Battle of Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads, off Sewell's Point near Norfolk, Virginia, USA
What happened
The Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia, commanded by Franklin Buchanan and then Catesby ap Roger Jones, fought Union warships and the Union ironclad USS Monitor, commanded by John L. Worden. The Confederacy wanted to break the Union navy's blockade of its ports. On the first day the iron-armoured CSS Virginia sank two wooden Union warships, the Cumberland and the Congress. That night the Union's new ironclad, the Monitor, arrived, and on the second day the two iron ships fought for about three hours at close range without either being able to sink the other.
Why it matters
Why it matters: It was the first battle ever fought between ironclad warships. It showed the world's navies that wooden warships were becoming outdated.
What came next
The Confederates sank their own Virginia in May 1862 to keep it from being captured. The Monitor sank in a storm off Cape Hatteras on 31 December 1862.
Did you know?
Critics mocked the Monitor, with its round revolving gun turret, as a 'cheesebox on a raft'; its turret was raised from the seabed in 2002 and is now at the Mariners' Museum in Virginia.
Timeline
- March 8, 1862CSS Virginia sinks the Cumberland and the Congress.
- March 9, 1862The Monitor and the Virginia fight to a draw.
- May 1862The Confederates scuttle the Virginia.
- December 31, 1862The Monitor sinks in a storm.
- 2002The Monitor's turret is raised from the sea.