What Are The Differences Between USS Monitor And The CSS Virginia

Technological advancements are the key to winning wars; World War II saw the first nuclear weapons, World War I saw the first tanks, and The Civil War saw the first ironclad warships. The USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia were the first two ironclad warships to battle each other; The Battle of Hampton Roads consisted of the Monitor and Virginia trading blows, but neither ships were able to destroy the other and the battle inevitably ended in a stalemate. However, one ship certainly must have been better; in order to determine which ironclad would truly be victorious, we must look closely at the design of each ship as well as their capabilities, and then we can determine which ship is superior. The CSS Virginia was the Confederates first ironclad,
The Battle of Hampton Roads was the result of the CSS Virginia’s attack on the Union fleet stationed in Hampton Roads. On March 8th, 1862, the Virginia, over the course of one evening destroyed two and crippled another Union warships; The USS Congress was the first victim, being burnt and immobilized by the Virginia’s hotshot: a heated cannon round used to ignite enemy ships.4 The next victim was the USS Cumberland, which fell victim to the Virginia’s ram; the Virginia plowed into the Cumberland, causing her to inevitably sink; The final victim was USS Minnesota; attempting to avoid the Virginia, the Minnesota ran aground.4 However, the Minnesota was spared due to it becoming too dark for Virginia to continue, and because the Virginia needed to repair damage sustained when ramming the Cumberland.4 Although the Virginia sustained some damage, the majority of “the Union shells [bounced] off the ironclad like pebbles thrown against a brick wall”.4 The Virginia would return the following day attempting to finish the job, and the wooden warships would have certainly been destroyed if it wasn't for a newcomer: the USS
The two ironclads “circling each other in spirals…closing [the distance] until they almost touched”.6 However, due to the Monitor’s “light draft and better engines, [she] moved about at will, steaming much faster and steering considerably better than the Virginia”.6 Due to the Monitor faster movement, and due to the fact she sat so low in the water, the Virginia “could not bring [her] guns to bear the antagonist”.6 The Monitor’s and Virginia’s battle raged on until midday, until the Monitor had to withdraw to reload; this would have been a perfect opportunity for the Virginia to get the upper hand, but the Virginia ran aground, which gave the Monitor ample opportunity to reload.7 However, once the Virginia freed herself, they had mistaken the Monitor’s reloading for “the enemy ironclad routed and disabled”; as a result, the Virginia retreated once again, planning to return and finish the fight the following day.8 Yet, historians agree, “the Monitor had won the battle in that the Virginia would be unable to further threaten the Union