As the Virginia approaches Minnesota , Jones notices a strange raft-like vessel by its side. With the Monitor now bearing down on the Virginia , the Confederate ironclad shifts its fire to this newcomer with the large, two-gun rotating iron turret. The two ironclads settle down to a close-range slug fest. Both ships noisily fire into each other with little effect, their shots glancing off their armored sides. Virginia at one point tries to ram the smaller Monitor , but the nimbler Union vessel turns sharply to avoid the blow.
After several hours of close combat, Worden, standing in the pilot house on the Monitor , is temporarily blinded when a shell from the Virginia explodes close by. The Monitor disengages and heads for the safety of shallow water where the deep-draft Virginia cannot follow.
Despite its temporary advantage, the Virginia , short on ammunition and threatened by the outgoing tide, withdraws and heads for the safety of Portsmouth. For the next few months, the Monitor remains in Hampton Roads protecting the Union fleet there. Virginia ventures out from Portsmouth occasionally but never confronts the Monitor again.
With the threat from the Virginia neutralized, Union blockade operations from Hampton Roads are restored and Maj. George B. During the two-day battle, the Federal navy suffers killed and wounded in its struggle with the Virginia —more killed and wounded than in any other sea battle in American history at that time. March 8, , would remain the bloodiest day in American naval history until December 7, , when the Japanese navy struck the American fleet at Pearl Harbor.
The CSS Virginia was fairly conventional. Built upon the hull of the USS Merrimac , it was a wooden vessel covered with iron plates, and it had fixed weapons. Still, she was a formidable threat. Iron covered, the ship measured feet long It was angled such that cannon shot would harmlessly bounce off its sides.
Outfitted with ten guns and resembling a floating barn roof, the ship was rechristened the CSS Virginia and released from dry dock into the Elizabeth River on February 17, The ship possessed a mixed armament consisting of two 7-in. Brooke rifles, two 6. Brooke rifles, six 9-in. Dahlgren smoothbores, as well as two pdr howitzers. While the bulk of the guns were mounted in the ship's broadside, the two 7-in.
Brooke rifles were mounted on pivots at the bow and stern and could traverse to fire from multiple gun ports. In creating the ship, the designers concluded that its guns would be unable to penetrate the armor of another ironclad. As a result, they had Virginia fitted with a large ram on the bow. Though a formidable vessel, Virginia 's size and balky engines made it difficult to maneuver and complete circle required a mile of space and forty-five minutes.
When federal authorities discovered in the summer of that the Confederates were armoring the old Merrimac, they knew they had to commission a unique vessel of their own to challenge her.
If the Virginia needed nearly 4 fathoms to safely maneuver, what course would she take starting from Craney Island at the bottom right and moving to the upper left of the map towards Richmond? As Norfolk fell to Union forces, the Confederates briefly considered fleeing toward the open ocean before settling on moving the CSS Virginia further up the James River.
However, this would only work if the ship could be lightened to 18 feet of draft to safely pass over sand bars while staying away from the large Union cannon lining the shore. Unfortunately, a hard west wind blew all night making the river even more shallow than normal. With 2 feet of her unarmored hull now exposed and in no shape to fight her way out of Hampton Roads, the Virginia was set afire at dawn to keep her from falling into enemy hands.
The CSS Virginia ended the age of wooden sail powered warships with a revolutionary combination armor and steam. Yet, it was also this design which caused her demise. Some say she would turn bottom side up…. However, burned only to the water line, the ship would be salvaged by the Confederacy and modified into a completely different design; the steam powered and iron plated CSS Virginia.
This new design required tons of iron, more iron than the Confederacy even had available at the time, to cover the ship in 4 inch armor plates. Delays in acquiring and shaping the needed iron meant the construction of the Virginia took almost an entire year.
When the Virginia released from the dry dock in February of , many believed she would end up at the bottom of the river! You will need: Heavy-duty aluminum foil, cut into four inch squares; some pennies; a sink or dishpan with an inch or two of water in it.
Using just your hands, shape the aluminum foil square into a boat shape of your own design with the goal of holding as much weight as possible without sinking. Before adding any weight, try to predict how many pennies your boat can hold before it sinks! Test your design and hypothesis by placing your boat into the water. Start putting the pennies, one at a time, in the middle of the boat first, then work your way towards the outsides. How well did your design work? How close was your prediction to the outcome?
What could you have done differently in design that may work better? Fold your paper in half long ways so that the corners meet and create a crease. Then open the paper up. Fold the top two corners down to the center crease, similar to when you are making a paper airplane. Fold the newly created triangle at the top of your sheet down along its bottom edge, lining the top of the triangle with the center crease. Ericsson did the calculations and told Bushnell that the Galena would easily carry the extra weight.
However, before Bushnell left, Ericsson decided to show him his own ironclad design for an "impregnable battery," which he had developed in as a proposal to Napoleon III. Ericsson assured Bushnell that the ship could be built in just 90 days. Bushnell was extremely impressed with the design of the ship and convinced Ericsson to let him take the drawings and a crude cardboard model of the ship to show Secretary Welles, who was visiting in nearby Connecticut.
Charles H. Lincoln could not influence the board's decision, but he agreed to meet Bushnell at the Navy Department the following morning. At AM the next day, Lincoln watched as Bushnell presented the design. Although most of the board was impressed, others ridiculed the plans. At the end of the meeting, the board asked President Lincoln for his opinion.
Bushnell returned the next day and met with the entire board. He once again explained the design and its merits. Leaving the meeting, he felt confident that the plan would be approved. However, later that afternoon, he learned that some of the board was afraid that Ericsson would have another failure, as he did with the Princeton. But Bushnell knew that Ericsson would not be agreeable if he knew that the board had turned down his plan.
Therefore, Bushnell decided to white wash the truth, just a little. He told Ericsson that everyone had loved the plan except for one, Commander Charles H. Grant and Commodore Andrew Foote Hoping to seize Corinth Live TV. This Day In History.
History Vault. Merrimack Rechristened the C. Virginia The C. Recommended for you. Battle of Shiloh. Battle of Fredericksburg. Battle of Chancellorsville. Battle of the Somme. Battle of Fredericksburg The Battle of Fredericksburg on December 13, , involved nearly , combatants, the largest concentration of troops in any Civil War battle.
0コメント