Hampton Roads Naval Museum

21. USS Monitor

Norfolk, VA

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USS Monitor, a 987-ton armored turret gunboat, was built in New York to the design of John Ericsson. She was the first of what became a large number of "monitors" in the United States and other navies. Commissioned on 25 February 1862, she soon was underway for Hampton Roads, Virginia. Monitor arrived there on March 9, and was immediately sent into action against the Confederate ironclad Virginia, which had sunk two U.S. Navy ships the previous day. The resulting battle, the first between iron-armored warships, was a tactical draw. However, Monitor prevented Virginia from gaining control of Hampton Roads and thus preserved the Federal blockade of the Norfolk area. Following this historic action, Monitor remained in the Hampton Roads area and, in mid-1862, was actively employed along the James River in support of the Army's Peninsula Campaign. In late December 1862, Monitor was ordered south for further operations. Caught in a storm off Cape Hatteras, she sank on December 31. Her wreck was discovered in 1974 and is now a marine sanctuary. In the museum, visitors can see pieces of Monitor's iron plating on the wall behind the mockup of Monitor's turret.