The Merrimac and Naval Warfare of the Civil War
The Merrimac and Naval Warfare of the Civil War
The Merrimac was the first ironclad ship built by the Confederacy. It was built to do battle with the Union Navy. The Confederates were the first to bring forth a warship of this kind.
The Union was in control of a navel yard named Gosport. In April of 1862, the South started to advance on this navel base and the North had little choice but to flee. While leaving they tried to destroy whatever they could in a desperate attempt to prevent the Confederacy from gaining more military power with Union supplies. Unfortunately, for the North, they caused little damage to the base in the time that they had (Barthell, The Mystery of the Merrimack 106).
The Union tried to destroy one of their better ships, the U.S.S. Merrimac, by setting it on fire. They also drilled several holes in the bottom of the boat, to let water in and sink it. The boat sank halfway. The South did eventually gain control of the navel base. With their very small navy they decided to experiment (Baxter 283). They raised the half sunken ship. With their new supplies they plated the ship in iron and put a large arsenal of guns on each side. Five holes were drilled into the ship on both sides. These holes were to allow powerful guns from inside to shoot at enemy ships. Also a tall central chimney was built on top of the ship, where smoke from its coal-powered engines would go. It took nine months of extensive remodeling to complete the transfer from the former Merrimac to the new Virginia. The Confederates also spent time attaching a four-foot iron ram to the front of the ship. This was to be used to ram and sink enemy ships that were either wood or lightly plated in iron. An inventor named John Mercer Brooke made all the plans the Confederates followed in the construction of the Virginia. Another fellow named John L. Porter also assisted Mercer in the creating of the Virginia (Bearss, River of Lost Opportunities 16-17).
They christened this new ship the Virginia but the majority of people still referred to it as the Merrimac. The new Confederate ship carried an arsenal of two 7-inch...