Battle of Hampton Roads

Also called: Battle of the Monitor and Merrimack, Battle of the Ironclads

A day after the Confederate ironclad Virginia smashed the Union’s wooden warships, she fought the Union ironclad Monitor — the world’s first battle between ironclads, signalling the end of wooden navies.

At Norfolk the Confederates covered the burnt hull of the Union frigate Merrimack with iron plate and made her the ironclad CSS Virginia. On 8 March 1862 Virginia fell on the Union blockading squadron at Hampton Roads, ramming and sinking Cumberland and burning Congress.

That night the Union’s new ironclad USS Monitor, with a revolving turret, arrived, and on 9 March the two ships fired at each other for nearly four hours without piercing each other’s armour. The fight was a draw, but the Union blockade held. At the news, navies around the world stopped building wooden warships and turned to ironclads.