Monitor v. Merrimac: First Clash of Ironclad Warships
In early March 1862, sailors just off the Virginia coast saw something strange and terrifying when they witnessed history’s first clash of ironclad warships. The Battle of Hampton Roads, a two-day affair highlighted by the ferocious fight between the U.S.S. Monitor and the C.S.S. Virginia (a.k.a. Merrimac) the morning of March 9, was truly historic. Though the battle itself ended in a draw its impact was immense, for naval and military history would never again be the same. In one four-hour battle the two ironclads made every navy in the world archaic, as wooden ships were instantly obsolete in the new age of armored warships. Read more…
I understand that when writing a blog, it’s necessary to show a picture and say a few words about yourself, so that people don’t think a nameless, faceless committee or advisory board is running the show. Here I am, a real person. My name is Tony Pettinato, and I live in Deerfield, Mass. I did my undergraduate studies in English at Oberlin College, my graduate work in Journalism at UC Berkeley, and have been a reporter for six newspapers. For the past twelve years I have worked at NewsBank, the last six as a managing editor for the U.S. Congressional Serial Set project – NewsBank’s acclaimed effort to digitize and index twelve million pages of primary source documents – that gratified my life-long interest in American history. And that has led me to this blog!