Battle Of Hampton Roads Essay

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The Battle of Hampton Roads was the first battle between ironclad warships. It was a navy battle between the Union Monitor and the Confederate CSS Virginia. This battle was fought on March 8-9, 1862 and lasted two days. The Battle of Hampton Roads is also known as the Battle of Ironclads and the Monitor vs. Merrimack. This took place at Swell’s point, which was a peninsula in Norfolk, Virginia located at the port of Hampton Roads. The Battle of Hampton Roads was fought because the Confederates wanted to break the Union barricade of Southern ports. The Union shut down Southern ports because they wanted to stop trading. The South needed war weapons and materials to fight the Civil War and the North provided that for them and they traded with each other. This was a big problem and it led to the Battle of Hampton Roads. The Confederates hoped that this battle would break the barricade, but the blockade of Southern ports remained in place. There were actually five ships involved in this battle. Four of these ships were part of the Union. These ships were the Monitor, the Cumberland, the USS Congress, and the USS …show more content…

There were 1,450 Union soldiers and only one hundred eighty-eight Confederate soldiers. The Merrimack was able to take down the Cumberland with its 1,500 pound ram by crashing a big hole in its wooden hull. The CSS Virginia almost sank with it but the ram broke off and sank with the Cumberland. The USS Congress eventually surrendered after being hit many times by the CSS Virginia. The USS Minnesota was damaged very badly during this battle but was later repaired after the battle. As for the Monitor and the CSS Virginia, they were left circling each other for hours, fighting until one gave up. Yet, the results of this battle are inconclusive. Some say that the CSS Virginia gave up, but others say that they both did. In the end though, both the Confederate and the Union claimed they

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