![]() ![]() The Monitor would not outlast its foe much longer when it was damaged in a storm about a year later and sunk with several hands lost. The book goes on to describe how the Virginia would be blown up as McClellan's army invaded the peninsula and took Norfolk. Shortly after the Virginia destroyed those two ships the Monitor arrived on scene and for four hours the two ships battered each other causing no damage to either. The CSS Virginia's easy destruction of the Cumberland and Constitution showed the end of the wooden era and although that as largely the end of its destructive rampage, the psychological damage would be immense for the Union. The USS Monitor (Erickson's Battery) against the CSS Virginia (formerly USS Merricmack) was tactically a draw but each side claimed victory and the world naval community was forever changed. James Nelson does an excellent job of describing the importance of the battle between the first two ironclads in world history. ![]()
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