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On March 8 1862 The ironclad CSS Virginia, steamed right into the US
Navy blockade at Hampton Roads and wreaked havoc on warships of the
Union fleet.
The Virginia sank the USS Cumberland destroyed the USS Congress and
disabled the USS Minnesota.
The next day when the CSS Virginia came back to finish off what was
left of the Union fleet, the ironclad USS Monitor came out to attack
the CSS Virginia and they battled to a stalemate.
The Union lost 409 sailors and the Conferacy lost only 24 during the
Battle for Hampton Roads.
This was reported as the most remarkable victory in Naval history.
One single ship, the CSS Virginia had caused the most damage the US Navy had yet suffered. And this would not be surpassed until Pearl Harbor.
Because of the damage inflicted by the Virginia, Wooden warships
suddenly became obsolete.
On March 8, the Confederacy's Virginia delivered the most devasting blow suffered by the United States Navy. She sank not only 2 men of war, but also three transport. It would not be until almost a century later when on Dec. 7, 1941, the USN was to suffer an even more humiliating defeat.
Everyone interested in monitors and iron afloat should visit the Mariner's Museum in Newport News and while at Newport News, visit the Virginia War Museum. Where else can you have your photo taken next to a 240 mm Railroad gun?
One single ship, the CSS Virginia had caused the most damage the US Navy had yet suffered. And this would not be surpassed until Pearl Harbor.
Shooting fish in a barrel is glorious? That in building the CSS Virginia (on a hull it didn't have to build), the CSA had used up most of it's available supply of iron so it couldn't immediately build more.
The Virginia scared the bejeezus out of the Union, until the Monitor steamed in. Neither ship was very seaworthy, and when the Virginia couldn't take refuge up the river, it was scuttled.
Ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
Exactly. An ironclade steamer against wooden vessels is shooting fish in a barrel. A coup, to be sure; heroic and difficult? No.
Ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
Exactly. An ironclade steamer against wooden vessels is shooting fish in a barrel. A coup, to be sure; heroic and difficult? No.
Ole
This is actually one of the reasons the Virginia/Merrimac was unable to seriously damage the Monitor the next day. Not knowing the new ironclad had arrived, she came out armed largely with the wrong sort of ammo because she expected to be doing a lot more "shooting fish in a barrel" against wooden warships and unarmed transports.
Actually I've read in "Struggle for a Vast Future" that the Virginia should have ignored the Monitor and concentrated on finishing off the blockade ships and transports, since neither ironclad could inflict decisive damage on the other. However that idea, however valid, seems unthinkable in the circumstances on Hampton Roads in 1862.
...the Virginia should have ignored the Monitor and concentrated on finishing off the blockade ships and transports, since neither ironclad could inflict decisive damage on the other.
Makes sense in retrospect, but neither could have known the other was all but invulnerable.
Ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
Virginia was over-rated in that the United States had more answers for ironclad Confederate ships.
The Virginia almost was too late, because iron from the rails from the B&O, torn up by Stonewall Jackson, had to be used to sheath the ship.
The Confederacy had significant shortages of iron and foundries throughout the war. It could never match the Union manufacture of ironclads. Rather than seen as a strength, I see the Virginia as a great weakness. In fact the Confederacy was unable to manufacture enough horseshoes for its mules and horses. How would it ever make a great Confederate Navy. It never did.
When it came the manufacture of ironclads and rails for their railroads, the Confederacy was more the one trick pony act.
"...it would hardly be possible to imagine a great maritime country more destitute of the means for carrying on a naval war, than the Confederate States in 1861."
James Russell Soley
"...the builders [ship] were hindered by the South's Achilles heel, the vertitable reason for its final defeat: The flimsiness and inferiority of its industrial plant. "
Raimondo Luraghi, "A History of the Confederate Navy"
One single ship, the CSS Virginia had caused the most damage the US Navy had yet suffered. And this would not be surpassed until Pearl Harbor.
Because of the damage inflicted by the Virginia, Wooden warships
suddenly became obsolete.
It's sad to see the end of the era of wooden ships, and iron men.
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