概述

由USS的前策展人安娜·吉布森·霍洛威（Anna Gibson Holloway）撰写MonitorCenter

1862年3月上旬，纽约布鲁克林和弗吉尼亚州朴次茅斯的建筑船员急于完成两艘截然不同的设计。在布鲁克林，联合铁克拉德Monitor正在完成她的海上试验，然后向南前往汉普顿道路，以应对同盟国的威胁弗吉尼亚（以前Merrimack). The弗吉尼亚‘s first mission was to break the Union blockade of Hampton Roads and protect the waterways to Richmond from Union advances. Yet Stephen Russell Mallory, Secretary of the Confederate Navy, had even grander plans for the ironclad. He hoped that the弗吉尼亚然后可以继续前进并破坏联盟的沿海城市。华盛顿，纽约和波士顿是理想的目标。相反，Monitor‘s mission was very focused; destroy the弗吉尼亚at her moorings if possible, but more importantly, protect the fleet at Hampton Roads as well as the city of Washington D.C. from attack by the “rebel monster.”

Both ironclads achieved certain elements of their objectives. The弗吉尼亚destroyed key Union vessels in Hampton Roads and kept the James River closed to Union advances for a time. TheMonitor拯救了舰队免于进一步的破坏，并保持了弗吉尼亚trapped in Hampton Roads. However, the significance of March 8 and 9, 1862 went far beyond the immediate needs in Hampton Roads. The弗吉尼亚demonstrated the power of iron over wood on March 8, and theMonitorand弗吉尼亚当两人在3月9日发生冲突时，展示了世界海军的未来，这是两次在战斗中的第一次会议。

1862年3月8日，星期六，是弗吉尼亚州汉普顿路的联盟北大西洋封锁中队的洗衣日。木制容器的索具上了蓝色和白色的衣服，在冬季末日的阳光下干燥。中午后不久，美国空军的军需官Congress, which was anchored off Newport News Point, saw something strange through his telescope. He turned to the ship’s surgeon and said, “I wish you would take the glass and have a look over there, Sir. I believethat thingis a’comin’ down at last.”

That “thing” was the CSS弗吉尼亚。The Confederates had been converting the burnt-out hull of the steam screw frigateMerrimack在伊丽莎白河上的高斯波特海军院子里进入悬挂的铁克拉姆。转换花了九个月的时间，旗帜官富兰克林·布坎南（Franklin Buchanan）不耐烦地击中封锁的舰队。1862年3月8日将是弗吉尼亚的海上审判以及她的大火审判。

The men of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, who had grown weary of waiting for the弗吉尼亚to come out, now scrambled to prepare for battle. In the panic of the moment, and with the tide at ebb, several vessels ran aground, including the USSCongressand the USS明尼苏达州。

The USSCumberlandwas Buchanan’s first target. With his guns firing at the wooden ship, Buchanan rammed theCumberland在她的右舷。她的水线下方的洞很大，船立即开始下沉，几乎占据了弗吉尼亚with her. Scores of Union sailors from theCumberland死于他们的枪，或者用船倒下；枪支仍在开枪和旗帜仍然悬而未决。

The弗吉尼亚broke free, and steamed slowly into the James River. The men on the strandedCongressbegan to cheer, thinking they had been spared the same horrific fate. That cheer was cut short, however, when they saw that the弗吉尼亚had made her ponderous turn.

The弗吉尼亚枯萎的火力扯到USSCongress将近两个小时。大多数机组人员死亡或受伤，包括指挥官，其余的人Congresssurrendered. Enraged at Union shore batteries which continued to fire upon the white flag, Buchanan ordered theCongressto be set afire, and then began personally firing back at the shore with a rifle. He quickly became a target on the exposed top deck of the弗吉尼亚。受伤后，他转移给执行官Catesby Ap Roger Jones中尉，后者退还了弗吉尼亚to her moorings that evening. Falling darkness and a receding tide had saved the steam frigate USS明尼苏达州从与CongressandCumberland。

汉普顿道路的情绪是难以置信的一种，对于某些人来说，辞职。联盟海军的希望 - USSMonitor—had been too late to sink the弗吉尼亚at her moorings. TheMonitor这是由瑞典裔美国人天才约翰·爱立信（John Ericsson）设计的激进船只，这是由于北部铁工业的融合而建造的100天以上。这艘奇怪的小船在布鲁克林的绿地（Greenpoint）发射，只有两支枪（XI英寸达尔格伦斯），她最独特的特征是：坐在她的平甲板上的旋转枪炮塔。由约翰·洛里默·沃登（John Lorimer Worden）中尉指挥Monitorand crew had left New York bound for Hampton Roads on March 6, 1862. A storm very nearly sank her before they arrived at their destination on the evening of March 8.

The distant sound of booming guns greeted theMonitor当她走近切萨皮克湾的嘴时。近乎堡垒的门罗随着黑暗倒下，Monitor’sActing Paymaster, William Keeler, recalled that as theMonitordrew closer to the scene, civilian vessels “were leaving like a covey of frightened quails & their lights danced over the water in all directions.”

Worden immediately received orders to protect the grounded明尼苏达州, still trapped on Hampton Flats. The burningCongressprovided an eerie backdrop to the fevered activities in Hampton Roads, along with the “considerable noise” floating across the water from Confederate celebrations at Sewell’s Point. Union crews struggled in vain to tow the明尼苏达州to safety. Exploding munitions from theCongresspelted the明尼苏达州整个晚上。

After midnight, the flames of theCongressreached the ship’s powder magazine and the whole of Hampton Roads was treated to a horrific fireworks display. Despite being over two miles from the dying vessel, the explosion was so intense it “seemed almost to lift us out of the water,” William Keeler wrote. It was felt for miles around.

Just after dawn on March 9, the men of the弗吉尼亚tucked into a hearty breakfast made all the more festive by two jiggers of whiskey for each man. In contrast, theMonitor‘s exhausted crew sat together on the berth deck eating hardtack and canned roast beef, washing it down with coffee. Many of them had been awake for well over 24 hours.

Intense fog early that morning delayed the弗吉尼亚‘s assault upon the stranded明尼苏达州，so it was not until 8:00 a.m. that the弗吉尼亚was able to approach her prey. The弗吉尼亚‘s crew saw what appeared to be “a shingle floating in the water, with a gigantic cheesebox rising from its center” sitting alongside the frigate. Confederates who had been following the Northern newspapers knew that this cheesebox must be the anticipated Union ironclad. The弗吉尼亚的第一枪经历了明尼苏达州’s rigging shortly before 8:30 a.m. while theMonitor&rquo;s crew braced for battle inside of their untested, experimental vessel.

Worden moved theMonitordirectly towards the弗吉尼亚, placing his ship between the弗吉尼亚and her prey. Within yards of the弗吉尼亚, Worden called all stop to the engines and sent the command to the crew in the turret to “Commence firing!” The “cheesebox” had found her voice.

A “rattling broadside” which could have easily as come from the明尼苏达州as the弗吉尼亚很快猛烈抨击炮塔。枪手很快意识到他们和炮塔都没有受到伤害。他们还发现，虽然炮塔变好，但事实证明很难stop一次运动一次。最终，他们让它继续旋转，当敌人的目标被视为时，“即时开火”。

公约适用于传统海军tactics soon went by the wayside as well. Though the men had carefully marked the stationary portion of the deck beneath the turret with chalk marks to indicate starboard and port bearings, and bow and stern, the marks were soon obliterated by sweat, which fell from the gunners “like rain.” Worden, who was stationary in the pilothouse continued to give commands in the traditional way. When asked, “How does theMerrimacbear?” Worden’s reply of “on the starboard beam” was of little use to the turret crew.

在四个多小时的时间里，两艘船只互相盘旋，对彼此的盔甲进行测试并寻找漏洞。终于，正午后，弗吉尼亚‘s rifled stern gun fired directly into theMonitor正如沃登（Worden）凝视着十码处的驾驶者。沃登（Worden）震惊而暂时盲目，命令暂时“剪切”。他将命令转移给执行官塞缪尔·达娜·格林（Samuel Dana Greene），并告诉他的军官：“明尼苏达州if you can.” Returning to the damaged pilothouse, Greene observed that the弗吉尼亚似乎正在撤退并放弃了追逐以保护明尼苏达州。在弗吉尼亚，Catesby Jones interpreted Greene’s action as retreat and believed theMonitorhad broken off the fight. With the tide receding, Jones made a course for Gosport in order to repair the damage done to his vessel.

Both sides claimed victory.

Though the March 9 battle itself was largely uneventful, the long-term effect of the action was significant. TheMonitor’s timely arrival on the evening of March 8 insured that the弗吉尼亚would be unable to break the blockade in Hampton Roads. TheMonitorsaved the明尼苏达州outright (so much so that one明尼苏达州船员的墓碑设计看起来像Monitor- 挽救了生命的船），并帮助保持弗吉尼亚forever trapped in Hampton Roads until the Confederate vessel was destroyed by her own crew on May 11, 1862, following the fall of Norfolk to Union forces.

The long-term impact of the battle was more profound, however. Both theMonitorand the弗吉尼亚served as prototypes for classes of vessels that drew upon their innovative designs. The ironclad rams of the Confederacy and the turreted monitors of the Union saw action in the Atlantic, Gulf, and Western rivers. The monitor design continued as the principal coastal and riverine warship in North and South America as well as Europe until the turn of the century. While ironclads had certainly existed before theMonitorand弗吉尼亚, their meeting on March 9, 1862 ushered in the next phase of naval warfare, where machine and armament become paramount and the graceful wooden sailing ships of the age of fighting sail became forlorn relics of the past.

作者赫尔曼·梅尔维尔（Herman Melville）相当沮丧地总结了这一点：

Yet this was battle, and intense —
Beyond the strife of fleets heroic;
Deadlier, closer, calm ‘mid storm;
No passion; all went on by crank,
Pivot, and screw,
And calculations of caloric.

He ends with the pronouncement that “War shall yet be, but warriors/Are now but operatives….”

In this way, the first battle of ironclads marked a shift in warfare that would be manifested in ship design, battle tactics, and the very psychology of the men involved. “There isn’t enough danger to give us glory,” lamented William Keeler, Paymaster of the USSMonitor, to his wife. A Confederate officer of a later ironclad simply said that “the poetry of the profession is gone.” Life in the ironclad age would be very different indeed.