Battle of Hampton Roads
The battle was a part of the effort of the Confederacy to break the Union blockade, which had cut off Virginia's largest cities and major industrial centers, Norfolk and Richmond, from international trade.[2][3] At least one historian has argued that, rather than trying to break the blockade, the Confederacy was simply trying to take complete control of Hampton Roads in order to protect Norfolk and Richmond.The Confederate fleet consisted of the ironclad ram Virginia (built from remnants of the burned steam frigate USS Merrimack, the newest warship of the Union Navy) and several supporting vessels.However, the action was halted by darkness and falling tide, so Virginia retired to take care of her few wounded—which included her captain, Flag Officer Franklin Buchanan—and repair her minimal battle damage.[5] Determined to complete the destruction of Minnesota, Catesby ap Roger Jones, acting as captain in Buchanan's absence, returned the ship to the fray the next morning, March 9.The duel ended indecisively, Virginia returning to her home at the Gosport Navy Yard for repairs and strengthening, and Monitor to her station defending Minnesota.Although Britain and France had been engaged in an iron-clad arms race since the 1830s, the Battle of Hampton Roads signaled a new age of naval warfare had arrived for the whole world.[8] On April 19, 1861, shortly after the outbreak of hostilities at Charleston Harbor, US President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a blockade of ports in the seceded states.[12] Without firing a shot, the advocates of secession had gained for the South its largest navy yard, as well as the hull and engines of what would be in time its most famous warship.To prevent Union warships from attacking the yard, the Confederates set up batteries at Sewell's Point and Craney Island, at the juncture of the Elizabeth River with the James.As he looked upon it, the Confederacy could not match the industrial North in numbers of ships at sea, so they would have to compete by building vessels that individually outclassed those of the Union.[25] When Mallory's men searched the South for factories that could build engines to drive the heavy ships that he wanted, they found no place to do it immediately.[41] Marston did, however, disregard orders from Secretary of War Gideon Welles to send the Monitor back to Washington, D.C., ahead of the battle, ensuring that it would be present to confront the Merrimack.One of the wounded was Captain Buchanan, who stood out into the open top of the Virginia, thinking it was perfectly safe, which led to him having his left thigh pierced by a rifle shot.As Lincoln's Cabinet met to discuss the disaster, the frightened Secretary of War Edwin Stanton told the others that Virginia might attack East coast cities, and even shell the White House before the meeting ended.[60] "All on board felt we had a friend that would stand by us in our hour of trial," wrote Captain Gershom Jacques Van Brunt, Minnesota's commander, in his official report the day after the engagement.At first, Jones believed the strange craft—which one Confederate sailor mocked as "a cheese on a raft"—to be a boiler being towed from the Minnesota, not realizing the nature of his opponent."Again, all hands were called to quarters, and when she approached within a mile of us I opened upon her with my stern guns and made a signal to the Monitor to attack the enemy," Van Brunt added.[64] Monitor's guns were used with the standard service charge of only 15 lb (6.8 kg) of powder, which did not give the projectile sufficient momentum to penetrate her opponent's armor.[67][68][69] The battle finally ceased when a shell from Virginia struck the pilot house of Monitor and exploded, driving fragments of paint and iron through the viewing slits into Worden's eyes and temporarily blinding him.It will be remembered that the Virginia was a novelty in naval architecture, wholly unlike any ship that ever floated; that her heaviest guns were equal novelties in ordnance; that her motive power and obedience to her helm were untried, and her officers and crew strangers, comparatively, to the ship and to each other; and yet, under all these disadvantages, the dashing courage and consummate professional ability of Flag Officer Buchanan and his associates achieved the most remarkable victory which naval annals record.In Washington, belief that Monitor had vanquished Virginia was so strong that Worden and his men were awarded the thanks of Congress:[72] Resolved ... That the thanks of Congress and the American people are due and are hereby tendered to Lieutenant J. L. Worden, of the United States Navy, and to the officers and men of the ironclad gunboat Monitor, under his command, for the skill and gallantry exhibited by them in the remarkable battle between the Monitor and the rebel ironclad steamer Merrimack.During the two-day engagement, USS Minnesota shot off 78 rounds of 10-inch solid shot; 67 rounds of 10-inch shells with 15-second fuse; 169 rounds of 9-inch solid shot; 180 9-inch shells with 15-second fuse; 35 8-inch shells with 15-second fuse and 5,567.5 pounds of service powder.Because the blockade was unbroken, Norfolk was of little strategic use to the Confederacy, and preliminary plans were laid to move the ship up the James River to the vicinity of Richmond.[80] The victory claims that were made by each side in the immediate aftermath of the Battle of Hampton Roads, as both were based on misinterpretations of the opponent's behavior, have been dismissed by present-day historians.Despite the battle ending in a stalemate, it was seen by both sides as an opportunity to raise war-time morale, especially since the ironclad ships were an exciting naval innovation that intrigued citizens.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.[85] However, while the design proved exceptionally well-suited for river combat, the low profile and heavy turret caused poor seaworthiness in rough waters.Russia, fearing that the American Civil War would spill into Russian Alaska, launched ten sister ships, as soon as Ericsson's plans reached St. Petersburg.The remains of the ship were found upside down 16 mi (26 km) off Cape Hatteras, on a relatively flat, sandy bottom at a depth of about 240 ft (73 m).They were transported back to Hampton Roads to the Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Virginia, where they were treated in special tanks to stabilize the metal.In New York City, where the designer of the Monitor, John Ericsson, died in March 1889, a statue was commissioned by the state to commemorate the battle between the Ironclads.
American Civil WarKurz and AllisonSewell's PointHampton RoadsUnited StatesConfederate StatesJohn MarstonJohn WordenFranklin BuchananCatesby JonesironcladMonitorfrigatesshore batteryVirginiagunboattendersYorktownWilliamsburgEltham's LandingDrewry's BluffHanover Court HouseSeven PinesSeven Days BattlesOak GroveBeaver Dam CreekGaines' MillGarnett's & Golding's FarmSavage's StationWhite Oak SwampGlendaleMalvern Hillnaval battleroadsteadElizabethNansemondJames RiverChesapeake BayNorfolkConfederacyRichmondironclad warshipsUSS MonitorCSS VirginiaUSS MerrimackUnion NavyUSS CongressUSS CumberlandUSS MinnesotaCatesby ap Roger JonesGosport Navy YardGreat BritainFrancePeninsula CampaignEastern Theater of the American Civil WarCharleston HarborAbraham LincolnblockadeCaptainCharles S. McCauleySecretary of the NavyGideon WellesCumberlandthe large drydock thereElizabeth RiverFort MonroeOld Point ComfortVirginia PeninsulaRip RapsFort WoolNewport NewsHamptonCrimean WarLa GloireHMS WarriorCSS VirginiaStephen R. MalloryJohn M. BrookeJohn L. PorterWilliam P. WilliamsonTredegar Iron Worksgraving dockDahlgrensBrooke riflesUSS MonitorIronclad BoardHiram PauldingCommanderCharles Henry DavisJohn EricssonGreenpoint, BrooklynHampton Roads order of battleLieutenantLouis M. GoldsboroughBurnside ExpeditionUSS RoanokeJohn L. WordenRaleighBeaufortPatrick HenryJamestownTeasersloop-of-warCongressSt. LawrenceRoanokeMinnesotastoreshipBrandywineJoseph B. SmithJames River SquadronJohn Randolph Tuckerhot shotWorld War IISecretary of WarEdwin StantonWhite HouseCurrier and IvesDahlgren gunsLouis N. StodderStimersgun turretSamuel Dana GreeneCSS JamestownStephen MalloryPeter Williams