Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS -- DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-m/monitor.htm
Wonder what it sounded like inside the turret when it got hit?
I was reading the naval memoirs of Commander S.D. Greene the other day and since he was second in command on the Monitor during the Battle of Hampton Roads, he should know.
This is what he wrote: "The fight continued with the exchange of broadsides as fast as the guns could be served and at very short range, the distance between the vessels being not more than a few yards. Worden skillfully manoeuvered his quick-turning vessel, trying to find some vulnerable point in his adversary. Once he made a dash at her stern, hoping to disable her screw, which he thinks he missed by not more than two feet. Our shots ripped the iron of the Merrimac, while
the reverberations of her shot against the tower caused anything but a pleasant sensation. While Stodder, who was stationed at the machine which controlled the revolving motion of the turret,
was incautiously leaning against the side of the tower, a large shot struck in the vicinity and disabled him." From:
Blue and Grey at Sea edited by Brian Thomsen.
That middle dent of the three by the gunport was a result of "Friendly Fire" and came from the Federal ship Minnesota which the Monitor was trying to protect from the CSS Virginia. One of her 32 pounders struck Monitor between what are thought to be 9" Dahlgren shell hits from the Virginia.
Mike and Tracy