Civil War Ironclad USS ‘Monitor’ Launched

Fishermen and sailors on New York’s East River saw a startling sight on Jan. 30, 1862, when the Union ironclad Monitor launched and took its maiden voyage. Nothing like it had ever been seen before. The armored gunboat looked like a round cheese-box on a raft, with only its pilothouse and a revolving turret (housing the ship’s two large cannons) sticking up above the water.

The ship’s designer, Swedish-born John Ericsson, had built his strange craft in only 118 days because the Union navy urgently needed a weapon to counteract the rumored Confederate ironclad Merrimac (a.k.a. Virginia). The Federal blockade on the vital stretch of Virginia coast called Hampton Roads would be threatened if the Merrimac challenged the wooden Union ships, and it was hoped that Ericsson’s outlandish idea would be the solution.

The ship’s maiden voyage went well, and the Monitor was commissioned on Feb. 25 with Lieutenant John Worden in command. On March 6 it left New York Harbor for Hampton Roads and a date with history: three days later, March 9, 1862, the Monitor and the Merrimac clashed in the first battle of ironclad warships. Naval warfare—and naval history—were forever changed.

Just before departing for Hampton Roads, the Monitor undertook one final cruise to test its guns and prove to a naval commission that it was fully functional. A reporter witnessed this test cruise; his article was printed by the New York Daily Herald (New York, New York) on March 5, 1862:

The bomb-proof battery Monitor has returned to the Yard, after her successful trial trip. A Naval Commission, composed of Commodore Gregory, Chief-Engineer Garvin, and Naval Constructor Hart, reported that her steering qualities are all that could be desired. One man steers her with perfect facility. She makes a complete revolution, in either direction, within three times her own length, and within five minutes of time. The guns were fired to test the question which had been mooted, of whether the concussion within the turret would not be so great as to injure seriously the ears of the men.

First a blank cartridge was fired with the hatches in the roof open. Then a charge of canister, weighing 135 pounds, with 15 pounds of powder, with the hatches still open, and finally the same charge with the hatches closed, as they will be under the fire of the enemy.

It was found that in every case the concussion in every part of the interior of the turret was considerably less than when standing near such a gun fired in the open air. The speed of the vessel was 6 ¼ knots, the engines making 65 revolutions. It is expected that a considerable increase in the speed will be attained.

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