The Merrimack/CSS Virginia

1. The Merrimack/CSS Virginia By: KaitlynMuise, Brittany Dupont, Jenna Stathopoulos, Brian Trearchis, Nnka Amaefule, Taryn Voulgaris

2. Statistics Of The C.S.S. Virginia • Acquisition.--Seized by the Confederates in 1861 at Gosport Navy Yard and converted into an ironclad. • Description.--Screw ironclad ram. • weight.--3,200 tons. • Dimensions.--Length 275'; beam, 38' 6"; depth, 27½'. • Draft.--Loaded, 22'; without coal or ballast, 19½'. • Speed.--About 9 knots • Engines.--Horizontal, back acting; two cylinders, 72" in diameter, 3' stroke. • Boilers.--4 Martin type boilers; average steam pressure, 18 lbs. • Battery.--March 11, 1862, 10 guns; May, 1862, 2 7-inch rifle pivots, 2 6-inch rifles and 6 9-inch Dahlgrens in broadside, 2 12-pounder howitzers on deck. • Crew Size:  According to the personnel roster of the Virginia, she was manned by 160 Navy, and 28 Marines.

3. Technology of The Merrimack • The Merrimack was one of the first ironclad ships. The ship contained… • extensive warehouses and boatbuilding facilities • about40 cannons with a calibers ranging from 8 to 10 inches • thousands of rounds of ammunition • A strong steam engine consisting of horizontal stroke engines powered by four boilers generating a power of 972 horsepower. It would consume 2,800 pounds of coal every hour.

4. The CSS Virginia was one of the earliest ironclad fighting ships. Its easy destruction of several wooden ships on March 8, 1862, signaled the end of the era of wooden naval vessels. • The Virginia was 275 feet long with a 38.5 foot beam and a draft of 22 feet. Between the sluggish engine and the deep draft, the Virginia was difficult to maneuver.

5. Css Virginia Confederate Navy Ship On 20 April 1861, when Virginia authorities took over the Norfolk Navy Yard after its evacuation by Federal forces, they found, among other valuable items, the hulk of the steam frigate USS Merrimack . Though burned to the waterline and sunk, the big ship's lower hull and machinery were intact. During the remainder of 1861 and the first two months of 1862, the Confederate States Navy raised, dry-docked and converted her into an ironclad ram, a new warship type that promised to overcome the Union's great superiority in conventional warships. Placed in commission as CSS Virginia in mid-February 1862, the ship's iron armor made her virtually invulnerable to contemporary gunfire. She carried ten guns of her own, a seven-inch pivot-mounted rifle at each end and a broadside battery of two six-inch rifles and six nine-inch smoothbores. Affixed to her bow was an iron ram, allowing the ship herself to be employed as a deadly weapon.

6. Hampton Roads

7. There are few battles as famous as the battle at Hampton Roads on March 9, 1862. Just a day after the ironclad CSS Virginia (converted from the USS Merrimack) easily destroys several wooden ships on its trial run, the very much different ironclad USS Monitor, also on its trial run, arrives and the two duel to a draw • This battle was very important to both sides. The Confederacy needed to break the blockade. The Union was afraid of the Ironclad, worried that it might sail into Washington or New York. The result of the battle itself was inconclusive as neither ship put the other out of the battle. Both sides desperately wanted to claim victory. Even today, there are strong feelings about designating a winner or loser.

8. CSS Virginia was an ironclad warship of the Confederate States Navy during the American Civil War (built using the remains of the USS Merrimack). She was one of the participants in the Battle of Hampton Roads in March, 1862 opposite the USS Monitor. The battle is significant in naval history as the first battle between two ironclads