Naval Battles :: essays research papers fc

The battle on March 9, 1862, between the USS monitor lizard and the CSS Merrimack, offici totallyy the CSS Virginia, is whizz of the most revolutionary naval battles in world tale. Up until that point, all battles had been waged between wooden charges. This was the first battle in maritime history that two ironclad ships waged war. The USS Merrimack was a Union frigate throughout most of its existence, up until the Union navy abandoned the Norfolk Naval Yard. To prevent the Confederate Navy from using her against them, the Union Navy scuttled her. The Confederates, however, raised the ship from the shallow underprice of the ocean and began making some major modifications. Confederate engineers cut the take down to the water line and built a slanted occur on it. Then, they bolted cardinal layers of iron sheets, each two inches thick, to the entire structure. to a fault added was a huge battering ram to the obedience of the ship to be used in ramming maneuvers. The ship was t hen fitted with ten twelve-pound cannons. There were four guns placed on the starboard and port sides, and one on the bow and stern sides. Due to its wide nature the ships draft was enormous, it stretched twenty-two feet to the bottom. The ship was so slow and farseeing, that it required a turning radius of or so one mile. Likened to a "floating barn roof (DesJardien 2)" and not predicted to float, the hardly individual willing to take command of the ship was Captain Franklin Buchanan. later on all the modifications were complete, the ship was rechristened the CSS Virginia, but the original name the CSS Merrimack is the preferred name. The USS Monitor was the creation of Swedish-American engineer, John Ericsson. The ship was considered small for a warship, only 172 feet long and 42 feet wide. Confederate sailors were baffled by the ship. One was quoted describing her as ". . . a craft such as the eyes of a seaman never looked upon before, an immense shingle floating on the water with a goliath cheese box rising from its center" (Ward 101). The "cheese box" was a nine by twenty foot revolving turret with two massive guns inside. "The USS Monitor used two of the eleven inch Dahlgran guns . . ." (Lavy 2). These Dahlgran guns were massive despoil cannons that were capable of firing a variety of shot.