SCOTT BOYD
HEN IT OPENS in 2007, the USS Monitor Center at The Mariners' Museum will be the showcase for the artifacts recovered from the wreck of the famous Civil War Union ironclad. In addition, the center will tell the story of the Battle of Hampton Roads, which pitted the Monitor against the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia (formerly the USS Merrimack). This remarkable story will be placed in the larger context of the Civil War at sea and the evolution of American naval power.
A groundbreaking ceremony for the new USS Monitor Center was held on Oct. 24, nearly 143 years to the day after construction began on the revolutionary ship.
The center will be a 63,500-square-foot addition to The Mariners' Museum. Its estimated cost is $30 million, nearly half of which ($14 million) has already been raised through public and private sources.
France built the first ironclad warship (the Gloire) in 1859, with Great Britain replying in 1860 with its first ironclad, HMS Warrior. The Union and Confederate governments began programs to build ironclads in 1861, with the Monitor and Virginia both being completed in early 1862. Although they weren't the first ironclads to be built, the Monitor and Virginia made history by being the first ironclads to face each other in battle when they fought at Hampton Roads on March 9, 1862.
The Monitor was special in other ways, too. It was the first U.S. Navy ship to be built without sails, depending entirely on its 400-horsepower engine for propulsion. It looked like no other ship ever built in America. The flat, armored deck was barely a foot above the waterline. In an era when warships had their guns arranged in rows up and down the sides of the ship, the Monitor featured two powerful 11-inch Dahlgren smoothbore guns in a revolving turret in the middle of the flat, empty deck. All an opponent could see to shoot at was the 22-foot-diameter revolving turret, covered by eight inches of iron plate, and the small armored pilothouse protruding at the bow of the ship. The ship was nicknamed "cheesebox on a raft" and "tin can on a shingle" because of its unusual design and stealthy profile.
Although the Monitor and Virginia fought to a draw at Hampton Roads and survived their history-making battle, both ships were lost by the end of 1862. After the fall of Norfolk to Union forces in May 1862, the Confederates were unable to move the Virginia up the James River to the safety of the naval station at Richmond because the ship's draft was greater than the depth of the river. To avoid capture by advancing Union forces, the Virginia was set ablaze and blown up by its crew off Craney Island, at the mouth of the Elizabeth River, on May 11, 1862.
The Monitor was never designed as an oceangoing vessel. The very low freeboard and flat keel militated against its operating effectively at sea. The ship was intended for Union naval operations in the calm waters of the harbors and rivers of the South. On New Year's Eve 1862 the Monitor sank in a storm off Cape Hatteras while being towed for use near Wilmington, N.C.
The wreck of the Monitor was discovered in 1973. On. Jan. 30, 1975, the 113th anniversary of the ship's launching at Greenpoint, N.Y., the wreck of the Monitor was declared the nation's first National Marine Sanctuary. The site is administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Artifacts recovered from the Monitor so far include its revolving gun turret, its main engine with the drive shaft and screw propeller, the anchor and numerous smaller items such as boots, eating utensils and ubiquitous still-sealed bottles of mustard. Recently, the two huge 11-inch Dahlgren guns were removed from the turret and placed in separate water tanks. All the large objects, such as the turret, guns and engine, will be treated in conservation tanks for several years before they can be safely displayed in the open air.
The Mariners' Museum was selected as principal museum for the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary in 1987. The Museum hosts the Monitor Collection, acting as curator under a cooperative agreement with NOAA. As a federal collection, the Monitor Collection is under the ultimate control of the National Archives.
The center will open on March 9,2007, the 145th anniversary of the Battle of Hampton Roads. Besides exhibits on the battle and the larger Civil War at sea, there will be a large conservation facility for further work on the Monitor and other projects in the future. Artifacts from the two ships will be displayed.
Not many artifacts have been found from the CSS Virginia, but some will be shown, such as a piece of the Confederate ship's iron armor, made at Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, and a large design drawing made by the ship's builder, John L. Porter. There will be a re-created full-size portion of the CSS Virginia to show visitors what the battle looked like from the Confederate ship.
A full-scale steel replica of the Monitor will be outside, next to the center. Visitors can walk on its 172-foot deck to get a feel for what being on the famous ship was like. Just inside the center, parallel to the replica outside, will be the major recovered parts of the Monitor. They will be displayed in the same relative positions that they occupied on the real ship--thus the actual turret inside will be opposite the turret of the replica outside.
Visitors will be able to go underneath and look up inside the real turret. The two Dahlgren guns will be displayed separately from the turret for easier viewing.
Curator Anna Holloway described the center succinctly: "It will be about two vessels, a moment in time, and what happened subsequently [to them] up to today."
SCOTT BOYD is a freelance writer living in Spotsylvania County.