The Monitor"s Design Was Startling
For centuries, warships maneuvered in the water to bring their guns to bear on an enemy. The Monitor's revolving turret meant the ship's guns could fire in any direction.
The most startling innovation in Ericsson's plan for the Monitor was the inclusion of a revolving gun turret.
A steam engine on the ship powered the turret, which could spin to allow its two heavy guns to fire in any direction. It was an innovation that shattered centuries of naval strategy and tradition.
Another novel feature of the Monitor was that much of the ship was actually below the waterline, which meant that only the turret and the low flat deck presented themselves as targets for enemy guns.
While the low profile made sense for defensive reasons, it also created a number of very serious problems. The ship would not handle well in open water, as waves could swamp the low deck.
And for sailors serving on the Monitor, life was an ordeal. The ship was very difficult to ventilate. And thanks to its construction of iron, the interior was very cold in cold weather, and in hot weather it was like an oven.
The ship was also cramped, even by Navy standards. It was 172 feet long and 41 feet wide. About 60 officers and men served as the ship's crew, in very tight quarters.
The U.S. Navy had been building steam-powered ships for some time when the Monitor was designed, but naval contracts still required ships to use sail if for some reason the steam engines failed.
And the contract to build the Monitor, which was signed in October 1861, contained a clause which Ericsson ignored and the Navy never insisted upon: it required the builder to "furnish masts, spars, sails, and rigging of sufficient dimensions to drive the vessel at the rate of six knots per hour in a fair breeze of wind."
The most startling innovation in Ericsson's plan for the Monitor was the inclusion of a revolving gun turret.
A steam engine on the ship powered the turret, which could spin to allow its two heavy guns to fire in any direction. It was an innovation that shattered centuries of naval strategy and tradition.
Another novel feature of the Monitor was that much of the ship was actually below the waterline, which meant that only the turret and the low flat deck presented themselves as targets for enemy guns.
While the low profile made sense for defensive reasons, it also created a number of very serious problems. The ship would not handle well in open water, as waves could swamp the low deck.
And for sailors serving on the Monitor, life was an ordeal. The ship was very difficult to ventilate. And thanks to its construction of iron, the interior was very cold in cold weather, and in hot weather it was like an oven.
The ship was also cramped, even by Navy standards. It was 172 feet long and 41 feet wide. About 60 officers and men served as the ship's crew, in very tight quarters.
The U.S. Navy had been building steam-powered ships for some time when the Monitor was designed, but naval contracts still required ships to use sail if for some reason the steam engines failed.
And the contract to build the Monitor, which was signed in October 1861, contained a clause which Ericsson ignored and the Navy never insisted upon: it required the builder to "furnish masts, spars, sails, and rigging of sufficient dimensions to drive the vessel at the rate of six knots per hour in a fair breeze of wind."
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