The Monitor steamed slowly by the Virginia, firing solid shot against her casement. The revolving turret was able to concentrate fire towards one area, trying to penetrate the armor or, at least, dislodge the iron plates. Intense musket fire from the crew of both ships towards one another was noted. After two hours of firing, Jones felt his ship had met her match - he was impressed with the revolving turret that could fire with internal control. Jones could see her draft was shallower than the Virginia's and the Monitor had greater mobility, allowing her to move around the Virginia at will. This mobility allowed the Monitor to find blind spots and fire on the Virginia without the Virginia being able to fire back at the Monitor.
The ships circled each other, firing through the smoke and limited visibility and colliding with each other at least five times. The officers on board the Monitor began to realize the Virginia was trying to maneuver closer to the Minnesota so she could rake her with cannon fire. Worden tried to ram the rudder and propeller of the Virginia to disable her so the Monitor could concentrate her fire on vital parts of the ship. Soon, the Monitor ran out of ammunition stored on the gun deck. This forced Worden to disengage from the Virginia and replenish the shot and powder from below decks. Worden knew this would give the Virginia time to move against the Minnesota. Virginia made a slow turn and moved towards the grounded wooden frigate but herself ran aground. The Monitor had finished rearming and was in pursuit. Worden came in so close to the Virginia that the Virginia's guns could not be lowered enough to hit the Monitor. The Monitor fired many shots into the Confederate vessel without a return volley.
The Virginia continued to burn coal, trying to get off the sand bank, and Jones knew he was in trouble by becoming lighter - the Virginia would rise higher in the water, exposing her wooden hull to enemy fire. By adding additional fuel into Virginia's boilers she pulled herself off the bank. Jones had a decision to make: he knew he could not get close enough to the Minnesota due to the shallow water she was in and the Monitor maintained the Virginia's number. His ship had a deep draft so he decided to ram the Monitor even though the iron prow had been broken the day before. The Virginia had difficulty maneuvering and it took almost an hour to get into position. When she finally attacked the nimble Monitor, she was able to swerve, taking a glancing blow. The two ironclads were at point blank range and, as the Virginia passed by, Lt. Green on the Monitor fired both 11-inch guns, striking the casement of the Virginia about half way up from the water line. These did not penetrate but the concussion hammered the gun crew enough to cause their ears and noses to bleed. Shortly after noon, the Monitor was hit with a damaging shot on the pilot house at a range of 30 feet. Lt. Worden was looking out the eye slits and was temporally blinded in his right eye and permanently in his left. The powder burns on his face were serious and never fully healed. The order was given to the helmsman to change course while the damage was checked. Worden told the crew "I cannot see, it's up to you to save the Minnesota". As the officers consulted, the Monitor was steaming in shallow water so low that the Virginia could not follow - the decision was to return to the fight.
Lt. Jones on the Virginia was keeping an eye on the Monitor and trying to position his ship to finish off the Minnesota. Time was not on his side with the tide going out against his ship's 22-foot draft. Jones checked the ship and found the bow was leaking from the hit on the Monitor and the ammunition supply was running very low. Feeling he had driven the Monitor from the field, he set course for the protection of Sewell Point. The officers reported Virginia's new course away from the Minnesota to Worden who ordered several shots to be fired at the Confederate vessel. The four hour duel was over.
The Monitor returned to the Minnesota's side with cheers from her crew - she had not sunk the Virginia but her mission to save the frigate was a complete success. The day's battle was a disappointment to the crew of the Virginia, who failed to destroy the Minnesota or sink the Monitor, and the Northern blockade remained in place.
For the next two months, the Monitor protected the ships blockading Hampton Roads. The Virginia returned up the Elizabeth River to the Confederate Navy Yard at Gosport. Major repairs were needed and she returned to the fight on April 11th. The plan was to use the Virginia to lure the Monitor away from Fort Monroe where the Northern fleet controlled the bay. If the Monitor took the bait, a number of southern warships would attack and board her. Virginia played her part as the lure but could not bring Monitor out. After some exchange of fire the Virginia returned to base.
On May 3rd The Union Fleet started shelling the Confederate stronghold at Sewell Point with President Lincoln in attendance. All of a sudden the Virginia appeared and the entire fleet retreated along with the Monitor back to Fort Monroe. Lincoln was not impressed by the Northern response. By the 11th, the Confederates at Sewell Point withdrew and the Navy Yard at Gosport fell into Union hands leaving CSS Virginia without a home base. Virginia, having few options at this point, took a small flotilla up the James River, trying to reach Richmond, but she grounded out and had to be burned so as not to fall into enemy hands. The pride of the Southern fleet was gone.
Richmond seemed to be wide open for the taking so Monitor, and the armored gunship Galena, led a flotilla of seemingly unstoppable Union ships up the James River. At Drewry's Bluff, a fort with heavy guns has been constructed just 15 miles below the Confederate Capital of Richmond. When Monitor and the flotilla arrived, their guns could not be raised enough to shell the fort, however, the plunging fire from the bluff struck the ships. After four hours, the Monitor and the northern flotilla limped back to Hampton Roads. Richmond was saved.
Monitor remained on the James River during the retreat of the Army of the Potomac. On December 12th the USS Monitor received orders to steam south to blockade Wilmington. She was towed by the USS Rhode Island and, as they reached Cape Hatteras, a storm hit. Monitor, not an inherently seaworthy vessel, took on water in the rough action and, at 12:30AM on December 31, 1862, she sank with 4 officers and 12 men on board in 220 feet of water.
The wreck of the Monitor was discovered in 1973 and, on January 30, 1975, the site became a National Marine Sanctuary - this approximately 16.1 miles off Cape Hatteras.
ADDENDUM: March 2013
In August 1973, the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, the National Geographic Society, Duke University, the University of Delaware and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology participated in a voyage to inspect a sunken ship site off Cape Hatteras. On March 8th, 1974, after naval historical experts and marine archeologists examined the evidence, an announcement was made by the Duke University team that the wreck of USS Monitor had been located. On September 26th, 1974 the wreck site was nominated for, and eventually became, a Marine Sanctuary.
Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Virginia was chosen to be the site for the USS Monitor artifacts to be stored, studied and displayed. The United States Navy and supporting agencies began salvaging artifacts from the Monitor wreckage. The major parts of the ship raised were the ship's propeller and a section of its shaft, this recovered in 1998. The steam engine was raised in 2001 and the steam-powered turret the following year. Additionally, a cannon, the anchor as well as 125 other artifacts were salvaged and are being treated and studied.
The Monitor was built with devices that were largely advanced for the period. The monitor was a new type of watercraft requiring innovative designs such as flushing toilets and a small steam engine built within the cramped machine space available. So much of the ship was held under water when afloat that a forced-air ventilation system was designed and installed. Salvage divers found the hull had come to rest, bottom up, on top of the turret. When the turret was recovered and examined, the skeletons of two crewmen were found with the tattered remains of their uniforms. The Navy spent a decade trying to determine the identity of the remains through DNA testing.
The testing by forensic analysis of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command in Hawaii narrowed the identities of the two men to six of the 16 sailors who died when the Monitor sank. The Navy expects a large number of relatives of the men who served on the Monitor, in addition to 21 descendants of those lost in the Monitor, to attend burial services in Arlington. The forensic analysis indicated the older of the two men stood about 5 feet, 6 inches tall and was between 30- and 40-years-old. The younger man was 5 feet, 7 inches tall and between 17- and 24-years-old.
The remains of the two Union sailors found in the turret of the Civil War Monitor were buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C. on Friday, March 8th, 2013.
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