family going. The Monitor went down in bad weather off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, at the end of the year. On this day in history, the U.S.S Monitor and the C.S.S Virginia would engage in the first battle between Ironclads. Ericsson's Monitor, which was built at Ericsson's yard on the East River in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, incorporated new and striking design features, the most significant of which were her armor and armament. g = p.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; [56], The United States Navy's greatest defeat (and would remain so until World War II) caused panic in Washington. Great Britain followed a year later with HMSWarrior, the world's first armor-plated iron-hulled warship. Ohio Civil War Central: Encyclopedia of the American Civil War. There is nothing material or social in it. throw new Error("could not load device-specific stylesheet : " + err.message); [28] A serious flaw in the design was the pilot house from which the ship would be conned, a small structure forward of the turret on the main deck. Its presence meant that the guns could not fire directly forward, and it was isolated from other activities on the ship. googletag.pubads().setTargeting("author", [177344]); ! During its battle with the USS Monitor the next day, the Virginia sought to employ its ram, not knowing that this weapon now lay at the bottom of Hampton Roads. Show your pride in battlefield preservation by shopping in our store. } The blockade, initiated on April 30, 1861, cut off Norfolk and Richmond from the sea almost completely. The Battle of Hampton Roads was fought March 8-9, 1862, and was part of the American Civil War (1861-1865). [78] All would acknowledge that the Southern fleet inflicted far more damage than it received, which would ordinarily imply that they had gained a tactical victory. var sourcesToHideBuyFeatures = ["ebfg_gr", "ebfg_fb", "ebfg_fbm", "ebfg_tw", This simple weapon, altogether similar to what one would have found on a Roman Trireme or Ottoman Galley, devastated the USS Cumberland. [CDATA[ Both days of the battle attracted attention from almost all the world's navies. googletag.pubads().disableInitialLoad(); At the time the vessels were locked, one of Cumberland's anchors was hanging directly above the foredeck of Virginia. var node = document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0]; On April 4, she was able to leave drydock. In part, this was because each was handicapped in her offensive capabilities. Seeing what had happened to Cumberland, Lieutenant Joseph B. Smith, captain of Congress, ordered his ship grounded in shallow water. On March 8, 1862 the CSS Virginia was commandeered by Flag Officer Franklin Buchanan to take on the USS Cumberland off the coast of Newport News, Virginia. [88] Despite the official name change, Union accounts persisted in calling Merrimack by her original name, while Confederate sources used either Virginia or Merrimac(k). var e = document.createElement("script"); e.src = "https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41mrkPcyPwL.js"; document.head.appendChild(e); , As such, he could control the movements of Virginia. [35], The Confederate chain of command was anomalous. Virginia was originally the U.S.S. She also imposed other constraints on the Peninsula Campaign then being mounted by the Union Army under General George B. McClellan, who worried that she could interfere with his positions on the York River. Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the U.S. Confederate States presidential election of 1861, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Battle_of_Hampton_Roads&oldid=1149667896, Battles of the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War, Battles of the American Civil War in Virginia, Inconclusive battles of the American Civil War, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from March 2019, Articles needing additional references from October 2022, All articles needing additional references, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Sleater-Kinney recorded an indie rock song referencing the battle, "Ironclad," on the album, This page was last edited on 13 April 2023, at 17:37. Return fire from Cumberland and Congress bounced off the iron plates without penetrating, although later some of Cumberland's gunfire lightly damaged Virginia. var gads = document.createElement("script"); Battle of Hampton Roads Map.png 939 934; 397 KB. The vessel was still there when the Civil War began in April 1861, and Union sailors sank the ship as the yard was evacuated. [60][56] The first shot of the engagement was fired at Monitor by Virginia. A = p.createElement(s); window.Mobvious.device_type = 'mobile'; At the best facility, the Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, building engines from scratch would take at least a year. The Monitor had set sail only three days earlier from Brooklyn under the command of Lieutenant John L. Worden. //
