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The
End of the Virginia
and the Monitor
The battle of March 9, 1862, was the
only time that the Virginia and the Monitor engaged
one another in battle, and within eight months both ships would
be destroyed.On May 10, 1862, Union forces attacked and captured
the city of Norfolk. This action meant that the Virginia
had to be moved or she would be captured at her dock. The Virginia
was simply too large to move up the James River and rather than
allow her to be captured by the Union army, her crew destroyed
her. On May 11, 1862, only two months after her battle with
the Monitor, the crew of the Virginia set their
own ship on fire. When the fire ignited the ship's powder magazine,
the entire ship was blown to pieces.
The Monitor remained at Hampton
Roads for the rest of the year. During that time she made excursions
up the James River and also to Washington, D.C. In December,
the Monitor was ordered to North Carolina. On the night
of December 31, 1862, while en route to North Carolina, the
Monitor sank with sixteen of her crew in a storm off
Cape Hatteras.
Although both ships were short-lived,
their designs marked a turning point in naval architecture.
The Monitor and the Virginia clearly showed that
the era of wooden warships was nearing an end. During the Civil
War the Union navy built a series of ironclads based on the
design of the original Monitor, and at the same time
the Confederacy began a major effort to complete more ships
designed after the Virginia. The success of these types
of ships in battle would bring about an arms race throughout
the rest of the century as nations of the world built iron and
steel navies.
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