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The USS Monitor was the first operational weapons platform which had a rotatable gun turret which was used in combat. Sometime we take for granted in the days of naval vessels and armored vehicles which have computer controlled gun and missile rotation capabilities.
Consisting of a revolving turret mounted on a low armored deck, the design was likened to a "cheese box on a raft."
Pictures: viewing the turret with cannon ball dents visible; Monitor Officers sitting; Monitor crew; historic battle with CSS Virginia
Consisting of a revolving turret mounted on a low armored deck, the design was likened to a "cheese box on a raft."
Pictures: viewing the turret with cannon ball dents visible; Monitor Officers sitting; Monitor crew; historic battle with CSS Virginia
Posted in these groups: 
Civil War
Naval/Maritime History
Civil War Naval/Maritime History
Edited >1 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 17
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All of the choices are correct. The Monitor was exactly what was needed to stop the terror off the CSS Virginia which had been converted from the USS Merrimack. After the historic confrontation at Hampton Roads in march 1862, the USA was able to successfully execute a blockade of the southern ports incrementally.
Below are additional details on the Monitor.
"The USS Monitor was an iron-hulled steamship. Built during the American Civil War, she was the first ironclad warship commissioned by the Union Navy Monitor is most famous for her central role in the Battle of Hampton Roads on 9 March 1862, where, under the command of Lieutenant John Worden, she fought the casemate ironclad CSS Virginia (built on the hull of the former steam frigate USS Merrimack) to a standoff. The unique design of the ship, distinguished by its revolving turret which was designed by American inventor Theodore Timby, was quickly duplicated and established the Monitor type of warship.
The remainder of the ship was designed by the Swedish-born engineer and inventor John Ericsson and hurriedly built in Brooklyn in only 101 days. Monitor presented a new concept in ship design and employed a variety of new inventions and innovations in ship building, that caught the attention of the world. The impetus to build Monitor was prompted by the news that the Confederates were building an ironclad warship, named Virginia, that could effectively engage the Union ships blockading Hampton Roads and the James River leading to Richmond and ultimately advance on Washington, D. C. and other cities, virtually unchallenged. Before Monitor could reach Hampton Roads, the Confederate ironclad had destroyed the sail frigates USS Cumberland and USS Congress and had run the steam frigate USS Minnesota aground. That night Monitor arrived and the following morning, just before Virginia was about to finish off the Minnesota, the new Union ironclad confronted the Confederate ship, preventing her from wreaking further destruction on the wooden Union ships. A four-hour battle ensued, both ships pounding the other with close-range cannon fire, although neither ship could destroy or seriously damage the other. This was the first-ever battle fought between two armored warships and marked a turning point in naval warfare.
After the Confederates were forced to destroy Virginia as they withdrew in early May, Monitor sailed up the James River to support the Union Army during the Peninsula Campaign. The ship participated in the Battle of Drewry's Bluff later that month and remained in the area giving support to General McClellan's forces on land until she was ordered to join the blockaders off North Carolina in December. On her way there she foundered while under tow, during a storm off Cape Hatteras on the last day of the year. Monitor's wreck was discovered in 1973 and has been partially salvaged. Her guns, gun turret, engine and other relics are on display at the Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Virginia.
Conception
While the concept of ships protected by armor existed before the advent of the ironclad Monitor, the need for iron plating on ships only arose after the shell-firing cannon was introduced to naval warfare in the 1820s. The use of heavy iron plating on the sides of warships was not practical until steam propulsion matured enough to carry its great weight. Developments in gun technology had progressed by the 1840s so that no practical thickness of wood could withstand the power of a shell. In response, the United States began construction in 1854 of a steam-powered ironclad warship, the Stevens Battery, but work was delayed and the designer, Robert Stevens, died in 1856, stalling further work. Since there was no pressing need for such a ship at the time, there was little demand to continue work on the unfinished vessel. It was France that introduced the first operational armored ships as well as the first shell guns and rifled cannons. Experience during the Crimean War of 1854–55 showed that armored ships could withstand repeated hits without significant damage when French ironclad floating batteries defeated Russian coastal fortifications during the Battle of Kinburn. Ericsson claimed to have sent the French Emperor Napoléon III a proposal for a monitor-type design, with a gun turret, in September 1854, but no record of any such submission could be found in the archives of the French Ministry of the Navy (Ministre de la Marine) when they were searched by naval historian James Phinney Baxter III. The French followed those ships with the first ocean-going ironclad, the armored frigate Gloire in 1859, and the British responded with HMS Warrior.
The Union Navy's attitude towards ironclads changed quickly when it was learned that the Confederates were converting the captured USS Merrimack to an ironclad at the naval shipyard in Norfolk, Virginia. Subsequently the urgency of Monitor's completion and deployment to Hampton Roads was driven by fears of what the Confederate ironclad, now renamed Virginia, would be capable of doing, not only to Union ships but to cities along the coast and riverfronts. Northern newspapers published daily accounts of the Confederates' progress in converting the Merrimack to an ironclad; this prompted the Union Navy to complete and deploy Monitor as soon as possible.
Word of Merrimack's reconstruction and conversion was confirmed in the North in late February 1862 when Mary Louveste of Norfolk, a freed slave who worked as a housekeeper for one of the Confederate engineers working on Merrimack, made her way through Confederate lines with news that the Confederates were building an ironclad warship. Concealed in her dress was a message from a Union sympathizer who worked in the Navy Yard warning that the former Merrimack, renamed Virginia by the Confederates, was nearing completion. Upon her arrival in Washington Mary managed to meet with Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles and informed him that the Confederates were nearing the completion of their ironclad, which surprised Welles. Convinced by the papers Mary was carrying he had production of Monitor sped up. Welles later recorded in his memoirs that Mrs. Louveste encountered no small risk in bringing this information ...
http://www.militaryfactory.com/ships/detail.asp?ship_id=USS-Monitor
COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. LTC (Join to see) CSM Charles Hayden SFC William Swartz Jr PO1 John Miller PO2 William Allen Crowder SrA Christopher Wright SGT John " Mac " McConnell SP5 Mark Kuzinski SPC Corbin Sayi SSgt (Join to see) SSgt Robert Marx CPO Tim Dickey PO2 Ed C. PO2 Steven Erickson
Below are additional details on the Monitor.
"The USS Monitor was an iron-hulled steamship. Built during the American Civil War, she was the first ironclad warship commissioned by the Union Navy Monitor is most famous for her central role in the Battle of Hampton Roads on 9 March 1862, where, under the command of Lieutenant John Worden, she fought the casemate ironclad CSS Virginia (built on the hull of the former steam frigate USS Merrimack) to a standoff. The unique design of the ship, distinguished by its revolving turret which was designed by American inventor Theodore Timby, was quickly duplicated and established the Monitor type of warship.
The remainder of the ship was designed by the Swedish-born engineer and inventor John Ericsson and hurriedly built in Brooklyn in only 101 days. Monitor presented a new concept in ship design and employed a variety of new inventions and innovations in ship building, that caught the attention of the world. The impetus to build Monitor was prompted by the news that the Confederates were building an ironclad warship, named Virginia, that could effectively engage the Union ships blockading Hampton Roads and the James River leading to Richmond and ultimately advance on Washington, D. C. and other cities, virtually unchallenged. Before Monitor could reach Hampton Roads, the Confederate ironclad had destroyed the sail frigates USS Cumberland and USS Congress and had run the steam frigate USS Minnesota aground. That night Monitor arrived and the following morning, just before Virginia was about to finish off the Minnesota, the new Union ironclad confronted the Confederate ship, preventing her from wreaking further destruction on the wooden Union ships. A four-hour battle ensued, both ships pounding the other with close-range cannon fire, although neither ship could destroy or seriously damage the other. This was the first-ever battle fought between two armored warships and marked a turning point in naval warfare.
After the Confederates were forced to destroy Virginia as they withdrew in early May, Monitor sailed up the James River to support the Union Army during the Peninsula Campaign. The ship participated in the Battle of Drewry's Bluff later that month and remained in the area giving support to General McClellan's forces on land until she was ordered to join the blockaders off North Carolina in December. On her way there she foundered while under tow, during a storm off Cape Hatteras on the last day of the year. Monitor's wreck was discovered in 1973 and has been partially salvaged. Her guns, gun turret, engine and other relics are on display at the Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Virginia.
Conception
While the concept of ships protected by armor existed before the advent of the ironclad Monitor, the need for iron plating on ships only arose after the shell-firing cannon was introduced to naval warfare in the 1820s. The use of heavy iron plating on the sides of warships was not practical until steam propulsion matured enough to carry its great weight. Developments in gun technology had progressed by the 1840s so that no practical thickness of wood could withstand the power of a shell. In response, the United States began construction in 1854 of a steam-powered ironclad warship, the Stevens Battery, but work was delayed and the designer, Robert Stevens, died in 1856, stalling further work. Since there was no pressing need for such a ship at the time, there was little demand to continue work on the unfinished vessel. It was France that introduced the first operational armored ships as well as the first shell guns and rifled cannons. Experience during the Crimean War of 1854–55 showed that armored ships could withstand repeated hits without significant damage when French ironclad floating batteries defeated Russian coastal fortifications during the Battle of Kinburn. Ericsson claimed to have sent the French Emperor Napoléon III a proposal for a monitor-type design, with a gun turret, in September 1854, but no record of any such submission could be found in the archives of the French Ministry of the Navy (Ministre de la Marine) when they were searched by naval historian James Phinney Baxter III. The French followed those ships with the first ocean-going ironclad, the armored frigate Gloire in 1859, and the British responded with HMS Warrior.
The Union Navy's attitude towards ironclads changed quickly when it was learned that the Confederates were converting the captured USS Merrimack to an ironclad at the naval shipyard in Norfolk, Virginia. Subsequently the urgency of Monitor's completion and deployment to Hampton Roads was driven by fears of what the Confederate ironclad, now renamed Virginia, would be capable of doing, not only to Union ships but to cities along the coast and riverfronts. Northern newspapers published daily accounts of the Confederates' progress in converting the Merrimack to an ironclad; this prompted the Union Navy to complete and deploy Monitor as soon as possible.
Word of Merrimack's reconstruction and conversion was confirmed in the North in late February 1862 when Mary Louveste of Norfolk, a freed slave who worked as a housekeeper for one of the Confederate engineers working on Merrimack, made her way through Confederate lines with news that the Confederates were building an ironclad warship. Concealed in her dress was a message from a Union sympathizer who worked in the Navy Yard warning that the former Merrimack, renamed Virginia by the Confederates, was nearing completion. Upon her arrival in Washington Mary managed to meet with Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles and informed him that the Confederates were nearing the completion of their ironclad, which surprised Welles. Convinced by the papers Mary was carrying he had production of Monitor sped up. Welles later recorded in his memoirs that Mrs. Louveste encountered no small risk in bringing this information ...
http://www.militaryfactory.com/ships/detail.asp?ship_id=USS-Monitor
COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. LTC (Join to see) CSM Charles Hayden SFC William Swartz Jr PO1 John Miller PO2 William Allen Crowder SrA Christopher Wright SGT John " Mac " McConnell SP5 Mark Kuzinski SPC Corbin Sayi SSgt (Join to see) SSgt Robert Marx CPO Tim Dickey PO2 Ed C. PO2 Steven Erickson
USS Monitor (1862) - History, Specs and Pictures - Navy Ships
USS Monitor (1862) - The USS Monitor became a legend when she tangled with the seemingly unstoppable Confederate CSS Virginia during the American Civil War.
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CSM William Payne
Being a history enthusiast, a Navy brat and having grown up in the Hampton Roads area I have always been fascinated by the Duel of the Ironclads. Of course neither warship survived the Civil War. The CSS Virginia would only see combat that one time. She was scuttled during the fall of Norfolk and very few artifacts were ever recovered from where she was burned.
The USS Monitor did see a little more action, being utilized on the James River to put pressure the defenses of Richmond. She foundered in a New Years Eve Storm 1862 while being towed off the coast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina to assist in the blockade of Charleston, SC.
She would be lost until being rediscovered by a National Geographic Expedition in the early 70s. After years of surveying and planning it was decided that the hull was in too poor a shape to recover. Seems that World War II may have contributed greatly to her damage. For she laid in an area off of Cape Hatteras that had a significant amount of U-Boat activity during the war. So it is thought that given her unique shape she may have been repeatedly mistaken for a U-Boat and as such may have been depth charged during the war.
But upon sinking she had rolled over with the turret coming loose and the hull settling on top of her. It was decided to recover whatever significant parts that they could; the historic turret, it's two guns, the steam engine, the unique rudder, anchor and propellor being the major pieces.
It was also decided to return the USS Monitor to the site of the historic battle and to a home in one of the most premiere maritime museums in the United States, the Mariner's Museum in Hampton, Virginia. Here the museum dedicated a new wing to the Monitor and name it the Monitor Center. At the Mariner's Museum the recovered artifacts are undergoing the lengthy process of the chemical leeching and restoring of these pieces to close to their original state.
The museum has also recreated a section of the lower decks with use of surviving pictures and blueprints. They have also created two full size reproductions of the turret, one as she looked before begin recovered off the Hatteras coast, upside down, with its two Dahlgren guns and the remains of the Sailors that were trapped when the guns fell on top of them during the sinking. There is also a full size reproduction of the turret as is looked when it was operational that you can walk through.
For those of us that had no vision of the size of the "cheese box on a raft", General Dynamics which runs the adjacent shipyard that built all of our current Nuclear Carriers, both the Nimitz Class and the new Gerald Ford Class and many of our current submarines, has constructed a full size replica of the USS Monitor that sits right outside of the Monitor Center where you can walk straight out the door and onto her deck. You will be surprised at how big she actually was. Her shallow draft made her a superior brown water vessel, but her low waterline freeboard made her a disastrous open water vessel and helped contribute to her death.
On one of the walls in the plaza outside of the Monitor Center they have painted a silhouette of the CSS Virginia on the wall so that you can get a feel of her scale. If you are ever in the part of of Virginia you of course need to Visit Yorktown, Williamsburg and Jamestown. Hampton Roads is a hop, skip and jump from these. Also take in Fortress Monroe, the former home of the Training and Doctrine Command, the Mariner's Museum, make a short trip across the bridge tunnel and see the Naval Maritime Center of Norfolk, Nauticus in Norfolk and take in the USS Wisconsin, the Iowa Class Battleship and sister ship of the USS Iowa, New Jersey and Missouri.
http://www.monitorcenter.org/
http://nauticus.org/
The USS Monitor did see a little more action, being utilized on the James River to put pressure the defenses of Richmond. She foundered in a New Years Eve Storm 1862 while being towed off the coast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina to assist in the blockade of Charleston, SC.
She would be lost until being rediscovered by a National Geographic Expedition in the early 70s. After years of surveying and planning it was decided that the hull was in too poor a shape to recover. Seems that World War II may have contributed greatly to her damage. For she laid in an area off of Cape Hatteras that had a significant amount of U-Boat activity during the war. So it is thought that given her unique shape she may have been repeatedly mistaken for a U-Boat and as such may have been depth charged during the war.
But upon sinking she had rolled over with the turret coming loose and the hull settling on top of her. It was decided to recover whatever significant parts that they could; the historic turret, it's two guns, the steam engine, the unique rudder, anchor and propellor being the major pieces.
It was also decided to return the USS Monitor to the site of the historic battle and to a home in one of the most premiere maritime museums in the United States, the Mariner's Museum in Hampton, Virginia. Here the museum dedicated a new wing to the Monitor and name it the Monitor Center. At the Mariner's Museum the recovered artifacts are undergoing the lengthy process of the chemical leeching and restoring of these pieces to close to their original state.
The museum has also recreated a section of the lower decks with use of surviving pictures and blueprints. They have also created two full size reproductions of the turret, one as she looked before begin recovered off the Hatteras coast, upside down, with its two Dahlgren guns and the remains of the Sailors that were trapped when the guns fell on top of them during the sinking. There is also a full size reproduction of the turret as is looked when it was operational that you can walk through.
For those of us that had no vision of the size of the "cheese box on a raft", General Dynamics which runs the adjacent shipyard that built all of our current Nuclear Carriers, both the Nimitz Class and the new Gerald Ford Class and many of our current submarines, has constructed a full size replica of the USS Monitor that sits right outside of the Monitor Center where you can walk straight out the door and onto her deck. You will be surprised at how big she actually was. Her shallow draft made her a superior brown water vessel, but her low waterline freeboard made her a disastrous open water vessel and helped contribute to her death.
On one of the walls in the plaza outside of the Monitor Center they have painted a silhouette of the CSS Virginia on the wall so that you can get a feel of her scale. If you are ever in the part of of Virginia you of course need to Visit Yorktown, Williamsburg and Jamestown. Hampton Roads is a hop, skip and jump from these. Also take in Fortress Monroe, the former home of the Training and Doctrine Command, the Mariner's Museum, make a short trip across the bridge tunnel and see the Naval Maritime Center of Norfolk, Nauticus in Norfolk and take in the USS Wisconsin, the Iowa Class Battleship and sister ship of the USS Iowa, New Jersey and Missouri.
http://www.monitorcenter.org/
http://nauticus.org/
The USS Monitor Center & Foundation - At The Mariners' Museum & Park
At The Mariners' Museum & Park
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The 2 × 11-inch (280 mm) smoothbore Dahlgren guns would have defeated the Virginia if they were loaded to the specified charge which the War Dept cut in half due to worries about earlier Dahlgren guns. There's several pieces of correspondence about it in the archives that were pointed out on a PBS program some time ago.
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LTC Stephen F.
CAPT Kevin B. earlier this evening I read that the Monitor's turret engine malfunctioned. The crew decided to let it rotate and fore the guns when they were pointing at the CSS Virginia. I expect that you are correct that if the 2 × 11-inch (280 mm) smoothbore Dahlgren guns were able to be used effectively they would have devastated the CSS Virginia.
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CAPT Kevin B.
LTC Stephen F. another political decision that snatched defeat, or in this case a tie, from the jaws of victory event. We see this all the time throughout history. Now the next big thing was rifled barrels which on a field piece resulted in an early fort surrender.
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What is really interesting is that "Monitors" were used in WWI as bomb ships. Mussolini even suggested reviving them during WWII. It was the US Army that revived them for service in the Mekong Delta during the Vietnam War. It seems that Mr. Ericson's idea had some legs...
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