The Twelve Days of the Monitor--On the ninth day of the Monitor my true love gave to me... 9th of March a’Battling—On Sunday, March 9, as hundreds of people lined the shores to cheer their ship in battle, Captain Worden addressed the crew of the Monitor. He made it clear that because they had volunteered for this duty, they could also change their minds if they wanted to after seeing the devastation done by the CSS Virginia. Not a single man left. At 8:00 AM, as the Virginia made her way through the fog, her crew saw sitting next to the Minnesota what appeared to be a “shingle floating in the water, with a gigantic cheesebox rising from its center.” In the silence of the morning, the Virginia fired the first shot with both the Minnesota and the Monitor returning fire. For four hours they hammered away at each other at close range, but shot and shell bounced off the two ironclads. Then Worden was injured and the Monitor pulled away to regroup. The Virginia thinking the Monitor was retreating thought she had won the battle. As she began to withdraw and return to port, the Monitor returned to the battle to engage once more. And seeing the Virginia departing, thought the Monitor had won the battle. So even though the battle was a draw, March 9 will forever remain etched in history as the first time iron met iron changing naval warfare for all time. For more information about the legacy of the USS Monitor visit monitor.noaa.gov/150th
Posted on: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 15:00:01 +0000
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