Call Number: Online - free - HathiTrust. The CSS Virginia, on the other hand, suffered just two killed and a dozen wounded in its fight with the Union navy. USS Monitor became the prototype for the monitor warship type. Despite the many technological innovations that were on display during the Battle of Hampton Roads, one of the most lethal weapons employed was a large, 1,500lb iron ram attached to the bow of the Virginia . Ironically, the mortal blow delivered by the Virginias ram almost led to its own destruction. We strive for accuracy and fairness. The Confederates covered the ship in heavy armor plating above the waterline and outfitted it with powerful guns. A.async = !0; These had been outfitted with rams and some iron plating. } (function() { A drill field at the Academy is named for Worden. init: function() { googletag.enableServices(); googletag.pubads().enableAsyncRendering(); Warm greetings to all. "The Engagement at Fort Darling" The Monitor had set sail only three days earlier from Brooklyn under the command of Lieutenant John L. Worden. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. 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. //, The Memoirs Of General William T. Sherman, Memoirs of Gen. William T. Sherman - Volume 1. The First American President: Setting the Precedent, African Americans During the Revolutionary War, Help Save 820 Acres at Five Virginia Battlefields, Save 343 Acres at FIVE Battlefields in FOUR Western Theater States, Save 42 Historic Acres at the Battle of Chancellorsville, Phase Three of Gaines Mill-Cold Harbor Saved Forever Campaign, An Unparalleled Preservation Opportunity at Gettysburg Battlefield. Ironically, as the ship became lighter it also became more vulnerable. Fact #10 Franklin Buchanan and John L. Worden both became superintendents of the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. After viewing a white flag above the stricken USS Congress, Franklin Buchanan ordered that the Congress be taken as a prize. Even in the American Civil War, the Virginia and Monitor were not the first ironclads. Impressed by the ease with which Virginia had sunk Cumberland, naval architects began to incorporate rams into their hull designs. Ordinarily, the ship would have been led by a captain of the Confederate States Navy, to be determined by the rigid seniority system that was in place. Because a decisive Confederate weapon was negated, some have concluded that the Union could claim a strategic victory. Soon the water in the hold gained on the pumps, and then put out the fires in her engines. googletag.pubads().setTargeting("sid", "osid.f930f7fd7ff3a4d41aa72d27a68bcb0e"); When the American Civil War erupted in April 1861, Southern sympathizers seized control of the Gosport Shipyard (later named the Norfolk Naval Shipyard) in Virginia. It was fought over two days, March 8-9, 1862, in Hampton Roads, a roadstead in Virginia where the Elizabeth and Nansemond rivers meet the James River just before it enters Chesapeake . [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. The battle between the Virginia and the Monitor began on the morning of March 9 and continued for four hours. [49][50], Buchanan next turned Virginia on Congress. Neither ship was seriously damaged, but the Monitor effectively ended the short reign of terror that the Confederate ironclad had brought to the Union fleet. //