March 09, 2007

Gratuitous Civil War Geek Posting (TM)

MonitorMerrimac.jpg

Today is the anniversary of the Battle of Hampton Roads, fought in 1862 between the U.S.S. Monitor and the C.S.S. Virginia , nee U.S.S. Merrimac. (The Virginia was built from the scuttled hull of the Merrimac.) It was the first match of ironclad versus ironclad.

The battle itself ended in a draw, with neither ship able to overcome the other, although the Monitor's ability to withstand the Virginia (which had sunk two wooden U.S. Navy ships the previous day and damaged a third), prevented the Confederates from breaking the Yankee blockade of Norfolk.

The Virginia never fought again, being scuttled a couple of months later in anticipation of the Union's Peninsular Campaign. The Monitor sank in a storm off Cape Hatteras in December of that year.

I've got nothing in particular to say about the fight today other than to mark the anniversary. I find it amusing, though, that the I-664 bridge-tunnel connecting Hampton and Chesapeake should be named the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel instead of the Monitor-Virginia Memorial Bridge-Tunnel.

Yankee sensibilities strike again.

Posted by Robert at March 9, 2007 09:46 AM | TrackBack
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