Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads is a channel through which the waters of the James River, Nansemond River, and Elizabeth River of Virginia pass (between Old Point Comfort to the north and Sewell's Point to the south) into the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. It is the largest natural salt-water port in the world, and is an important highway of commerce, especially for the cities of Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Newport News. Hampton Roads is also a chief rendezvous of the United States Navy. For a width of 500 feet the Federal government during 1902 through 1905 increased its minimum depth at low water from 25.5 feet to 30 feet. The entrance from Chesapeake Bay was defended by Fort Monroe, built in 1819 on Old Point Comfort, and by Fort Wool, built as Fort Calhoun in 1829, on a small island called the Rip Raps near the middle of the channel; and at Portsmouth, a few miles up the Elizabeth River, is an important naval yard.
The famous Battle of Hampton Roads between USS Monitor and CSS Virginia (ex-USS Merrimac) during the US Civil War took place in the Roads.
Hampton Roads is also the common name for the metropolitan area in southeastern Virginia that surrounds that body of water. Locals subdivide the area into two regions. Most of the region's population lives in South Hampton Roads or, more often, the Southside (not to be confused with Southside Virginia, a separate region farther inland), made up of Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, and Suffolk. The northern portion of the area is typically called the Peninsula, after the Virginia Peninsula. The main cities on the Peninsula are Newport News, Hampton, Williamsburg, and Poquoson.
Hampton Roads has a population nearing 1.6 million and is the fourth largest metropolitan area in the southeastern United States, and the largest between Washington, D.C. and Atlanta.
The region has extensive natural areas, including 26 miles of Atlantic Ocean beaches, the Chesapeake Bay, picturesque rivers, state parks, wildlife refuges, and botanical gardens. There's also a wealth of history to explore. The first permanent English settlement in the New World was established at Jamestown in 1607. Colonial Williamsburg is a living museum of early American life. General Cornwallis surrendered to George Washington at Yorktown in 1781.
Battle of Hampton Roads
The Battle of Hampton Roads on March 8-9, 1862 during the US Civil War was the first clash between two ironclads. It is one of the most well-known in US history. Prior to then, all ships were made primarily of wood. Afterwards, the ships and naval warfare changed dramatically. Although very different from each other, both ironclads were very odd-looking in comparison with contemporary warships.
The USS Monitor was of a totally new design, and a favored project of Union President Abraham Lincoln. The unique design featured an innovative rotating gun turret and a low profile in the water. Lincoln was greatly frustrated that the USS Monitor's delivery from the builder was late. It was rushed to Hampton Roads, arriving later the night of the very day that its competitor had made a stunning and frightening debut at the expense of the Union Navy.
The CSS Virginia of the Confederate Navy, was rebuilt at Richmond on the James River with ironclad plating and a reduced superstructure from the burned out hull of the USS Merrimac, which is what the Union preferred to call the ship. (Since the Union won the war, history generally records the Union name, hence the Battle of the Monitor and Merrimac).
On March 8, 1862, the new ironclad CSS Virginia, commanded by Captain Buchanan, emerged into the waters of Hampton Roads and destroyed wooden blockading ships USS Cumberland and USS Congress in Hampton Roads, Virginia. The confederate ironclad, having been freshly rebuilt from the former USS Merrimac without trials or under way training, headed directly for the Union squadron. She opened the engagement when less than a mile distant from Cumberland and the firing became general from blockaders and shore batteries. CSS Virginia rammed Cumberland below the waterline and she sank rapidly, "gallantly fighting her guns," Buchanan reported in tribute to a brave foe, "as long as they were above water." Buchanan next turned the fury of CSS Virginia on USS Congress, hard aground, and set her ablaze with hot shot and incendiary shell.
The day was the CSS Virginia's but it was not without loss. Part of her ram was wrenched off and left imbedded in the side of stricken USS Cumberland, and Capt. Buchanan received a wound in the thigh, which necessitated his turning over command to Lieutenant Catesby R. Jones.
Confederate Secretary of the Navy Mallory wrote to Confederate President Davis of the action: "The conduct of the Officers and men of the squadron . . . reflects unfading honor upon themselves and upon the Navy. The report will be read with deep interest, and its details will not fail to rouse the ardor and nerve the arms of our gallant seamen. It will be remembered that the Virginia was a novelty in naval architecture, wholly unlike any ship that ever floated; that her heaviest guns were equal novelties in ordnance; that her motive power and obedience to her helm were untried, and her officers and crew strangers, comparatively, to the ship and to each other; and yet, under all these disadvantages, the dashing courage and consummate professional ability of Flag Officer Buchanan and his associates achieved the most remarkable victory which naval annals record.
USS Monitor, an innovative ironclad vessel built for the Union, commanded by Lieutenant Worden, arrived in Hampton Roads late that night. The stage was set for the dramatic battle with CSS Virginia the following day. ' Upon the untried endurances of the new USS Monitor and her timely arrival, observed Captain Dahlgren, did depend the tide of events. . . "
On March 9, 1862, and engagement lasting four hours took place between the ironclads, mostly at close range in Hampton Roads. Although neither side could claim clear victory, this historic first combat between ironclads ushered in a new era of war at sea.
The blockade continued intact, but CSS Virginia remained as a powerful defender of the Norfolk area and a barrier to the use of the rivers for the movement of Union forces. Severe damage inflicted on wooden-hulled USS Minnesota by CSS Virginia during an interlude in the fight with USS Monitor underscored the plight of a wooden ship confronted by an ironclad.
The broad impact of the Monitor-Merrimac battle on naval thinking was summarized by Captain Levin M. Powell of USS Potomac writing later from Vera Cruz: The news of the fight between the Monitor and the Merrimac has created the most profound sensation amongst the professional men in the allied fleet here. They recognize the fact, as much by silence as words, that the face of naval warfare looks the other way now and the superb frigates and ships of the line. . . supposed capable a month ago, to destroy anything afloat in half an hour . . . are very much diminished in their proportions, and the confidence once reposed in them fully shaken in the presence of these astounding facts." And as Captain Dahlgren phrased it: Now comes the reign of iron and cased sloops are to take the place of wooden ships."
CSS Virginia was a one-of-a-kind ship and led a short life. Trapped in the Elizabeth River harbor at Norfolk by Union warships controlling Hampton Roads, she was unable to slip past them to return up the James River to help defend Richmond. To avoid leeting her fall into enemy hands, CSS Virginia was destroyed by the Confederate forces as they abandoned Norfolk and burned the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in May, 1862.
USS Monitor became the prototype for many more monitors. The design and heavy turret caused questionable seaworthiness, probably leading to its early demise in December, 1862, when it foundered and sank in the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
After resting undetected on the ocean floor for 111 years, in 1973 the wreck of the USS Monitor was located by a team of scientists. The remains of the ship were found 16 miles off Cape Hatteras, on a relatively flat sandy bottom at a depth of about 240 feet. The Monitor's hull lies upside down, with her deck resting on her displaced gun turret. In 1987, the site was declared a National Historic Landmark, the first shipwreck to receive this distinction.
Because of the Monitor's advanced state of deterioration, timely recovery of remaining significant artifacts and ship components became critical. Since then, using new technologies, hundreds of fragile artifacts, including the turret and its two Dahlgren cannons, an anchor, steam engine, and propeller, have been recovered and transported to the Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Virginia.
This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopędia Britannica.
External links
- Hampton Roads Visitor Guide (http://www.hamptonroadsvisitor.com)
- USS Monitor Center and Exhibit Newport News , Virginia (http://www.monitorcenter.org/)
- Mariner's Museum, Newport News, Virginia (http://www.mariner.org/)
- Hampton Roads Naval Museum (http://www.hrnm.navy.mil/)
- Norfolk City Historical Society (http://www.norfolkhistorical.org)
- Norfolk County Historical Society (http://www.chesapeake.lib.va.us/Wallace/nchs.htm)
- Norfolk Public Library – History of Willoughby (http://www.npl.lib.va.us/history/history65.html)
- Norfolk Public Library – History of Weather Events (http://www.npl.lib.va.us/history/history7.html)
- City of Norfolk website, Local History (http://www.norfolk.gov/Education/)
- http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/civwar/html/cw_000301_sewellspoint.htm Civil War and the Battle of Sewell’s Point]
- Civil War Naval History (http://www.multied.com/Navy/cwnavalhistory/)
- [1] (http://www.geocities.com/hrforts/Fort_Wool/history.htm)
- [2] (http://www.navstanorva.navy.mil/INFO/ABOUT_US/HISTORY/EXPO/expo.htm)2
- Naval Station Norfolk website (http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/norfolk.htm)
- Roads to the Future - I664 Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge Tunnel (http://www.roadstothefuture.com/I664_VA_MMMBT.html)
Categories: 1911 Britannica | Virginia geography