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114-594: CSS Virginia was the first steam-powered ironclad warship built by the Confederate States Navy during the first year of the American Civil War ; she was constructed as a casemate ironclad using the razéed (cut down) original lower hull and engines of the scuttled steam frigate USS  Merrimack . Virginia was one of the participants in the Battle of Hampton Roads , opposing

228-476: A torpedo , with less vulnerability to quick-firing guns. The armament of ironclads tended to become concentrated in a small number of powerful guns capable of penetrating the armor of enemy ships at range; calibre and weight of guns increased markedly to achieve greater penetration. Throughout the ironclad era navies also grappled with the complexities of rifled versus smoothbore guns and breech-loading versus muzzle-loading . HMS  Warrior carried

342-474: A 35-acre biological dead-zone with a nearly entirely lifeless river floor. Creosote (high in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons ) from dumping and a major fire in 1963 played a major role in contaminating the river sediment there, which in some areas were as much as five feet thick. The Commonwealth of Virginia entered into an agreement in 1995 after the Chesapeake Bay Program identified

456-473: A breech, adopted by the French in 1873. Just as compellingly, the growing size of naval guns and consequently, their ammunition, made muzzle-loading much more complicated. With guns of such size there was no prospect of hauling in the gun for reloading, or even reloading by hand, and complicated hydraulic systems were required for reloading the gun outside the turret without exposing the crew to enemy fire. In 1882,

570-496: A claim to the title of the first ironclad warships but they were capable of only 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph) under their own power: they operated under their own power at the Battle of Kinburn, but had to be towed for long-range transit. They were also arguably marginal to the work of the navy. The brief success of the floating ironclad batteries convinced France to begin work on armored warships for their battlefleet. By

684-466: A direct shell hit to her armored pilothouse forced her away from the conflict to assess the damage. The captain of the Monitor , Lieutenant John L. Worden , had taken a direct gunpowder explosion to his face and eyes, blinding him, while looking through the pilothouse's narrow, horizontal viewing slits. Monitor remained in the shallows, but as it was late in the day, Virginia steamed for her home port,

798-599: A few days before her first sortie; the ironclad was placed in commission and equipped by her executive officer , Lieutenant Catesby ap Roger Jones . The Battle of Hampton Roads began on March 8, 1862, when Virginia engaged 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 CSN support ships: Raleigh (serving as Virginia ' s tender) and Beaufort , Patrick Henry , Jamestown , and Teaser . The first Union ship to be engaged by Virginia

912-569: A few rounds. Smoke and the general chaos of battle only added to the problem. As a result, many naval engagements in the 'Age of the Ironclad' were still fought at ranges within easy eyesight of their targets, and well below the maximum reach of their ships' guns. Another method of increasing firepower was to vary the projectile fired or the nature of the propellant. Early ironclads used black powder , which expanded rapidly after combustion; this meant cannons had relatively short barrels, to prevent

1026-591: A historic confrontation, against each other at the Battle of Hampton Roads in Virginia . Their performance demonstrated that the ironclad had replaced the unarmored ship of the line as the most powerful warship afloat. Ironclad gunboats became very successful in the American Civil War. Ironclads were designed for several uses, including as high-seas battleships , long-range cruisers , and coastal defense ships. Rapid development of warship design in

1140-545: A mixture of 110-pounder 7-inch (178 mm) breech-loading rifles and more traditional 68-pounder smoothbore guns. Warrior highlighted the challenges of picking the right armament; the breech-loaders she carried, designed by Sir William Armstrong , were intended to be the next generation of heavy armament for the Royal Navy, but were shortly withdrawn from service. Breech-loading guns seemed to offer important advantages. A breech-loader could be reloaded without moving

1254-424: A movement away from the ships mounting many guns broadside, in the manner of a ship-of-the-line, towards a handful of guns in turrets for all-round fire. From the 1860s to the 1880s many naval designers believed that the ram was again a vital weapon in naval warfare. With steam power freeing ships from the wind, iron construction increasing their structural strength, and armor making them invulnerable to shellfire,

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1368-666: A new main deck, and a v-shaped breakwater (bulwark) was added to her bow, which attached to the armored casemate. This forward and aft main deck and fantail were designed to stay submerged and were covered in 4-inch-thick (10 cm) iron plate, built up in two layers. The casemate was built 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 at 36 degrees from horizontal to deflect fired enemy shells. From reports in Northern newspapers, Virginia ' s designers were aware of

1482-618: A period of ten years, but the United Kingdom soon managed to take the lead in production. Altogether, France built ten new wooden steam battleships and converted 28 from older ships of the line, while the United Kingdom built 18 and converted 41. The era of the wooden steam ship-of-the-line was brief, because of new, more powerful naval guns. In the 1820s and 1830s, warships began to mount increasingly heavy guns, replacing 18- and 24-pounder guns with 32-pounders on sailing ships-of-the-line and introducing 68-pounders on steamers. Then,

1596-526: A ready and willing market among Civil War enthusiasts and eastern seaboard residents. However, the provenance of many of these artifacts is impossible to prove, which has given rise to the humorous adage that "if you took all the iron and all the wood supposedly collected from the [wreck of the CSS Virginia ], you'd have enough to outfit a fleet of ironclads." Although the Confederacy renamed

1710-545: A side; each weighed approximately 9,200 pounds (4,200 kg) and could fire a 72.5-pound (32.9 kg) shell up to a range of 3,357 yards (3,070 m) (or 1.9 miles) at an elevation of 15°. Both amidship Dahlgrens nearest the boiler furnaces were fitted-out to fire heated shot . On her upper casemate deck were positioned two anti-boarding/personnel 12-pounder Howitzers . Virginia ' s commanding officer, Flag Officer Franklin Buchanan , arrived to take command only

1824-421: A standard pattern and designated as battleships or armored cruisers . The ironclad became technically feasible and tactically necessary because of developments in shipbuilding in the first half of the 19th century. According to naval historian J. Richard Hill : "The (ironclad) had three chief characteristics: a metal-skinned hull, steam propulsion and a main armament of guns capable of firing explosive shells. It

1938-412: A state of flux. Many ironclads were built to make use of the naval ram , the torpedo , or sometimes both (as in the case with smaller ships and later torpedo boats), which several naval designers considered the important weapons of naval combat. There is no clear end to the ironclad period, but toward the end of the 1890s, the term ironclad dropped out of use. New ships were increasingly constructed to

2052-478: A third major city, Chesapeake , which was formed by the voluntary political consolidation in 1963 of the small independent city of South Norfolk with much larger Norfolk County , which had long surrounded the other two large and expanding cities. The three cities surround the Elizabeth River and most of the area served by its three main branches. The Elizabeth River is the home of the oldest shipyard in

2166-509: A wooden hull. Encouraged by the positive reports of the iron hulls of those ships in combat, the Admiralty ordered a series of experiments to evaluate what happened when thin iron hulls were struck by projectiles, both solid shot and hollow shells, beginning in 1845 and lasting through 1851. Critics like Lieutenant-general Sir Howard Douglas believed that the splinters from the hull were even more dangerous than those from wooden hulls and

2280-481: Is only when all three characteristics are present that a fighting ship can properly be called an ironclad." Each of these developments was introduced separately in the decade before the first ironclads. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, fleets had relied on two types of major warship, the ship of the line and the frigate . The first major change to these types was the introduction of steam power for propulsion . While paddle steamer warships had been used from

2394-672: The Atlantic at Newburyport, Massachusetts . After raising, restoring, and outfitting as an ironclad warship, the Confederacy bestowed on her the name Virginia . Nonetheless, the Union continued to refer to the Confederate ironclad by either its original name, Merrimack , or by the nickname "The Rebel Monster". In the aftermath of the Battle of Hampton Roads, the names Virginia and Merrimack were used interchangeably by both sides, as attested to by various newspapers and correspondence of

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2508-549: The Battle of Hampton Roads . Virginia ' s battery consisted of four muzzle-loading single-banded Brooke rifles and six smoothbore 9-inch (229 mm) Dahlgren guns salvaged from the old Merrimack . 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) cannon of about 9,100 pounds (4,100 kg), one on each broadside. The 9-inch Dahlgrens were mounted three to

2622-428: The Battle of Sinop , spelled the end of the wooden-hulled warship. The more practical threat to wooden ships was from conventional cannon firing red-hot shot, which could lodge in the hull and cause a fire or ammunition explosion. Some navies even experimented with hollow shot filled with molten metal for extra incendiary power. The use of wrought iron instead of wood as the primary material of ships' hulls began in

2736-822: The British Royal Navy , the Dunmore , the Liverpool , the Otter , and the Kingfisher . Under the command of Lord Dunmore, these ships patrolled along Norfolk's Elizabeth River waterfront and on New Year's Day 1776, began shelling Norfolk in what would later become known as the Burning of Norfolk . During the War of 1812 , two harbor fortifications located on opposite banks of the Elizabeth River were occupied to prevent

2850-584: The Gloire and her sisters had full iron-armor protection along the waterline and the battery itself. The British Warrior and Black Prince (but also the smaller Defence and Resistance ) were obliged to concentrate their armor in a central "citadel" or "armoured box", leaving many main deck guns and the fore and aft sections of the vessel unprotected. The use of iron in the construction of Warrior also came with some drawbacks; iron hulls required more regular and intensive repairs than wooden hulls, and iron

2964-673: The Union's USS  Monitor in March 1862. The battle is chiefly significant in naval history as the first battle between ironclads . When the Commonwealth of Virginia seceded from the Union in 1861, one of the important US military bases threatened was Gosport Navy Yard (now Norfolk Naval Shipyard ) in Portsmouth, Virginia . Accordingly, orders were sent to destroy the base rather than allow it to fall into Confederate hands. On

3078-545: The armor-piercing shell was developed. Elizabeth River (Virginia) Through its Southern Branch and the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal , the Elizabeth River also is a gateway to points to the south for the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway , an inland path from the ocean providing a more sheltered navigable waterway to Florida for commercial and recreational boating. The Elizabeth River

3192-614: The 1830s onward, steam propulsion only became suitable for major warships after the adoption of the screw propeller in the 1840s. Steam-powered screw frigates were built in the mid-1840s, and at the end of the decade the French Navy introduced steam power to its line of battle . Napoleon III 's ambition to gain greater influence in Europe required a sustained challenge to the British at sea. The first purpose-built steam battleship

3306-678: The 1830s; the first "warship" with an iron hull was the gunboat Nemesis , built by Jonathan Laird of Birkenhead for the East India Company in 1839. There followed, also from Laird, the first full-sized warship with a metal hull, the 1842 steam frigate Guadalupe for the Mexican Navy . The latter ship performed well during the Naval Battle of Campeche , with her captain reporting that he thought that there were fewer iron splinters from Guadalupe ' s hull than from

3420-423: The 1880s has been criticized by historians. However, at least until the late 1870s, the British muzzle-loaders had superior performance in terms of both range and rate of fire than the French and Prussian breech-loaders, which suffered from the same problems as the first Armstrong guns. From 1875 onwards, the balance between breech- and muzzle-loading changed. Captain de Bange invented a method of reliably sealing

3534-538: The 81-ton, 16-inch guns of HMS  Inflexible fired only once every 11 minutes while bombarding Alexandria during the Urabi Revolt . The 102-long-ton (104 t), 450 mm (17.72 inch) guns of the Duilio class could each fire a round every 15 minutes. In the Royal Navy, the switch to breech-loaders was finally made in 1879; as well as the significant advantages in terms of performance, opinion

CSS Virginia - Misplaced Pages Continue

3648-650: The Atlantic, even if she were 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 (fully loaded). In an attempt to reduce it, supplies and coal were dumped overboard, even though this exposed the ironclad's unarmored lower hull, but this was still not enough to make a difference. Without a home port and no place to go, Virginia ' s new captain, flag officer Josiah Tattnall III , reluctantly ordered her destruction in order to keep

3762-551: The British Admiralty agreed to build five armored floating batteries on the French plans. The French floating batteries were deployed in 1855 as a supplement to the wooden steam battle fleet in the Crimean War . The role of the battery was to assist unarmored mortar and gunboats bombarding shore fortifications. The French used three of their ironclad batteries ( Lave , Tonnante and Dévastation ) in 1855 against

3876-604: The British from attacking Norfolk or Portsmouth. These defensive positions were Fort Norfolk , located on the eastern bank in Norfolk, and Fort Nelson , located on the western bank in Portsmouth. Neither of these forts saw action during the War of 1812. However, the men stationed at Fort Norfolk reinforced Craney Island , located at the mouth of the Elizabeth River, and took part in the Battle of Craney Island . The main branch of

3990-729: The British to equip ships with muzzle-loading weapons of increasing power until the 1880s. After a brief introduction of the 100-pounder or 9.2-inch (230 mm) smoothbore Somerset Gun , which weighed 6.5 long tons (6.6 t), the Admiralty introduced 7-inch (178 mm) rifled guns, weighing 7 long tons (7 t). These were followed by a series of increasingly mammoth weapons—guns weighing 12 long tons (12 t), 18 long tons (18 t), 25 long tons (25 t), 38 long tons (39 t) and finally 81 long tons (82 t), with caliber increasing from 8 inches (203 mm) to 16 inches (406 mm). The decision to retain muzzle-loaders until

4104-575: The Confederacy ;– especially in Russia, the only country to openly support the Union through the war. Only CSS Stonewall was completed, and she arrived in Cuban waters just in time for the end of the war. Through the remainder of the war, ironclads saw action in the Union's attacks on Confederate ports. Seven Union monitors, including USS  Montauk , as well as two other ironclads,

4218-481: The Confederate government took possession of the fully provisioned yard, the base's new commander, Flag Officer French Forrest , contracted on May 18 to salvage the wreck of the frigate. This was completed by May 30, and she was towed into the shipyard's only dry dock (today known as Drydock Number One ), where the burned structures were removed. The wreck was surveyed and her lower hull and machinery were discovered to be undamaged. Stephen Mallory , Secretary of

4332-613: The Crimean War, Emperor Napoleon III ordered the development of light-draft floating batteries, equipped with heavy guns and protected by heavy armor. Experiments made during the first half of 1854 proved highly satisfactory, and on 17 July 1854, the French communicated to the British Government that a solution had been found to make gun-proof vessels and that plans would be communicated. After tests in September 1854,

4446-608: The Elizabeth River system as a "Region of Concern" in 1993. By 2003 a report entitled "State of the River 2003" by the Elizabeth River Project had been published, highlighting the sediment contamination in the Southern Branch along with other toxins including those causing cancer in some fish after a monitoring the river between 1999 and 2001. Efforts began in the 1990s and by 2003 bald eagles were returned to

4560-572: The Elizabeth River. They are of great importance to both commerce and the U.S. military considerations. The Elizabeth River is a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay and faces significant environmental pollution challenges of its own that also hamper recovery in the Bay. The Elizabeth River's history with various industrial sites, such as dry docks, Norfolk Naval Shipyard, processing plants, and both sewage and storm water discharge contributed over time to

4674-514: The Navy decided to convert Merrimack into an ironclad , since she was the only large ship with intact engines available in the Chesapeake Bay area. Preliminary sketch designs were submitted by Lieutenants John Mercer Brooke and John L. Porter , each of whom envisaged the ship as a casemate ironclad. Brooke's general design showed the bow and stern portions submerged, and his design was

CSS Virginia - Misplaced Pages Continue

4788-442: The Union plans to build an ironclad and assumed their similar ordnance would be unable to do much serious damage to such a ship. It was decided to equip their ironclad with a ram , an anachronism on a 19th-century warship. Merrimack' s steam engines, now part of Virginia , were in poor working order; they had been slated for replacement when the decision was made to abandon the Norfolk naval yard. The salty Elizabeth River water and

4902-459: 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 . Since Virginia was now a steam-powered heavy battery and no longer an ocean-going cruiser, her pilots judged her not seaworthy enough to enter

5016-479: The Union's blockading fleet and nearby cities, like Washington, D.C. While under tow, she nearly foundered twice during heavy storms on her voyage south, arriving in Hampton Roads by the bright 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, and faster Monitor

5130-478: The Union, but they were adequate for their intended use. More Western Flotilla Union ironclads were sunk by torpedoes (mines) than by enemy fire, and the most damaging fire for the Union ironclads was from shore installations, not Confederate vessels. The first fleet battle, and the first ocean battle, involving ironclad warships was the Battle of Lissa in 1866. Waged between the Austrian and Italian navies,

5244-612: The United States, the Norfolk Naval Shipyard . Founded as The Gosport Shipyard in 1767, the shipyard is still in use today having survived both the American Revolutionary and Civil wars and fires set to the shipyard within each conflict. The river and its branches provide for both commerce and recreation activities. The Intracoastal Waterway connects to the greater Hampton Roads area through

5358-419: The addition of tons of iron armor and pig iron ballast, added to the hull's unused spaces for needed stability after her initial refloat, and to submerge her unarmored lower levels, only added to her engines' propulsion issues. As completed, Virginia had a turning radius of about 1 mile (1.6 km) and required 45 minutes to complete a full circle, which would later prove to be a major handicap in battle with

5472-509: The afternoon of 17 April, the day Virginia seceded, Engineer in Chief B. F. Isherwood managed to get the frigate's engines lit. However, the previous night secessionists had sunk light boats between Craney Island and Sewell's Point , blocking the channel. On 20 April, before evacuating the Navy Yard, the U. S. Navy burned Merrimack to the waterline and sank her to preclude capture. When

5586-516: The armored frigate New Ironsides and a light-draft USS  Keokuk , participated in the failed attack on Charleston ; one was sunk. Two small ironclads, CSS  Palmetto State and CSS  Chicora participated in the defense of the harbor. For the later attack at Mobile Bay , the Union assembled four monitors as well as 11 wooden ships, facing the CSS ; Tennessee , the Confederacy's most powerful ironclad, and three gunboats . On

5700-460: The badly-damaged Congress finally surrendered. While the surviving crewmen of Congress were being ferried off the ship, a Union battery on the north shore opened fire on Virginia . Outraged at such a breach of war protocol, in retaliation Virginia ' s now angry captain, Commodore Franklin Buchanan, gave the order to open fire with hot-shot on the surrendered Congress as he rushed to Virginia ' s exposed upper casemate deck, where he

5814-403: The barrel itself slowing the shell. The sharpness of the black powder explosion also meant that guns were subjected to extreme stress. One important step was to press the powder into pellets, allowing a slower, more controlled explosion and a longer barrel. A further step forward was the introduction of chemically different brown powder which combusted more slowly again. It also put less stress on

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5928-478: The battle ending without a clear victor. The captain of Virginia that day, Lieutenant Catesby ap Roger Jones , received advice from his pilots to depart over the sandbar toward Norfolk until the next day. Lieutenant Jones wanted to continue the fight, but 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." To prevent running aground, Lieutenant Jones reluctantly moved

6042-573: The battle pitted combined fleets of wooden frigates and corvettes and ironclad warships on both sides in the largest naval battle between the battles of Navarino and Tsushima . The Italian fleet consisted of 12 ironclads and a similar number of wooden warships, escorting transports which carried troops intending to land on the Adriatic island of Lissa. Among the Italian ironclads were seven broadside ironclad frigates, four smaller ironclads, and

6156-563: The brigs Marcus and Sabout and the schooner Catherine T. Dix . Their ensigns were then hoisted "Union-side down" to further taunt the Union Navy into a fight, as they were towed back to Norfolk, with the help of CSS  Raleigh . By late April, the new Union ironclads 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

6270-419: The broadside-firing, masted designs of Gloire and Warrior . The clash of the Italian and Austrian fleets at the Battle of Lissa (1866), also had an important influence on the development of ironclad design. The first use of ironclads in combat came in the U.S. Civil War . The U.S. Navy at the time the war broke out had no ironclads, its most powerful ships being six unarmored steam-powered frigates. Since

6384-544: The bulk of the Navy remained loyal to the Union, the Confederacy sought to gain advantage in the naval conflict by acquiring modern armored ships. In May 1861, the Confederate Congress appropriated $ 2 million dollars for the purchase of ironclads from overseas, and in July and August 1861 the Confederacy started work on construction and converting wooden ships. On 12 October 1861, CSS  Manassas became

6498-532: The critics and ordered that the four iron-hulled propeller frigates ordered by the Tories be converted into troopships . No iron warships would be ordered until the beginning of the Crimean War in 1854. Following the demonstration of the power of explosive shells against wooden ships at the Battle of Sinop , and fearing that his own ships would be vulnerable to the Paixhans guns of Russian fortifications in

6612-582: The day was that wrought iron begins to become brittle at temperatures below 20 °C (68 °F). Many of the tests were conducted at temperatures below this while the battles were fought in tropical climates. The early experimental results seemed to support the critics and party politics came into play as the Whig First Russell ministry replaced the Tory Second Peel Ministry in 1846. The new administration sided with

6726-466: The day. Navy reports and pre-1900 historians frequently misspelled the name as "Merrimac", which was actually an unrelated ship, hence "the Battle of the Monitor and the Merrimac ". Both spellings are still in use in the Hampton Roads area. Ironclad warship An ironclad was a steam-propelled warship protected by steel or iron armor constructed from 1859 to the early 1890s. The ironclad

6840-411: The deck stanchions , railings , and both flagstaffs. Even so, the now-injured Buchanan ordered an attack on USS  Minnesota , which had run aground on a sandbar trying to escape Virginia . However, because of the ironclad's 22-foot (6.7 m) draft (fully loaded), she was unable to get close enough to do any significant damage. It being late in the day, Virginia retired from the conflict with

6954-463: The declining health of the river. In 1983, the EPA mentions the Elizabeth River was singled out as one of the most highly polluted bodies of water in the entire Bay watershed and as of 2011 remains one of the most polluted rivers on the United States east coast. Sediment contamination has made "toxic hot spots" within the Elizabeth River. Notably, the Southern Branch of the river at Money Point had become

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7068-675: The defenses at the Battle of Kinburn on the Black Sea , where they were effective against Russian shore defences. They would later be used again during the Italian war in the Adriatic in 1859. The British floating batteries Glatton and Meteor arrived too late to participate to the action at Kinburn. The British planned to use theirs in the Baltic Sea against the well-fortified Russian naval base at Kronstadt. The batteries have

7182-431: The end of the 1850s it was clear that France was unable to match British building of steam warships, and to regain the strategic initiative a dramatic change was required. The result was the first ocean-going ironclad, Gloire , begun in 1857 and launched in 1859. Gloire ' s wooden hull was modelled on that of a steam ship of the line, reduced to one deck, and sheathed in iron plates 4.5 inches (114 mm) thick. She

7296-693: The estuary is approximately 6 miles (10 km) long and is 2 miles (3 km) wide at its mouth. It is formed by three primary branches, all tidal, known as the Eastern , Southern , and Western branches of the Elizabeth River, extending 7 to 14 miles (11 to 23 km) into neighboring communities. The Western and Southern branches are partially fed by tributaries that originate within the Great Dismal Swamp . The Elizabeth River estuary and its tributaries provide significant military and commercial port facilities for Norfolk and Portsmouth, as well as

7410-470: The expectation of returning the next day and completing the destruction of the remaining Union blockaders. Later that night, USS  Monitor arrived at Union-held Fort Monroe . She had been rushed to Hampton Roads , still not quite complete, all the way from the Brooklyn Navy Yard , in hopes of defending the force of wooden ships and preventing "the rebel monster" from further threatening

7524-422: The explosive conversion of a solid propellant into gas. This explosion propels the shot or shell out of the front of the gun, but also imposes great stresses on the gun-barrel. If the breech—which experiences some of the greatest forces in the gun—is not entirely secure, then there is a risk that either gas will discharge through the breech or that the breech will break. This in turn reduces the muzzle velocity of

7638-424: The far more nimble Monitor . The ironclad's casemate had 14 gun ports , three each in the bow and stern, one firing directly along the ship's centerline, the two others angled at 45° from the center line; these six bow and stern gun ports had exterior iron shutters installed to protect their cannon. There were four gun ports on each broadside ; their protective iron shutters remained uninstalled during both days of

7752-597: The first shell guns firing explosive shells were introduced following their development by the French Général Henri-Joseph Paixhans . By the 1840s they were part of the standard armament for naval powers including the French Navy , Royal Navy , Imperial Russian Navy and United States Navy . It is often held that the power of explosive shells to smash wooden hulls, as demonstrated by the Russian destruction of an Ottoman squadron at

7866-648: The first ironclad to enter combat, when she fought Union warships on the Mississippi during the Battle of the Head of Passes . She had been converted from a commercial vessel in New Orleans for river and coastal fighting. In February 1862, the larger CSS  Virginia joined the Confederate Navy, having been rebuilt at Norfolk . Constructed on the hull of USS  Merrimack , Virginia originally

7980-488: The former toxic site where barely any life existed previously. In 2011, dredging of the toxic sediment began, near Money Point as part of a larger initiative to help restore the Elizabeth River. Industries along the river are also voluntarily playing their part in restoring wetlands and oyster reefs in one of the largest restoration projects on the Chesapeake Bay. Shipping has always been in competition with land-based transportation for crossings. Both activities are vital to

8094-559: The great harbor of Hampton Roads a few days after reaching land at Cape Henry , they were seeking a pathway to the west to reach the "Great Indies" and soon sailed upriver along the largest and most likely westerly river, which they named the James (for their king), passing by the areas closest to the ocean as they sought a protected haven from other European forces such as the Spanish. Their settlement 35 miles (56 km) inland at Jamestown

8208-434: The gun, a lengthy process particularly if the gun then needed to be re-aimed. Warrior ' s Armstrong guns also had the virtue of being lighter than an equivalent smoothbore and, because of their rifling, more accurate. Nonetheless, the design was rejected because of problems which plagued breech-loaders for decades. The weakness of the breech-loader was the obvious problem of sealing the breech. All guns are powered by

8322-595: The heaviest calibers of gun ever used at sea. HMS  Benbow carried two 16.25-inch (413 mm) breech-loading guns , each weighing 110 long tons (112 t). A few years afterwards, the Italians used 450 mm (17.72 inch) muzzle-loading guns on the Duilio class ships. One consideration which became more acute was that even from the original Armstrong models, following the Crimean War, range and hitting power far exceeded simple accuracy, especially at sea where

8436-413: The insides of the barrel, allowing guns to last longer and to be manufactured to tighter tolerances. The development of smokeless powder , based on nitroglycerine or nitrocellulose, by the French inventor Paul Vielle in 1884 was a further step allowing smaller charges of propellant with longer barrels. The guns of the pre-Dreadnought battleships of the 1890s tended to be smaller in caliber compared to

8550-713: The ironclad back toward port. Virginia retired to the Gosport Naval Yard at Portsmouth, Virginia, and remained in drydock for repairs until April 4, 1862. In the following month, the crew of Virginia were unsuccessful in their attempts to break the Union blockade. The blockade had been bolstered by the hastily ram-fitted paddle steamer USS  Vanderbilt , and SS Illinois as well as the SS ; Arago and USS  Minnesota , which had been repaired. Virginia made several sorties back over to Hampton Roads hoping to draw Monitor into battle. Monitor , however,

8664-401: The ironclad from being captured. The ship was destroyed by Catesby Jones and John Taylor Wood, who set fire to scattered gunpowder and cotton strewn across the ship's deck. Early on the morning of May 11, 1862, off Craney Island, the fire reached the ironclad's magazine, leading to a massive explosion that obliterated the ship. What remained of the Virginia then sank to the harbor floor. After

8778-526: The late 19th century transformed the ironclad from a wooden-hulled vessel that carried sails to supplement its steam engines into the steel-built, turreted battleships, and cruisers familiar in the 20th century. This change was pushed forward by the development of heavier naval guns, more sophisticated steam engines, and advances in ferrous metallurgy that made steel shipbuilding possible. The quick pace of change meant that many ships were obsolete almost as soon as they were finished and that naval tactics were in

8892-445: The line, but was determined that the first British ironclad would outmatch the French ships in every respect, particularly speed. A fast ship would have the advantage of being able to choose a range of engagement that could make her invulnerable to enemy fire. The British specification was more a large, powerful frigate than a ship-of-the-line. The requirement for speed meant a very long vessel, which had to be built from iron. The result

9006-399: The main naval armament by the ram. Those who noted the tiny number of ships that had actually been sunk by ramming struggled to be heard. The revival of ramming had a significant effect on naval tactics. Since the 17th century the predominant tactic of naval warfare had been the line of battle , where a fleet formed a long line to give it the best fire from its broadside guns. This tactic

9120-561: The melée which followed both sides were frustrated by the lack of damage inflicted by guns, and by the difficulty of ramming—nonetheless, the effective ramming attack being made by the Austrian flagship against the Italian attracted great attention in following years. The superior Italian fleet lost its two ironclads, Re d'Italia and Palestro , while the Austrian unarmored screw two-decker SMS  Kaiser remarkably survived close actions with four Italian ironclads. The battle ensured

9234-408: The newly built Affondatore  – a double-turreted ram. Opposing them, the Austrian navy had seven ironclad frigates. The Austrians believed their ships to have less effective guns than their enemy, so decided to engage the Italians at close range and ram them. The Austrian fleet formed into an arrowhead formation with the ironclads in the first line, charging at the Italian ironclad squadron. In

9348-557: The one finally selected. The detailed design work would be completed by Porter, who was a trained naval constructor .Porter had overall responsibility for the conversion, but Brooke was responsible for her iron plate and heavy ordnance, while William P. Williamson, Chief Engineer of the Navy, was responsible for the ship's machinery. The hull's burned timbers were cut down past the vessel's original waterline, leaving just enough clearance to accommodate her large, twin-bladed screw propeller . A new fantail and armored casemate were built atop

9462-471: The popularity of the ram as a weapon in European ironclads for many years, and the victory won by Austria established it as the predominant naval power in the Adriatic . The battles of the American Civil War and at Lissa were very influential on the designs and tactics of the ironclad fleets that followed. In particular, it taught a generation of naval officers the (ultimately erroneous) lesson that ramming

9576-504: The ram seemed to offer the opportunity to strike a decisive blow. The scant damage inflicted by the guns of Monitor and Virginia at Hampton Roads and the spectacular but lucky success of the Austrian flagship SMS Erzherzog Ferdinand Max sinking the Italian Re d'Italia at Lissa gave strength to the ramming craze. From the early 1870s to early 1880s most British naval officers thought that guns were about to be replaced as

9690-463: The ram's port side half; shot from Cumberland , Congress , and the shore-based Union batteries had riddled her smokestack, reducing her boilers' draft and already slow speed; two of her broadside cannon (without shutters) were put out of commission by shell hits; a number of her armor plates had been loosened; both of Virginia ' s 22-foot (6.7 m) cutters had been shot away, as had both 12-pounder anti-boarding/anti-personnel howitzers, most of

9804-646: The region. Motor vehicles cross the main portion of the river using the Downtown Tunnel and the Midtown Tunnel . There are many other highway and railroad bridge crossings of the Eastern, Southern, and Western branches of the river of various ages and capacities, often with draw spans. The city of Chesapeake, with crossings of all three branches of the river by both railroads and highways of every type, and both bascule and swing-type draw spans, has

9918-422: The rivers, the first two of which differed from the ocean-going monitors in that they contained a paddle wheel ( USS  Neosho and USS  Osage ). The Union ironclads played an important role in the Mississippi and tributaries by providing tremendous fire upon Confederate forts, installations and vessels with relative impunity to enemy fire. They were not as heavily armored as the ocean-going monitors of

10032-537: The seabed, and in 1876, the "remaining timbers" of the ship were raised. In 1982, the National Underwater and Marine Agency explored the area around Craney Island and found that "there are no large areas of either concentrated or scattered debris associated with the Virginia lying on the river bottom within the survey area." Most of the recovered iron was melted down and sold for scrap (notably, some of

10146-621: The ship's iron was used to craft Pokahuntas Bell in 1907). Other pieces of the ship have been preserved in museums: The ship's brass bell is held at the Hampton Roads Naval Museum , and one of the Virginia 's anchors now rests in front of the American Civil War Museum in Richmond . Numerous souvenirs, ostensibly made from salvaged iron and wood raised from Virginia ' s sunken hulk, have found

10260-826: The ship, she is still frequently referred to by her Union name. When she was first commissioned into the United States Navy in 1856, her name was Merrimack, with the K ; the name was derived from the Merrimack River near where she was built. She was the second ship of the U. S. Navy to be named for the Merrimack River, which is formed by the confluence of the Pemigewasset and Winnipesaukee rivers at Franklin, New Hampshire . The Merrimack flows south across New Hampshire , then eastward across northeastern Massachusetts before finally emptying in

10374-421: The ships of the 1880s, most often 12 in (305 mm), but progressively grew in length of barrel, making use of improved propellants to gain greater muzzle velocity. The nature of the projectiles also changed during the ironclad period. Initially, the best armor-piercing projectile was a solid cast-iron shot. Later, shot of chilled iron , a harder iron alloy, gave better armor-piercing qualities. Eventually

10488-526: The slightest roll or pitch of the vessel as 'floating weapons-platform' could negate the advantage of rifling. American ordnance experts accordingly preferred smoothbore monsters whose round shot could at least 'skip' along the surface of the water. Actual effective combat ranges, they had learned during the Civil War, were comparable to those in the Age of Sail—though a vessel could now be smashed to pieces in only

10602-449: The smaller USS  Galena . The first battle between ironclads happened on 9 March 1862, as the armored Monitor was deployed to protect the Union's wooden fleet from the ironclad ram Virginia and other Confederate warships. In this engagement, the second day of the Battle of Hampton Roads , the two ironclads tried to ram one another while shells bounced off their armor. The battle attracted attention worldwide, making it clear that

10716-418: The tests partially confirmed this belief. What was ignored was that 14 inches (356 mm) of wood backing the iron would stop most of the splinters from penetrating and that relatively thin plates of iron backed by the same thickness of wood would generally cause shells to split open and fail to detonate. One factor in the performance of wrought iron during these tests that was not understood by metallurgists of

10830-473: The war, the government determined that the wreck of the Virginia needed to be removed from the channel. In 1867, Captain D. A. Underdown salvaged 290,000 pounds of iron from the site, much of which was taken from the ship's ram and cannons. The following year, Underdown detonated explosives under the Virginia 's hulk to fully clear the river, but the attempt did not totally remove the wreck. In 1871, E.J. Griffith recovered an additional 102,883 pounds of iron from

10944-640: The watershed. 2008 saw the 3rd State Of The Elizabeth River report, prepared for the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, which finally provided data that most of the river was not suitable for swimming. At the same time, the report showed the most positive trends for improving levels of nutrients in Virginia compared to other areas of the Chesapeake Bay. In 2009, a pilot area was dredged at Money Point, replaced with clean sand, and restored with vegetation and artificial oyster reefs and in 2010 at least 17 species of fish and shellfish were found in

11058-428: The weapon and can also endanger the gun crew. Warrior ' s Armstrong guns suffered from both problems; the shells were unable to penetrate the 4.5-inch (114 mm) armor of Gloire , while sometimes the screw which closed the breech flew backwards out of the gun on firing. Similar problems were experienced with the breech-loading guns which became standard in the French and German navies. These problems influenced

11172-560: The western front, the Union built a formidable force of river ironclads, beginning with several converted riverboats and then contracting engineer James Eads of St. Louis , Missouri to build the City-class ironclads. These excellent ships were built with twin engines and a central paddle wheel, all protected by an armored casemate. They had a shallow draft, allowing them to journey up smaller tributaries, and were very well suited for river operations. Eads also produced monitors for use on

11286-556: The wooden warship was now out of date, with the ironclads destroying them easily. The Civil War saw more ironclads built by both sides, and they played an increasing role in the naval war alongside the unarmored warships, commerce raiders and blockade runners. The Union built a large fleet of fifty monitors modeled on their namesake. The Confederacy built ships designed as smaller versions of Virginia , many of which saw action, but their attempts to buy ironclads overseas were frustrated as European nations confiscated ships being built for

11400-611: Was a conventional warship made of wood, but she was converted into an iron-covered casemate ironclad gunship, when she entered the Confederate Navy . By this time, the Union had completed seven ironclad gunboats of the City class , and was about to complete USS  Monitor , an innovative design proposed by the Swedish inventor John Ericsson . The Union was also building a large armored frigate, USS  New Ironsides , and

11514-508: Was able to outmaneuver the larger, slower Virginia , but neither ship proved able to do any severe damage to the other, despite numerous shell hits by both combatants, many fired at virtually point-blank range. Monitor had a much lower freeboard and only its single, rotating, two-cannon gun turret and forward pilothouse sitting above her deck, and thus was much harder to hit with Virginia ' s heavy cannon. After hours of shell exchanges, Monitor finally retreated into shallower water after

11628-564: Was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or incendiary shells . The first ironclad battleship, Gloire , was launched by the French Navy in November 1859, narrowly preempting the British Royal Navy . However, Britain built the first completely iron-hulled warships. They were first used in warfare in 1862 during the American Civil War , when ironclads operated against wooden ships and, in

11742-525: Was flawed in many other ways, but did meet the requirement of providing protection. Settlement along the Elizabeth River came a few years later. During the U.S. Revolutionary War , Lord Dunmore and the British Army sailed up the Elizabeth River and landed in Norfolk. The British Army and the U.S. Continental Army then engaged at the Battle of Great Bridge on December 9, 1775. Upon British defeat, Lord Dunmore and his army withdrew onto four ships of

11856-399: Was injured by enemy rifle fire. Congress , now set ablaze by the retaliatory shelling, burned for many hours into the night, a symbol of Confederate naval power and a costly wake-up call for the all-wood Union blockading squadron. Virginia did not emerge from the battle unscathed, however. Her hanging port side anchor was lost after ramming Cumberland ; the bow was leaking from the loss of

11970-463: Was more susceptible to fouling by marine life. By 1862, navies across Europe had adopted ironclads. Britain and France each had sixteen either completed or under construction, though the British vessels were larger. Austria, Italy, Russia, and Spain were also building ironclads. However, the first battles using the new ironclad ships took place during the American Civil War, between Union and Confederate ships in 1862. These were markedly different from

12084-556: Was named by the Jamestown colonists in the early 17th century for Princess Elizabeth Stuart , She was the daughter of King James I of England and a sister of the later King Charles I , and his older brother, Henry Frederick , the ill-fated heir-apparent to the throne who died of typhoid fever as a teenager. When the settlers aboard the three tiny ships of Captain Christopher Newport 's 1607 voyage first discovered

12198-450: Was propelled by a steam engine, driving a single screw propeller for a speed of 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph). She was armed with thirty-six 6.4-inch (160 mm) rifled guns. France proceeded to construct 16 ironclad warships, including two sister ships to Gloire , and the only two-decked broadside ironclads ever built, Magenta and Solférino . The Royal Navy had not been keen to sacrifice its advantage in steam ships of

12312-409: Was swayed by an explosion on board HMS  Thunderer caused by a gun being double-loaded, a problem which could only happen with a muzzle-loading gun. The caliber and weight of guns could only increase so far. The larger the gun, the slower it would be to load, the greater the stresses on the ship's hull, and the less the stability of the ship. The size of the gun peaked in the 1880s, with some of

12426-493: Was the 90-gun Napoléon in 1850. Napoléon was armed as a conventional ship-of-the-line, but her steam engines could give her a speed of 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph), regardless of the wind conditions: a potentially decisive advantage in a naval engagement. The introduction of the steam ship-of-the-line led to a building competition between France and Britain. Eight sister ships to Napoléon were built in France over

12540-523: Was the all-wood, sail-powered USS  Cumberland , which was first crippled during a furious cannon exchange, and then rammed in her forward starboard bow by Virginia . As Cumberland began to sink, the port side half of Virginia ' s iron ram was broken off, causing a bow leak in the ironclad. Seeing what had happened to Cumberland , the captain of USS  Congress ordered his frigate into shallower water, where she soon grounded. Congress and Virginia traded cannon fire for an hour, after which

12654-418: Was the best way to sink enemy ironclads. The adoption of iron armor meant that the traditional naval armament of dozens of light cannon became useless, since their shot would bounce off an armored hull. To penetrate armor, increasingly heavy guns were mounted on ships; nevertheless, the view that ramming was the only way to sink an ironclad became widespread. The increasing size and weight of guns also meant

12768-427: Was the construction of two Warrior -class ironclads; HMS  Warrior and HMS  Black Prince . The ships had a successful design, though there were necessarily compromises between 'sea-keeping', strategic range and armor protection. Their weapons were more effective than those of Gloire , and with the largest set of steam engines yet fitted to a ship, they could steam at 14.3 knots (26.5 km/h). Yet

12882-423: Was totally unsuited to ramming, and the ram threw fleet tactics into disarray. The question of how an ironclad fleet should deploy in battle to make best use of the ram was never tested in battle, and if it had been, combat might have shown that rams could only be used against ships which were already stopped dead in the water. The ram finally fell out of favor in the 1880s, as the same effect could be achieved with

12996-519: Was under strict orders not to re-engage; the two combatants would never battle again. On April 11, the Confederate Navy sent Lieutenant Joseph Nicholson Barney , in command of the paddle side-wheeler CSS  Jamestown , along with Virginia and five other ships in full view of the Union squadron, enticing them to fight. When it became clear that Union Navy ships were unwilling to fight, the CS Navy squadron moved in and captured three merchant ships,

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