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Navy Vessels: The USS Monitor Essay

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The United States government has long felt the need to maintain a strong Navy. In doing so they had to keep up with advancements in technology. During the civil war in the Brooklyn harbor the United States Navy built a vessel that would duel the South’s vessel the CSS Virginia. The battle would be the first of the kind in that for the first time two Ironclad vessels would battle. The purpose of the Ironclad warship was not new to the United Sates government. There had been previous attempts at making such a vessel, most notably by the Koreans. At the time of the Civil War there were two types of Ironclads the monitor and the casemate. As described “A monitor was a low-freeboard steamship with a small number of heavy guns in a turret. …show more content…

The engine of the USS Monitor along with numerous other parts of the ship was designed by John Ericsson. The engine was a steam, single cylinder vibrating lever engine generated by two fire tube boilers” (military factory). The engine turned a nine inch diameter shaft which turned the propeller. This engine generated approximately 300 horsepower and was capable of driving the Monitor at six knots. The part of the ship for which the USS Monitor is most famous is the turret. The turret is circular in design and is made to house guns. The turret was made of one inch steel plates and weighing one hundred and twenty tons. The turret was twenty one and a half feet in diameter and nine feet tall. The turret housed the Dahlgren guns. During battle two of the crew members would man the turret. The Battle of Hampton Roads for which the USS Monitor is famous took place on March eighth 1862. It was not until the next morning that the USS Monitor would appear for battle. After sinking two ships and reengaging battle to sink the frigate Minnesota, the Monitor would appear for battle. During the engagement both ships received minor damage of which the Monitor’s turret was damaged causing it to turn continuously during the engagement. Around noon the Monitor disengaged from the battle in order to resupply ammunition. While the Monitor was resupplying, the Virginia refocused on the Minnesota, setting the ship on fire. After seeing the Monitor disengage

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