University of Virginia Library

THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE VIRGINIA.

The steam frigate Merrimac was built at the Charlestown (Mass.)
navy yard in 1855, of thirty-five hundred tons burden, and to carry
forty guns. Her last service in the United States navy was in the
Pacific squadron. As already recorded, she was lying at the Norfolk
yard when it was abandoned by the Federal troops, and was scuttled
and set on fire. After burning to the water's edge she sank with guns,
boilers and engine practically uninjured. Six days later her guns were
raised by Virginia naval officers, and sent to Sewell's Point and other
defenses of Norfolk. On May 30th the frigate was raised and pulled
into the dry dock.

Early in June, 1861, Lieutenant John M. Brooke, Confederate States
navy, a former officer of the United States navy who had resigned
to enter the Virginia naval service, submitted to Secretary Mallory a plan
for protecting ships with iron cladding, and suggested the remodeling
of the Merrimac in accordance with the plan. Upon request of Secretary
Mallory, John L. Porter, naval constructor at Norfolk, submitted a
model for an iron-clad, and Secretary Mallory instructed Lieutenant
Brooke and Mr. Porter to investigate the condition of the Merrimac,
with William P. Williamson, chief engineer, Confederate States navy,
and to "report the best method of making her useful."

These officers after careful investigation reported: "In obedience to
your orders, we have carefully examined and considered the various
plans and propositions for constructing a shot-proof steam
battery, and respectfully report that, in our opinion, the steam frigate
Merrimac, which is in such condition from the fire as to be useless for
any other purpose without heavy expense in rebuilding, etc., can be
made an efficient vessel of that character, mounting * * heavy guns,
and from the further consideration that we cannot procure a suitable
engine and boilers for any other vessel without building them, which
would occupy too much time. * * * The bottom of the hull, boilers,
and heavy and costly parts of the engine, being but little injured, reduce
the cost of construction to about one-third of the amount which would
be required to construct such a vessel anew." The report was accepted,
the plan adopted, Mr. Porter was put in charge of repairs and construction
on the vessel, Mr. Williamson in charge of the engineer's department,
and to Lieutenant Brooke was assigned the duties of superintending
the manufacture of the iron plates at the Tredegar works, and
the preparation of the ship's ordnance

To whom should be given the honor of devising the plan on which the
Virginia was constructed—that novel combination of iron-sheathed,
bomb-proof battery and battering ram, destined, with the still more
startlingly novel Monitor, to revolutionize the naval warfare of the
world?

It is accorded to Lieutenant Brooke in Secretary Mallory's report, by
President Davis in his "Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government,"
by Pollard in his "Lost Cause," by John Taylor Wood, who was a
lieutenant on the Virginia, and contributed the record of her services to
to the Century war papers. Yet Mr. Porter claimed the honor, and that
"great injustice" had been done himself and Engineer Williamson in
Secretary Mallory's report. Scharf, in his history of "The Confederate
States Navy," sides with Mr. Porter. It is certain the model submitted
by Mr. Porter, and by which Secretary Mallory's official orders show
the Merrimac was rebuilt into the Virginia, was distinctively the conception

of Mr. Porter, worked out by him before he ever heard of Lieutenant
Brooke's plans or saw his drawings. It is equally certain that
Lieutenant Brooke's plans and drawings were made with no knowledge
of Mr. Porter's model, that his drawings and the model offered practically
the same results, and that it was by his plans the secretary's attention
was first called to this innovation on accepted methods of construction.
It is a singular coincidence, worthy of note in this connection,
that before the Virginia was constructed the iron-cladding of
boats was put to practical test, and by neither Lieutenant Brooke nor
Mr. Porter. Lieutenant Powell had originated the theory also, and
put it in operation on the little Yorktown.

However the honor of the plans of the Virginia should be awarded,
the three officers to whom her construction was entrusted are entitled
to great praise for the energy with which they performed their work
under discouraging circumstances. Not the least of these was the conflict
of views and of authority between the constructor at Norfolk and
the Bureau of Construction at Richmond; a conflict that ultimately
resulted in those imperfections of the Virginia which so greatly detracted
from her serviceableness. In addition to this unnecessary drawback,
were others against which no provision could have been made. Experienced
workmen were few, and in many instances these had to make
their tools before they could use them. There were no patterns to follow
in constructing the boat, no guide for the workmen except the
drawings and calculations. Errors were made, and work had to be
done over again. At the Tredegar works was the same paucity of
workmen. These works, turned from common iron workshops into a
manufactory of every kind of munition of war for the entire Confederacy,
were taxed to their utmost capacity. The work on the Virginia went
on but slowly, though even "blacksmiths, finishers and strikers performed
extra work gratuitously, in order to expedite the completion,"
as Flag-Officer Forrest reported on January 11, 1862. Begun in
June, 1861, the Virginia was not ready for service until the close of
February, 1862.

On February 27, 1862, Captain Franklin Buchanan was ordered to
the command of the James River squadron. In addition to the Patrick
Henry (or Yorktown), the Jamestown and the Teaser, already
mentioned, the Raleigh and Beaufort, each small vessels carrying one
gun only, were now a part of this fleet. To these the Virginia was now
to be added as the flagship of the squadron. Its officers were: Flag-officer,
Captain Franklin Buchanan; lieutenant, Catesby apR Jones;
executive and ordnance officers, Charles C. Simms, R. D. Minor, Hunter
Davidson, John Taylor Wood, J. R. Eggleston, Walter Butt; midshipmen,
R. C. Foute, H. H. Marmaduke, H. B. Littlepage, W. J. Craig, J.

C. Long, L. M. Rootes; paymaster, James Semple; surgeon, Dinwiddie
Phillips; assistant surgeon, Algernon S. Garnett; captain of marines,
Reuben Thorn; engineers, H. A. Ramsey, acting chief; assistants, John
W. Tynan, Loudon Campbell, Benjamin Herring, C. A. Jack, R. Wright;
boatswain, C. H. Hasker; gunner, C. B. Oliver; carpenter, Hugh Lindsey,
clerk, Arthur Sinclair; aide (volunteer), Lieutenant Douglas Forrest,
Confederate States army, Captain Kevil, commanding detachment of
Norfolk united artillery; Sergeant Tabb, signal corps. The crew of three
hundred men were a few seamen from Norfolk, eighty sailors whom Lieutenant
Wood found in a New Orleans regiment under General Magruder
on the peninsula, and other volunteers from the army.

The following is Lieutenant Wood's description of the Virginia and
her armament: "She was cut down to the old berth-deck. Both ends
for seventy feet were covered over, and when the ship was in fighting
trim were just awash. On the midship section, one hundred and seventy
feet in length, was built, at an angle of forty-five degrees, a roof of
pitch-pine and oak twenty-four inches thick, extending from the water
line to a height over the gun deck of seven feet. Both ends of the
shield were rounded so that the pivot guns could be used as bow and stern
chasers or quartering. Over the gun deck was a light grating, making
a promenade about twenty feet wide. The wood backing was covered
with iron plates, rolled at the Tredegar works at Richmond, two inches
thick and eight wide. The first tier was put on horizontal, the second
up and down—in all four inches, bolted through the woodwork and
clinched inside. The prow was of cast iron, projecting four feet, and
badly secured, as events proved. The rudder and propeller were entirely
unprotected. The pilot house was forward of the smoke stack, and
covered with the same thickness of iron on the sides. Her motive
power was the same that had always been in the ship. * * * Her armament
consisted of two seven-inch rifles, heavily reinforced around the
breech with three-inch steel bands, shrunk on; these were the first heavy
guns so made [their construction was under Lieutenant Brooke's direct
supervision, and every gun was tested by him] and were the bow and
stern pivots; there were also two six-inch rifles of the same make, and
six nine-inch smooth bore broadside—ten guns in all."