Battle of the Ironclads: One of the most famous naval battles in history.

The Battle of the Hampton Road, better known as the Battle of the Ironclads, is famous as the main naval battle of the American Civil War. This war is unique in the history of the world - it was the first time that two warships, or ironclads, wrapped in iron, faced each other. Earlier, naval ships were made of wood, which was used by both the North and the South during the Civil War. But along the way to the Battle of the Ironclad, the picture changed completely.

The navies of countries other than the United States realized how helpless wooden ships were to Ironclad warships. That’s why all the navies gradually began to add ironclad by removing wooden ships from their fleet. So while the Battle of the Ironclad is short-lived, it has changed the nature of naval warfare around the world.

Iron-clad ships began to be built mainly in Europe and America in the mid-nineteenth century, but the idea of ​​ships came before that. Although all the ships used by the navy up to that time were made of wood, other navies experimented with ironclad. In the Crimean War of 1853-56, the British and French armies used artillery wooden decks, which they floated in the water and shelled Russian forces.

Inspired by this success, the French began to use the iron cover on the first warship, and in 1859 added the first such ship, the Glair, and later another, the Quiron. The British was not sitting then. The Ironclad, named 'Black Prince' and 'Warrior', joined the British Royal Navy in 1861 and 1862. This was the beginning of the American Civil War, and for the first time in history, the Ironclad ship collided head-on.

Background

The Civil War was one of the bloodiest conflicts in American history from 1861 to 1865, when the southern states of the United States (Confederates) sought to secede for various reasons. As a result, with the northern states (unions) determined to maintain the integrity of the United States, the southern monarchy eventually turned into an armed struggle.

The Battle of the Hampton Road took place on the Hampton Road route. Located in southeastern Virginia, it is 12 miles (19 kilometers) long, and 45 feet (13 meters) deep. Originally from the river James, it was joined by parts of the Nansmond and Elizabeth rivers. Hampton Road was connected to the Chesapeake Bay on one side and the North Carolina coast on the other.
Union troops laid siege to Virginia and Norfolk at the beginning of the Civil War because of its proximity to important cities and ports such as Norfolk, Suffolk, Yorktown.

Confederate warlords plan to use Hampton Road to attack Union forces and force them to lift the blockade. To this end, they sent a fleet, led by Ironclad-CSS Virginia, the only Confederates to defeat the Union Navy at Hampton Road. CSS Virginia is accompanied on this fleet by two wooden frigates, the CSS Rally and the CSS Beaufort.

CSS Virginia was built at Virginia’s ‘Gasport’ Navy Shipyard, on the structure of the ship Merrimack, occupied by the Union Navy. Merrimack, who was drowned by Confederate forces, was lifted out of the water and repaired to a length of just over 282 feet. The main structure is then covered with a 24-inch-thick layer of 180-foot-long oak and pine wood, on which are placed two layers of iron sheets two inches thick and six inches wide. The entire ship was equipped with six 9-inch Dahlgreen cannons and two 6.4-inch Brock rifles. Attached to the front was a 1,500-pound iron 'Radam', intended to smash or wreck another ship by force.

Like other Navy ships, the CSS Virginia was powered by a steam engine. Although impenetrable in terms of time, it had some weaknesses. The old engine of the Merrimack ship was used without any replacement, which already had some problems. Also, its speed was very low, a little over five knots. Due to the huge size and weight, the ability to change the direction of electricity on the battlefield was also limited. Even then the Confederates had no choice but to break the siege and destroy the ships of the Union. With these aspects in mind, the ship's leadership was handed over to Franklin Buchanan, an experienced and aggressive flag officer.

He entered Hampton Road along the Elizabeth River with his other ships on March 8, 1862, in a bid to break the Union siege. There were five Union Navy frigates waiting - Cumberland, Congress, St. Lawrence, Minnesota and Roanoke.

First day of naval war: March 8

'CSS Beaufort' started the war with cannon fire. It was answered from the Union ship. The CSS continues to advance through the Virginia artillery shells. No blow from the Union forces was able to pierce its iron mantle, but Cumberland and Congress were badly damaged by the CSS Virginia shelling. The CSS Virginia went straight ahead and hit Cumberland with an iron 'random' at its tip, causing the Union Forces frigate to sink. However, even in this situation, the Cumberland crew continued to fire. Even their enemies could not help but be amazed at their bravery.

When Cumberland sank, Virginia turned its attention to Congress. In the meantime, the Congress had gone a long way. It hoisted the white flag of surrender when the shelling started anew. During the surrender process, Buchanan's thighs were injured when Union troops on the shore began firing. At his behest, the Congress was destroyed by a series of shelling. Virginia then turned its attention to Minnesota.

Meanwhile, Captain Jacques van Burnett of Minnesota lifted his ship ashore. Virginia did not want to take the risk of going into shallow water near the shore. Moreover, the shelling by the Union forces did not fail, and parts of Virginia were badly damaged. Thinking about all this, Virginia and her assistant frigates went back to the war, thinking that they would finish the work the next day.

Union leaders were shocked when news of the Navy disaster reached the capital, Washington. The defeat of March 8 was the biggest defeat of the United States Navy until World War II. The Union Forces' own Ironclad 'Monitor' set off from New York to reach Hampton Road at night to quell the Virginia riots. The captain of the ship was John Lorimar Warden. He was instructed to defend Minnesota anyway.

Where CSS Virginia was built on the structure of an old ship, the monitor was an impeccable creation of naval architecture. The monitor, patented by Swedish-American engineer John Erikson, was 173 feet long and weighed 776 tons. On its deck was the pilot house and a revolving gun turret with two 11-inch 'Dahlgreen' cannons. Although small in size, it was much faster than Virginia and had the ability to move quickly on the battlefield, which put it ahead of Virginia.

Second day of naval war: March 9

The CSS Virginia and auxiliary ships Patrick Henry, Jamestown and Teaser set sail around 6 a.m. and arrived at the battlefield around 8 p.m. Buchanan was not on the ship because he was wounded, and was replaced by Lieutenant Keats by Jones. They had no idea about the arrival of the monitor. So they were shocked to see it.

The Minnesota crew failed to float the ship after trying all night. In such a situation, Warden assures them that he will do his best to protect them. With his own ship he took up position between Minnesota and Virginia.

The battle begins and both sides try to defeat the opponent by firing. After hours of fighting, Monitors and Virginia fired at each other from close range. But neither side could pierce the other side's iron armor. Monitor firing rates were much lower than in Virginia, one every six to seven minutes. But because of his relatively high speed and ability to change direction, Virginia could not defeat him in any way. Two hours later, when the artillery shells ran out, the monitor retreated slightly into shallow water, where Virginia could not follow.

At that moment, while trying to move on to Virginia Minnesota, its engine suddenly stopped. On this occasion Minnesota shelled for about an hour. After a long struggle, it was possible to start the Virginia engine, but by this time the monitor had returned to collect ammunition, and it was no longer possible to attack Minnesota. War broke out again between the two Ironclad. At one point Warden took his ship and proceeded to strike Virginia directly, but failed for a short interval. This time the warden at the pilot house was slightly injured when Virginia Lieutenant John Taylor fired a Wood Brook rifle at close range.

In this situation, the ship's quartermaster Peter Williams removed the monitor to a safe place. He was later awarded the Medal of Honor for this work. The warden went to the cabin for treatment and handed over the ship to his executive officer, Samuel Green.

Virginia, meanwhile, sees the monitor move away, grabbing the Union's Ironclad to flee. So they considered themselves victorious in the war and prepared to attack Minnesota again. But the ship's crew warned Jones that the tide was coming. Virginia was at risk of getting stuck in shallow water if the water receded at low tide, so Jones quickly removed the ship. By the time Green returned with the ship's load, Virginia had left. Unable to see Virginia, The Monitor reported the news to Washington, thinking they were the winners.

The outcome of the war

Modern historians judge this naval battle as unresolved, or a 'draw', even though the two sides have declared themselves winners separately due to misunderstandings. On the one hand, it was a strategic victory for the Union forces, because Virginia's main objective was to force the Union forces to lift the blockade, which they could not do. The battle, on the other hand, established Confederate naval dominance over Hampton Road and its surrounding waterways, and delayed Major General McClean's planned attack. This led to the failure of his attack at a later time.

Consequences of Ironclad

As word of the clash between Virginia and Monitor spread, the British navy suspended all their wooden warships, deploying all their forces to build a fully iron-clad fleet. Other navies also followed in their footsteps. Union and Confederate forces later added more ironclad to their fleet. But the end result for Virginia and Monitor was not very good.

The two ships faced each other once more. On April 11, 1862, no one was involved in the clashes. Both ships tried to get each other in a comfortable position. The purpose of the monitor was to bring Virginia into the open water, while Virginia's purpose was to drag the monitor into Hampton Road. No one succeeded in any purpose.

When Norfolk fell to Union forces on May 9, 1862, Confederate forces annexed Virginia on their own, preventing Union forces from occupying it. On the other hand, on December 31 of that year, in a terrible storm, the monitor with 16 sailors sank in Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Its wreckage was discovered in 1873 and removed from the water in 2002.

Whatever the consequences, it is undeniable that these two Ironclad have led to major changes and modernizations in the world's navies.