USS Monitor Essay
During the American Civil War, both the Northern Union and the Southern Confederacy’s navies were very important for the war. Without the navies, the war might have ended up very different. The two navies completely changed the way that the United States thought about naval warfare.
The Union Navy’s First step in the war was to set up a blockade of every single Confederate Port (Veit). At first, the North’s navy only consisted of about thirty steam ships (Davidson and Stoff The American Nation p. 492). The blockade set up by the North was mainly successful, and forced them into capturing southern forts to use as bases and to supply the blockade (Veit). As the war progressed, the Union started using captured blockade runners to capture …show more content…
The actual idea of the ship was designed by the Swede, John Ericsson, who presented the prototype to Gideon Welles. On its deck, it had a round, rotating turret that housed two Dahlgren Guns. The ship was first launched, with a joyous crowd, on January 30, 1862 (The Story of the USS Monitor).
To start off the war, the Confederacy barely even had a navy. At first, all that the South’s navy had to do, was to break through the iron grip of the Union blockade. However, attempting to run the blockade was risky, and required very fast ships to slip through with essential supplies. As the war dragged on, the northern blockade began to take its toll on the Southern economy (The Navies of the Civil War). The, now dangerous, blockade caused a food shortage in the poorer regions of the South. However, the Confederate Navy didn’t have the numbers necessary to destroy the blockade.
Luck was on the South’s side when they captured Norfolk Navy Yard. They found the partly destroyed, abandoned USS Merrimack. They turned the previously Union ship into the well-known monster, the CSS Virginia. It was armored with iron plates and wielded an incredible arsenal. It had ten guns in all, as well as an iron ram mounted on its bow. It was commissioned in early 1862, and would soon fight the most famous naval battle of the Civil War, the Battle of Hampton Roads (CSS
The Union Navy’s First step in the war was to set up a blockade of every single Confederate Port (Veit). At first, the North’s navy only consisted of about thirty steam ships (Davidson and Stoff The American Nation p. 492). The blockade set up by the North was mainly successful, and forced them into capturing southern forts to use as bases and to supply the blockade (Veit). As the war progressed, the Union started using captured blockade runners to capture …show more content…
The actual idea of the ship was designed by the Swede, John Ericsson, who presented the prototype to Gideon Welles. On its deck, it had a round, rotating turret that housed two Dahlgren Guns. The ship was first launched, with a joyous crowd, on January 30, 1862 (The Story of the USS Monitor).
To start off the war, the Confederacy barely even had a navy. At first, all that the South’s navy had to do, was to break through the iron grip of the Union blockade. However, attempting to run the blockade was risky, and required very fast ships to slip through with essential supplies. As the war dragged on, the northern blockade began to take its toll on the Southern economy (The Navies of the Civil War). The, now dangerous, blockade caused a food shortage in the poorer regions of the South. However, the Confederate Navy didn’t have the numbers necessary to destroy the blockade.
Luck was on the South’s side when they captured Norfolk Navy Yard. They found the partly destroyed, abandoned USS Merrimack. They turned the previously Union ship into the well-known monster, the CSS Virginia. It was armored with iron plates and wielded an incredible arsenal. It had ten guns in all, as well as an iron ram mounted on its bow. It was commissioned in early 1862, and would soon fight the most famous naval battle of the Civil War, the Battle of Hampton Roads (CSS