On this day, March 8, 1862, the waters of Hampton Roads were the stage for a historic battle that would forever alter the course of naval warfare.
As the conflict between two powerful forces unfolded, no one could have predicted the revolutionary shift in military technology that was about to take place.
This clash, marked by its intensity and stakes, would challenge the very foundations of naval combat.
Many earlier generations of Americans know it as the Battle of the Monitor and the Merrimack, though it’s now frequently referred to as the Battle of Hampton Roads.
The two-day battle would conclude with the first engagement between ironclad ships in the Civil War, the USS Monitor versus the CSS Virginia. Ironclads were ships encased in iron that protected the hull.
While neither ship could defeat the other, the battle demonstrated the viability of ironclad technology and provided a glimpse into the future of naval warfare. And it served as the death knell for wooden sailing warships.
The Military Situation
After the opening of hostilities at Fort Sumter, South Carolina on April 12, 1861, Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a blockade of ports in the states that had seceded. He sought to strangle the South economically by cutting off all foreign trade.
The state of Virginia voted to secede from the Union on April 17, and the Union immediately sought to bottle up the entrance of Hampton Roads. This cut off Richmond and Norfolk from access to the Atlantic Ocean.
Two forts, Monroe and Wool, gave the Union forces control of the entrance to Hampton Roads and to strengthen their grip, the Union Navy stationed some of its most powerful warships there. For 10 months, the Confederates were powerless to dislodge the Northerners.
The Confederacy had no Navy of its own and would have to start from scratch.
The CSS Virginia (Merrimack)
The steam frigate Merrimack was launched by the US Navy in June 1855. She was awaiting repairs at Gosport Navy Yard in Portsmouth, Virginia when Fort Sumter was fired upon.
The Gosport’s Yard commander, Commodore Charles McCauley, was fearful of an uprising from the local population. He chose to abandon the yard and burnt it to the ground. Most cannons were spiked and 9 ships, including the Merrimack, were burned and sank on April 20th. The Federals, however, neglected to destroy the drydock.
The yard was located on the southern side of Hampton Roads and remained in Confederate hands, and in May they began operations. In desperate need of ships, the Merrimack was raised, then rebuilt in the drydock as an ironclad ram.
The Southern authorities knew they could never match the Union in the number of ships, thus sought technological advantage.
The ironclad was renamed the “Virginia,” and she was the hope of the Confederacy to destroy the wooden ships in Hampton Roads and open the Union blockade, which had already placed serious impediments on the war effort.
The ship would have a complement of 320 officers and men and carried 12 guns. Iron plating protected everything above the water. The weight of this plating contributed to the vessel’s deep draft of 22 feet, which would be a factor in the many shallow areas of Hampton Roads. She was outfitted with an iron ram, attached underwater to her bow.
The USS Monitor
Intelligence suggesting the Confederates were working to develop ironclads produced a similar effort in the North. The first to be completed was the USS Monitor. She was the brainchild of Swedish engineer and inventor John Ericsson.
Instead of a large number of guns of small caliber, which had characterized naval warships up to that point, Ericsson opted for two massive 11-inch Dahlgren guns. The guns were mounted in a cylindrical turret, which rotated on a central spindle powered by a steam engine.
When completed, the Monitor incorporated 40 patentable inventions. Ericsson intended to provide as little visible area as possible for enemy fire, thus the top of the armored deck was only 18 inches above the waterline. The turret resting on the deck was 9 feet in height.
Its unique appearance earned it the nickname “cheesebox on a raft.”
Completed in just 101 days, she was towed from the shipyard in Brooklyn, New York, and arrived in Hampton Roads on the evening of March 8, witnessing the destruction that was left from the first day’s battle, and ready to engage the Virginia.
Actions of March 8, a defining day in naval warfare
The Virginia left Portsmouth and steamed downriver to attack the Union warships guarding Hampton Roads.
The vessel was commanded by Flag Officer Franklin Buchanan. Buchanan, a Marylander, was the first superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis.
Buchanan went after the most powerful warship first, the 50-gun frigate USS Cumberland. They exchanged fire, and two guns were knocked out of commission on the Virginia. Then at 2:00 p.m., the Virginia closed and struck the Cumberland with its ram, opening a huge hole in the wooden hull.
While trying to disengage from the Cumberland, the Virginia’s lethal iron ram broke off. Colors flying, the Cumberland sank, taking the lives of 121 Union sailors down with her.
The frigates USS Congress and USS Cumberland proved no match for the confederate ironclad Virginia, commanded by Franklin Buchanan. The Cumberland was rammed below the waterline and sank rapidly, killing over 120 of her crew. pic.twitter.com/uELSiLoM7w
— Civil War On This Day (@CivilWarOTD) March 8, 2023
Buchanan next turned his attention to the USS Congress, which was a 38-gun heavy frigate, which was run aground. Virginia pounded the frigate with powerful broadsides, which decimated the ship, and she caught fire.
Near 4:00 p.m. the Congress struck her colors, and an evacuation of sailors began. Buchanan came topside on Virginia’s deck under a white flag, to accept the ship’s formal surrender. Buchanan was wounded by Union infantry firing from the shore. Incensed that the ceasefire had been violated, the Virginia again opened fire on the Congress, sinking her. The result was the death of 120 sailors and the ship’s Captain.
Next target for the Virginia was the 44-gun steam frigate USS Minnesota. She was run aground, and the ship suffered heavy damage, and a number of the crew killed and wounded as broadsides were exchanged.
The Minnesota had the same effect as the other Union warships, though they had substantially more firepower than the Virginia, their shot bounced off the thick iron plated sides of the Confederate vessel.
The Virginia made a tactical decision to suspend the fight and finish off the Minnesota the following day. The tide was shifting, and the Virginia was losing the depth of water it needed to operate. Also, daylight was waning and its captain needed medical attention.
By the end of the day, eight Union warships had been sunk or damaged by the Virginia and its accompaniment of smaller vessels. The Monitor, after its arduous journey from New York, would sail into Hampton Roads illuminated by the light from the still-burning Congress.
March 8, 1862, would remain the bloodiest day in American naval history until December 7, 1941, when the Imperial Japanese Navy would attack the American fleet anchored at Pearl Harbor.
Action of March 9, Clash of the Ironclads
On the morning of March 9, the CSS Virginia steamed out, prepared for renewed combat. Today, she expected to finish off the grounded frigate Minnesota and take on other enemy ships, which might appear.
As they surveyed the opposite side of Hampton Roads, where the Minnesota awaited her fate, the Confederates realized that their experience would be much different on this day. Emerging from behind the Minnesota was a low vessel, hardly visible, that could only be the USS Monitor, the Union Navy’s own ironclad.
As the Virginia continued her advance, the Monitor positioned herself to protect the grounded Minnesota, and the general engagement began.
The first shot of the engagement was fired at the Monitor by Virginia. The shot flew over the Monitor and struck Minnesota, which answered with a broadside. Both ironclads would hammer away at each other for hours with negligible effect. They even tried to ram each other but because of the slow speeds involved, there was slight damage.
The already slow to maneuver Virginia, was slowed further by damage to the hull suffered the day before from the breaking off the ram. She could only manage one full turn an hour. In 4 hours, she only completed 4 turns.
Virginia was also handicapped in her offensive capabilities. They had not expected to fight another ironclad, so they did not have armor-piercing shot for their guns.
The Monitor for its part was operating with powder charges greatly reduced, as they did not yet know how the turret would react to all the explosive pressure. As the battle wore on, they also had mechanical difficulties with the rotation of the turret, which at times would turn continuously and at others become stuck.
The battle finally halted when a shell from Virginia struck the pilot house of Monitor and exploded. It drove fragments of iron through the viewing slits, blinding the eyes of the Captain. The Monitor pulled away, needing time to switch commanders in the pilot house as no one else had visibility to conduct the engagement.
The Virginia thought the Monitor was withdrawing from the fight, and assuming victory, retired herself.
When the Monitor returned, she saw the Virginia steaming off and assumed they had won the battle. The great fight between the ironclads essentially ended in a stalemate.
The Monitor was struck 22 times, 9 on her turret, 11 on the hull, and 2 on the pilothouse. The vessel delivered 41 shots during the engagement.
The Virginia was struck 97 times. Most of the additional shots came from other ships involved, especially the Minnesota.
Far Ranging Consequences
All would acknowledge that when combining both days’ action, the Southerners inflicted far more damage on men and vessels than they received. This would imply that they had gained a tactical victory.
The Confederate Navy suffered 7 dead and 17 wounded for a total of 24 total casualties.
The Union Navy suffered 261 killed and 108 wounded for a combined 369 casualties.
But the blockade was not successfully lifted, so the battle was generally regarded as a strategic Union victory.
The battle of the ironsides on March 9 ended in a stalemate, the outcome of combat between armored equals. The engagement was proof that armour was highly effective as it prevented vital damage. And March 9 symbolized the industrial age of warfare had begun.
It was the mismatch and decisive victory of the Virginia on March 8 that revolutionized the navies of the world. The value suddenly dropped for the existing ships of the line and countries like England and France immediately stopped wooden warship construction and began making warships of iron.
After centuries of naval warfare on the high seas, wooden ships of the line were now fast becoming an anachronism.
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