[BuffaloJack]

The USS Monitor must have been more formidable than most drawings depict it. I had a relative captured aboard the confederate ram CSS Atlanta (CSS Virginia class ironclad) as it was driven into the shallows and then pounded into surrender by the USS Weehawken and USS Nahant (both Monitor class ironclads.

[C19fan]

The low freeboard meant it was a small target compared to the casemate design utilized by the CSA. Also, the turret contained 2 huge guns if I remember right 10 or 11 inchers. At Hampton Roads the Monitor was quicker and more agile than the CSA Virginia.

[Moose4]

The Monitor was way ahead of its time, very innovative. The combination of the armored turret and the low design made it superior to the Virginia ironclads in a lot of ways. Growing up in Virginia, we heard a lot about the “Monitor-Merrimac” fight...generally portrayed as that “we” fought the Monitor to a draw, even though the Virginia proved unable to break the Union blockade of Hampton Roads.

}:-)4

[jboot]

The Weehawken was a Passic class Monitor. Her armament included a 15" smoothbore. She was much more powerful than the original Monitor.

Two against one is what probably told the tale, though.