Design of the Monitor
The design of the USS Monitor was an extremely unconventional. From
the boats low deck to its
revolving gun turret the ship was completely
unconvential. The Monitor's builder John
Ericsson filled
the ship with many of his own inventions
and ideas.
The Monitor was
actually a relatively small naval craft. It was only 172 feet long,
compared to the
Confederate Merrimac which was 263
feet. The deck of the boat was only about 2ft above the water-
line which made the ship difficult
to use in the open sea.
Probably the most
noticable and most famous part of the ship was its revolving gun turret that
had
the ability to turn 360 degrees. This
was a huge improvement on past ships which had to wait for wind
to turn the boat so that its cannons
would be facing the enemy ship. The outside of the turret consisted
of eight one inch thick pieces of steal.
The turret was 20 feet in diameter and very clastrophobic on the
inside. It had two 11 inch smoothbore
cannons that had their holes covered by swinging covers when not
in use. Small numbers of nonexplosive
shells could be carried inside the turret and more shells were passed
up into the turret through four hatches.
Two small engines attatched to gears moved the turret around; its
maximum speed was two revolutions per
minute.
Take a tour of the
monitor
