The sky burned a fiery orange deep into the night as flames engulfed the desertedĬongress. FrigatesĬumberland and Congress had been destroyed and Minnesota was damaged and Virginia had free range at the wooden vessels of the Union fleet blockade. Here, the Union had set up a blockade to cut Confederate strongholds of Norfolk andĮarlier that day, the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia made an effort to break the Union blockade. At Hampton Roads, theĮlizabeth and Nansemond rivers meet the James River just before it enters the Chesapeake Bay, adjacent to On March 8, 1862, Monitor arrived in Hampton Roads towards the end of dusk. Almost 100ĭays later, on January 30, 1862, USS Monitor launched into the East River, ready to do battle.īattle of Hampton Roads A map shows ship movements in the Battle of Hampton Roads. USS Monitor would be complete with a rotating gun turret, low draft, sleek profile, and Ericsson'sĬlaim as an "Impregnable Battery." The board was convinced to order swift production of the new vessel.Ĭonstruction immediately began at the Continental Ironworks in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York. John Ericsson, a Swedish-American inventor, introduced a plan that caught the board’s attention. President Lincoln called for a naval board to propose construction of an ironclad vessel to lead the Union The USS Monitor had a crew capacity of 49 men who were known as the " Monitor Something had to be done, and fast – and the idea for the USS Monitor was born. The important port city of Hampton Roads, Virginia, but word was that the Confederate Navy was constructingĪn impenetrable ironclad that could break the blockade. The nation was in turmoil as the Civil War ravaged the country. History of the USS Monitor A Revolutionary Vessel
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