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N0KFQ > TODAY 09.03.08 14:00l 49 Lines 2268 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - Mar 8
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From: N0KFQ@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
To : TODAY@ALLUS
March 8, 1862
C.S.S. Virginia terrorizes Union navy
The Confederate ironclad Virginia wrecks havoc on a Yankee
squadron off Hampton Roads, Virginia.
The C.S.S. Virginia was originally the U.S.S. Merrimack, a
forty-gun frigate launched in 1855. The Merrimack served in the
Caribbean and was the flagship of the Pacific fleet in the late
1850s. In early 1860, the ship was decommissioned for extensive
repairs at the Gosport Navy Yard in Norfolk, Virginia. It was
still there when the war began in April 1861, and Union sailors
sank the ship as the yard was evacuated. Six weeks later, a
salvage company raised the ship and the Confederates began
rebuilding it.
The project required $172,000 to build an ironclad upon the
Merrimack's hull. A new gun deck was added and an iron canopy was
draped over the entire vessel. The most challenging part of the
construction came in finding the iron plating. Richmond's
Tredegar Iron Works finally produced it, but the plant had to
alter its operations to roll more than 300 tons of scrap iron for
the two-inch thick plating.
The Virginia was launched on February 17, 1862. On March 9, it
steamed from Norfolk toward Union ships guarding the mouth of the
James River at Hampton Roads. Rumors of the ironclad had
circulated for several days among the Yankee sailors, and now
they saw the creation first hand. They soon wished they hadn't.
The Virginia attacked the U.S.S. Cumberland, firing several shots
into her before ramming the Federal ship and sinking it. The
other Union ships fired back, but the shots were, in the words of
one observer, "having no more effect than peas from a pop-gun."
Ninety-eight shots hit the Virginia, but none did significant
damage. The Virginia then attacked the U.S.S. Congress, which
exploded when fires caused by the Confederate barrage reached the
powder magazine. The Virginia next ran the U.S.S. Minnesota
aground before calling it a day.
It had been the worst day in U.S. naval history and it signaled
the end of the wooden ship era. But help was on its way--the next
day, the Virginia fought the most famous naval duel in history
with the U.S.S. Monitor, a Union ironclad that was able to fight
the Confederate ship to a draw.
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