CSS Virginia CSS " Virginia " was the first steam - powered ironclad warship of the Confederate States Navy , built during the first year of the American Civil War ; she was constructed as a casemate ironclad using the raised and cut down original lower hull and steam engines of the scuttled . " Virginia " was one of the participants in the Battle of Hampton Roads , opposing the Union ' s in March 1862 . The battle is chiefly significant in naval history as the first battle between ironclads . USS " Merrimack " becomes CSS " Virginia " . When the Commonwealth of Virginia seceded from the Union in 1861 , one of the important federal military bases threatened was Gosport Navy Yard ( now Norfolk Naval Shipyard ) in Portsmouth , Virginia . Accordingly , the order was sent to destroy the base rather than allow it to fall into Confederate hands . Unfortunately for the Union , the execution of these orders was bungled on April 20 . The steam frigate USS " Merrimack " sank in shallow water before she completely burned . When the Confederate government took possession of the fully provisioned yard , the base ' s new commander , Flag Officer French Forrest , contracted on May 18 to salvage the wreck of the " Merrimack " . This was completed by May 30 , and she was towed into the shipyard ' s only graving dock , where the burned structures were removed . The wreck was surveyed and her lower hull and machinery were discovered to be undamaged , so she was selected for conversion into an ironclad by Stephen Mallory , Secretary of the Navy , as she was the only large ship with intact engines available to the Confederacy in the Chesapeake Bay area . Preliminary sketch designs were submitted by Lieutenant s John Mercer Brooke and John L . Porter , each of whom envisaged the ship as a casemate ironclad . Brooke ' s general design showed the bow and stern portions submerged , and his design was the one finally selected ; the detailed design work would be completed by Porter , as he was a trained naval constructor . Porter had overall responsibility for the conversion , but Brooke was responsible for her iron plate and heavy ordnance , while William P . Williamson , Chief Engineer of the Navy , was responsible for the ship ' s machinery . Reconstruction as an ironclad . The hull ' s burned timbers were cut down past the vessel ' s original waterline , with just enough clearance to accommodate her large twin - bladed screw propeller ; a new fantail and armored casemate were built atop a new main deck , and a v - shaped cutwater was added to her bow , which attached to the armored casemate . This forward and aft main deck and fantail were designed to stay submerged and were covered in iron plate , built up in two layers . The casemate was built up of of oak and pine in several layers , topped with two layers of iron plating oriented perpendicular to each other , and angled at 36 degrees from horizontal to deflect enemy fired projectiles . From reports in Northern newspapers , " Virginia " s designers were aware of the Union plans to build an ironclad and assumed their similar ordinance would be unable to do much serious harm to such an armored ship . So the decision was made to equip their ironclad with a ram , an anachronism on a 19th century warship . " Merrimack " ' s steam engines , now part of " Virginia " , were in poor working order ; they had been slated for replacement when the decision was made to abandon the Norfolk naval yard . The salty Elizabeth River water and the addition of tons of iron armor and pig iron ballast ( added to the hull ' s unused spaces to submerge her eves ) only added to her engines ' propulsion problems . As completed , " Virginia " had a turning radius of about and required 45 minutes to complete a full circle , which would later prove to be a major handicap in battle with the far more nimble " Monitor " . The ironclad ' s casemate had 14 gun port s , three each in the bow and stern , one firing directly along the ship ' s centerline , the two others angled at 45° from the center line ; these six bow and stern gun ports had exterior iron shutters installed to project their cannon . There were four gun ports on each broadside ; their protective iron shutters remained uninstalled during both days of the Battle of Hampton Roads . " Virginia " s battery consisted of four muzzle - loading single - banded Brooke rifle s and six smoothbore Dahlgren gun s salvaged from the old " Merrimack " . Two of the rifles , the bow and stern pivot gun s , were caliber and weighed each . They fired a shell . The other two were cannon of about , one on each broadside . The 9 - inch Dahlgrens were mounted three to a side ; each weighed approximately and could fire a shell up to a range of at an elevation of 15° . The two amidship Dahlgrens nearest the boiler furnaces were fitted - out to fire heated shot . On her upper casemate deck were two anti - boarding 12 - pounder Howitzer s . The " Virginia " s commanding officer , Flag Officer Franklin Buchanan , arrived to take command only a few days before her first sortie ; the ironclad was placed in commission and equipped by her executive officer , Lieutenant Catesby ap Roger Jones . Battle of Hampton Roads . The Battle of Hampton Roads began on March 8 , 1862 , when " Virginia " engaged the blockading Union fleet . Despite an all - out effort to complete her , the new ironclad still had workmen on board when she sailed into Hampton Roads with her flotilla of five support ships " Raleigh " and " Beaufort " , " Patrick Henry " , " Jamestown " , and " Teaser " . The first Union ship to be engaged by the " Virginia " was the all - wood , sail - powered USS " Cumberland " , which was first crippled during a furious cannon exchange , and then rammed in her forward starboard bow by " Virginia " . As " Cumberland " began to sink , " Virginia " s iron ram was broken off , causing a bow leak . Seeing what had happened to " Cumberland " , the captain of USS " Congress " ordered his frigate into shallower water , where she soon grounded . " Congress " and " Virginia " traded cannon fire for an hour , after which the badly - damaged " Congress " finally surrendered . While the surviving crewmen of " Congress " were being ferried off the ship , a Union battery on the north shore opened fire on " Virginia " . Outraged at such a breach of war protocol , in retaliation " Virginia " s captain , Commodore Franklin Buchanan gave the order to fire on the already surrendered " Congress " with hot - shot . " Congress " , set ablaze by the retaliatory shelling , burned for many hours into the night , a symbol of Confederate naval power and a costly wake - up call for the all - wood Union blockading squadron . " Virginia " did not emerge from the battle unscathed , however : Her bow was leaking from the loss of her ram ; shot from " Cumberland " , " Congress " , and the shore - based Union batteries had riddled her smokestack , reducing her already slow speed ; two of her heavy cannon were put out of commission by shell hits ; a number of her armor plates had been loosened ; both of " Virginia " s cutters had been shot away , as had both of her upper deck anti - boarding Howitzers and most of the deck stanchions and railings . Even so , the now injured Buchanan ordered an attack on USS " Minnesota " , which had run aground on a sandbar trying to escape " Virginia " . However , because of the ironclad ' s draft , she was unable to get close enough to the grounded frigate to do any significant damage . It being late in the day , " Virginia " retired from the conflict with the expectation of returning the next day and completing the destruction of the remaining Union blockaders . Later that night , USS " Monitor " arrived at Union - held Fort Monroe . She had been rushed to Hampton Roads , still not quite complete , all the way from the Brooklyn Navy Yard , in hopes of defending the force of wooden ships and preventing " the rebel monster " from further threatening the Union ' s blockading fleet and nearby cities , like Washington , D . C . While being towed south , she almost foundered twice in heavy storms on the way to Hampton Roads . She still had workmen aboard when she arrived by the bright firelight from the still - burning triumph of " Virginia " s first day of handiwork . The next day , on March 9 , 1862 , the world ' s first battle between ironclads took place . The smaller , nimbler , and faster " Monitor " was able to outmaneuver the larger , slower " Virginia " , but neither ship proved able to do any severe damage to the other , despite numerous shell hits by both combatants , many fired at virtually point - blank range . " Monitor " had a much lower freeboard and only its single , rotating , two - cannon gun turret and forward pilothouse sitting above her deck , and thus was much harder to hit with " Virginia " s heavy cannon . After hours of shell exchanges , " Monitor " finally retreated into shallower water after a direct shell hit to her armored pilothouse forced her away from the conflict to assess the damage . The captain of the " Monitor " , Lieutenant John L . Worden , had taken a direct gunpowder explosion to his face and eyes , blinding him , while looking through the pilothouse ' s narrow , horizontal viewing slits . The " Monitor " remained in the shallows , but it already being late in the day " Virginia " steamed for her home port , the battle ending in a draw without a clear victor : The captain of " Virginia " that day , Lieutenant Catesby ap Roger Jones , received advice from his pilots to depart over the sandbar toward Norfolk until the next day . Lieutenant Jones wanted to continue the fight , but the pilots emphasized that the " Virginia " had " nearly three miles to run to the bar " and that she could not remain and " take the ground on a falling tide . " To prevent running aground , Lieutenant Jones reluctantly moved the ironclad back toward port . The " Virginia " retired to the Gosport Naval Yard at Portsmouth , Virginia , and remained in drydock for repairs until April 4 , 1862 . In the following month , the crew of the " Virginia " were unsuccessful in their attempts to break the Union blockade . The blockade had been bolstered by the hastily ram - fitted SS " Vanderbilt " , and SS " Illinois " as well as the SS " Arago " and USS " Minnesota " , which had been repaired . The " Virginia " made several sorties back over to Hampton Roads hoping to draw " Monitor " into battle . " Monitor " , however , was under strict orders not to re - engage ; the two combatants would never battle again . On April 11 , the Confederate Navy sent Lieutenant Joseph Nicholson Barney in command of the side - paddle CSS " Jamestown " , along with the " Virginia " and five other ships in full view of the Union squadron , enticing them to fight . When it became clear that the US Navy ships were unwilling to fight , the CS Navy squadron moved in and captured three merchant ships , the brigs " Marcus " and " Sabout " and the schooner " Catherine T . Dix " . Their flags were then hoisted " Union - side down " to further taunt the Union Navy into a fight , as they were towed back to Norfolk , with the help of the CSS " Raleigh " . By late April the new Union ironclads USRC " E . A . Stevens " and USS " Galena " had also joined the blockade . On May 8 , 1862 , " Virginia " and the James River Squadron ventured out when the Union ships began shelling the Confederate fortifications near Norfolk ; but the Union ships retired under the shore batteries on the north side of the James River and on Rip Raps island . See also : Blockade runners of the American Civil War Destruction of the CSS " Virginia " . On May 10 , 1862 , advancing Union troops occupied Norfolk . Since " Virginia " was a steam - powered battery and not an ocean - going cruiser , she was not seaworthy enough to enter the Atlantic , even if she were able to pass the Union blockade . " Virginia " was also unable to retreat further up the James River due to her deep draft . In an attempt to reduce her draft , supplies and coal were dumped overboard , even though this exposed the ironclad ' s unarmored lower hull , but was still not enough to reduce her draft . Without a home port and no place to go , " Virginia " s new captain , flag officer Josiah Tattnall , reluctantly ordered her destruction in order to keep her from being captured . This task fell to Lieutenant Jones , the last man to leave " Virginia " after her cannon had been safely removed and carried to the Confederate Marine Corps base and fortifications at Drewry ' s Bluff . Early on the morning of May 11 , 1862 , off Craney Island , fire and powder trails reached the ironclad ' s magazine and she was destroyed by a great explosion . " Virginia " s thirteen - star Stars and Bars battle ensign was saved from destruction and today resides in the collection of the Chicago Historical Society , minus three of its original stars . " Monitor " was lost on December 31 of the same year , when the vessel was swamped by high waves in a violent storm while under tow by the tug USS " Rhode Island " off Cape Hatteras , North Carolina . Sixteen of her 62 member crew were either lost overboard or went down with the ironclad , while many others were saved by lifeboats sent from " Rhode Island " . Subsequently , in August 1973 , the wreckage of the Monitor was located on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean about 16 nautical miles ( 30 km ; 18 mi ) southeast of Cape Hatteras , North Carolina , with the remains of two of her crew retrieved and were buried on March 8 , 2013 at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington , D . C . Historical names : " Merrimack " , " Virginia " , " Merrimac " . The name of the warship which served the Confederacy in the Battle of Hampton Roads has become a source of confusion , which continues to the present day . When she was first commissioned into the United States Navy in 1856 , her name was " Merrimack , " with the " K " ; the name derived from the Merrimack River near where she was built . She was the second ship of the U . S . Navy to be named for the Merrimack River , which is formed by the junction of the Pemigewasset and Winnipesaukee rivers at Franklin , New Hampshire . The Merrimack flows south across New Hampshire , then eastward across northeastern Massachusetts before finally emptying in the Atlantic at Newburyport , Massachusetts . The Confederacy bestowed the name " Virginia " on her when commissioned , following her raising , restoration , and outfitting as an ironclad warship . But the Union continued to refer to the Confederate ironclad by either its original name , " Merrimack " , or by the nickname " The Rebel Monster ; " perhaps because the Union won the Civil War , the history of the United States generally records the Unions version of events . In the aftermath of the Battle of Hampton Roads , the names " Virginia " and " Merrimack " were used interchangeably by both sides , as attested to by various newspapers and correspondence of the day . Navy reports and pre - 1900 historians frequently misspelled the name as " Merrimac " , which is actually an unrelated ship . Hence " the Battle of the " Monitor " and the " Merrimac " " . Both spellings are still in use in the Hampton Roads area . " A RELIC OF WAR FOR SALE : The undersigned has had several offers for the IRON PROW ! of the first iron - clad ever built , the celebrated Ram and Iron Clad Virginia , formerly the Merrimac . This immense RELIC WEIGHS 1 , 340 POUNDS , wrought iron , and as a sovereign of the war , and an object of interest as a revolution in naval warefare , would suit a Museum , State Institute , or some great public resort . Those desiring to purchase will please address D . A . UNDERDOWN , Wrecker , care of " Virginian " Office , Norfolk , Va . "