Civil War

USS ROANOKE: THE THREE-TURRETED MONSTER

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USS Roanoke during service as a steam frigate. Lithograph, artist and date unknown. Courtesy of Naval History & Heritage Command #NH 45364

The USSRoanokewas aMerrimack-class steam screw frigate built at the Gosport Navy Yard. The frigate was commissioned in 1857 and became the flagship of the Home Squadron. When the Civil War erupted,Roanokecaptured several blockade runners and fought during the March 1862 Battle of Hampton Roads. Noting how the Confederates had transformedMerrimackinto the ironclad CSSVirginia,the woodenRoanokewas converted into an ironclad at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The newRoanokefeatured three turrets; however, the extra weight of the iron made the vessel unstable and it spent the rest of the war in Hampton Roads, Virginia, and was scrapped in 1883.

A Novel Example of Naval ArchitectureRead more

Uncategorized

Hampton Roads History: The Founding of Newport News

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Map of Virginia. John Smith and William Hole, ca. 1624. Courtesy of Library of Congress.

Although several sections of modern Newport News were visited when the English colonists first came to Virginia, Newport News remained just a place name on maps for more than 250 years. Yet, the Civil War brought attention to this point of land and 30 years later, the city of Newport News was born.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

So, where did the unusual name of Newport News come from? The city’s downtown was labeled Point Hope on Captain John Smith’s map of Virginia. The first references to “Newportes Newes,” with eight different spellings, appears in the Virginia Company’s record of 1619, making it one of the oldest English place names in the New World.Read more

Civil War

Gosport Navy Yard is Recaptured

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Ruins of Norfolk Navy Yard, Virginia. Alexander Gardner, photographer, ca. 1865. Courtesy Library of Congress.
Confederate Retreat from the Peninsula

Time was running out for the Confederate navy in Hampton Roads. On the evening of May 3, 1862, General Joseph Eggleston Johnston ordered the evacuation of the Confederate Warwick-Yorktown Line. Johnston believed that the “fight for Yorktown must be one of artillery, in which we cannot win. The result is certain, time only doubtful.”

Johnston’s retreat up the Peninsula toward Richmond forced the Southerners to make plans to abandon the port city and navy yard. When he learned of Johnston’s withdrawal, Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen Russell Mallory telegraphed Flag Officer Josiah Tattnall thatVirginiaalone would have to prevent the enemy from ascending the James River.Read more

USS Monitor Center

Remembering USS Monitor, Her Designer, and Their Arch Rival

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在1862年10月,号Monitorwas at the Washington Navy Yard for some maintenance and repairs. A commemorative inscription was stamped onto the breech of both ofMonitor‘s XI-Inch Dahlgren shell guns at this time to celebrate the Battle of Hampton Roads by recognizing the important men and vessels that participated in the conflict.

The port Dahlgren was inscribed: “WORDEN. MONITOR & MERRIMAC.”Read more