The "Monitor"s" 11" Dahlgrens

[Zulu]

Found a neat picture while looking something up.  The Monitors turret complete with two 11" Dahlgrens was raised from the sea floor a number of years back.  I have read elsewhere that the turret alone weighed 200,000 lbs.
Few of us can imagine being on the receiving end of one of these monsters.  They never penetrated the "Virginian".
The turret in the picture is upside down.  The gun carriages were removed previous to this picture.



The picture came from the Dakota State University web site
http://www.homepages.dsu.edu/jankej/civilwar/monitor.htm

Zulu

[Cat Whisperer]

WOW.

Nice patina on the guns.

[Artilleryman]

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?

[GGaskill]

Hard to believe it was worse than firing their own guns, other than not knowing exactly when it was going to occur.

[Cat Whisperer]

...
Wonder what it sounded like inside the turret when it got hit?

When your eardrums meet in the middle you know it's loud!

[seacoastartillery]

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

[KABAR2]

It says something of the riveting of the turret plates one hit on either side of the seam and no failure,
a third hit and a rivet head is sheared off but the shaft still seems to be in place, if a forth shot had found
its way to the same area the remaining part of the rivet might have broken loose inside the turret making
life for those manning the guns a little more exciting........

[Artilleryman]

I read somewhere that some of the bolt heads holding the armor on the CSS Virginia were sheared off and the bolts were punched to the inside.  There was no mention of any injuries. 

[Cat Whisperer]

... the remaining part of the rivet might have broken loose inside the turret making
life for those manning the guns a little more exciting....

I've heard first hand accounts of AP rounds bouncing around the inside of the tank (Sherman) and leaving much of the white paint (on the inside) on the floor.  (Said with a grin, IFFC.)

[KABAR2]

I read somewhere that some of the bolt heads holding the armor on the CSS Virginia were sheared off and the bolts were punched to the inside.  There was no mention of any injuries.  

The CSS Virginia was more of an Applique armor, the Virginia was still a wood structure with the armor placed over it the rivets would have been
rather long they may have been knocked through but the drag on them from the wood timbers may have been enough to keep them from becoming missiles, the Monitor had no wood structure in the turet only Iron and a much shorter rivet shank.

[jer2349]

  Not to mention each 11" gun weighed 8 tons. Perched on a 3200 lb carriage. Amazzzing   
                       Cheers jer2349

[Cat Whisperer]

  Not to mention each 11" gun weighed 8 tons. Perched on a 3200 lb carriage. Amazzzing   
                       Cheers jer2349

AND ALL of that on top of something FLOATING!!!   

[dan610324]

at least for a while