Photos: On this day – January 30, 1862 – The first American ironclad warship, the USS Monitor is launched

Posted Jan 30, 2013

On this day – January 30, 1862 – The first American ironclad warship, the USS Monitor is launched.

The USS Monitor, designed by the Swedish-born engineer and inventor John Ericsson, was the first ironclad warship commissioned by the United States Navy during the American Civil War. Monitor’s hull was built at the Continental Iron Works in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn, New York, and the ship was launched there on 30 January 1862.

She is most famous for her participation in the Battle of Hampton Roads on 9 March 1862, where the Monitor duelled with the casemate ironclad CSS Virginia (the former frigate USS Merrimack) of the Confederate States Navy. This was the first-ever battle fought between two ironclads.

Monitor became the prototype for a new warship type dubbed “monitor” after the original. Many more were built, including river monitors and deep-sea monitors, and they played key roles in Civil War battles on the Mississippi and James Rivers. Some had two or even three turrets, and later monitors had improved seaworthiness. Many designs had a rounded deck so fragmentation from enemy fire would ricochet, rather than penetrate. (Wikipedia, AP, US Department of the Navy)

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The Monitor on the James River, Virginia, in 1862, after the Battle of Hampton Roads. Note the dents in the armor on the turret.
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Deck of monitor on James River
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Crewmen relaxing on deck, while the ship was in the James River, Virginia, on 9 July 1862. View looks forward on the starboard side, with the gun turret beyond. Note men playing checkers at right. Another man is reading a newspaper by the starboard smokestack.
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Crewmembers cooking on deck, in the James River, Virginia, 9 July USS Monitor (1862-62) 1862. Photographed by James F. Gibson. This view looks forward from the port quarter, with the port side blower hatch in the foreground, the two smokestacks in the middle distance and the turret beyond. The sailor standing atop the turret is holding a telescope. Note cookstove supported on bricks at left and awning above the turret.
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Crew of Monitor on James River, Virginia
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Deck of monitor, showing marks of cannon shot
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Gun squad on deck of monitor
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Gun squad on deck of monitor
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Ironworks on deck of monitor
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General plan published in 1862, showing the ship's inboard profile, plan view below the upper deck and hull cross sections through the engine and boiler spaces.
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Engraving published circa 1862, based on John Ericsson's drawings, and measurements taken from the ship. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
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USS Monitor, with wooden ships in the background.
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A computer model of the Monitor
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USS Monitor in action with CSS Virginia, 9 March 1862 "The Monitor and Merrimac: The First Fight Between Ironclads", a chromolithograph of the Battle of Hampton Roads, produced by Louis Prang & Co., Boston
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Illustrated rendering of the first battle fought between ironclad ships during the Civil War at the Battle of Hampton Roads. The introduction of the ironclad into warfare made all naval vessels that came before it obsolete. Pictured are the Union's USS Monitor,bottom left, and the Confederacy's CSS Virginia. (AP Photo)
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The “Battle of the Ironclads” near Hampton Roads, Virginia on March 9, 1862. The USS Monitor is in foreground. (AP Photo/Naval History Division/U.S. Navy) NO SALES
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Halftone reproduction of art of the USS Monitor at sea. The low freeboard depicted here is accurate.
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Line engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", 1863, depicting USS Monitor sinking in a storm off Cape Hatteras on the night of 30-31 December 1862. A boat is taking off crewmen, and USS Rhode Island is in the background.
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Monitors on the James River. Monitor became the prototype for a new warship type dubbed "monitor" after the original. Many more were built, including river monitors and deep-sea monitors, and they played key roles in Civil War battles on the Mississippi and James Rivers. Some had two or even three turrets, and later monitors had improved seaworthiness. Many designs had a rounded deck so fragmentation from enemy fire would ricochet, rather than penetrate.
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The Greenpoint Monitor Monument in Brooklyn depicts a sailor from the Monitor.[