THE BATTLE OF HAMPTON ROADSthe next target for destruction, but with
the approach of night the Virginia
withdrew for repairs. The Union navy
had lost two ships and the lives of more
than 230 sailors.USS Monitor enters the fray
The next morning, the Virginia
reappeared, with Lieutenant Catesby ap
Roger Jones commanding in place of
the wounded Buchanan. Jones was
puzzled to see a strange low-lying metal
object between the Virginia and the
stranded Minnesota. This was the Union
ironclad USS Monitor. Towed south from
New York in great haste, it had taken up
position during the night. The Monitor
had undergone a hair-raising voyage,
nearly sinking in heavy seas. Its crew
of 59 officers and men, commanded byJohn Worden, were
exhausted and hungry.
Nonetheless, Worden
immediately set course
to attack the Virginia.
The two vessels closed
to point-blank range and
opened fire. The Monitor’s
armor warded off the
hammer blows of the Virginia’s
guns, but the Monitor’s fire had
no more effect on the Virginia’s
iron plates. In cramped, fume-
ridden conditions, the Monitor’s
gunners had problems with the
innovative gun turret, which
eventually had to be kept in
permanent rotation, firing as
the guns swept across their
target. In the smoke,Solid shot
A memento of the Battle of Hampton Roads —a solid
shot flattened on striking CSS Virginia’s sloping
ironplate armor. The Virginia remained known to the
Union side by its original name, Merrimack.
visibility was limited for both crews, and
the two ships went almost blindly around
one another as they blasted away. The
Monitor was smaller and faster and her flat
bottom was an advantage in the shallow
waters. At one point, the Virginia ran
aground on shoals, but she was
freed and the battle continued.Final clashes
The Virginia tried to crush
the Monitor by ramming,
but the Monitor moved
into shallow water to
escape. No resolution
seemed in view when by
chance a Confederate
shell exploded in the
eyeslit of the Monitor’s
pilothouse. Worden
suffered a facial wound
that blinded him. There
was some confusion before
command passed to his first
officer, Samuel Greene. In
the interim, the Virginia’s
Catesby ap Roger Jones
assumed that the Monitor
had given up the fight and
withdrew, claiming victory.
Greene, ready to resume the
fight, saw the Virginia leave,
and also claimed to have won.Monitor’s commander
John Worden was a lieutenant when he took
command of USS Monitor in January 1861. He
recovered from his wound at Hampton Roads,
retiring from the navy as a rear admiral in 1886.The Confederacy failed to break the blockade.
Over the next two months the Virginia made
occasional sorties into Hampton Roads, but
the epic duel was not repeated.The Virginia was scuttled in May when the
advance of Union land forces left it exposed to
capture. Never seaworthy, Monitor sank on
December 31, 1862, while under tow in an Atlantic
gale off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. However, the
design spawned a whole class of vessels,
designated “monitors,” for use in inshore and
river warfare. Monitors were still in service up to
the 1930s. Rams and rotating gun turrets were
soon adopted as standard features of warships.ARMORED VESSELS IN THE WAR
Ironclads and monitors played a major part in later
naval actions, including the struggle for control
of the Mississippi 96–101, 190–93 ❯❯
and the Battle of Mobile Bay 286–87 ❯❯.convention. As the surrender was being
organized, they opened fire, seriously
wounding Buchanan in the leg. In
retaliation he ordered red-hot shot to
be fired at the Congress, setting her
ablaze—the ship finally blew up in the
early hours of the following morning.
Another frigate, USS Minnesota, had
also run aground and was marked as
Battle of the ironclads
USS Monitor (far left) and CSS Virginia (left) exchange
fire at close range. The Virginia suffered much
superficial damage, but neither vessel carried powerful
enough armament to have a decisive effect.“My men and myself
were perfectly black
with smoke and powder.”
UNION LIEUTENANT SAMUEL GREENE, ON BOARD USS MONITORAFTER