USS
Monitor was the first ironclad warshipAn ironclad was a steam-propelled warship in the early part of the second half of the 19th century, protected by iron or steel armor plates. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or incendiary shells. The first ironclad battleship, La Gloire,...
commissioned by the United States NavyThe United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
during the American Civil WarThe American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. She is most famous for her participation in the Battle of Hampton RoadsThe Battle of Hampton Roads, often referred to as either the Battle of the Monitor and Merrimack or the Battle of Ironclads, was the most noted and arguably most important naval battle of the American Civil War from the standpoint of the development of navies...
on March 9, 1862, the first-ever battle fought between two ironclads. The Monitor
fought the ironclad CSS Virginia
CSS Virginia was the first steam-powered ironclad warship of the Confederate States Navy, built during the first year of the American Civil War; she was constructed as a casemate ironclad using the raised and cut down original lower hull and steam engines of the scuttled . Virginia was one of the...
(the former frigateA frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...
USS Merrimack
USS Merrimack was a frigate and sailing vessel of the United States Navy, best known as the hull upon which the ironclad warship, CSS Virginia was constructed during the American Civil War...
) of the
Confederate States NavyThe Confederate States Navy was the naval branch of the Confederate States armed forces established by an act of the Confederate Congress on February 21, 1861. It was responsible for Confederate naval operations during the American Civil War...
.
The need for an ironclad warship in the U.S. Navy began when the state of
VirginiaThe Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
seceded from the
UnionDuring the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...
and ships at the Gosport Navy Yard in
NorfolkNorfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....
were scuttled to prevent them from falling into
ConfederatesThe Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
hands. The Merrimack was only burnt to her waterline and was successfully raised by the
Confederate States NavyThe Confederate States Navy was the naval branch of the Confederate States armed forces established by an act of the Confederate Congress on February 21, 1861. It was responsible for Confederate naval operations during the American Civil War...
(CSN). Her hull, with new upper works added, including an armored casemate, began to be refitted as Virginia
. When Gideon WellesGideon Welles was the United States Secretary of the Navy from 1861 to 1869. His buildup of the Navy to successfully execute blockades of Southern ports was a key component of Northern victory of the Civil War...
, the Secretary of the Navy, found out about this, he created a board of three naval officers to review designs for an ironclad. Three ships were accepted, including USS Monitor
, designed by the Swedish-born engineer and inventor John EricssonJohn Ericsson was a Swedish-American inventor and mechanical engineer, as was his brother Nils Ericson. He was born at Långbanshyttan in Värmland, Sweden, but primarily came to be active in England and the United States...
.
Monitor
was innovative in several respects, including the first 360 degree rotating armored gun turretA gun turret is a weapon mount that protects the crew or mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon and at the same time lets the weapon be aimed and fired in many directions.The turret is also a rotating weapon platform...
on an operational warship. The hull was completely underwater and was protected by an overhanging armored deck and armored "belt". Her keelIn boats and ships, keel can refer to either of two parts: a structural element, or a hydrodynamic element. These parts overlap. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in construction of a ship, in British and American shipbuilding traditions the construction is dated from this event...
was laid on October 25, 1861, and she was launched 118 days later.
Development
In response to news about construction of Virginia, Gideon Welles decided the Union would need an ironclad. Welles proposed to Congress a board of experts on ironclad ships. He was granted the authority to create this board a month later.
The
Ironclad BoardThe Ironclad Board was an advisory board established by the United States in 1861 in response to the construction of the CSS Virginia by the Confederate States. The primary goal of the Ironclad Board was to choose designs of ironclad ships to construct...
was composed of three senior naval officers:
Commodore Hiram PauldingHiram Paulding was a Rear Admiral in the United States Navy, who served from the War of 1812 until after the Civil War.-Naval career:...
, Commodore Joseph Smith, and
Commander Charles DavisCharles Henry Davis was a Rear Admiral in the United States Navy, serving primarily during the American Civil War, and with the United States Coast Survey.-Early life and career:...
. Welles put advertisements in Northern newspapers asking people to submit their designs for ironclads. The board initially chose two designs from the 17 submitted. These ships were the
USS GalenaUSS Galena — an ironclad screw steamer — was one of the first three ironclads, each of a different design, built by the Union Navy during the American Civil War....
and the
USS New IronsidesUSS New Ironsides was a wooden-hulled broadside ironclad built for the United States Navy during the American Civil War. The ship spent most of her career blockading the Confederate ports of Charleston, South Carolina, and Wilmington, North Carolina in 1863–65...
.
Cornelius Bushnell, the designer of Galena
, went to New York City to have his design reviewed by Ericsson. Ericsson, after assuring Bushnell Galena
would be stable, revealed the plans and a cardboard model of one of his own designs, the future Monitor. Bushnell immediately knew Ericsson's ship was far superior to his own and pressed the reluctant Ericsson to submit the design to the Ironclad Board. Bushnell eventually obtained permission to take Ericsson's model to Washington. Directly after his meeting with Ericsson, Bushnell showed the design to Welles, who arranged a meeting for Bushnell with the Ironclad Board.
Design and construction
Designed by the Swedish engineer and inventor John Ericsson, Monitor was described as a "cheesebox on a raft," consisting of a heavy round revolving iron
gun turretA gun turret is a weapon mount that protects the crew or mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon and at the same time lets the weapon be aimed and fired in many directions.The turret is also a rotating weapon platform...
on the deck, housing two 11 in (279.4 mm)
Dahlgren gunDahlgren guns were muzzle loading naval artillery designed by Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren USN, mostly used in the period of the American Civil War. Dahlgren's design philosophy evolved from an accidental explosion in 1849 of a 32-pounder being tested for accuracy, killing a gunner...
s side by side. The original design used a system of heavy metal shutters to protect the gun ports while reloading. However, the operation of the shutters proved so cumbersome, the gun crews simply rotated the turret away from potential hostile fire to reload. Further, the momentum of the rotating turret proved to be so great that a system for stopping the turret to fire the guns was implemented on later ships of the type. Monitor
s gunners solved the turret momentum problem by firing on the fly while the turret rotated past the target. While this procedure resulted in a substantial loss of accuracy, this was not critical, given the close range at which Monitor operated.
The armored deck was barely above the waterline. Aside from the turret, a small boxy
pilothouseA pilothouse or pilot-house is a glass-enclosed room from which a ship is controlled by the ship's pilot. The pilothouse also is known as the wheelhouse....
, a detachable smokestack and a few fittings, the bulk of the ship was below the
waterlineThe term "waterline" generally refers to the line where the hull of a ship meets the water surface. It is also the name of a special marking, also known as the national Load Line or Plimsoll Line, to be positioned amidships, that indicates the draft of the ship and the legal limit to which a ship...
to prevent damage from cannon fire. The turret comprised eight layers of 1 in (25.4 mm) plate, bolted together, with a ninth plate inside to act as a sound shield. A
steam donkeySteam donkey, or donkey engine is the common nickname for a steam-powered winch, or logging engine widely used in past logging operations, though not limited to logging...
engine turned the turret. The heavily armored deck extended beyond the waterproof hull, only 5/8 in thick. The vulnerable parts of the ship were completely protected, as was proved during her battle with the Virginia
during the Battle of Hampton RoadsThe Battle of Hampton Roads, often referred to as either the Battle of the Monitor and Merrimack or the Battle of Ironclads, was the most noted and arguably most important naval battle of the American Civil War from the standpoint of the development of navies...
: the Virginia
shot bounced off of Monitor
s turret and deck, sometimes denting them but never breaching them. The only weak spot proved to be the pilothouse, both due to its location relative to the turret (poor aim on the part of Monitor
s gunners would cause them to strike their own pilothouse) and in or near its viewing slot, which, along with one of the iron beams that reinforced the pilothouse, was smashed by an exploding shell.
Monitor
s hull was built at the Continental Iron Works in the GreenpointGreenpoint is the northernmost neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bordered on the southwest by Williamsburg at the Bushwick inlet, on the southeast by the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and East Williamsburg, on the north by Newtown Creek and Long Island City, Queens at the...
section of BrooklynBrooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York, and the ship was launched there on January 30, 1862. The steam engines and machinery were constructed at the DeLamater Iron Works in ManhattanManhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, The boilers and engines were installed dead aft.
Monitor
was innovative in construction technique as well as design. Parts were forged in nine foundries and brought together to build the ship; the whole process took less than 120 days. Portions of the heavy iron armor plating for the vessel were made at a forge in Clintonville, New York. In addition to the "cheesebox", its rotating turret, Monitor
was also fitted with Ericsson's novel marine screwA propeller is a type of fan that transmits power by converting rotational motion into thrust. A pressure difference is produced between the forward and rear surfaces of the airfoil-shaped blade, and a fluid is accelerated behind the blade. Propeller dynamics can be modeled by both Bernoulli's...
, whose efficiency and reliability allowed her to be one of the first to rely exclusively upon steam propulsion. Monitor
had an unusually low freeboardIn sailing and boating, freeboardmeans the distance from the waterline to the upper deck level, measured at the lowest point of sheer where water can enter the boat or ship...
, with the pilothouse and turret being the only permanent protrusions from the deck. Though this low freeboard greatly reduced the Monitors vulnerability to gunfire compared to other naval vessels of the day, it also greatly reduced the ship's
seakeepingSeakeeping ability is a measure of how well-suited a watercraft is to conditions when underway. A ship or boat which has good seakeeping ability is said to be very seaworthy and is able to operate effectively even in high sea states....
capabilities.
Monitor was also noteworthy for her social architecture. Unlike other ships of the time, in which common sailors slept near the
bowThe bow is a nautical term that refers to the forward part of the hull of a ship or boat, the point that is most forward when the vessel is underway. Both of the adjectives fore and forward mean towards the bow...
, with those of increasingly higher rank being found as one worked back to the captain's cabin in the
sternThe stern is the rear or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite of the bow, the foremost part of a ship. Originally, the term only referred to the aft port section...
, on the
Monitor the captain's cabin was in the bow, followed by his officers and then the berth deck, where the junior officers, engineers, and sailors slept.
Battle of Hampton Roads
On March 8, 1862, CSS
Virginia attacked the Union blockading squadron in Hampton Roads, Virginia, destroying and . Early in the battle, ran aground while attempting to engage
Virginia, and remained stranded throughout the battle.
Virginia, however, was unable to attack
Minnesota before daylight faded.
That night,
Monitor — under command of
LieutenantA lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
John L. Worden — arrived from Brooklyn after a harrowing trip under tow. When
Virginia returned the next day to finish off
Minnesota and the rest of the blockaders,
Monitor moved out to stop her. The ironclads fought at close range for about four hours, neither one sinking or seriously damaging the other. At one point,
Virginia attempted to ram, but she only struck
Monitor with a glancing blow that did no damage. It did, however, aggravate the damage done to
Virginias bow from when she had previously rammed
Cumberland.
Monitor was also unable to do significant damage to
Virginia, possibly due to the fact that her guns were firing with reduced charges as ordered by Commander John Dahlgren, the gun's designer.
Towards the end of the engagement,
Virginia was able to hit
Monitors
pilothouseA pilothouse or pilot-house is a glass-enclosed room from which a ship is controlled by the ship's pilot. The pilothouse also is known as the wheelhouse....
. Lt. Worden, blinded by shell fragments and gunpowder residue from the explosion, ordered
Monitor to sheer off into shallow water. Command passed to the executive officer, Samuel Greene, who assessed the damage and ordered
Monitor to turn around back into the battle.
Virginia, seeing
Monitor turn away, had turned her attention back to
Minnesota. The falling tide, however, prevented her from getting close to the stranded warship. After an informal war council with his officers,
Virginias captain decided to return to Norfolk to repairs.
Monitor arrived back on the scene as
Virginia was leaving. Greene, under orders to protect
Minnesota, did not pursue.
Tactically, the battle between these two ships was a draw, though it could be argued that
Virginia did slightly more damage to
Monitor than
Monitor to
Virginia.
Monitor did successfully defend
Minnesota and the rest of the U.S. blockading force, while
Virginia was unable to complete the destruction she started the previous day. Strategically, nothing had immediately changed: the Federals still controlled Hampton Roads and the Confederates still held several rivers and Norfolk, making it a strategic victory for the North.
Events after the battle
Both Union and Confederates came up with plans for defeating the other’s ironclad. Oddly, these did not depend on their own ironclads. The Union Navy chartered a large ship (the
sidewheelerA paddle steamer is a steamship or riverboat, powered by a steam engine, using paddle wheels to propel it through the water. In antiquity, Paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses were wheelers driven by animals or humans...
Vanderbilt) as a ram, provided
Virginia steamed far enough out into Hampton Roads. The Confederate Navy made plans to swarm aboard and capture
Monitor using the four gunboats of the
James River SquadronThe James River Squadron was formed shortly after the secession of the State of Virginia as part of the Virginia State Navy. The squadron is most notable for its role in patrolling the James River, which was the main water approach to the Confederate capital, Richmond...
. On April 11,
Virginia steamed out to Sewell’s Point at the southeast edge of Hampton Roads in a challenge to
Monitor.
In an attempt to lure
Monitor closer to where she could be boarded,
Virginia stood out into the Roads and almost over to Newport News. However,
Monitor stayed near Fort Monroe, ready to fight if
Virginia came to attack the Federal force which had congregated there. Furthermore,
Vanderbilt would be in a position to ram
Virginia if she approached the fort.
Virginia did not take the bait. In a further attempt to entice
Monitor closer to the Confederate side so she could be boarded, the James River Squadron moved in and captured three merchant ships, the brigs
Marcus and
Sabout, and the schooner
Catherine T. Dix. These had been grounded and abandoned when they sighted
Virginia entering the Roads. Their flags were then hoisted "Union-side down" to taunt
Monitor into a fight as they were towed back to Norfolk. In the end both sides had failed to lure the other out for a fight on their terms.
A second meeting occurred on May 8, when
Virginia came out while
Monitor and four other Federal ships bombarded Confederate batteries at Sewell’s Point. The Federal ships retired slowly to Fort Monroe, hoping to lure
Virginia into the Roads. She did not follow, however, and after firing a gun to windward as a sign of contempt, anchored off Sewell’s Point. However, she was forced to
scuttleScuttling is the act of deliberately sinking a ship by allowing water to flow into the hull.This can be achieved in several ways—valves or hatches can be opened to the sea, or holes may be ripped into the hull with brute force or with explosives...
when Confederate forces abandoned Norfolk three days later.
After the destruction of
Virginia,
Monitor was free to assist McClellan's campaign against Richmond. On May 15, 1862, the ironclad and four other gunboats steamed up the James River and engaged Confederate batteries at Drewry's Bluff.
Monitors guns, however, could not elevate sufficiently to engage the batteries at close range, and the other gunboats were unable to overcome the fortifications on their own. The engagement ended when the Union fleet retired after four hours of bombardment.
Loss at sea
While the design of
Monitor was well-suited for river combat, her low freeboard and heavy turret made her highly unseaworthy in rough waters. This feature probably led to the early loss of the original
Monitor, which foundered during a heavy storm. Swamped by high waves while under tow by , she sank on December 31, 1862 off
Cape HatterasCape Hatteras is a cape on the coast of North Carolina. It is the point that protrudes the farthest to the southeast along the northeast-to-southwest line of the Atlantic coast of North America...
,
North CarolinaNorth Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
. 16 of the 62 crewmen were lost in the storm.
The name
Monitor was given to the troop carrier , commissioned late in
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. She served primarily in the
Pacific theaterThe Pacific Ocean theatre was one of four major naval theatres of war of World War II, which pitted the forces of Japan against those of the United States, the British Commonwealth, the Netherlands and France....
, and was later scrapped.
Rediscovery
In 1951, retired Rear Admiral
Edward EllsbergRear Admiral Edward Ellsberg, OBE was an officer in the United States Navy and a popular author. He was widely known as "Commander Ellsberg."-Early years:...
proposed using external pontoons to raise the
Monitor, the same method of
marine salvageMarine salvage is the process of rescuing a ship, its cargo, or other property from peril. Salvage encompasses rescue towing, refloating a sunken or grounded vessel, or patching or repairing a ship...
he had used on the sunken submarine
S-51USS S-51 was a fourth-group S-class submarine of the United States Navy.Her keel was laid down on 22 December 1919 by the Lake Torpedo Boat Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut. She was launched on 20 August 1921 sponsored by Mrs. R.J. Mills, and commissioned on 24 June 1922 with Lieutenant W. S...
. Ellsberg estimated the project would cost $250,000. No action was taken on the proposal. In 1973, the wreck of the ironclad
Monitor was located on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean about 16 nautical miles (29.6 km) southeast of
Cape HatterasCape Hatteras is a cape on the coast of North Carolina. It is the point that protrudes the farthest to the southeast along the northeast-to-southwest line of the Atlantic coast of North America...
,
North CarolinaNorth Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
. The wreck site was designated as the first U.S. marine sanctuary.
Monitor National Marine SanctuaryMonitor National Marine Sanctuary is the site of the wreck of the USS Monitor, one of the most famous shipwrecks in U.S. history. It was designated as the country's first national marine sanctuary on January 30, 1975, and is the only one of the thirteen national marine sanctuaries created to...
is the only one of the thirteen national marine sanctuaries created to protect a cultural resource, rather than a natural resource.
In 1986,
Monitor was designated a
National Historic LandmarkA National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
. It is one of only four accessible monitor vessels in the world, the others being the Australian vessel
HMVS CerberusHMVS Cerberus is a breastwork monitor that served in the Victoria Naval Forces, the Commonwealth Naval Forces , and the Royal Australian Navy between 1871 and 1924....
, and the wreck of the Norwegian
Thor, which lies at about 25 ft (7.6 m) off
Verdens EndeVerdens Ende is located at the southernmost tip of the island of Tjøme in Vestfold, Norway.It is a scenic spot with panoramic views of the Skagerrak and fishing facilities. It is composed of various islets and rocks. It is one of the most popular scenic locations in the area. It also has a replica...
in
Vestfoldis a county in Norway, bordering Buskerud and Telemark. The county administration is in Tønsberg.Vestfold is located west of the Oslofjord, as the name indicates. It includes many smaller, but well-known towns in Norway, such as Larvik, Sandefjord, Tønsberg and Horten. The river Numedalslågen runs...
county, Norway, and the British vessel
Hellman.
The U.S. Navy interest in raising the entire ship ended in 1978 when
Willard F. Searle, Jr.Capt. Willard Franklyn "Bill" Searle Jr. USN was an American ocean engineer who was principally responsible for developing equipment and many of the current techniques utilized in United States Navy diving and salvage operations.-Background:Searle was born 17 January 1924 in Columbus, Ohio...
calculated the cost and possible damage expected from the operation: $20 million to stabilize the vessel in place, or as much as $50 million to bring all of it to the surface. However in 1998 the warship's propeller was raised to the surface. On July 16, 2001, divers from the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary and the
US NavyA Navy Diver refers to a member of the community of Unrestricted Line Officer Officers, Medical Corps Officers and enlisted personnel in the United States Navy who are qualified in underwater open/closed circuit breathing apparatus, deep sea type diving apparatus and saturation diving. Personnel...
brought to the surface the 30 metric tons (29.5 LT) steam engine. Due to the depth of the wreck, the divers utilized
surface supplied diving techniquesSurface supplied diving refers to divers using equipment supplied with breathing gas using a diver's umbilical from the surface, either from the shore or from a diving support vessel sometimes indirectly via a diving bell...
while breathing
helioxHeliox is a breathing gas composed of a mixture of helium and oxygen .Heliox has been used medically since the 1930s, and although the medical community adopted it initially to alleviate symptoms of upper airway obstruction, its range of medical uses has since expanded greatly, mostly because of...
. In August 2002, after 41 days of work, the revolutionary revolving gun turret was recovered by the U.S.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationThe National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , pronounced , like "noah", is a scientific agency within the United States Department of Commerce focused on the conditions of the oceans and the atmosphere...
(NOAA) and a team of U.S. Navy divers. Before removing the turret, divers discovered the remains of two trapped crewmen. The remains of these sailors, who died while on duty, are at the Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) at
Hickam Air Force BaseHickam Field, re-named Hickam Air Force Base in 1948, was a United States Air Force facility now part of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, named in honor of aviation pioneer Lt Col Horace Meek Hickam.- History :...
, Hawaii, awaiting positive identification.
The site is now under the supervision of NOAA. Many artifacts from
Monitor, including her turret, cannon, propeller, anchor, engine and some personal effects of the crew, have been conserved and are on display at the
Mariners' MuseumThe Mariners' Museum is located in Newport News, Virginia. It is one of the largest maritime museums in the world as well as being the largest in North America.- History :The museum was founded in 1932 by Archer Milton Huntington, son of Collis P...
of Newport News,
VirginiaThe Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. Artifact recovery from the site has become paramount, as the wreck has become unstable and will decay over the next several decades; this fate also awaits many other commonly-dived wrecks of iron and steel ships, such as
Titanic and
LusitaniaRMS Lusitania was a British ocean liner designed by Leonard Peskett and built by John Brown and Company of Clydebank, Scotland. The ship entered passenger service with the Cunard Line on 26 August 1907 and continued on the line's heavily-traveled passenger service between Liverpool, England and New...
.
Campaign to honor Monitor
The
Cleveland Civil War RoundtableThe Cleveland Civil War Roundtable is a nonprofit historical society and social group dedicated to the study and discussion of the American Civil War ....
is mounting a grassroots campaign to persuade the
United States CongressThe United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
and the Navy to name a after
Monitor. Despite the enduring fame of the original, there has not been a
Monitor listed in the
Naval Vessel RegisterThe Naval Vessel Register is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and...
since
the landing shipUSS Monitor was an built for the United States Navy during World War II. She was named after the original , and was the second U.S...
was placed in reserve 1961.
Later monitors
USS
Monitor became the prototype for a new warship type dubbed "
monitorA monitor was a class of relatively small warship which was neither fast nor strongly armoured but carried disproportionately large guns. They were used by some navies from the 1860s until the end of World War II, and saw their final use by the United States Navy during the Vietnam War.The monitors...
" after the original. Many more were built, including
river monitorRiver monitors were heavily armored, and normally mounted the largest guns of all riverine warships. The name originated from the US Navy's Brown Water Navy's USS Monitor, which made her first appearance in the American Civil War, and being distinguished by a single revolving turret.On 18 December...
s and deep-sea monitors, and they played key roles in Civil War battles on the Mississippi and James Rivers. Some had two or even three turrets, and later monitors had improved seaworthiness. Many designs had a rounded deck so fragmentation from enemy fire would ricochet, rather than penetrate.
Just three months after the famous
Battle of Hampton RoadsThe Battle of Hampton Roads, often referred to as either the Battle of the Monitor and Merrimack or the Battle of Ironclads, was the most noted and arguably most important naval battle of the American Civil War from the standpoint of the development of navies...
, the design was offered to Sweden, and in 1865 the first Swedish monitor was being built at Motala Wharf in
NorrköpingNorrköping is a city in the province of Östergötland in eastern Sweden and the seat of Norrköping Municipality, Östergötland County. The city has a population of 87,247 inhabitants in 2010, out of a municipal total of 130,050, making it Sweden's tenth largest city and eighth largest...
; she was named
John Ericsson in honor of the engineer. She was followed by 14 more monitors. One of them,
Sölve, is still preserved at the marine museum in
GothenburgGothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...
. The navies of other nations, including the British
Royal NavyThe Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
, equipped themselves with monitor-type ships during the last decades of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th, using them mainly for shore bombardment and riparian patrols and engagements.
The last of the original American monitors, , was stricken from the
Navy ListThe Naval Vessel Register is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and...
in 1937. In 1966, however, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara reactivated the U.S. Navy's "
brown-water navyBrown-water navy is a term that originated in the United States Navy, referring to the small gunboats and patrol boats used in rivers, along with some of the larger ships that supported them as "mother ships," from which they operated...
" for riverine operations in
South VietnamSouth Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...
. The new brown-water navy included some 24 heavily armed and armored support craft designated "MON"—an abbreviation of "Monitor", in recognition of their similar role to the original monitor warships.
Upon the deactivation of the Navy's brown-water fleet in 1970 in Vietnam, these latter-day "monitors" were also struck from the Naval Registry; but the generic term is still sometimes used to describe an armored, heavily-gunned river patrol vessel.
See also
- Battle of Hampton Roads
The Battle of Hampton Roads, often referred to as either the Battle of the Monitor and Merrimack or the Battle of Ironclads, was the most noted and arguably most important naval battle of the American Civil War from the standpoint of the development of navies...
- CSS Virginia
CSS Virginia was the first steam-powered ironclad warship of the Confederate States Navy, built during the first year of the American Civil War; she was constructed as a casemate ironclad using the raised and cut down original lower hull and steam engines of the scuttled . Virginia was one of the...
- Ironclad warship
An ironclad was a steam-propelled warship in the early part of the second half of the 19th century, protected by iron or steel armor plates. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or incendiary shells. The first ironclad battleship, La Gloire,...
- John Ericsson
John Ericsson was a Swedish-American inventor and mechanical engineer, as was his brother Nils Ericson. He was born at Långbanshyttan in Värmland, Sweden, but primarily came to be active in England and the United States...
- Jefferson Furnace
The Jefferson Furnace in the United States started operation in 1854 and stopped production in 1916.Although the current state of the furnace is one of disrepair, it is still considered a vital historic site for the Jackson County area. Located in Oak Hill, Ohio, it was founded by a group of...
, where much of the iron used for the ship was produced.
- Cornelius H. DeLamater
Cornelius Henry DeLamater was an industrialist who owned DeLamater Iron Works in New York City. The steam boilers and machinery for the ironclad was built in DeLamater's foundry during the Civil War. Swedish marine engineer and inventor John Ericsson considered DeLamater his closest, most...
who owned the Iron Works where the boilers and machinery were constructed.
- HMS Sölve Is a Swedish monitor
A monitor was a class of relatively small warship which was neither fast nor strongly armoured but carried disproportionately large guns. They were used by some navies from the 1860s until the end of World War II, and saw their final use by the United States Navy during the Vietnam War.The monitors...
built 1875 and designed by John EricssonJohn Ericsson was a Swedish-American inventor and mechanical engineer, as was his brother Nils Ericson. He was born at Långbanshyttan in Värmland, Sweden, but primarily came to be active in England and the United States...
. Currently in a Maritime Museum in GothenburgGothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...
Sweden
Further Reading
- Bennett, The Monitor and the Navy under Steam (Boston, 1900)
- Johnson
Robert Underwood Johnson was a U.S. writer and diplomat. His wife was Katharine Johnson.-Biography:A native of Washington, D.C., Johnson joined the staff of The Century Magazine in 1873...
and C. C. Buel (editors), Battles and Leaders of the Civil War volume i, (New York, 1887)
- Carrico, John M. Vietnam Ironclads; A Pictorial History of US Navy River Assault Craft, 1966-1970. (Brown Water Enterprises, 2007). ISBN 978-0-9794-2310-9.
- Hill, Twenty-six Historic Ships (New York, 1903)
- Mindell, War, Technology, and Experience aboard the USS Monitor (Baltimore, 2000)
- Wilson, Ironclads in Action (London, 1896)
- William C. Davis, Duel Between the First Ironclads,(New York, 1975)
External links