CSS Virginia: Difference between revisions

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==USS ''Merrimack'' becomes CSS ''Virginia''==

When the Commonwealth of [[Virginia]] seceded from the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] in 1861, one of the important US military bases threatened was Gosport Navy Yard (now [[Norfolk Naval Shipyard]]) in [[Portsmouth, Virginia]]. Accordingly, orders were sent to destroy the base rather than allow it to fall into [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] hands. On the afternoon of 17 April, the day [[Virginia]] seceded, Engineer in Chief [[Benjamin F. Isherwood|B. F. Isherwood]] managed to get the frigate's engines lit. However, the previous night secessionists had sunk light boats between [[Craney Island (Virginia)|Craney Island]] and [[Sewell's Point]], blocking the channel. On 20 April, before evacuating the Navy Yard, the U. S. Navy burned ''Merrimack'' to the waterline and sank her to preclude capture.<ref name=NYTimes>{{cite news |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=24 April 1861 |title=BURNING OF GOSPORT NAVY-YARD; Eleven Vessels Scuttled and Burned, The Steam Tug ''Yankee'' Tows the ''Cumberland'' to Sea, Norfolk Not on Fire. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1861/04/24/archives/burning-of-gosport-navyyard-eleven-vessels-scuttled-and-burned-the.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |location=New York City |access-date=2 August 2022 |quote=The Government vessels had been scuttled in the afternoon before the [[USS Pawnee (1859)|''Pawnee'']] arrived, to prevent their being seized by the Secessionists… The following are the names of the vessels which were destroyed: [[USS Pennsylvania (1837)|''Pennsylvania'']], 74 gun-ship; steam-frigate [[USS Merrimack (1855)|''Merrimac'']], 44 guns; sloop-of-war [[USS Germantown (1846)|''Germantown'']], 22 guns; sloop [[USS Plymouth (1844)|''Plymouth'']], 22 guns; frigate [[USS Raritan (1843)|''Raritan'']], 45 guns; frigate [[USS Columbia (1836)|''Columbia'']], 44 guns; [[USS Delaware (1820)|''Delaware'']], 74 gun-ship; [[USS Columbus (1819)|''Columbus'']], 74 gun-ship; [[USS United States (1797)|''United States'']], in ordinary; brig [[USS Dolphin (1836)|''Dolphin'']], 8 guns; and the powder-boat… [plus] line-of-battle ship [[List of ships of the line of the United States Navy|''New-York'']], on the stocks… Large quantities of provisions, cordage and machinery were also destroyed — besides buildings of great value — but it is not positively known that the [[Drydock Number One, Norfolk Naval Shipyard |[dry] dock]] was blown up.}}</ref>  When the Confederate government took possession of the fully provisioned yard,<ref name=Nank>{{cite web |url=https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/ready-war-union-navy-1861 |title=Ready for War? The Union Navy in 1861 |last=Nank |first=Thomas E. |date=23 August 2021 |website=www.battlefields.org |publisher=American Battlefield Trust |access-date=18 August 2022 |quote=The Union's naval infrastructure was dealt a crippling blow on April 20, 1861, when the ill-conceived and botched evacuation of the [[Norfolk Naval Shipyard]] at Gosport, Virginia led to the Confederate capture of over 1000 naval guns, irreplaceable dry dock, and repair facilities.}}</ref> the base's new commander, [[Flag Officer]] [[French Forrest]], contracted on May 18 to [[marine salvage|salvage]] the wreck of the frigate. This was completed by May 30, and she was towed into the shipyard's only [[graving dock|dry dock]] (today known as [[Drydock Number One, Norfolk Naval Shipyard|Drydock Number One]]), where the burned structures were removed.<ref>Quarstein, pp. 62–63</ref>

===Reconstruction as an ironclad===

[[File:Cumberland rammed by Merrimac.png|thumb|left|CSS ''Virginia'' ramming and sinking USS ''Cumberland'']]

''Virginia'' did not emerge from the battle unscathed, however. Her hanging port side anchor was lost after ramming ''Cumberland''; the bow was leaking from the loss of the ram's port side half; shot from ''Cumberland'', ''Congress'', and the shore-based Union batteries had riddled her smokestack, reducing her boilers' draft and already slow speed; two of her broadside cannon (without shutters) were put out of commission by shell hits; a number of her armor plates had been loosened; both of ''Virginia''{{'}}s {{convert|22|ft|adj=on}} [[cutter (boat)|cutters]] had been shot away, as had both 12-pounder anti-boarding/anti-personnel howitzers, most of the deck [[stanchions]], [[guard rail|railings]], and both flagstaffs. Even so, the now-injured Buchanan ordered an attack on {{USS|Minnesota|1855|6}}, which had run aground on a sandbar trying to escape ''Virginia''. However, because of the ironclad's {{convert|22|ft|m|adj=on}} [[draft (hull)|draft]] (fully loaded), she was unable to get close enough to do any significant damage. It being late in the day, ''Virginia'' retired from the conflict with the expectation of returning the next day and completing the destruction of the remaining Union blockaders.

The next day, on March 9, 1862, the world's first battle between ironclads took place. The smaller, nimbler, and faster ''Monitor'' was able to outmaneuver the larger, slower ''Virginia'', but neither ship proved able to do any severe damage to the other, despite numerous shell hits by both combatants, many fired at virtually point-blank range. ''Monitor'' had a much lower freeboard and only its single, rotating, two-cannon gun turret and forward [[pilothouse]] sitting above her deck, and thus was much harder to hit with ''Virginia''{{'}}s heavy cannon. After hours of shell exchanges, ''Monitor'' finally retreated into shallower water after a direct shell hit to her armored pilothouse forced her away from the conflict to assess the damage. The captain of the ''Monitor'', Lieutenant [[John L. Worden]], had taken a direct gunpowder explosion to his face and eyes, blinding him, while looking through the pilothouse's narrow, horizontal viewing slits. ''Monitor'' remained in the shallows, but as it was late in the day, ''Virginia'' steamed for her home port, the battle ending without a clear victor. The captain of ''Virginia'' that day, Lieutenant [[Catesby ap Roger Jones]], received advice from his pilots to depart over the sandbar toward Norfolk until the next day. Lieutenant Jones wanted to continue the fight, but the pilots emphasized that the ''Virginia'' had "nearly three miles to run to the bar" and that she could not remain and "take the ground on a falling tide." To prevent running aground, Lieutenant Jones reluctantly moved the ironclad back toward port.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.history.navy.mil/library/online/cssvirginia.htm |title=The Sailors Creed<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=6 December 2008 |archive-date=17 September 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080917073533/http://www.history.navy.mil/library/online/cssvirginia.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> ''Virginia'' retired to the Gosport Naval Yard at Portsmouth, Virginia, and remained in drydock for repairs until April 4, 1862.

==Destruction==

On May 10, 1862, advancing Union troops occupied [[Norfolk, Virginia|Norfolk]]. Since ''Virginia'' was now a steam-powered heavy battery and no longer an ocean-going cruiser, her pilots judged her not seaworthy enough to enter the Atlantic, even if she were able to pass the Union blockade. ''Virginia'' was also unable to retreat further up the [[James River]] due to her deep {{convert|22|ft|m|adj=on}} draft (fully loaded). In an attempt to reduce it, supplies and coal were dumped overboard, even though this exposed the ironclad's unarmored lower hull, but this was still not enough to make a difference. Without a home port and no place to go, ''Virginia''{{'}}s new captain, [[flag officer]] [[Josiah Tattnall III]], reluctantly ordered her destruction in order to keep the ironclad from being captured. The ship was destroyed by Catesby Jones and John Taylor Wood, who set fire to scattered gunpowder and cotton strewn across the ship's deck. Early on the morning of May 11, 1862, off Craney Island, the fire reached the ironclad's magazine, leading to a massive explosion that obliterated the ship. What remained of ''Virginia'' then sank to the harbor floor.<ref>{{cite book | last=Nelson|first=J. L. | date= 2007 | title=Reign of Iron: The Story of the First Battling Ironclads, the Monitor and the Merrimack | publisher=[[HarperCollins]] | isbn=9780061365119|pages=316–320}}</ref>

[[File:CSS Virginia Anchor.jpg|thumb|right|Anchor of CSS ''Virginia'' at its former location at the [[American Civil War Museum]]]]

Most of the recovered iron was melted down and sold for scrap (notably, some of the ship's iron was used to craft [[Pokahuntas Bell]] in 1907).<ref name=":0" /><ref>''[[Richmond Times-Dispatch]]'', "[https://www.loc.gov/chroniclingamerica/lccn/sn85038615/1907-04-13/ed-1/seq-2 Pokahuntas Bell for Exposition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221116002034/https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85038615/1907-04-13/ed-1/seq-2/|date=16 November 2022}}", April 13, 1907</ref> Other pieces of the ship have been preserved in museums: The ship's brass bell is held at the [[Hampton Roads Naval Museum]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hafner |first=Katherine |date=January 2, 2019 |title=Whatever happened to the brass bell salvaged from the USS Merrimack? |url=https://www.pilotonline.com/2019/01/02/whatever-happened-to-the-brass-bell-salvaged-from-the-uss-merrimack-2/ |access-date=February 21, 2024 |website=The Virginian-Pilot |language=en-US}}</ref> and one of the ''Virginia''<nowiki/>'s anchors now rests in front of the [[American Civil War Museum]] in [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last1=Petersen |first1=Bo |last2=Mechaca |first2=Ron |date=July 6, 2003 |title=Wreckage of Ironclad ''Merrimack'' Becomes Stuff of Legend |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/373986230 |url-access=subscription |access-date=February 21, 2024 |work=[[The Post and Courier]]|id={{ProQuest|373986230}} }}</ref> Numerous souvenirs, ostensibly made from salvaged iron and wood raised from ''Virginia''{{'}}s sunken hulk, have found a ready and willing market among Civil War enthusiasts and [[East Coast of the United States|eastern seaboard]] residents. However, the [[provenance]] of many of these artifacts is impossible to prove, which has given rise to the humorous [[Proverb|adage]] that "if you took all the iron and all the wood supposedly collected from the [wreck of the CSS ''Virginia''], you'd have enough to outfit a fleet of ironclads."<ref name=":1" />

==Memorial, heritage==

*A small community in [[Montgomery County, Virginia]], near where the coal burned by the Confederate ironclad was mined, is now known as [[Merrimac, Virginia|Merrimac]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Tennis|first=Joe|title=Southwest Virginia Crossroads: An Almanac of Place Names and Places to See|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=noiiZPTGk9IC&pg=PA140|year=2004|publisher=The Overmountain Press|isbn=978-1-57072-256-1|page=140}}</ref>