The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-10-02
BY TOM WOLF

S& a OAVA NN~AAA
 NEA Service Staff Correspondent
 The Federal cOmnlandant at the Norfolk Navy Yard stood at the dock and looked sadly at the frlg- ate burning in the harbOr. She was burning on his orders, to pre- vent her falling into the hands of the fast-approaching Army of Vir- ginia. He gave her one long, last look as she settled low in the wa ter. '"To0 bad" he thought. "Its an unlxind end for Q fine frlgate like the MerTimac."
 It's not the end, captain. It's not the last you'll hear of the Mer- rimac. Her strong hull, pulled up from the bottom, will float Q Con- fedeFate ship that will come closer to beating the United States Navy than any foreign power has ever come.
 It. Brooke of the Confederate States Navy jumped up from his drafting board. He hurried to his commanding officer. Pardon me, sir," he said excitedly, "but I've been figuring. Suppose we covered ship with iron sheeting-sheeting strong enough to defect the shots of the biggest Federal guns. Then we could steam into every Yankee harbor and blast the Feds navy right out of the water"
 So began the first ironclad ves- sel in American naval history. She couldn't be built just the way It. Brook had conceived her There were huoyancy problems, for one thing. And the South had precious little iron to spare So they hauled up the old frigate Merrimac, which the Feds had set afire at Norfolk earlier this year (i961) to keep her out of Southern hands.
 Her hull was in perfect condi- ton. Cutting the Merrimac down to the waterline, they built an iron house" on top of her hull. It was rectangle of 4-irch iron sheeting, which sloped outward from top to bottom at 36-degree angle.
 It was 6 gay day for the Con- federacy when they re-chriStened the old Merrimac. They named her Virginia. And soon afterwards they sent her down to Hampton Roads, where a large concentration of Fed- eral ships was stationed on block ade duty.
 It was just after the South had started building the Virginia that Yankee spies got wind of what was up. So, largely in self defense, the United States Navy set to work building an ironclad of its own. They christened her Monitor.
 She was as different from the Virginia (ree Merrimac) as Bull Run from Gettysburg. Her main bulk was below her waterline. All that showed on the surface was revolving turTet, protected by nine inches of arbor and mounting two ll-inch Dahlgrens; and small armored pilot house, forward.
 Almost at the same moment that the Virginia started steaming down to Hampton Roads, the Monitor left New York for the same destina- ton. Just outside of Sandy Hook she ran Into Q gale. It almost end- ed the battle of the Monitor and the Virginia (Merrimac) before the two ironclads ever met. It was not the seas that caused trouble. The Monitor rode below the waves un- harmed. But her ports had to be closed to keep the seas out, and her crew nearly suffocated.
 THE U. s. NAVY ON
 BRINK OF DISASTER
 On the afternoon of March 8, 1862, while the Monitor was bat ting the waves and her crew fight ing for air, Admiral Buchanan, aboard the Virginia, steamed into Hampton Roads. He took the Fed eral ships by surprise. Presently they opened fire on the weird- looking enemy ironclad, but their shots rolled off her slanting sides as though they were the roadstead's white-caps.
 Then the Virginia opened up and proceeded to blast the wooden Federal ships to pieces. Admiral Buchanan finished off two of them in leisurely fashion and, when night came, retired. He would finish the job the next day.
 The news raced up and down the coast like a hurricane. The North was in a panic. President Lincoln was flatly informed by @ high navy official that nothing could be done to save any ship which got in range of this new naval monsters guns. Not only would the whole Union blockade of the South be smashed, but SO might the Union Navy itself. Such was the news which greet ed It. John L. Worden and the hot, grimy, tired crew of the Monitor when 1t pulled into Hampton Roads early in the morning of March g., 1862. The men desperately needed sleep, but Worden saw there was no alternative but to stand ready to fight whenever the Virginia came back to the roadstead.
 He called his crew together and outlined his battle plan. T will keep the Monitor moving in a cir- cle out of range of the Virginia's guns just long enough to give you time to load our guns" he said.
 "At the poink where this circle