Hampton Roads...Confederate defeat on the first day

March 9, 1862: Uss Monitor steams into Hampton Roads to face the rebel ironclad CSS Virginia--but Virginia is gone--sunk in the battle of March 8. While ramming Cumberland, she couldn't back out, and the two ships went down together.

Clearly, this is unlikely to change the outcome of the war, and ironclads were already the coming thing--but would it have much long term results, since the ironclad sunk?

And how much of a fiference if it wasn't an accident caused by ramming, but an explosive shell going in a gunport (freak hit, but those happen) and setting her ablaze--Virginia blows herself up?
 
I can't really see anything being different. Ironclads were being adopted by other navies and there were plenty of situations where fires ran out of control and destroyed ships. I think there may be more evidence that equipping ships with rams was a bad idea.
 
Well if you look at Hunley and his submarine... good thing people don't give up on an idea just because something bad happens the first try.
 
Well if you look at Hunley and his submarine... good thing people don't give up on an idea just because something bad happens the first try.

Monitor vs Merrimac was hardly the first try at ironclads. European navies already had them, IIRC beginning in the '40s. Even if the Virginia sank, the Monitor is still around to do damage.

Whether ironclad design will take a different course is another question. I don't know if either of those designs were influential later on or not.
 
The battle basiclly proved the superiority of the turret designed Monitor. It scored more hits with two rotating guns than the Virginia did with eight fixed guns(not 100% on that number but regardless).

And I was referring to the engagement as the first one between two Ironclads. Not to the Monitor and Virginia as the first of their class.
 
The battle basiclly proved the superiority of the turret designed Monitor. It scored more hits with two rotating guns than the Virginia did with eight fixed guns(not 100% on that number but regardless).

And I was referring to the engagement as the first one between two Ironclads. Not to the Monitor and Virginia as the first of their class.
Makes more sense, put that way. Maybe broadside ironclads and muzzle-loading cannon will hang on a little longer, especially if the Monitor sinks without engaging in battle. I back up David S Poepoe's assertion that if the Virginia gets hung up while ramming another ship, ramming will be less popular.
 
Makes more sense, put that way. Maybe broadside ironclads and muzzle-loading cannon will hang on a little longer, especially if the Monitor sinks without engaging in battle. I back up David S Poepoe's assertion that if the Virginia gets hung up while ramming another ship, ramming will be less popular.

Technically, the Ericsson turret was a deadend design and the Coles turret, as adopted by the British was far superior and neither evolved into the turrets we associate with modern battleships. The broadside ironclad is easier to build and requires less industrial capability.

Muzzle-loading cannon will probably last as long historically, tho their use and development was not influenced by the success of failure of the Monitor.
 
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