Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 16.
Reverend J. William Jones, Ed.

The Merrimac and Monitor.

The great naval set — to in Hampton Roads has set all Europe in motion. The navies of that portion of the globe are all demonstrated to be no better than old lumber. The British Parliament, in both branches, has had the question up, and the following speech from the Duke of Somerset, first lord of the Admiralty on the subject, will be found interesting and instructive. The duke said, in reply to inquiries in the House of Lords, that—

He was much obliged to the noble earl for having brought this subject before the House. In the summer of 1859, the Legislature was very anxious to have the navy increased, and to augment the number of line-of-battle ships. Such was the state of things when he came into office, when he found the programme of the former government included two iron-cased ships. So far from his not following that programme, he had found it necessary to increase the number of iron-cased ships from two to six. The first that was constructed was the Warrior, and then the Black Prince. He was not quite satisfied with those vessels, and he therefore called upon the [219] department to reconsider the question, with a view to a smaller kind of vessel. In consequence of that, the Defense vessels were laid down. Those vessels were half the tonnage of the Warrior. He was not quite satisfied even with those vessels, as their plates, he thought, ought to be carried further round, and then vessels of the Resistance class were laid down. All these vessels were built by contract; but it had been found impossible to build such vessels in a specific time. With regard to the armament of the vessels, the Admiralty, seeing what was coming, gave orders last summer to build three ships of upwards of six thousand tons each, that would carry any sized guns. They would have forty guns each, protected all round with plates. That made ten vessels built and building, five of which would be afloat and effective in the course of the present year. He had also, in the course of last year, ordered five ships to be cut down to carry thirty-two guns each, protected all round. These vessels would be four thousand horse-power, five of them would be completed this year, giving ten iron ships completed this year. Still he did not think our ports were sufficiently defended, and therefore he ordered a cupola-vessel on Captain Cole's plan. The experiments that were made in that case had been attended with the most satisfactory results. It was, first of all, found that the firing was much more rapid from the cupola than from the ordinary ship; and it was afterwards ascertained that the cupola has an extraordinary power of resisting any fire directed against it. The test to which it had been subjected was such as hardly any vessel would have to undergo in an action. There had first been fired at it eight or ten 40-pounders, then sixteen or twenty 68-pounders, and finally about forty 100-pounders, and yet the cupola sustained little or no injury. Only one of its plates had been injured, and it was afterwards found that that plate was constructed of bad iron. Those experiments had been made last Autumn, but he had not thought it necessary to commence at once the construction of a vessel with a cupola; he had delayed any action in the matter until the assembling of Parliament; and in the estimates a vote was inserted for the building of such a ship. That vote has been passed, and the construction of the vessel was to be commenced in the course of a few days. The length of that vessel would be about two hundred and fifty feet; its tonnage would be a little over two thousand tons, and it would not draw twenty feet of water. He believed that it would be found to be a ship of a very effective description. It was to be an entirely new vessel, but he believed that the principle of its construction might be applied to [220] some of our ships, by cutting them down for the purpose. It was a vessel that could go all round the coast, but it had neither masts nor yards, and he felt persuaded that it would be found very effective for the protection of our shores. The Admiralty were at present constructing six different kinds of plated vessels, but he was not quite satisfied with any of them, because the iron-plating hung heavily on all their sides without giving them the utmost conceivable amount of strength. We could cut down twenty of our line-of-battle ships, and adapt them, with iron-plating, for coast and shallow water-service, and that change could be effected at a comparatively small cost, while we should, during these alterations, still possess a powerful fleet of about forty vessels. He believed, therefore, that if we were compelled to engage in a maritime war, in which we should have to fight with iron ships, we should be quite prepared for the contest. He would next proceed to say a few words with respect to the recent sea fight in America. It had been said that that fight altered everything in maritime warfare. He was not of that opinion, and he should state what he thought it left unchanged. He believed that it in no way changed the opinion, which all naval authorities had already held, that a timber-ship could not resist an iron ship. But it made this great difference in our case, that hitherto we had only wooden ships to encounter on distant stations, while we must henceforth be prepared to encounter iron vessels. We should certainly have to meet that altered state of things: but he believed that the cost of meeting it would not be so expensive to us as many people seemed to imagine. There was another point which he wished to notice. He perceived that many persons in this country had come to the conclusion that those iron ships were invulnerable. But he should say that he had arrived at a different opinion. He believed that they were very far from being invulnerable. As against wooden ships they were ‘invulnerable’; but his belief was, that when iron ships met iron ships then invulnerability would not be found so secure. They were told that an iron ship could run down its opponent. Now, the Merrimac was a vessel of three thousand tons, and it had run down a sailing vessel that was at anchor. But he did not think that fact was conclusive. He believed that many of our wooden ships would have done the same thing, and it would necessarily not be so easy to run down a steamer, as such a vessel would be much better able to avoid the collision. It appeared, too, that the Merrimac had been injured in that operation. He would next proceed to notice the other vessel, the Monitor. That was a vessel of a very curious form. [221] Mr. Ericsson, if he was the author of a communication which had been attributed to him, stated that she was quite a new vessel, and that he had built her partly as an admonition to the British government. He (the Duke of Somerset) was obliged to the people of America for their admonition, and still more obliged to them for their experiments. If they would only make a few more of these experiments they would save the naval authorities in this country a good deal of trouble in firing at their target at Shoeburyness. The Monitor appeared to be something between a raft and a diving-bell. She was only two feet above water when the water was smooth. It was impossible to stand on her deck, and except in a calm sea her deck would be under water.

Her crew, therefore, had to live under water, and to breath through a pipe that came down through the deck. She had a cupola that was plated with layers of iron of one inch of thickness over another; and it was found that such a plate was much less solid than iron of the same thickness formed of one mass. He also learned from an account published in a Montreal paper that the Monitor, in her voyage from New York, was very near being lost; that the waves broke over and extinguished her fires, and that but for a steamer which was employed to tow her, she must have gone down; and further, that her crew narrowly escaped suffocation during the fight; that living in such a vessel was a sort of Calcutta Blackhole existence, and that the eyes and nose of nearly every man at the guns literally shed blood. Another important question was the nature of the armament which these vessels carried. All the American guns were Dahlgren, or shell guns, and every one knew that shells were wholly ineffective against iron plates. The force, too, with which a projectile struck depended on its velocity, and it appeared that the velocity of the shells fired from the Dahlgren, which was a rifled gun, was only nine hundred feet per second, while our 68-pounders gave a velocity of fifteen hundred feet per second. The velocity of a projectile from a smooth-bore gun, at a distance of only two hundred yards, was much greater than that of a rifled gun, and amounted to seventeen hundred feet per second. Now his belief was, that those American vessels would not have withstood such a shock as that, and in all probability, before the lapse of two years, much larger guns would be constructed and we should have to come back to smoothbore guns for firing at near objects. We should require three classes of vessels. There must be fast sailing ships as well as heavily armed vessels. It was said recently, when a force was sent to Canada, [222] ‘Why do you not convoy the ships?’ Why, that was like saying, ‘Why do you not set a pony to catch a race-horse.’ Our heavy ships could not possibly catch up with the fleet merchantmen of the present day. It was absolutely necessary, therefore, that we should have vessels that could cruise at sea. With regard to wooden ships, he thought we ought to hold out our hand. No new line-of-battle ship of wood had been laid down since he had been in office. With regard to the vessels on Captain Coles' plan, he believed if we had many of those vessels it would make the approach to Portsmouth harbor almost impossible. Considering, however, that forts could carry any sized guns, we ought not hastily to give up the forts. [Hear, hear.] With reference to the action between the Merrimac and the Monitor, he might say that it was anything but conclusive, because the Monitor was so low in the water that the guns of the Merrimac could not be brought to bear on her opponent. He had now, to the best of his ability, stated what the views of the Admiralty were on the subject which the noble earl had brought under the consideration of their lordships.