CSS Virginia

Type

Ironclad

Period

19th Century

Nation

United States

Overview: CSS Virginia was the Confederate States Navy's first steam-powered ironclad, built during the opening year of the American Civil War by razeeing and rebuilding the hull and engines of the scuttled Union steam frigate USS Merrimack into a casemate ironclad. She is best remembered for fighting the Union's USS Monitor at the Battle of Hampton Roads in March 1862, the first engagement between ironclad warships in naval history. Specifications: As completed she displaced about 4,000 long tons, measured 275 feet long with a 51 ft 2 in beam and 21 ft draft, and was propelled by a single shaft driven by two horizontal back-acting steam engines and four boilers. Her armament comprised two 7-inch and two 6.4-inch Brooke rifles, six 9-inch Dahlgren smoothbores, and two 12-pounder howitzers, mounted behind a sloped casemate armored with 4 inches of iron plate over the gun deck and a thinner iron belt protecting the hull below. She also carried a 1,500-pound iron ram fitted underwater to her bow. Service History: Commissioned February 17, 1862, Virginia steamed into Hampton Roads on March 8 and destroyed the Union sloops USS Cumberland and USS Congress, prompting panic in Washington before the Union's own ironclad USS Monitor arrived to challenge her the next day in an inconclusive but historic slugging match. With Norfolk threatened by advancing Union forces in early May 1862, and her deep draft preventing an escape up the James River, her crew scuttled and burned her near Craney Island on May 11, 1862 to prevent capture. Notable Facts: Virginia's poorly maintained salvaged engines and heavy iron/ballast load gave her a huge turning circle of about a mile, taking roughly 45 minutes to complete, a serious handicap against the far more maneuverable Monitor. Her makeshift, sloped-roof casemate design was intended to deflect shot but gave her a famously ungainly "floating barn roof" appearance that modelers often note as one of her most distinctive features.