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USS Monitor Center Opens
Posted by george on March 13th, 2007
A 30 million dollar tribute to one of the most famous Swedish-Americans has opened in Newport News, Virigina.
The USS Monitor Center at the Mariners’ Museum commemorates the Civil War ironclad that changed naval warfare. On March 9, 1862 the Union “cheesebox on a raft” USS Monitor fought an inconclusive battle with the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia (originally the USS Merrimack before being rebuilt by the Confederates), which the day before had become the first ironclad to sink a wooden ship in battle.
The Monitor was the creation of Swedish inventor John Ericsson (who ironically died on the anniversary of the eve of the battle 27 years later).
One hundred forty-five years to the day after the Battle of Hampton Roads, the Mariners’ Museum in conjunction with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, opened the USS Monitor Center. The 63,500 square foot faciity includes artifacts such as the Monitor’s turret, steam engine and cannon; a major interactive exhibition on the two ironclad vessels and their battle; the men who served them; their demise and the modern day recovery and conservation of more than 1,200 artifacts from the Monitor.
Visitors can walk on a full-scale replica of the Monitor and experience the Battle of Hampton Roads in a high definition theater. There is also a re-creation of 50 feet of the Virginia’s casemate.
“First Fight between the Ironclads”, lithograph by J. O. Davidson
“March 9, 1862, marked the turning point in the history of modern warfare and the way war was waged at sea,” said The Mariners’ Museum president and CEO Timothy J. Sullivan.
“Today, the opening of the USS Monitor Center, just a few miles from the site of that first duel between armored warships, has revolutionized the way scholars, students and families can understand and even relive this historic moment in naval warfare. We at The Mariner’s Museum and our partners at NOAA have worked hard to ensure that history is not only preserved in the new center, but that it comes alive.”
The USS Monitor being prepared for display
The Monitor sank during a storm off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina on December 31, 1862. It was rediscovered in 1973, with many small items recovered during the 1980’s and 1990’s, and the turret and guns, weighing with sediment around 500 tons, salvaged in 2002.
The Wreck of the Iron-clad Monitor, originally uploaded by divedi
After Union forces captured the area during McClellan’s Peninsula campaign, on May 11, 1862, the Confederate navy ran the CSS Virginia aground off Craney Island near Hampton Roads. To prevent her from falling into Union hands, the crew of the Virginia set her on fire, burning her until she no longer existed.
March 18th, 2007 at 01:24 Europe/Berlin
Zibits Studios, of Gainesville, Florida, USA, built many of the major components of the new USS Monitor Center. As owner and Creative Director of Zibits Studios, I have been involved in many historically rich projects. None matched the development and presentation of the Monitor Center. When one considers that the Monitor was built with the technology available at that time, the success of the engineering undertaking remains profound. That the Virginia proved to be a formidable rival demonstrates that although her industrial technology may have been less innovative, the confederate ability to improvise signaled the approach of a long hard fought campaign.
This project was a ball to work on. The scale of the constructions and the theater of the storyline inspired our creative team. The staff of the Museum was informed and ambitious. This will become an icon in the story telling of the Civil War.
Dennis MacDonald
Zibits Studios