There were four gun ports on each broadside their protective iron shutters remained uninstalled during both days of the Battle of Hampton Roads. 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. 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 the far more nimble Monitor. The salty Elizabeth River water and 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. 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. It was decided to equip their ironclad with a ram, an anachronism on a 19th century warship. 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.įrom reports in Northern newspapers, Virginia 's designers were aware of the Union plans to build an ironclad and assumed their similar ordnance would be unable to do much serious damage to such a ship. 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. A new fantail and armored casemate were built atop a new main deck, and a v-shaped breakwater (bulwark) was added to her bow, which attached to the armored casemate. 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. Reconstruction as an ironclad Display showing 4 inches (102 mm) of iron armor backed by 24 inches (610 mm) of wood Williamson, Chief Engineer of the Navy, was responsible for the ship's machinery. Porter had overall responsibility for the conversion, but Brooke was responsible for her iron plate and heavy ordnance, while William P. The detailed design work would be completed by Porter, who was a trained naval constructor. Brooke's general design showed the bow and stern portions submerged, and his design was the one finally selected. Porter, each of whom envisaged the ship as a casemate ironclad. Preliminary sketch designs were submitted by Lieutenants John Mercer Brooke and John L. Stephen Mallory, Secretary of 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. The wreck was surveyed and her lower hull and machinery were discovered to be undamaged. 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. When 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. Navy burned Merrimack to the waterline and sank her to preclude capture. On 20 April, before evacuating the Navy Yard, the U. However, the previous night secessionists had sunk light boats between Craney Island and Sewell's Point, blocking the channel. Isherwood managed to get the frigate's engines lit. On the afternoon of 17 April, the day Virginia seceded, Engineer in Chief B. Accordingly, orders were sent to destroy the base rather than allow it to fall into Confederate hands. 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. The battle is chiefly significant in naval history as the first battle between ironclads. Virginia was one of the participants in the Battle of Hampton Roads, opposing the Union's USS Monitor in March 1862. 6 × 9-inch (229 mm) Dahlgren smoothboresĬSS 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.The image is captioned Merrimac see below.
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