Emma+-+Ironclads

= = = = **I R O N C L A D S** ** // of the Civil War // **

__History of Ironclads__
toc //Ironclads.// Instantly, we visualize the famous Civil War ironclads the Monitor and the Merrimack, the exciting examples of a new industrialization of our country. Many assume that the battle tactics of the Civil War brought the invention of modern, streamlined ironclads, but that belief could not be further from the truth. The history of metal-armored ships in Europe began in Greece, where merchant ships were fitted with lead sheets to protect against wood-eating worms by the fifth century B.C. The huge //Syracusia// of 240 B.C. featured bronze-tipped mast tops, an iron palisade to ward off enemy boarding attempts, and a hull covered in lead plates studded with bronze nails. Roman warships had tar and lead sheathing on their sides to protect them from sea damage, and Norse longhips were reinforced with strips of iron as early as the first century A.D. During the Age of Exploration, Spanish and Portuguese explorers sailed in lead-sheathed ships. The Santa Anna, a lead-sheathed carrack or huge ship, was viewed by many as one of the earliest examples of an ironclad, and it successfully defended the Mediterranean from the Turks from 1522 to 1540. In eastern Asia, ship armor likely began with thin sheets of metal applied to the undersides of ships to preserve them. The introduction of paddle-boats spurred new prototypes of Chinese warships, which had their sides protected with iron plates. In 1578, a Japanese lord had six Atakebune (large Japanese warships) made. These Tekkōsen, literally "iron ships", were described as protected by iron plates two to three inches thick; Korean "turtle ships", studded with iron spikes, may also have been plated with iron. The most famous modern ironclad, however, is the 1860 French La Gloire, the first seagoing ironclad battleship. The wooden-hulled frigate was sheathed with wrought armor almost five inches thick, and was copied by the British with the HMS Warrior of the following year, a powerful 40-gun vessel nearly twice the size of La Gloire. The French Navy built more ships like La Gloire, but failed to take advantage of the possibilities of iron construction, instead creating iron copies of wooden ships. The two most important navies in the world had added ironclads to their fleets, but ironclad warships remained untried in battle. However, within two years, the United States would secure its position as the third naval power with its construction of two fresh ironclads, and the impact of their great battle on naval warfare worldwide.

__The U.S.S. Merrimack__
In 1854, following years of experiments with steam propulsion, the United States Navy committed to developing ships with steam propellers, marking the transition in U.S. navy to modern propellers. The five screw  frigates built were the //Merrimack, Colorado, Wabash, and Roanoke.// The Merrimack, launched in 1855, was considered  the most modern vessel afloat. She carried 40 cannons, was a fully rigged sailing vessel as well as a steamship, and was 275 feet long. However, mechanical failures quickly cropped up. While on a cruise, the //Merrimack// broke her propeller, then lost her rudder while returning home and had to be towed in for repairs. In 1857, the //Merrimack// sailed off to Europe to demonstrate the powers of the American navy. Britain was impressed, but noted that the //Merrimack// lacked speed. The great ironclad was dispatched to the Pacific, but had to return to the Gosport Navy Yard in Ham pton, Virginia, for repairs. Then, the gunshots broke out. As Southern states began seceding, the Union forces at the shipyard decided to burn it and scuttle the ships so they would not fall into Confederate hands.

__**The C.S.S. Virginia **__
In 1860, the Confederate Navy was nonexistent, but it would quickly rise to play a valuable role in the Southern war effort of the Civil War. The Navy was created by the Provisional Confederate Congress on February 20th, 1861. It was expected to protect 3,500 miles of Southern coastline, devise a means of breaking through the Union blockade of the Southern ports, and stop the Union's maritime commerce, but the Confederate Navy had a problem: it existed only in theory. The responsibility fell to Stephen R. Mallory, the former Florida senator and chairman of the Senate Naval Affairs Committee, to fix that problem when he was appointed the Confederate Naval Secretary on February 21st, the following day. Mallory obtained a scant ten ships, all captured or abandoned Union vessels, and began to plan. He knew that the eighteen-fifties had seen rapid advancement in naval technology and warfare. The fresh start of the Confederate Navy, after the recent advances of steam-powered, screw-propelled iron ships, gave it the potential to take advantage of the new technology and become the most modern naval fleet in the world. Mallory recommended to the Confederate Congress that they try to purchase superior ships and supplies from Europe. Officials traveled to France in hopes of buying //La Gloire// or similar ships, but the effort failed. Mallory would have to build more ships himself. In the summer of 1861, Stephen Mallory met with John Brooke, a Confederate and former Union naval career officer, in Richmond, Virginia, to ask the lieutenant to consider the feasibility of constructing an ironclad warship. Brooke designed a floating battery with a raised and armored casemate that mounted guns in a broadside formation. Mallory appointed John Porter, the Confederate naval constructor recently assigned to the Gosport Naval Yard, to help with the ironclad, and Porter came with <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,-webkit-fantasy; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> Mallory to Richmond. Brooke searched for a suitable engine in the Gosport yard and then suggested that they salvage machinery from the wreck of the //Merrimack//. In July, the Confederate Congress appointed $170,000 for the project. Porter oversaw the construction in Hampton, and Brooke remained in Richmond to acquire armor and guns. Tredegar Iron Works of Richmond provided iron plate, devoting almost its entire operations between July and October 1861 to turn out the thousand tons of iron plate to armor the //Virginia's// casemate. Transport of the plates was slowed down by the Confederate soldiers taking the railroad to the war: the last iron plate was affixed to the casemate on January 27th, 1862. After nine months of construction, the completed ironclad was 270 feet long, with a hull designed to be submerged below the waterline with only the casemate visible. The casemate was protected by twenty-four inches of pine and oak clad, and four inches of iron armor. The //Virginia// sported 10 guns: 3 nine-inch smooth-bore Dahlgrens, the heaviest available; one 6-inch rifle on each broadside; and a pivot-mounted seven-inch Brooke rifle in the stern and bow gun ports, as well as a 1,500-pound iron battering ram. Her crew was recruited from Confederate troops on the Peninsula. Captain Franklin Buchanan was placed as the executive officer, and Lieutenant Catesby AP Jones as second-in-command. Although almost all of the 22 Confederate ironclads built during the war were modeled after the //Virginia//, her design limited her effectiveness: her engines were strained and damaged, she moved at only six miles an hour and took nearly forty minutes to maneuver to get her stationary guns to bear on a target. The Virginia did not have the lasting influence on naval construction as that of her greatest rival, the //USS Monitor//.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">By the summer of 1861, the Confederate efforts to construct an ironclad in Hampton Roads were troubling the federal government. If the Confederacy completed this ironclad, then the Union did not have a ship that could stop her. The Navy Department appointed an Ironclad Board, comprised of congressmen, to solicit and review designs for ironclads of their own. On August 3, 1861, the Secretary of the Navy issued a request for <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;"> ironclad designs. On that same day, the government set aside a staggering one-and-half million dollars for ironclad construction. By the end of the summer, the committee had approved two <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,-webkit-fantasy; line-height: 21px;">conventional ships and one more unique blueprint. The latter design was by John Ericsson, a renowned Swedish designer and engineer. His ship, called the //Monitor// as a warning to the Confederacy, featured a shallow, draft-iron hull, topped by an armored raft offering protection against ramming and cannon fire. Its greatest innovation, however, <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,-webkit-fantasy; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px;">was the Monitor's container for its guns: a thickly armored round tower, nine feet tall and twenty feet in diameter, covered with eight layers of armor plate. The gun turret was rotated by steam power for an almost 360-degree range of fire from a pair of Dahlgren guns, the heaviest guns available. The deck of the ship fell very low above the waterline, giving enemy boats only the armored turret as a target. It was nothing short of revolutionary: Lincoln himself was struck by the ship's plan when he saw it on September 13, and the //Monitor// was approved two days later. According to Ericsson's contract, which was signed on October 4, he was to be paid a hefty $275,000 for his ship, but only if it could be completed within the next hundred days. The Confederates were working steadily on the//Virginia// and other vessels, and time was running out. On October 23, construction began on the Monitor's rudder, and her keel was laid at Continental Ironworks in Brooklyn, New York on October 25. November 1 marked George B. McClellan's app<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">ointment as the general of the United States Army. By the end of November, 175 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">men were at work on the ironclad, iron deck beams had been installed, and Ericsson was given his first payment of fifty thousand dollars. At the end of December, Ericsson had been paid another thirty-seven thousand dollars. The Monitor had a bulwark, boilers, a painted hull, and its engines and propeller tested, but Union and Confederate boats were shelling each other elsewhere, and the //Virginia// continued t<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,-webkit-fantasy; line-height: 23px;">o rise. On January 5th, 1862, Ericsson was informed that twenty more ironclads would be constructed on the success of the //Monitor//, and received an incentive of additional thirty-seven thousand dollars the following day. Lieutenant John Worden was given command of the ship on January thirteenth, a day after Ericsson's 100-day contract to complete the Monitor had expired. On January twentieth, "Ericsson's battery" was officially named the //USS Monitor.// At ten A.M., on January 30th, 1862, the //Monitor// was launched from Continental Ironworks.

__ **The Battle of Hampton Roads (March 8-9, 1862)** __
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px;">After the Confederacy's capture of the Gosport Navy Yard, the South controlled the southern portion of Hampton Roads and across the Elizabeth River to the Gosport Navy Yard in Norfolk (see map). The Confederacy set up blockades at the naval base at Craney Island and at Sewell's Point, both on the south side of the Elizabeth River, to prevent Union troops from seizing the Gosport Navy Yard. Similarly, the Union soldiers, who <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px;"> controlled Fort Monroe, Newport News, and the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic, set up blockades at the mouth of Norfolk Harbor. Norfolk, Hampton, and Richmond were sealed off from the sea for <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px;"> most of 1861 to 1862 as Norfolk waited in stalemate. Tensions were high. George McClellan, the new general of the Union Army, wanted to sail media type="googlemap" key="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&t=h&msa=0&msid=218293058941415426356.0004a2877d84480593645&ll=36.84501,-76.284943&spn=0,0&output=embed" width="425" height="350" align="right" <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px;"> from Washington, D.C. down the Chesapeake Bay, into the James River between Newport News and Norfolk, and then march up the peninsula between the York and James rivers to capture Richmond, the Confederate capital (see map). However, the Confederacy was adamant about <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px;"> maintaining <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,-webkit-fantasy;">possession of Gosport, the largest shipyard in the states. On the morning of March 8th, 1862, the takeover of Norfolk began. General McClellan met with President Lincoln at eight in the morning to discuss the army's next operations, and decided with other officials to attack Richmond via the Chesapeake Bay by 10:30. At 10 A.M., Confederate officers coated the //Virginia// with pig's grease to deflect shots. An hour later, at 11 AM, Buchanan hoisted a red flag over the //Virginia// and ordered the crew to cast off. At 12:30, the //Virginia// moved down the Elizabeth River from Norfolk, sailing so close to the river bottom that another Confederate ship had to tow it around a bend. Around 1:30 PM, the //Virginia// dropped her towline and sailed into Hampton Roads at high tide. Anchored on the other side of the Hampton Roads waters, on the Union-controlled land, were five major Union warships: the //Congress// and sloop //Cumberland// off of Newport News and the frigates //St. Lawrence, Roanoke,// and //Minnesota// off Fort Monroe. As the //Virginia// crossed the Roads, the Union ships prepared for action.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,fantasy; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px;">This video by the Naval History & Heritage Command, the history program of the Navy Department, explains the Battle of Hampton Roads in detail. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,fantasy; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">media type="youtube" key="u2oub-PkUDY?rel=0" height="351" width="432" <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,-webkit-fantasy; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px;">At 2:20 p.m., the Virginia and two other Confederate ships exchanged fire with Union forces at Newport News Point. At 2:55, the //Virginia// and the //Congress// battled. In an example of the strength of iron plates, the <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,-webkit-fantasy; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px;">//Congress's// shot bounced off of the ironclad like "pebbles", while the //Congress// ignited and was critically damaged. At 3:05 PM, the //Virginia// broke through the //Cumberland's// protections and smashed into the sloop with its battering ram. The Cumberland began to sink, ripping off the //Virginia's// battering ram with her. Undaunted, the ships fired at each other for another half an hour. At 3:10 PM, the //Minnesota// ran aground. Twenty-five minutes later, the //Cumberland's// officer ordered his crew to abandon the sinking ship. At 4:10 in the afternoon, the //Virginia// steamed up to the crippled //Congress// and shelled the ship to submission; it surrendered at 4:40, its commander dead. At 5:20, Buchanan was wounded by a shell; Catesby AP Jones assumed command of the //Virginia//. Twenty-five minutes later, the //Congress// was finally destroyed by the shells, burning from bow to stern. By six PM, Jones moved to Hampton Roads, firing at the //Minnesota// and the //St. Lawrence.// At 8 PM, Jones headed the //Virginia// back to Sewell's Point (see map) to rest. Over the next night, the ship would be repaired and its wounded sent ashore. In the light of the burning //Congress//, Jones swore to destroy the Union fleet the next day. After 9 that night, the //Monitor// limped into Hampton, having been rushed to Hampton Roads on short notice. The crew was exhausted, and the ship was hardly in condition to fight; problems with its engines still troubled Ericsson's ironclad. The crew of the //Virginia,// however, rose early the next morning, March ninth, having "two jiggers of whiskey and a hearty breakfast" at 5:30. The //Virginia// reeentered Hampton Roads at eight, and fired the first shot of the day, at the //Minnesota,// at 8:30. The //Monitor// quickly moved to intercept. At first, Jones mistook the ironclad's gun turret for a boiler towed behind the //Minnesota,// then realized that he did not have the ammunition to fight the warship. The //Virginia// headed towards the Minnesota around 10:15, but, leaking from the loss of its ram, ran aground. By 10:30, the //Monitor// was shelling its opponent furiously. At 11:15 AM, the //Virginia// freed herself and began to head towards the monitor. At 10:45, the unwieldy ship finally made impact; the //Monitor// was hit by a glancing blow and headed away from the action, while the //Minnesota// and the //Dragon// were shelled and damaged. As the //Monitor// passed the //Virginia// at 12:10, the //Virginia// fired upon the pilot house, injuring Lieutenant Worden. The //Monitor// drew away from the action. By 12:30, the //Virginia// had retreated up the Elizabeth River, the tide too high to fight again, and believing that they had won the day. Both sides mistakenly believed that they had won; McClellan and his men quickly advanced south towards the peninsula, preparing for greater battles on land. For the //Virginia,// the satisfaction of sinking the //Congress// and the //Cumberland// on her first run would not stay with the ironclad for long: she exploded at 5 AM that May 11th, having run aground between Sewell's Point and Craney Island. The //Monitor// and the //Merrimack// would not fight again.

__The Effect of the //Battle of the Monitor and Merrimack// on Naval Warfare__
<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1px; padding: 1px;">The American Civil War was the first modern, industrialized war, and within it, naval warfare relied the heaviest on brand-new techniques and technologies. One of those tools was the invention of the fearsome, iron-clad warship. That the events of 1862 had taught both unions ironclads were the key to victory was undisputed: no less than the president Abraham Lincoln said in his 1863 Address to Congress: //The naval force of the United States consists at this time of 588 vessels completed and in the course of completion, and of these 75 are ironclad or armored steamers. The events of the war give an increased interest and importance to the Navy which will probably extend beyond the war itself. Less than three weeks after the Battle of Hampton Roads, Ericsson had received a contract to build six more boats l ike the Monitor. Ericsson responded with a new class of ironclads: the Passaic class, with a larger gun turret. Ten Passaics were built during the rest of the Civil War, and most were highly successful. // can be measured with the fact that she is now an adjective with a lower-case //m//, denoting a //Monitor//-like ship. // Stephen Mallory, wanting to defend Confederate harbors to protect their seaports for future international trade, asked the Confederacy for a more streamlined design. A naval constructor modified the //aVirginia's design into a smaller, lighter vessel, the first example of which was the //CSS Richmond,// launched from Gosport on May 1. The North and the South ended up commissioning eighty-five ironclads after the Battle of Hampton Roads, most of which were based upon the Virginia and the Monitor. Of the twenty-two Confederate ironclads built during the war, almost all were modeled after the Virginia. In addition to these American reactions, the Royal Navy cancelled all contracts for wooden ships days after the Battle of Hampton Roads. The London Times stated: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">// There is not now a ship in the English Navy apart from [HMS Warrior and her sister Ironsides, Britain’s first ironclad ships] that it would be not madness to trust to an engagement with that little Monitor. // The battle had not been the most glorious, but two long days of maneuvering and shelling had changed the world's opinions on their navies. // Today, the success of the //Monitor can be measured with the fact that she is now an adjective with a lower-case //m//, denoting a //Monitor-//like ship.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">__Bibliography__

 * 1) <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 23px;">Lincoln, Abraham. "Annual Message to Congress, 1863." American Presidency Project. American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. <span style="background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat; cursor: pointer; padding-right: 10px;">[|Link.] (accessed May 4, 2011).
 * 2) <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 42px;">Photograph of Officers on the Deck of the Monitor: Gibson, James F. James River, Va. Deck and Turret of U.S.S. Monitor Seen from the Bow (i.e. Stern). July 9, 1862. Photograph. The Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. The Library of Congress: American Memory. The Library of Congress. Web. 4 May 2011. <span style="background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat; cursor: pointer; padding-right: 10px;">[|Link.]
 * 3) <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 32px;">Neilson, Larry. "Ironclad Frigate La Gloire (1860)." // Larry Neilson Photography //. Larry Neilson. Web. 8 May 2011. <span style="background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat; cursor: pointer; padding-right: 10px;">[|Link.]
 * 4) <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 32px;"> Drawing of the Merrimack: Pook, G. G. // USS Merrimack (1856-1861) //. Drawing. US Naval Historical Center. <span style="background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat; cursor: pointer; padding-right: 10px;">[|Link.]
 * 5) <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 32px;"> Q uarstein, John V. A History of Ironclads: The Power of Iron Over Wood. History, 2006.Google Books. Google, Inc. Web. 3 May 2011. [|Link.]
 * 6) <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 32px;">Drawing of the Virginia: Ray, Clary. // CSS Virginia //. 1898. U.S. Navy Art Collection, Washington, D.C. // Naval History & Heritage Command //. United States Navy. Web. 11 May 2011. <span style="background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat; cursor: pointer; padding-right: 10px;">[|Link.]
 * 7) <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 32px;">Webb, Alexander S. // The Peninsular - McClellan's Campaign of 1862 //. Digital Scanning, 2004.// Google Books //. Google, Inc. Web. 10 May 2011.<span style="background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat; cursor: pointer; padding-right: 10px;">[|Link.]
 * 8) <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;"> "Norfolk, 18th Century." //The City of Norfolk//. The City of Norfolk. Web. 5 May 2011. [|Link.]
 * 9) <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 21px;">Diagram: "//Monitor// and //Merrimack// at Hampton Roads." //American History Online//. Facts On File, Inc. [|Link.]
 * 10) <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">"USS Monitor (1862-1862) -- Construction." //Naval History & Heritage Command//. Naval Historical Center, 19 June 2001. Web. 5 May 2011. [|Link.]
 * 11) <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 32px;">No Author. "Confederate Ironclad Warships." // Encyclopedia of American Military History //. Facts on File. Web. 11 May 2011. [|Link.]
 * 12) <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 32px;">// Mariners' Museum //. Mariner's Museum. Web. 15 May 2011. <http://www.marinersmuseum.org/>.
 * 13) <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Naval History & Heritage Command. "CSS Virginia Destroys USS Cumberland and USS Congress, 8 March 1862." //Naval History & Heritage Command//. US Navy. Web. 19 May 2011. [|Link.] <http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/civilwar/n-at-cst/hr-james/8mar62.htm>.


 * Research Notes**