The USS Monitor

During the Peninsula Campaign in the spring of 1862, innovative weapons saw action, but ironclad warships drew the most public attention, especially the USS Monitor. After its epic duel with the CSS Virginia at Hampton Roads on March 9, 1862, the Monitor next gained fame at Drewry’s Bluff during the battle on May 15. Contrary to some reports, it did not have difficulty bringing its guns to bear despite its squat turret. Commanded by Lt. William N. Jeffers, it fired steadily against Fort Drewry while Confederate cannon, after a few ineffective rounds bounced off the ironclad, turned their attention to the vulnerable USS Galena. This was the Monitor’s last major action. The Monitor sank on December 31, 1862, in an Atlantic gale off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Sixteen crewmen died, perhaps including some of the men in a black and white photograph taken in July 1862. In 1975, the wreck became the nation’s first National Marine Sanctuary, administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and in August 2002 the turret was raised from the sea by that agency and the United States Navy. It is displayed at the USS Monitor Center at The Mariners Museum in Newport News, Virginia.

Virginia · United States