In this segment historian Rick Britton talks about Today in Virginia History: On March 9, 1862, the U.S.S. Monitor and the C.S.S. Virginia fought to a draw in Hampton Roads, Virginia.The C.S.S. Virginia was originally the U.S.S. Merrimack, a 40-gun frigate launched in 1855. The Confederates captured it and covered it in heavy armor plating above the waterline. Outfitted with powerful guns, Virginia was a formidable vessel. On March 8, Virginia sank two Union ships and ran one aground off Hampton Roads.
The next day, the U.S.S. Monitor steamed into the Chesapeake Bay. Designed by John Ericsson, the vessel had an unusually low profile. The flat iron deck had a 20-foot cylindrical turret rising from the middle of the ship housing two 11-inch Dahlgren guns.
The battle began the morning of March 9 and continued for four hours. The ships circled one another, jockeying for position as they fired their guns. The cannon balls simply deflected off the iron ships. In the early afternoon, the Virginia pulled back to Norfolk. Neither ship was seriously damaged, but the Monitor effectively ended the short reign of terror that the Confederate ironclad had brought to the Union navy.
Both ships met ignominious ends. When the Yankees moved up the Peninsula two months later, the retreating Confederates scuttled their ironclad. The Monitor went down in bad weather off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, at the end of the year. Though they had short lives, the ships ushered in a new era in naval warfare.
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