Difference between revisions of "Battle of Hampton Roads"
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| − | The '''Battle of Hampton Roads''' was a two-day naval engagement of the [[American Civil War]], | + | The '''Battle of Hampton Roads''' was a two-day naval engagement of the [[American Civil War]], which took place on March 8-9, 1862 in the waters off Hampton, Virginia. This battle is remarkable for fight between two ironclad warships: USS ''Monitor'', and CSS ''Virginia'' |
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| + | ==Prelude== | ||
| + | On May 8, 1861, Confederate Navy Secretary Stephan Mallory submitted his plans for building ironclads to the Committee on Naval Affairs, stating it would be costly, but the advantages of the Union Navy being overwhelmed by the sheer power implied in ironclads would be worth the price. By the end of the month the plans were approved, and the first ship selected for refitting was the salvaged hulk of USS Merrimac, scuttled the previous month when the Union abandoned Norfolk. She was placed in drydock, and over the next several months the hull was razeed to the gun deck, the engine overhauled, and heavy-timber casemate was built over the hull and plated with four inches of sheet iron. Inside the casemate were two 7-inch pivot guns at the bow and stern, three 9-inch smoothbore Dahlgrens and one 6-inch Brooke rifled gun in each broadside. As a final weapon, a cast iron ram weighing 1,500 pounds was fitted to the bow (TL 3, pp. 48-49). The Confederacy would christen her CSS Virginia. | ||
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| + | At about the same time the Merrimac was being overhauled, a naval committee was convened in Washington in August 1861, with Union Navy Secretary Gideon Welles presiding, and the discussion was also about ironclads. Of seventeen submitted plans, two were accepted, but without much enthusiasm for either: a large, sea-going broadside frigate named New Ironsides, and a smaller gunboat named Galena, designed by Cornelius Bushnell of New Haven, Connecticutt (TL 3, pg. 51). | ||
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| + | That same night Bushnell had taken his plans for Galena to a friend named John Ericsson, a Swedish inventor and engineer, who told him the plans were sound. Ericsson then went to a cupboard and pulled a model of his own and showed it to Bushnell, a strange-looking flat vessel with a single, two-gun turret. Convinced of this vessel's superiority, Bushnell took Ericsson before the board, who bickered back and forth until President Lincoln looked it over. "All I have to say'" he said' "is what the girl said when she put her foot in the stocking: 'It strikes me there's something in it!'" After a detailed explanation of his ship's qualities (and after some deception on Bushnell's part after the plans were initially rejected), Ericsson's plans were approved (TL 3, pp. 51-52). | ||
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| + | ==The first day== | ||
| + | ==The second day== | ||
| + | ==Aftermath== | ||
[[Category:American Civil War]] | [[Category:American Civil War]] | ||
Revision as of 02:28, April 9, 2007
| |
| The Civil War
1861 - 1865 | |
|---|---|
| Begun | March 8, 1862 |
| Ended | March 9, 1862 |
| USS Monitor | |
| Commander | LT John L. Worden, USN |
| CSS Virginia (ex USS Merrimac) | |
| Commander | CAPT Franklin Buchanan, CSN |
The Battle of Hampton Roads was a two-day naval engagement of the American Civil War, which took place on March 8-9, 1862 in the waters off Hampton, Virginia. This battle is remarkable for fight between two ironclad warships: USS Monitor, and CSS Virginia
Prelude
On May 8, 1861, Confederate Navy Secretary Stephan Mallory submitted his plans for building ironclads to the Committee on Naval Affairs, stating it would be costly, but the advantages of the Union Navy being overwhelmed by the sheer power implied in ironclads would be worth the price. By the end of the month the plans were approved, and the first ship selected for refitting was the salvaged hulk of USS Merrimac, scuttled the previous month when the Union abandoned Norfolk. She was placed in drydock, and over the next several months the hull was razeed to the gun deck, the engine overhauled, and heavy-timber casemate was built over the hull and plated with four inches of sheet iron. Inside the casemate were two 7-inch pivot guns at the bow and stern, three 9-inch smoothbore Dahlgrens and one 6-inch Brooke rifled gun in each broadside. As a final weapon, a cast iron ram weighing 1,500 pounds was fitted to the bow (TL 3, pp. 48-49). The Confederacy would christen her CSS Virginia.
At about the same time the Merrimac was being overhauled, a naval committee was convened in Washington in August 1861, with Union Navy Secretary Gideon Welles presiding, and the discussion was also about ironclads. Of seventeen submitted plans, two were accepted, but without much enthusiasm for either: a large, sea-going broadside frigate named New Ironsides, and a smaller gunboat named Galena, designed by Cornelius Bushnell of New Haven, Connecticutt (TL 3, pg. 51).
That same night Bushnell had taken his plans for Galena to a friend named John Ericsson, a Swedish inventor and engineer, who told him the plans were sound. Ericsson then went to a cupboard and pulled a model of his own and showed it to Bushnell, a strange-looking flat vessel with a single, two-gun turret. Convinced of this vessel's superiority, Bushnell took Ericsson before the board, who bickered back and forth until President Lincoln looked it over. "All I have to say'" he said' "is what the girl said when she put her foot in the stocking: 'It strikes me there's something in it!'" After a detailed explanation of his ship's qualities (and after some deception on Bushnell's part after the plans were initially rejected), Ericsson's plans were approved (TL 3, pp. 51-52).