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During the meetings, Stanton paced the floor “like a caged lion,” and made brash, yet somehow believable, predictions of the terror to come. The fleet would be destroyed; Fortress Monroe laid under siege; McClellan’s Richmond Campaign delayed; the supply vessels traveling the Atlantic sunk; Washington and even New York bombarded sending the government officials running.

And that likely would have happened had the C.S.S. Virginia's captain loaded solid shot.

And that likely would have happened had the C.S.S. Virginia's captain loaded solid shot.

CSS Virginia was never going to New York. Her gun ports were only a foot or two above the water line. Any kind of a swell and she would have sunk just like the Monitor eventually did. With her low free board, under powered engines, sluggish helm and limited coal supply she was a harbor defense craft.

As for the what ifs, remember the Monitor was firing half charges from her 11" guns because they hadn't had time to properly test them. Even then she managed to crack the Virginia's armor plate and spall the oak backing. Had Monitor gone to full chargers she might have won a decisive battle.

This is why this battle makes such a great simulation. It was so closely matched and both sides made so many decisions that in later thought could have gone the other way. What if the Confederates had used AP shot? What if Virginia hadn't lost her ram? What if the monitor had doubled her charges? What if the monitor had gotten there a day earlier? What if the Confederate wooden gunboats hadn't pulled out of range and had instead charged in an boarded the monitor? What if the Union wooden ships had come up and provided additional firepower in the way that Farragut did at Mobile Bay?

The old Yaquinto board game Ironclads was one of my favorites. We tried out all of the above scenarios. It is very hard for Virgina to win once Monitor shows up. And if the union commander is more aggressive it is easy for her to lose, although usually at the expense of several more Union wooden ships. But if you bring in the frigates and with the Monitor to prevent ramming the Virginia just gets slowly pounded to bits.