![]() ![]() What emerged was well-suited for the Civil War's inshore fighting: a relatively shallow-draft iron hull, topped by an armored raft that provided good protection against ramming and cannon fire. Perhaps with Scandanavian coastal defense conditions in mind, he had been developing the concept on paper for several decades. Swedish engineer John Ericsson was personally responsible for Monitor 's conception and the details of her design. The third, unconventional in virtually every way, became the Monitor. Two were relatively conventional designs and became USS New Ironsides and USS Galena. Davis, reviewed seventeen proposals and selected three for construction. During August and September the study board's members, Commodores Joseph Smith and Hiram Paulding and Commander Charles H. Her wreck was discovered in 1974 and is now a marine sanctuary.Ĭonstruction resulted from a study of ironclad warships mandated by the Congress in July 1861, as the Civil War moved rapidly from crisis to serious armed conflict. Caught in a storm off Cape Hatteras, she foundered on 31 December. In late December 1862, Monitor was ordered south for further operations. ![]() However, USS Monitor prevented the CSS Virginia from gaining control of Hampton Roads and thus preserved the Federal blockade of the Norfolk area.įollowing this historic action, Monitor remained in the Hampton Roads area and, in mid-1862 was actively employed along the James River in support of the Army's Peninsular Campaign. The resulting battle, the first between iron-armored warships, was a tactical draw. Monitor arrived there on 9 March, and was immediately sent into action against the Confederate ironclad Virginia, which had sunk two U.S. Commissioned on 25 February 1862, she soon was underway for Hampton Roads, Virginia. She was the first of what became a large number of "monitors" in the United States and other navies. USS Monitor, a 987-ton armored turret gunboat, was built at New York to the design of John Ericsson. The invention surrounded men with iron and threatened their heroism, their self-image as warriors, even their lives ![]() The experience of the men aboard the Monitor and their reactions to the thrills and dangers that accompanied the new machine. War, Technology, and Experience aboard the USS Monitor ![]()
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