#css virginia

[karagin22]

[ltwilliammowett]

Sinking of the USS Cumberland, 8 March 1862, by James Gurney

During the first year of the Civil War, both the Confederate and Union sides experimented with covering warships in iron armor to make them impervious to cannon fire. As the war progressed, this new type of vessel proved deadly to older wooden ships. CSS Virginia was among the first ironclad ships built by the Confederacy.

On March 8, 1862, as Cumberland, a 50-gun Frigate, lay at anchor in Hampton Roads, watchmen onboard noticed that a squadron of ships approached from the south. The ironclad CSS Virginia steamed slowly up the Elizabeth River towards the blockade squadron. Unable to get out of the way or stop the oncoming Confederate warship, Cumberland was helpless. After exchanging a few shots, Virginia pressed home the attack and smashed her cast-iron ram into the sloop-of-war. More desperate fighting took place, but by 3:35 p.m., Cumberland’s company was given orders to abandon ship.

Cumberland lost 121 men during the battle, including two officers. Cumberland was sunk by Virginia and became a martyr to the Union cause. Several poets and songwriters, including Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, wrote stirring pieces hailing Cumberland and her acting captain (Lieutenant Morris) refusal to surrender in the face of certain death.  

[joezworld]

Also, does anyone care that USCGC Eagle was captured from the Nazis? (And, more of a joke thing, would the battle between USS Monitor and CSS Virginia be the ship version of a slap fight?)

Operation Paperclip brought over a lot of people and vehicles, so when Horst Wessel was brought over, he wasn't even a blip on anyone's radar. It doesn't hurt that he was actively sorry for being built by the Nazis in the first place, and he very quickly adopted the new name Eagle in an effort to fit in. He's integrated well, and other than his Hamburg Accent when speaking German, you'd never know he wasn't always a proud American.

Monitor vs. Virginia was not a slap-fight. It was a knock-down, drag-out brawl. If there's any modern parallel that could be made, it would be the Cap vs Bucky fight from Captain America: Winter Solider, although it should be noted that Monitor was The Winter Soldier, coming out of nowhere to kick the shit out of Virginia.

[pinturasdeguerra-acorazados]

1862 Hampton Roads - Monitor vs Virginia - Howard Gerrard

via Elias Rinaldi

[sixfrigates]

March 8, 1862. The Battle of Hampton Roads begins as CSS Virginia and two other wooden warships sail into Hampton Roads to confront the Union squadron of five wooden frigates. Virginia takes a heavy toll, ramming and sinking the USS Cumberland before turning her guns on USS Congress. After an hour and a half of combat, Congress surrendered. Though the battle would continue the next day, culminating in the famous clash of the ironclads, the first day proved the superiority of ironclad warships over wooden ones and sent mass panic through Washington, D.C.

Artwork: Congress Burning by Tom Freeman

[pattern-53-enfield]

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Oh, here’s success to Erricson, a Union man is he,

 And for his little Monitor, she's the champion of the sea! 

And for all of her “Blue Jackets”, wherever they may be,

 And death to Southern traitors, by either land or sea!

[pinturasdeguerra-acorazados]

1862 03 09 Hampton Roads, USS Monitor vs CSS Virginia- Lukasz Kasperczyk

[themuthaphukkinpooch]

Resurrecting the Ironclads: My Concept for a Modern-Day Police Gunboat

I’ve always harbored a deep, personal fascination with the ironclads of the American Civil War. If you look at historical sketches or models of the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia, they hardly look like ships at all. With their incredibly low profiles and sheer metal surfaces, they almost resemble early submarines riding just barely above the waterline. They were revolutionary, brutal, and…