USS Monitor: A Historic Ship Completes Its Final Voyage

摘要

The story of the Monitor's great sea battle begins with the Confederate Navy ironclad the CSS Virginia. Formerly the U.S. Navy's steam-powered frigate the Merrimack, she had been burned at the Gosport Navy Yard in Norfolk, Virginia. The Confederates salvaged and rebuilt her, waterline up, as a formidably armed warship. On 8 March 1862, the Virginia attacked a Union blockading squadron anchored at Hampton Roads, The concentrated firepower of the U.S. Navy ships had minimal effect against the ironclad attacker. By the day's end, two sailing frigates had been destroyed and a third was severely damaged. More than 280 Union sailors died that day.