The lady taking her place (Rare event #2…a Sub we didn’t know.) was from…Insert dramatic Pause…The North. Yep, one of Them Thar Yankees that our parents always warned us about!
We were studying History. Specifically The War of Northern Aggression (Hey, I’m from The South! ;) ) More specifically we were studying a certain ground breaking naval battle that took place between a pair of Ironclad warships on the waters of Hampton Roads.
Things didn’t start out well…the lady, convinced she was inspiring our young, sponge like minds to soak up new knowledge and such, informed us we were going to study the famous battle between The Monitor and The Merrimack. A hand shot up and one of my classmates politely informed her that the battle was between The Monitor and The Virginia.
As I recall, things went down hill from there.
My classmate (To this day I can’t remember which of us it was, but I do know it was one of the girls) was right, of course. Fifty or sixty years ago most kids in general and just about all kids in Virginia knew about the battle between the U.S.S. Monitor and the C.S.S. Virginia and the fact that it was the first time in history that a pair of armored warships mixed it up. Most importantly the kids in Virginia knew that the Confederate ironclad was named the Virginia…not the Merrimack. The majority could also tell you that the U.S. Navy Frigate whose burned out hull became The Virginia was named The Merrimack, with a ‘K’ on the end of her name.
Oh…did I mention that the teacher spelled the ‘Merrimack’s name wrong when she wrote the ships’ names on the board? Of course she isn’t the only one that’s made that mistake…everyone seems to leave that pesky terminal ‘K’ off.
The Merrimack was a U.S. Navy ship (A steam screw frigate to be specific). The Virginia was a Confederate Navy ship built upon the burned out hull of The Merrimack after Federal forces abandoned and burned her along with The Gosport (Norfolk) Navy Yard to keep both from falling into Confederate hands.
So let’s get the facts straight about The Merrimack and The Virginia.
The U.S.S.Merrimack was one of six Screw Frigates (Designating that she used a propeller, or ‘screw’ rather than paddle wheels to push her through the Oceans Blue) whose keels were laid in 1854. She was built at the Boston Navy Yard, launched in June 1855 and commissioned in February 1856. In fact, the six frigates in the Merrimack class were considered to be somewhat cutting edge because they were the first U S Navy warships to use a screw propeller rather than a paddlewheel for propulsion.
The USS Merrimack at sea. Note that she was using her sails as her primary means of propulsion
She was named after the Merrimack River in Massachusetts. The Merrimack River runs through the Mass. town of Merrimac and this is generally considered the most likely source of the common misspelling of the ship’s name.
The U.S.S Merrimack was not a small ship, particularly for her day. She was 275 feet long with a beam of 38 feet and a displacement of 3200 tons. (Some sources cite a displacement of 4300 or so tons) She also drew 24 feet of water. Keep that last figure in mind…it will play heavily into both the battle between the ironclads and the C.S.S Virginia’s ultimate fate.
After serving in both the Atlantic and Pacific squadrons, she was decommissioned and put in at Gosport Navy Yard (Now Norfolk Naval Shipyard) for repairs and upgrades. The Merrimack was originally fitted with four boilers and two horizontal steam engines, developing a grand total of 972 horsepower to turn her single screw. She was also equipped with three masts and a full suit of sails. which were actually her primary propulsion system. As you’ll see below, the sails were probably a Very Good Thing as long as there was wind in them!
You see, one of the big items on the overhaul’s punch list was repair or replacement of her engines, which had given her crew fits throughout her career. They had actually been condemned by the Navy (And likely roundly cursed by the engine room crew) after breaking down on a regular basis.
She was still at Gosport in April 1861when Virginia seceded from the Union. The Federal Government ordered the Gosport Navy Yard abandoned and destroyed so it wouldn’t fall into Confederate hands in useful condition. That was the general idea at any rate.. Interestingly enough (and a very likely future posting in this very blog)…this abandonment and evacuation would go down in history as one of the bigger military blunders in history on a couple of levels.
The burning of Gosport Navy Yard and The Merrimack.
Fedral troops did a less than competant job of rendering the shipyard and the ship useless!
Ya see, they blew it, and NOT literally. The Federal forces scuttled the Merrimack in shallow water then set her on fire, so she sank before burning completely. They also left the yard’s Graving Dock (Dry Dock) in usable condition (Note people…Always check your equipment. The graving dock survived because a powder charge didn’t explode). They also left lots and lots and LOTS of usable ordinance and material behind. This would include all of the powder on board The Merrimack, stored below in watertight metal tanks.(Note #2. Might be a good idea to take a quick tour of whatever you want to destroy to make sure you render everything useless to the enemy.
Enter the C.S.S. Virginia
The U.S. Navy set up a blockade of Hampton Roads to keep supplies from getting in and goods from getting out. The Confederate Navy, desperate for ships to remedy that situation, surveyed the remains of The Merrimack (Complete with her engines and boilers) and raised her, planning the get-go to rebuild her as a Casemate ironclad ram. She was dry-docked in the aforementioned graving dock, the burned remains removed, her hull cut down and decked over, and a 160 ft Casemate (Deckhouse) built amidships. A 1500 pound iron ram was fitted to her bow, beneath the waterline, and she was armed with a pair of 7 inch Brooke rifled guns, two more 6 inch Brookes and six 9 inch Dahlgren broadside guns…a pretty formidable battery for her day
The CSS Virginia in the not-so-destroyed graving dock.
The Virginia was commissioned in Feb 1862, nine months after the Merrimack was scuttled and burned. Her new deck was built with four inches of iron over a heavy timber frame, and her casemate was armored with two feet of oak and pine, covered with 4 inches of iron plates in two perpendicular layers, the bottom layer horizontal and the top layer vertical. The sides of the casemate were angled at 35 degrees to deflect incoming shells and shot. Her new armor, however, only extended a foot or so below the deck…below the waterline, her wooden hull was not armored.
As The Virginia she retained The Merrimack’s 275 foot length and 38 foot beam. She also retained the Merrimack’s deep draft and her weak, problematic engines, both of which caused her problems throughout her short career
. Her new gun deck had actually been the berthing deck on the Merrimack and the deck fore and aft of the casemate was all but submerged when she was under way. She had a top speed of around 6 knots (When her engines were running perfectly) and a turning radius of a mile. Yep, you read right. A mile, She was NOT a nimble vessel at all and was basically a floating, self propelled gun battery.
Above. Model of The Virginia made in 1939
Below: contemporary artwork of The Virginia
For quick reference, here are the Virginia’s specs, credit to civilwarhome.com and official Naval records:
Description.—Screw propelled ironclad casemate ram.
Tonnage.--3,200 tons.
Length.--Length 275';;
Beam-- 38' 6"
Depth--27½'.
Draft.--Loaded, 22'; without coal or ballast, 19½'. (Only very slightly shallower than the Merrimack’s draft)
Speed.--About 9 knots *
Engines.--Horizontal, back acting; two cylinders, 72" in diameter, 3' stroke.
Boilers.--4 Martin type boilers; average steam pressure, 18 lbs.
Armament-- 2 7-inch rifle pivots, 2 6-inch rifles and 6 9-inch Dahlgrens in broadside, 2 12-pounder howitzers on deck.
Crew Size: According to the personnel roster of the Virginia, she was manned by 160 Navy, and 28 Marines. **
Disposition.--Run on shore near Craney Island and set on fire after being abandoned; she blew up at 4.58 a.m., May 11, 1862.
Remarks.--Formerly she was the U. S. S. Merrimack. March 8, 1862, she engaged and sunk the U. S. S. Cumberland by ramming and gunfire and destroyed the Congress by fire. March 9, 1862, engaged the U. S. vessels Monitor, Minnesota, and St. Lawrence.
My notes on the specs:
- *Contemporary sources put her top speed at 6 knots
- ** Some sources put her crew at 320
She’d have a very short, very violent career and an equally violent end. But we’ll get to them in a bit.
Back to the misspelling and misidentification.
The history of a war is always written by the winners; therefore the Virginia is almost always referred to as The Merrimack (And just as often misspelled ‘Merrimac) in historical accounts of the battle. The Merrimack was, after all, a US Navy ship and when the accounts of the battle were recorded for posterity, historians used the name of the U.S.Navy frigate that donated her burned out hull to the Confederate cause.
Admittedly I’ve always found this a bit puzzling because contemporary news accounts more often than not identified the Confederate ironclad correctly. And believe me, there was LOTS of press coverage of this event, not only nationally but internationally. Technology wise, the battle was the First Shuttle Launch of it’s era.
Remember, steam powered ships, especially those without sails, were cutting edge technology in the 1860s. Armored, sailless, steam powered ships were not only cutting edge but bordering on futuristic.
Two of ‘em going at it in public view in 1862 would be the equivalent today of a pair of stealth fighters from warring nations engaging in a classic, rolling, turning dogfight a couple of miles off of Virginia Beach during Neptune Week.
Press wise, the battle was covered just as thoroughly as any major event is today. The only things missing of course were the YouTube vids, TV cameras, and CNN. But they did have eye witness reports, and major newspapers had international agencies. There also a transatlantic telegraph cable to get the story distributed worldwide. Those contemporary reporters and news articles got the names and spellings right.
But three years later, after all the dust and smoke settled and reconstruction started and everyone started picking up the pieces, the history of the war was written for posterity and the victors got to write that history. So in history books and American History classes and on pop quizzes for 14 or so decades after The War Between The States, the battle became known for most school children, as the Battle between The Monitor and The Merrimac(k) Unless, of course, those kids were residents of The Old Dominion :D
One more little tidbit! yes indeed, historians have misidentified the Confederate ironclad for 150 years, often misspelling the Merrimack’s name in the bargain. She’s misidentified and misspelled in history books, documents, historical accounts of the battle…but the one that just floors me every time I see it is right here in Virginia. Not only in Virginia, but within sight of the very waters that hosted the battle 150 years ago.
When I-664 was built in Tidewater VA, the bridge-tunnel that carries the interstate across Hampton Roads, connecting Newport News and Suffolk, was named after that epic battle. How’d they spell it?
Yep…The Monitor-Merrimac Bridge-Tunnel. Without that pesky terminal ‘K’ . And again, the Confederate ironclad was actually named The Virginia.
*********************************************************************
I tried to hit the highlights of The U.S.S Merrimack, and her conversion to the C.S.S. Virginia. Many have gone before me and done a far far more thorough job. For more information on The Virginia here are a few links:
The Wikipedia Article on the C.S.S. Virginia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hampton_Roads and The Battle of Hampton Roads
http://cssvirginia.org/ An excellent. in depth, and just about all-encompassing site about The Virginia: Someone put a LOT of work on this site!
