Eighteen Inches Above Doom: The Strange Fate of USS Monitor

Eighteen Inches Above Doom: The Strange Fate of USS Monitor

Eighteen inches of freeboard separated the crew of USS Monitor from the Atlantic-her armored deck sat barely a yard above the waterline while she absorbed 220 direct cannon hits and then sank less than a year after changing naval warfare. How did a 179-foot floating platform with a 20-foot revolving turret and only 18 inches of margin survive battle and yet fail in peace?

In this episode, we lay out the sequence of design, secrecy, and misfortune that produced Monitor and sent her to sea against the Confederate ironclad Virginia, following the crucial intelligence delivered by a freed Black woman that accelerated the ship's departure-what decisions, innovations, and small margins decided her fate?

Person: John Ericsson Date laid keel: October 25, 1861 Length: 179 feet Turret diameter: 20 feet Direct cannon hits survived: 220

- Congress appropriated $1,500,000 for ironclad construction on August 3, 1861. - Monitor drew 10.5 feet of water and was 41.5 feet wide. - The turret had 8 inches of layered iron in walls and 11 inches at gun ports. - The turret completed a full rotation in 22.5 seconds and had no brake. - The keel was laid at Continental Iron Works in Greenpoint, Brooklyn on October 25, 1861.

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