No one had to guess who had the strongest navy when the Civil War started. The Union boasted 42 ships, while the Confederacy had none. And both sides knew the struggle might be won or lost by the ...

In the first years of the Civil War, two ships later called ironclads, battled it out in the waters of Hampton Roads, Virginia. The USS Monitor and the CSS Merrimack (which was actually named the CSS ...

On March 9, 1862, in the waters of Hampton Roads, Va., the first battle between ironclad warships took place. The Confederacy’s contender was the armor-plated CSS Virginia (formerly the federal ...

The CSS Virginia and other artifacts are exposed under this barn behind the National Civil War Naval Museum at Port Columbus. Ben Wright [email protected] The National Civil War Naval Museum at ...

On March 8, 1862, a large, slow-moving and unwieldy Confederate ship steamed toward the blockading Union vessels posted at Hampton Roads, outside of Virginia’s James River. The rebels made a beeline ...

Let’s start by clarifying the whole “Merrimack” (alternate spelling “Merrimac,” sans the “k”) vs. “Virginia” nomenclature/semantics. This vessel ...