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John
Ericsson and the USS Monitor
The Confederate government made no secret of the fact that it
was building a ship capable of destroying any ship in the Union
navy. As reports of the progress of the construction of the
Virginia reached President Lincoln, he issued orders
that the United States build a ship that could stand up against
the Confederate ironclad. Several ship designers submitted plans
to the United States Navy. Among them was a Swedish-born ship
designer named John Ericsson.
Ericsson's ship design was controversial.
The ship that Ericsson would name the Monitor appeared
to be little more than a large, round can sitting on a raft.
The ship that he proposed was almost entirely made of iron,
and most of the ship would actually be below the waterline.
Once the ship was in the water, only eighteen inches of the
deck would be visible. The crew's living quarters and the ship's
engine area would be submerged. In the middle of the deck, Ericsson
planned to build a 9-foot-high revolving iron turret
that would hold two cannon. The ship would also be small. Measuring
only 173 feet long, Ericsson's ship would be only half the length
of the Virginia.
At first, the naval officers appointed
by the Union government to select the winning plan rejected
Ericsson's design. They felt that the Monitor was simply
too strange a ship to succeed. However, Ericsson had complete
faith in his design. He went so far as to seek a special meeting
with President Lincoln to explain the advantages of his ship's
design. Lincoln was convinced that Ericsson's design was workable,
and Ericsson was awarded the contract to build his ship. However,
the Union navy specified that Ericsson had to complete the construction
of his ship in one hundred days, or the contract would be voided.
Construction of the Monitor began
in October 1861. To meet the construction deadline, various
pieces of the Monitor were constructed at nine different
foundries, and then the pieces
were assembled at a central location. When the Monitor
was launched at Greenpoint, Long Island in New York in January
1862, Ericsson had met the 100-day deadline. Ericsson's success
in completing the construction of the Monitor on schedule
was due to the expertise of northern industry. When the Monitor's
construction began, the Confederacy had been working on the
Virginia for six months, and the Virginia would
not be completed until February 1862, one month after the Monitor
had been launched.
Following the Monitor's launching,
the ship underwent several test runs and, after adjustments,
set out for Hampton Roads to meet the Virginia on March
6, 1862.
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