MONITOR, TUE. One of the most famous vessels and the first successful ironclad in the history of the United States Navy. It was built at Greenpoint. L. L. under the direction of John Ericsson (q.v.) ; was launched on January 30, 1862, and on 'March 6, 1862, under the command of Lieutenant John L. Worden, started for Hampton Roads. Va., where she arrived on the night of Aland] 8th. During this day the Con federate ironclad vessel, the Virginia (commonly known as the Merrimac, its name prior to its capture at Norfolk by the Confederates), had destroyed or disabled a large part of the Federal fleet in the harbor. On Sunday, the 9th, the Monitor engaged the Virginia in an indecisive battle lasting several hours, the Virginia finally withdrawing up the Elizabeth River. Neither vessel was very seriously injured, and only a few men were wounded on either side. Lieutenant Worden. however. being seriously injured on the Monitor. On Slay 15, 1862, in company with the
Galena. the Naugatuck. l'ort Royal. and Aroos took. the Monitor participated in an unsuccessful attempt to capture Richmond, and on December 31, 1862, while en route to Beaufort. N. C., the Monitor sank in a windstorm, four officers and seventeen men being drowned. The engagement between the Monitor and the Virginia for Merri mac) was one of the most important and sig nifieant in the naval history of the world, dem onstrating as it did the value of armored vas sell and the relative uselessness of the old-style wooden warships. Consult Bennett. The lhmi tor and tier Nary Under Steam 1900) ; Johnson and Bend (eels.), Thatirs and Leaders of the riril War, vol. i. (New York. 1887); and Tirenty-Six Historic Ships (New York, 1903). For a description of the Monitor, see the article Sum Anmonem