How much do you know about the USS Monitor?

2016-03-30T15:06:48-04:00

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

Response by CW4 Guy Butler made Mar 30 at 2016 3:12 PM

2016-03-30T15:12:18-04:00

I've actually seen the turret, guns, and engine at the Monitor Center while I was stationed at Ft Eustis.

http://www.monitorcenter.org

The USS Monitor Center & Foundation - At The Mariners' Museum & Park

At The Mariners' Museum & Park

Response by LTC Stephen F. made Mar 30 at 2016 3:18 PM

2016-03-30T15:18:41-04:00

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

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.

Response by PO2 Mark Saffell made Mar 30 at 2016 3:27 PM

2016-03-30T15:27:36-04:00

I remember when they found the wreck off the coast of NC I believe. Havent seen much about it for years. Did they ever raise the ship?

Response by PO3 Steven Sherrill made Mar 30 at 2016 3:49 PM

2016-03-30T15:49:07-04:00

They are missing that both CSS Virginia and USS Monitor failed to sink its opponent, and that both ships met an ignominious end one in a storm, the other by running aground. The battle between the two ushered in the day of the steamship navy. They proved the concept of armored ships. Additionally USS Monitor was commissioned to be started and finished in an unreasonable amount of time by ship building standards such was the Union leadership's fear of the CSS Virginia.

Response by SFC William Farrell made Mar 30 at 2016 4:18 PM

2016-03-30T16:18:39-04:00

It was an amazing craft for its day LTC Stephen F., thank you for sharing. In the one photo, that looks like chow cooking on the deck. My kind of ship!

Response by Alan K. made Mar 30 at 2016 4:31 PM

2016-03-30T16:31:58-04:00

Not enough, thanks for the lesson BTW

Response by CPT Jack Durish made Mar 30 at 2016 4:46 PM

2016-03-30T16:46:18-04:00

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...

Response by SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth made Mar 30 at 2016 5:36 PM

2016-03-30T17:36:42-04:00

One bad mother for its day.

Response by SP5 Mark Kuzinski made Mar 30 at 2016 6:05 PM

2016-03-30T18:05:38-04:00

Awesome Post LTC Stephen F.

Response by PO1 William "Chip" Nagel made Mar 30 at 2016 6:29 PM

2016-03-30T18:29:26-04:00

What a wonderful bit of History.

Response by CPT Jack Durish made Mar 30 at 2016 6:38 PM

2016-03-30T18:38:24-04:00

I'm going to double-dip on this discussion thread since it is one of my favorites (from a very young age). Here's your trivia question regarding the Monitor: Other than the fact that it wasn't sea worthy (it was swamped and sank in heavy seas) what was the one design defect discovered in its first sea trials and fixed before being towed south to Hampton Roads to battle the Virginia?

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 30 at 2016 7:35 PM

2016-03-30T19:35:17-04:00

The USS Monitor and Miramax were the first iron clad ships during the Civil War.

Response by CAPT Kevin B. made Mar 30 at 2016 8:09 PM

2016-03-30T20:09:32-04:00

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.

Response by TSgt Scott Hurley made Mar 30 at 2016 8:17 PM

2016-03-30T20:17:32-04:00

I actually saw the remains of the Monitor at the Mariners Museum in Newport News. It is very interesting to see. They also have a replica of the Monitor outside as well. If you are ever in Newport News, go check out the Monitor and the rest of the museum.

http://www.marinersmuseum.org/

The Mariners' Museum and Park - America's National Maritime Museum

At The Mariners' Museum, explore over 60,000 square feet of gallery space with rare figureheads, handcrafted ship models, Civil War ironclad USS Monitor artifacts, paintings, and much more.

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Mar 30 at 2016 10:41 PM

2016-03-30T22:41:09-04:00

There's a really interesting video I just found on YouTube of a monitor class vessel that was still in use during the great white fleet sailing by Pres Theo Roosevelt if I find the link I'll try to give it here you might all find it of interest to view I actually found it pretty neat.

Response by COL Mikel J. Burroughs made Mar 31 at 2016 2:01 PM

2016-03-31T14:01:17-04:00

LTC Stephen F. I knew about half of what you shared - thanks

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made May 25 at 2016 8:29 PM

2016-05-25T20:29:14-04:00

I'd mentioned on the site here before I'd seen I think on YouTube s video of sa monitor in actual use possibly with the Theo Roosevelt great white fleet or the Spanish Amer war I can't quite recall now, the ww2 usage mentioned here is cool though I hadn't seen that aspect, lol, interesting material many thanks.