The Battle Of Hampton Roads
By: Erick Gonzalez and Tyler Vaughn
The Battle of Hampton Roads
The Battle of Hampton Roads was an important naval battle in the Civil War. The CSS Virginia (Merrimack) and the USS Moniter clashed on March 8, 1862 and exchanged fire at eachother unill the next day. The Union and the Confederacy had constructed new warships that couldn't bring each other down!
Before the Battle
The CSS Virginia
The CSS Virginia had originally been an abandoned Union warship called the Merrimack. The Confederacy took advantage of this abandoned warship to remake a better and improved ironclad warship.
Steven Mallory's Idea
The commander the Confederate Navy, Steven Mallory decided that he needed something new to break the Northern blockades. Mallory took advantage of the Union's abandoned warship called the Merrimack. The Merrimack would be renamed the CSS Virginia. The CSS Virginia was now an unstoppable ironclad warship.
The CSS Virginia's Specs
The CSS Virginia was 273 feet long with a ram on the front of the ship. It had a width of 39 feet, a height of 22 feet, and it weighed 4,200 tons. The ship had 10 guns total. The whole ship was surrounded in 2 layers of 2 inch iron plates. The ship could reach 6 knots with a crew of 300 men and 300 officers.
The USS Cumberland/Congress destroyed
The CSS Virginia left its dock at Norfolk, and set out to complete naval operations. On March 8, 1862, the CSS Virginia struck the USS Cumberland an ended up destroying the ship. Later the CSS Virginia struck the USS Congress and destroyed that ship too. In the picture above, a damaged gun from the CSS Virginia is shown. The Union had a hard time giving big damage!
The Monitor
The Monitor was the Ironclad that The Union ended up making. After the Union got word of the Confederate ironclad warship, they decided to make an ironclad of their own.
The Union Plan
As the CSS Virginia was destroying Union ships, the Union had been creating an ironclad of their own. The Union responded to the attacks by the CSS Virginia by completing their own ironclad. John Ericsson designed this new ironclad named the USS Monitor.
The USS Monitor's Specs
The USS Monitor had a length of 172 feet, a width of 41 feet, a height of 10.5 feet, and a weight of 987 tons. The USS Monitor was a smaller ship with only 2 guns, but these 2 guns were connected to a revolving turret. The ship had 8 layers of 1 inch iron plates on the revolving turret and 5 layer around the rest of the ship. This ship could 7-8 knots with a crew of 48 men and 10 officers.
The USS Monitor is ready to go
The USS Monitor had been completed and was all set. The Union would wait for the CSS Virginia to strike another Union ship, and catch the Confederacy by surprise. The captain of the ship was John Worden.
During the Battle
The CSS Virginia attacks again
The CSS Virginia had been successful in destroying the USS Cumberland and the USS Congress. The next day, the CSS Virginia planned another attack on the USS Minnesota. Captain Franklin Buchanan's ship was seeming very successful.
A turning point
The CSS Virginia was able to find a good place to fire at the USS Minnesota. The CSS Virginia was doing just fine until the Confederates noticed another odd looking ship to the side of the USS Minnesota. The CSS Virginia shifted it fire to the odd looking ship. The CSS Virginia was now firing at the USS Monitor.
The battle goes on
The two ships ended up exchanging close fire for over 2 hours. Neither ship was able to cause big damage to the other. The CSS Virginia wasn't even able ot damge the USS Monitor with its ram. The Monitor did a good job of avoiding damage. Neither ship new how to defeat one another. THe CSS Virginia was low on ammuntion and the tide was lowering. The USS Monitor wasn't doing well in the bigger deeper waters. Both ships ended up retreating. The battle ended in a draw.
After the battle/effects
The CSS Virginia After the Battle
The CSS Virginia didn't suffer much damage after the exchange of fire between the Monitor. 2 months after the battle, the Union army invaded the James Peninsula and forced the Confederates to retreat. As a result, the Union ordered the CSS Virginia to be destroyed.
The USS Monitor After the Battle
Though there was no significant damage, the Monitor had been struck 22 times by the CSS Virginia. On December 31, 1862 the Monitor sank in bad weather off the shore of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
Affect on Naval Technology
At the time, this was the first battle between two iron ships. It would change the way ships would be made in the future. As for the civil war, it would lead to more Ironclads being built such as the USS Canonicus.