The Battle of Hampton Roads (8 to 9 March 1862), also known as the Battle of the Monitor and the Merrimack, Battle of Ironclads, or Clash of the Ironclads, was a naval engagement at the roadstead of Hampton Roads, Virginia, during the American Civil War, during which the USS Monitor met the CSS Virginia (built from the remains of the USS Merrimack) in the world's first battle of ironclad warships.

The engagement is sometimes mistakenly cited as the first time ironclads were used in battle, but it was not. Ironclads were used at the Battle of the Head of Passes (12 October 1861), the Battle of Fort Henry (6 February 1862), the Battle of Fort Donelson (11 to 16 February 1862), and the Battle of Island Number Ten (28 February to 8 April 1862). The ironclad warship was also not an innovation of the American Civil War, as France had launched its ironclad Gloire in 1859 and Britain its HMS Warrior in 1860.

The significance of the Battle of Hampton Roads is that it signaled the end of the wooden warship and the arrival of the steam-driven ironclad on the world's stage of naval engagements. The battle was inconclusive but drew international attention, as it was clear the CSS Virginia had easily defeated two wooden Union ships on the first day of battle and that the two ironclads had been able to fight each other to a draw on the second. The era of the wooden warship was over.

Even so, neither ship would last out the year. The CSS Virginia was destroyed by the Confederacy on 11 May 1862 to prevent its capture by the US Navy, and the USS Monitor sank in a storm off the coast of North Carolina on 31 December 1862.

Although the so-called "Anaconda Plan" of General Winfield Scott had been rejected at the start of the Civil War, one aspect of it – a blockade of Southern ports – was implemented quickly in April 1861. There were large gaps in the blockade at first (as there would be throughout the war) – since the Union had only 43 warships to cover a coastline of 3,500 miles (5600 km) – but was effective enough to prevent international trade and capture ships trying to run through it. The Confederate navy was considerably smaller and no match for the Union ships.

The Confederacy needed a 'secret weapon' and found the makings of one in the abandoned Gosport Navy Yard in Portsmouth, Virginia. Union Captain Charles S. McCauley had ordered Gosport burned in April 1861 to prevent its capture by local secessionist militia. Scholar Matthew Ericson notes:

Despite the conflagration, the yard was still salvageable. Many of its buildings, along with valuable machinery, were found to be intact along with the all-important dry dock. Over 1,000 canons fell into secessionist hands, but most importantly, some of the scuttled ships could be recovered.
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Among these ships was the screw frigate USS Merrimack. It had been burned to the waterline, and its engines were in terrible condition, but it could be raised and restored – and it was. Scholar Alan Taylor writes:

Seeking a new weapon to break the blockade, Confederates converted the captured hulk of a Union warship into an ironclad gunboat, the CSS Virginia…Covered with iron plates four inches thick, the ironclad could repel the cannon shot that wrecked wooden warships. The Confederates mounted ten cannon on the vessel, four on each broadside and one at bow and aft. An iron ram at the waterline on the bow provided another means to take out wooden hulls. Two steam engines propelled the ironclad.
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Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen R. Mallory, who had been advocating for ironclad ships, was confident this would be the 'secret weapon' that would break the blockade. As far as Mallory understood, the Union knew nothing of what was going on at Gosport, had no ironclads, and so the CSS Virginia would only be facing wooden ships in an unprecedented surprise attack. Due to this assumption, the new ironclad was only given explosive shell as ordnance, not solid shot, and the Virginia was commissioned on 17 February 1862, readied, according to all expectations, to sink the blockading Union vessels.

Contrary to Mallory's assumption, Union Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles was entirely aware of the Confederacy's ironclad plans and progress because he had been told of them by a formerly enslaved woman who had fled Norfolk, Virginia, and knew what was going on at Gosport. Welles received permission from Congress to begin building a Union fleet of ironclads in August 1861.

He appointed senior naval officers to the Ironclad Board, a commission that would choose the design for the new ships, and they approved three of the 17 submitted. Ericson writes:

One of the three winning designs came from Swedish-born inventor John Ericsson. His design was conceived a decade earlier during the Crimean War, but his "iron-clad steam battery" elicited little attention from the French emperor. The board, eager to outpace Rebel progress, was elated by Ericsson's promise to build the ship in ninety days at a cost of $275,000.
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The Monitor was unlike any ship ever seen at that time. Ericson continues:

Ericsson's design challenged conventional norms, and he called his vessel a "fort on a raft." The hull was split between an upper and lower section. The upper section, entirely clad in iron armor, stretched 172 feet long and another 41 feet wide. The section supported the armored deck, which sat only thirteen inches above the waterline; the pilothouse; and its most distinguishable feature, the gun turret. Steam-powered engines below allowed the turret and the two large Dahlgrens inside full rotation…This purposeful design made the Monitor impervious to being rammed. As much of the ship was concealed below the waterline, it possessed a low silhouette, which frustrated enemy gunners. With a draft of only twelve feet, it could maneuver easily in shallow water.
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Work began on the ship in October 1861 and was completed in 101 days, commissioned on 25 February 1862. Unlike the CSS Virginia, the Monitor was both an ironclad and iron-hulled.

The name of the site, Hampton Roads, has nothing to do with a road; Roads in the name is short for roadstead, a sheltered body of water, and Hampton Roads was (and still is) among the world's largest natural harbors. It provides a channel for the Elizabeth, James, and Nansemond rivers, between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's Point, as they flow into Chesapeake Bay and out into the Atlantic Ocean.

In April 1861, after the Confederates took Gosport Navy Yard in Portsmouth, they controlled the southern side of Hampton Roads and set up batteries at Sewell's Point and on Craney Island. The Union, however, still held Fort Monroe at Old Point Comfort and so controlled the entrance to Hampton Roads from the sea. The battery at Fort Monroe and the Union blockade effectively cut off the cities of Norfolk and Richmond from international trade.

The Confederate Navy was too small to go up against the Union warships that controlled Hampton Roads – the USS Congress, the USS Cumberland, and the USS Minnesota – all of which were supported by the batteries of Fort Monroe - and saw no way to resolve the situation until the coming of the CSS Virginia.

Flag Officer Franklin Buchanan was selected to command the Virginia and planned to launch on 7 March 1862, but rough weather prevented this. The CSS Virginia had a draft of 22 feet (roughly 6.7 m) and so could not maneuver in shallow waters and, because of its iron plating, was top-heavy and could not manage rough seas. Further, as its engines had been repaired, not replaced, it could only manage a top speed of about 5 knots (roughly 6 to 8 mph). The Virginia was a slow-moving vessel, requiring approximately a mile turning radius, which took almost an hour to execute.

Day One: 8 March

On the morning of 8 March, the CSS Virginia appeared at Hampton Roads accompanied by the CSS Beaufort, the CSS Raleigh, and the smaller ships CSS Jamestown, CSS Patrick Henry, and CSS Teaser. This fleet was met by the USS Cumberland, USS Congress, USS Minnesota, USS St. Lawrence, USS Roanoke, and USS Brandywine. The Brandywine, Roanoke, and Minnesota maneuvered away as soon as the CSS Virginia entered Hampton Roads but ran around and became stuck.

Buchanan directed the Virginia to attack the Cumberland first because he believed its guns might be able to pierce the Virginia's armor plating and, therefore, was the greatest threat. The Cumberland and Congress fired on the Virginia, but their shots bounced harmlessly off its iron shell. The Virginia rammed the Cumberland, striking it below the waterline, and it began to sink.

The ram on the Virginia became lodged in the Cumberland, and it was in danger of being pulled down with it. The ram, however, had been improperly attached in haste and broke off, freeing the Virginia to then turn on the Congress.

The captain of the Congress, Lt. Joseph B. Smith, believing the Virginia's ram was still intact, ordered his ship run aground in shallow water to prevent its sinking. At this point, the Jamestown, Patrick Henry, and Teaser joined the battle to support the Virginia in its assault on the Congress. After around an hour, the Congress raised the white flag of surrender.

Buchanan ordered his lesser ships to ferry the crew of the Congress to shore, but Union batteries at Newport News on the northern shore of the James River opened fire on the ships. Buchanan, standing on the deck of the Virginia, and enraged at the breach of protocol in firing under a flag of truce, ordered his guns to fire on the Congress with hot shot (heated cannonballs), which set Congress on fire and caused it to explode when that fire reached its magazine.

When evening came on 8 March, the CSS Virginia had sunk two Union warships, killed over 200 Union soldiers, and caused three other ships to run aground. Buchanan had been wounded in the thigh as he stood above deck and turned over command to Lt. Catesby ap Roger Jones.

The Virginia, now under Jones, directed its attack on the grounded USS Minnesota but, because of the falling tide and the ship's deep draft, Jones abandoned the assault and returned the ship to Sewell's Point for the night.

Day Two: 9 March

Although the CSS Virginia had done well on the first day, it was still damaged and needed some repair, which went on through the night. Jones was fully prepared to renew the battle on the morning of 9 March and was confident in the Virginia's abilities to sink the USS Minnesota with the same explosive shell that had destroyed the Congress.

In the morning, however, as the Virginia approached the Minnesota, there was a strange craft at its side – the USS Monitor – but no one aboard the Virginia recognized this 'thing' in the water as a warship. Jones thought it might be a ship's boiler taken from the Congress for salvage by the Minnesota.

The USS Monitor had been brought down from New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn, towed by the tugboat Seth Low, because it had not been built for open-ocean conditions. It arrived in Hampton Roads the evening of 8 March and took position alongside the Minnesota. To the crew of the Virginia, the odd-looking metal thing seemed nothing more than a stray chunk of machinery.

Jones understood he was mistaken when the USS Monitor disengaged from the side of the Minnesota and approached for combat. The Virginia fired on the Monitor and was met with a broadside from the Minnesota. These shots bounced off the Virginia's iron shell, but the Monitor continued to pummel it.

The USS Monitor was commanded by Lt. John L. Worden, who had been captured by the Confederates in 1861 and only recently returned in a prisoner exchange. Although he had doubts about the Monitor upon first seeing it, he was eager to test its strength against whatever the Confederacy had produced.

The Battle of Hampton Roads on the second day lasted roughly from 7:30 until 11:30 in the morning. The two ironclads pounded each other, but neither could gain an advantage. The Virginia's explosive shell, which had been so effective against the wooden warships on the first day, bounced off the Monitor. The Monitor's guns were using a charge of 15 pounds (6.8 kg) of gunpowder (because they were afraid that the untried weapons would explode with more), and this did not provide enough power to pierce the Virginia.

The Monitor was faster, more maneuverable, and, if the crew had used a larger gunpowder charge, could have probably disabled and sunk the Virginia. The Virginia's ten guns could have probably done the same to the Monitor if it had been equipped with solid armor-piercing ordnance instead of just explosive shot. As it was, however, the two ships could only circle each other, exchanging ineffectual fire.

Late in the battle, a shot from the Virginia struck the pilot house on the Monitor, hurling bits of iron into the viewing slit that struck Lt. Worden, temporarily blinding him. The Monitor withdrew so command could be passed to Lt. Samuel D. Greene, but Jones, on the Virginia, interpreted this as a formal withdrawal from battle.

By the time Monitor had returned, they saw the Virginia steaming away and came to the same conclusion Jones had: the adversary had fled the field. Both sides claimed a victory that was widely reported not only in the newspapers of the North and South but around the world. Great Britain and France, as noted, had already developed ironclads; but they had no idea whether these would be effective in battle until the news broke about the engagement at Hampton Roads.

While all of this was going on, Union Major General George B. McClellan was mobilizing the Union Army of the Potomac for the Peninsula Campaign with the goal of capturing the Confederate capital at Richmond. He began moving the army by ship from Alexandria, Virginia, to Fort Monroe on 17 March 1862.

McClellan, overly cautious anyway, proceeded more slowly than usual because he feared the CSS Virginia would attack and sink his wooden transport vessels. Even though the USS Monitor had proven it could keep the Virginia in check, the Confederate ironclad was still operational, and all the Confederate batteries remained in place, hampering McClellan's plan to move swiftly up the peninsula to Richmond.

Even so, as more Union troops arrived at Fort Monroe, Confederate Major General Benjamin Huger came to believe his position at Norfolk was untenable and abandoned the city on 9 May. He ordered the Virginia to be brought up the James River to Richmond, but its draft was too great for the river's depth. To prevent its capture, the Virginia was towed to Craney Island, where it was set on fire and blew up on 11 May 1862. McClellan's forces were then free to begin their push up the peninsula.

The USS Monitor remained at Hampton Roads and was easily able to navigate the James River to take part in the First Battle of Drewry's Bluff (15 May 1862). On 29 December of that year, it was towed to open water by the frigate USS Rhode Island to be used in an assault on Wilmington, North Carolina. On 30 December, the ships were caught in a severe storm off Cape Hatteras and the Monitor began taking on water. Early in the morning of 31 December 1862, it sank and, although many of the crew were rescued by the Rhode Island, 16 men went down with the ship.

Although the Battle of Hampton Roads ended in a draw, the USS Monitor prevented the CSS Virginia from destroying the USS Minnesota and any of the other wooden ships of the Union, thereby keeping the blockade intact. The engagement could, therefore, be understood as a Union victory. The Virginia's entire purpose was to serve as a 'secret weapon' that would break the blockade, and it failed at this. That did not stop the Confederacy from trying again, however, as Taylor notes:

The Confederates built twenty-one more ironclads on the Virginia model, and the Union countered with fifty-eight, primarily of the Monitor sort, although some had two, and even three gun turrets. As Union armies seized ports and advanced along rivers, Confederates destroyed most of their ironclads, which had failed to break the blockade.
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In the end, the Battle of Hampton Roads preserved the Union Blockade of Southern ports, which, although never as 'airtight' as Winfield Scott envisioned, certainly did disrupt Southern trade. More importantly, from a global perspective, the battle ended the age of wooden-hulled warships and signaled the advent of ironclad and iron-hulled maritime fleets.