Tag Archives: Battle of Hampton Roads

Around We Go: In the Monitor Turret

Posted on August 3, 2018 by Dwight Hughes

Lieutenant Samuel D. Greene, USN, had a problem. He was encased within a dim, claustrophobic, metal drum—20 feet in diameter—behind eight layers of bolted and riveted 1-inch-thick iron plates in charge of two immense 11-inch Dahlgren shell guns, each 13 … Continue reading →

Posted in Arms & Armaments, Artillery, Battles, Emerging Civil War, Navies, Weapons | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Watching the “Merrimac”

Posted on March 8, 2018 by Dwight Hughes

One of the joys of a historian is finding that perfect eye-witness account of momentous events, one that puts you alongside our ancestors and sees through their eyes. The following is just such a viewpoint. “IN March, 1862, I was … Continue reading →

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Ironclad Superweapons of the Civil War: USS Monitor and CSS Virginia

Posted on January 16, 2018 by Dwight Hughes

The clash of the ironclads USS Monitor and CSS Virginia in Hampton Roads on March 9, 1862 is considered a revolutionary event in naval warfare, but neither vessel quite lived up to the ambitious expectations of its sponsors. On a hot … Continue reading →

Posted in Battles, Emerging Civil War, Navies, Weapons | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment