USS Monitor Celebrates 150th Anniversary

This year marks the 150 anniversary of the USS Monitor. The Monitors was launched on January 30 1862 and sunk on December 31, 1862. Although the Monitor would last less than a year it became one of Americas most prized warships and changed the evolution of naval architecture.

During the Civil War both the north and south realized the importance of the sea for trade and supplies. This was particularly important in the southern states that depended on open lines of trade from the sea to compensate for the lack of industrial facilities. Knowing this weakness President Lincoln devised the “Anaconda Plan”, a plan meant to halt trade to the Confederates therefore crippling them into submission.

During this time the Union destroyed any materials or facilities that would benefit the Confederates. One such facility was in Virginia where the USS Merrimack was destroyed. With a burned hull the confederates converted the Merrimack into an ironclad ship and renamed the vessel CSS Virginia. Once news of the Confederate ironclad made it to the north, the Union realized the impending need for an ironclad vessel. Newspapers carried ads for proposals from inventors to submit their ideas for ironclad ship design. John Ericsson, an engineer won the proposal and was given 100 days by the Navy to build the ship. As the design progressed and construction began the advantages of low riding warships became apparent.

Sea trials began in March of 1862 and once complete the Monitor headed south. Ordered to Hampton Roads, Virginia, the Monitor battled the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia, and although the battle was a draw it heralded in the arrival of the ironclad warship. The Monitor finally met its demise in the Atlantic while being escorted through a gale force storm by the USS Rhode Island. Forty-seven men were rescued and sixteen were lost, either washed overboard or while trying to reach the Rhode Islands rescue boats. On January 30 1975, the site of the USS Monitor shipwreck was designated as the first national marine sanctuary in the United States.