USS Merrimack becomes CSS Virginia

When the Commonwealth of Virginia seceded from the Union in 1861, one of the important federal military bases threatened was Gosport Navy Yard (now Norfolk Naval Shipyard) in Portsmouth, Virginia. Accordingly, the order was sent to destroy the base rather than allow it to fall into Confederate hands. Unfortunately for the Union, the execution of these orders was bungled on 20 April. The steam frigate USS Merrimack sank in shallow water before she completely burned. When the Confederate government took possession of the yard, the base commander, Flag Officer French Forrest, contracted on 18 May to salvage the wreck of the Merrimack. This was completed by 30 May and she was moved into the shipyard's only graving dock where the burned structures were removed.

The wreck was surveyed and her lower hull and machinery were undamaged so she was selected for conversion into an ironclad by Stephen Mallory, Secretary of the Navy, as she was the only large ship with intact engines available to the Confederacy in the Chesapeake Bay area. Preliminary sketch designs were submitted by Lieutenants John Brooke and John L. Porter, each of which envisaged the ship as a casemate ironclad. Brooke's design showed the ends of the ship as submerged and was selected, although detailed design work would be done by Porter as he was a trained naval constructor. Porter had overall responsibility for the conversion, but Brooke was responsible for her iron plate and armament while William P. Williamson, Chief Engineer of the Navy, was responsible for the ship's machinery.

Reconstruction

The burned hull timbers were cut down past the waterline, and a new deck and armored casemate were added. The deck was 4-inch (102 mm) thick iron. The casemate was built up of 24 inches (61 cm) of oak and pine in several layers, topped with two 2-inch (51 mm) layers of iron plating oriented perpendicular to each other, and angled to deflect shot hits.

As Virginia's designers had heard of plans by the North to build an ironclad, and figuring her guns would be unable to harm such a ship, they equipped her with a ram—at that time an anachronism in a warship. Merrimack's steam engines, now part of Virginia, were in poor working order (the ship had been slated for an engine rebuild prior to the decision to abandon the Norfolk naval yard), and the salty Elizabeth River water and addition of tons of iron armor and ballast did not improve the situation. As completed CSS Virginia had a turning radius of about one mile (1.6 km) and required 45 minutes to complete a full circle, which was a major handicap in its battle with the far more nimble USS Monitor.

The casemate had 14 gun ports, three each in the bow and stern, one firing along the ship's centerline and the other two angled 45° off the centerline. There were four gunports on each broadside. The battery consisted of four muzzle-loading single-banded Brooke rifles and six smoothbore 9-inch (229 mm) Dahlgren guns. Two of the rifles, the bow and stern pivot guns, were 7-inch (178 mm) caliber and weighed 14,500 pounds (6,600 kg) each. They fired a 104-pound (47 kg) shell. The other two were 6.4-inch (163 mm) guns of about 9,100 pounds (4,100 kg), one on each broadside. The Dahlgren guns were mounted three on each side. They weighed approximately 9,200 pounds (4,200 kg) each and could fire a 72.5-pound (32.9 kg) shell up to a range of 3,357 yards (3,070 m) at an elevation of 15°. The 9-inch gun on each side nearest the furnaces was fitted for firing heated shot. No solid shot were on board during the fight with the USS Monitor.

Battle of Hampton Roads

The Battle of Hampton Roads began on March 8, 1862 when Virginia took on the blockading Union fleet. Despite an all-out effort to complete her, the new ironclad still had workmen on board when she sailed into Hampton Roads with her flotilla of five support ships Raleigh and Beaufort Patrick Henry, Jamestown, and Teaser.

The first Union ship engaged, the all wood and sail-powered USS Cumberland, was sunk after being rammed by Virginia. However, as Cumberland sank, Virginia's iron ram was broken off, causing a bow leak. Seeing what happened to Cumberland, the captain of USS Congress ordered his ship into shallow water, where she soon grounded. Congress and Virginia traded fire for an hour, after which the badly-damaged Congress surrendered. While the surviving crewmen of Congress were being ferried off the ship, a Union battery on the north shore opened fire on Virginia. In retaliation, the captain of Virginia gave the order to open fire on the surrendered Congress with red-hot shot, setting her ablaze; she burned for many hours, well into the night.

Virginia did not emerge from the battle unscathed. Shot from Cumberland, Congress, and the shore-based Union troops had riddled her smokestack, reducing her already low speed. Two of her guns were out of order, and a number of armor plates had been loosened. Even so, her captain attacked USS Minnesota, which had run aground on a sandbank trying to escape Virginia. However, because of her deep draft, Virginia was unable to do significant damage. It being late in the day, Virginia left with the expectation of returning the next day and completing the destruction of the Union blockaders.

Later that night, USS Monitor finally arrived at Union-held Fort Monroe. She had been rushed to Hampton Roads, still not quite completed, all the way from the Brooklyn Navy Yard, in hopes of defending the Union force of wooden ships and preventing "the rebel monster" from further threatening the blockading fleet and nearby Union cities, likeWashington, D.C.. While being towed south, she almost foundered in a storm on the way to Hampton Roads. She still had workmen aboard when she arrived by the firelight from the still burning triumph of Virginia's first day of handiwork.

The next day, on March 9, 1862, the world's first battle between ironclads took place. The smaller, nimbler Monitor was able to outmaneuver Virginia, but neither ship proved able to do significant damage, despite numerous hits. Monitor had a much lower freeboard, and thus much harder to hit by the Virginia's guns, but vulnerable to ramming and boarding. Finally, Monitor retreated. This was because the captain of the Monitor was hit by gunpowder in his eyes while looking through the pilothouse's peepholes, which caused Monitor to haul off. The Monitor had retreated off into the shoals and remained there, and so the battle was a draw. The captain of Virginia, Lieutenant Catesby ap Roger Jones, CSN received the advice from his pilots to take the midnight high tide to depart back over the bar toward the CS Navy base at Norfolk until noon of the next day. Lieutenant Jones wanted, instead, to re-attack, but to "turn the ship and fight the starboard gun, was impossible, for heading up stream on a strong flood-tide, she would have been wholly unmanageable." The pilots emphasized that the Virginia had "nearly three miles to run to the bar" and that she could not remain and "take the ground on a falling tide." So to prevent getting stuck, Lieutenant Jones called off the battle and moved back toward harbor.After the battle with the Monitor, the Virginia retired to the Gosport Naval Yard at Portsmouth, Virginia, for repairs and remained in drydock until April 4, 1862.

In the following month, the crew of the Virginia were unsuccessful in their attempts to break the Union blockade. The blockade had been bolstered by the hastily ram-fitted SS Vanderbilt, and SS Illinois as well as the SS Arago and USS Minnesota which had been repaired. The Virginia made several sorties back over to Hampton Roads hoping to draw Monitor into battle. Monitor, however, was under orders not to engage.

On April 11, the Confederate Navy sent Lieutenant Joseph Nicholson Barney in command of the side-paddle CSSJamestown, along with the Virginia and five other ships in full view of the Union squadron, enticing them to fight. When it became clear that the US Navy ships were unwilling to fight, the CS Navy squadron moved in and captured three merchant ships, the brigs Marcus and Sabout and the schooner Catherine T. Dix. Their flags were then hoisted "Union-side down" to further taunt the US Navy into a fight, as they were towed back to Norfolk, with the help of the CSS Raleigh.

Neither ironclad was ever to fight again. By late April the new Union ironclads USS Naugatuck/USRC E. A. Stevens and USS Galena had also joined the blockade. On May 8, 1862, Virginia and the James River Squadron ventured out when the Union ships began shelling the Confederate fortifications near Norfolk but the Union ships retired under the shore batteries on the north side of the James River and on Rip Raps island.

On May 10, 1862, advancing Union troops occupied Norfolk. SinceVirginia was a steam-powered battery and not a cruiser, she was not seaworthy enough to enter the ocean even if she was able to pass the Union blockade. Virginia was also unable to retreat further up the James River due to her deep 22-foot (6.7 m) draft. In an attempt to reduce her draft, supplies and coal were dumped overboard but this exposed the unclad, wooden hull. Without a home port,Virginia was ordered blown up to keep her from being captured. This task fell to Lieutenant Jones, the last man to leave CSS Virginia after all of her guns had been safely removed and carried to the CS Marine Corps base and fortifications at Drewy's Bluff to fight again. Early on the morning of May 11, 1862, off Craney Island, fire reached her magazine and she was destroyed by a great explosion. Her thirteen star Stars and Bars battle ensign was saved from destruction and today resides in the collection of the Chicago Historical Society, minus three of its stars.