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Development, Design, and Construction of the Monitor
To meet the deadline set by the government,
Ericsson subcontracted the construction and fabrication of his
ironclad to eight foundries. In a particularly ambitious plan,
each subcontractor supplied various components of the ship at
separate locations, then shipped the parts to a central location
for assembly. Delamater Iron Works of New York City constructed
the engines and boilers. Novelty Iron Works of New York City
rolled the iron plates for the turret and oversaw its assembly,
and Clute Brothers and Company of Schenectady produced the donkey
engine to power the turret. Meanwhile, Holdane and Company of
New York City, Albany Iron Works of Troy, and H. Abbot and Son
of Baltimore rolled additional iron plate for the turret, as
well as bars and rivets. Two iron port stoppers were furnished
by the Niagara Steam Forge of Buffalo. As these parts were produced,
they were shipped to Continental Iron Works in Greenpoint, New
York, where the hull was laid and the final assembly was performed.
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Forging
the Monitor's plates
From the Collections of The Mariners' Museum
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Bending
the plates
From the Collections of The Mariners' Museum
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Trucking
the plates
From the Collections of The Mariners' Museum
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Drilling
holes in the plates
From the Collections of The Mariners' Museum
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The most innovative feature of the Monitor
and the one that became her distinguishing characteristic was
her revolving turret. Though other designers had toyed with
the idea of developing turrets for warships, Ericsson's Monitor
was the first warship to use the invention successfully. The
turret rested amidships of the vessel and was furnished with
a separate steam engine that propelled the turret in a complete
rotation. It measured 20 feet in diameter and 9 feet in height,
and its armored walls were made of eight layers of 1-inch armor
plate. Two massive 11-inch Dahlgren smooth-bore cannon, capable
of firing solid shot weighing 180 pounds, were installed inside
the turret. Though the Monitor would go into battle with
only two cannon, she had a distinct advantage even over an opponent
with ten cannon. This was because the revolving turret would
allow her to fire and aim her guns rapidly in any direction
regardless of the direction in which the ironclad might be steaming.
All other ships of her time were forced to aim their guns in
part by steering the vessel into a position where the guns,
mounted in broadside arrangement, could be brought to bear on
the enemy.
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Bending
the turret plates
From the Collections of The Mariners' Museum
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Setting
up the turret
From the Collections of The Mariners' Museum
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Transverse
section of the turret
From the Collections of The Mariners' Museum
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A further innovation of Ericsson's design
was the Monitor's extremely low profile: only 18 inches
of the deck was visible above the water line. Essentially the
only target an enemy had when firing on the Monitor was
her heavily armored turret and the low iron pilot house on the
forward section of the deck. Enemy gunners would be hard pressed
in the heat of battle to score many hits on such a meager target.
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The
USS Monitor
From the Collections of The Mariners' Museum
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The assembly of Ericsson's battery was
in itself an amazing engineering feat. Eight foundries, working
independently and perhaps with no clear idea of what the final
product would look like, successfully produced a ship of revolutionary
design. Ericsson was not only a genius of engineering, but a
genius of organization and efficiency. When the ship was launched
on January 30, 1861, Ericsson had missed his one hundred-day
deadline by 18 days, but no one seemed to notice. The navy had
its Monitor to check the South's Virginia.
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Go to Main Category:
The Revolutionary Union Ironclad Monitor
Go to other documents in this category:
John Ericsson: Life Before the
Monitor
Report on Ironclad Vessels
Description of the USS Monitor -
S.E.E. Edmonds
Naming of the Monitor
What Circumstances Dictated the
Monitor's Size and Peculiar Construction?
Chronology of the USS Monitor
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