USS Monitor

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USS Monitor was the first ironclad warship commissioned by the United States Navy. She is most famous for her participation in the first-ever naval battle between two ironclad warships, the Battle of Hampton Roads on March 9, 1862 during the American Civil War, in which Monitor fought the ironclad CSS Virginia of the Confederate States Navy. The Monitor was the first in a long line of Monitor Class US warships and the term "monitor" describes a broad class of European harbor defense craft.

In previous decades, nearly all warships were made primarily of wood. In the decade before Hampton Roads, the design of ships and the nature of naval warfare changed dramatically with the introduction of armor.

Design

Monitor was one of three ironclad warships ordered by the U.S. Navy, after Galena and New Ironsides. Designed by the brilliant but choleric Swedish engineer John Ericsson, Monitor was described as a "cheesebox on a raft", consisting of a heavy round iron turret on the deck housing two large Dahlgren cannon. The armored deck was barely above the waterline. Aside from a small boxy pilothouse, a detachable smokestack and a few fittings, the bulk of the ship was below the waterline to prevent damage from cannon fire. Monitor's hull was built at the Continental Iron Works in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn in New York City, and the ship was launched there on January 30, 1862.

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. In addition to the "cheesebox", its rotating turret, Monitor was also the first naval vessel to be fitted with Ericsson's marine screw. Ericsson anticipated some aspects of modern submarine design by placing all of Monitor's features except the turret and pilothouse underwater, making it the first semi-submersible ship. In contrast, Virginia was a conventional wooden vessel covered with iron plates and bearing fixed weapons.

Statue of John Ericsson in Battery Park, NYC, holding a model of *Monitor* in his hand

Battle of Hampton Roads

Virginia attacked the Union blockading squadron in Hampton Roads, Virginia, on March 8, 1862, destroying USS Cumberland and Congress and forcing Minnesota aground before withdrawing. That night, Monitor, under command of Lt. John L. Worden, arrived under tow from Brooklyn. When Virginia returned the next day, March 9, 1862, to finish off Minnesota and the rest of the U.S. fleet, Monitor sailed forth to stop her. The ironclads fought for about four hours, neither one sinking or seriously damaging the other. Tactically, the battle was a draw--neither ironclad did significant damage to the other. However, it was a strategic victory for Monitor. Virginia's mission was to break the Union blockade; that mission failed; Monitor's mission was to defend the U.S. fleet, which it did. The Virginia did however occupy the 'battlefield' after the stratigic retreat of the USS Monitor after the captain was hit in the eyes with gunpowder. The two ironclads never again fought each other, although Virginia occasionally steamed out to Hampton Roads in an unanswered challenge to the Monitor.

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View of Monitor's turret, showing battle damage

The Monitor-class warship

USS Monitor became the prototype for the monitor class of warship. Many more were built, including river monitors 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.

Just three months after the famous Battle of Hampton Roads, the design was offered to Sweden, and in 1865 the first Swedish monitor was being built at Motala Warf in Norrköping; 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 Gothenburg.

The last U.S. Navy monitor-class warship was struck from the Navy List in 1937.

Loss at sea

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Engraving of the Monitor sinking

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 Rhode Island, she sank on December 31, 1862 in the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. 16 of 62 crewmen were lost in the storm.

The name Monitor was given to the troop carrier USS Monitor (LSV-5), commissioned late in World War II. She served primarily in the Pacific theater, and was later scrapped.

Rediscovery

In 1973, the wreck of the ironclad Monitor was located on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean about 26 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. The wreck site was designated as the United States' first marine sanctuary. Monitor Sanctuary is the only one of the thirteen national marine sanctuaries created to protect a cultural resource, rather than a natural resource.

The site is now under the supervision of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Many artifacts from Monitor, including her turret, propeller, anchor, engine and some personal effects of the crew, have been conserved and are on display at the Mariners' Museum of Newport News, Virginia.

In 1986, Monitor was designated a National Historic Landmark. It is one of only two diveable monitor wrecks in the world, the other being the Norwegian KNM Thor, which lies at about 25 feet off Verdens Ende in Vestfold county, Norway.

Trivia

Monitor is sometimes referred to as the first ironclad in the United States. This is only partially true; she was the first ironclad commissioned by the U.S. Navy. On October 12, 1861, the USS St. Louis was launched on the Mississippi River by the War Department. She was commissioned on January 31, 1862, and became the first operational ironclad in the Western Hemisphere.

However, contrary to popular belief, Monitor was NOT the first ironclad warship to be commissioned in the U.S. Navy. The USS Baron de Kalb, a city-class ironclad designed by James Eads, was completed and commissioned in late 1861.

It is also often stated Monitor was the first naval vessel driven by screw propeller; this is also only partially true. USS Princeton (1843), launched in 1843 and also designed by Ericsson, was the first U.S. Navy warship to feature screw propellers; she also used conventional sails as auxiliary power.

The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable is mounting a national grassroots campaign to convince Congress and the Navy to name one of the new Virginia-class submarines Monitor.

In 2003, after 41 days of work, the revolutionary revolving gun turret was salvaged by NOAA and a team of US Navy divers. Before removing the turret, divers discovered the remains of two trapped crew members. These sailors, who died while serving their country, were rescued after more than a century by their fellow sailors from their Atlantic grave, and given a full military funeral.

The wreck of the Monitor was mistaken for a German U-Boat during World War II and depth-charged.

Several episodes of the science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation featured a Nebula-class starship called the USS Monitor (NCC-61826), which was named in honor of the historic ironclad.

The ship even has a song about it written and performed by the band Bishop Allen.

References

Military Heritage magazine did a feature on the USS Merrimack (CSS Virginia), the USS Monitor, and the Battle at Hampton Roads (Keith Milton, Military Heritage, December 2001, Volume 3, No. 3, pp.38 to 45 and p. 97).
Gott, Kendall D., Where the South Lost the War: An Analysis of the Fort Henry—Fort Donelson Campaign, February 1862, Stackpole books, 2003, ISBN 0-8117-0049-6.

External links