Editing CSS Virginia (section)

==USS ''Merrimack'' becomes CSS ''Virginia''==
When the Commonwealth of [[Virginia]] seceded from the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] in 1861, one of the important US military bases threatened was Gosport Navy Yard (now [[Norfolk Naval Shipyard]]) in [[Portsmouth, Virginia]]. Accordingly, orders were sent to destroy the base rather than allow it to fall into [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] hands. On the afternoon of 17 April, the day [[Virginia]] seceded, Engineer in Chief [[Benjamin F. Isherwood|B. F. Isherwood]] managed to get the frigate's engines lit. However, the previous night secessionists had sunk light boats between [[Craney Island (Virginia)|Craney Island]] and [[Sewell's Point]], blocking the channel. On 20 April, before evacuating the Navy Yard, the U. S. Navy burned ''Merrimack'' to the waterline and sank her to preclude capture.<ref name=NYTimes>{{cite news |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=24 April 1861 |title=BURNING OF GOSPORT NAVY-YARD; Eleven Vessels Scuttled and Burned, The Steam Tug ''Yankee'' Tows the ''Cumberland'' to Sea, Norfolk Not on Fire. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1861/04/24/archives/burning-of-gosport-navyyard-eleven-vessels-scuttled-and-burned-the.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |location=New York City |access-date=2 August 2022 |quote=The Government vessels had been scuttled in the afternoon before the [[USS Pawnee (1859)|''Pawnee'']] arrived, to prevent their being seized by the Secessionists… The following are the names of the vessels which were destroyed: [[USS Pennsylvania (1837)|''Pennsylvania'']], 74 gun-ship; steam-frigate [[USS Merrimack (1855)|''Merrimac'']], 44 guns; sloop-of-war [[USS Germantown (1846)|''Germantown'']], 22 guns; sloop [[USS Plymouth (1844)|''Plymouth'']], 22 guns; frigate [[USS Raritan (1843)|''Raritan'']], 45 guns; frigate [[USS Columbia (1836)|''Columbia'']], 44 guns; [[USS Delaware (1820)|''Delaware'']], 74 gun-ship; [[USS Columbus (1819)|''Columbus'']], 74 gun-ship; [[USS United States (1797)|''United States'']], in ordinary; brig [[USS Dolphin (1836)|''Dolphin'']], 8 guns; and the powder-boat… [plus] line-of-battle ship [[List of ships of the line of the United States Navy|''New-York'']], on the stocks… Large quantities of provisions, cordage and machinery were also destroyed — besides buildings of great value — but it is not positively known that the [[Drydock Number One, Norfolk Naval Shipyard |[dry] dock]] was blown up.}}</ref>  When the Confederate government took possession of the fully provisioned yard,<ref name=Nank>{{cite web |url=https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/ready-war-union-navy-1861 |title=Ready for War? The Union Navy in 1861 |last=Nank |first=Thomas E. |date=23 August 2021 |website=www.battlefields.org |publisher=American Battlefield Trust |access-date=18 August 2022 |quote=The Union's naval infrastructure was dealt a crippling blow on April 20, 1861, when the ill-conceived and botched evacuation of the [[Norfolk Naval Shipyard]] at Gosport, Virginia led to the Confederate capture of over 1000 naval guns, irreplaceable dry dock, and repair facilities.}}</ref> the base's new commander, [[Flag Officer]] [[French Forrest]], contracted on May 18 to [[marine salvage|salvage]] the wreck of the frigate. This was completed by May 30, and she was towed into the shipyard's only [[graving dock|dry dock]] (today known as [[Drydock Number One, Norfolk Naval Shipyard|Drydock Number One]]), where the burned structures were removed.<ref>Quarstein, pp. 62–63</ref>

The wreck was surveyed and her lower hull and machinery were discovered to be undamaged. [[Stephen Mallory]], [[Confederate States Secretary of the Navy|Secretary of the Navy]] decided to convert ''Merrimack'' into an [[ironclad warship|ironclad]], since she was the only large ship with intact engines available in the [[Chesapeake Bay]] area. Preliminary sketch designs were submitted by [[Lieutenant]]s [[John Mercer Brooke]] and [[John L. Porter]], each of whom envisaged the ship as a casemate ironclad. Brooke's general design showed the bow and stern portions submerged, and his design was the one finally selected. The detailed design work would be completed by Porter, who was a trained [[Naval architecture |naval constructor]].Porter had overall responsibility for the conversion,<ref>Egan, pp. 373, 376</ref> but Brooke was responsible for her iron plate and heavy ordnance, while William P. Williamson, Chief Engineer of the Navy, was responsible for the ship's machinery.<ref>Quarstein, p. 65</ref>

===Reconstruction as an ironclad===
[[File:Mariners Museum 2007 015a.jpg|thumb|left|175px|Display showing {{convert|4|in|0}} of iron armor backed by {{convert|24|in|0}} of wood]]
The hull's burned timbers were cut down past the vessel's original waterline, leaving just enough clearance to accommodate her large, twin-bladed [[screw propeller]]. A new [[Poop deck|fantail]] and armored casemate were built atop a new main deck, and a v-shaped {{nautical term|breakwater}} (bulwark) was added to her bow, which attached to the armored casemate. This forward and aft main deck and fantail were designed to stay submerged and were covered in {{convert|4|in|cm|adj=mid|-thick|0}} iron plate, built up in two layers. The casemate was built of {{convert|24|in|cm|0}} of oak and pine in several layers, topped with two {{convert|2|in|0|adj=on}} layers of iron plating oriented perpendicular to each other, and angled at 36 degrees from horizontal to deflect fired enemy shells.

From reports in Northern newspapers, ''Virginia''{{'}}s designers were aware of the Union plans to build an ironclad and assumed their similar ordnance would be unable to do much serious damage to such a ship. It was decided to equip their ironclad with a [[naval ram|ram]], an anachronism on a 19th-century warship.<ref>deKay, p. 131</ref> ''Merrimack'''s steam engines, now part of ''Virginia'', were in poor working order; they had been slated for replacement when the decision was made to abandon the Norfolk naval yard. The salty [[Elizabeth River (Virginia)|Elizabeth River]] water and the addition of tons of iron armor and [[pig iron]] ballast, added to the hull's unused spaces for needed stability after her initial refloat, and to submerge her unarmored lower levels, only added to her engines' propulsion issues. As completed, ''Virginia'' had a turning radius of about {{convert|1|mi}} and required 45 minutes to complete a full circle, which would later prove to be a major handicap in battle with the far more nimble ''Monitor''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.rpi.edu/~fiscap/history_files/monitor.htm |title=The Battle between the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia |access-date=October 19, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100812044959/http://www.rpi.edu/~fiscap/history_files/monitor.htm |archive-date=August 12, 2010 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all}}</ref>

[[File:Remodeling the Merrimac.jpg|thumb|right|''Merrimack'' is rebuilt into ''Virginia'']]
The ironclad's casemate had 14 [[gun port]]s, three each in the bow and stern, one firing directly along the ship's centerline, the two others angled at 45° from the center line; these six bow and stern gun ports had exterior iron shutters installed to protect their cannon. There were four gun ports on each [[Broadside (naval)|broadside]]; their protective iron shutters remained uninstalled during both days of the [[Battle of Hampton Roads]]. ''Virginia''{{'}}s battery consisted of four [[Muzzleloader|muzzle-loading]] single-banded [[Brooke rifle]]s and six [[smoothbore]] {{convert|9|in|mm|adj=on|0}} [[Dahlgren gun]]s salvaged from the old ''Merrimack''. Two of the rifles, the bow and stern [[pivot gun]]s, were {{convert|7|in|0|adj=on}} [[caliber (artillery)|caliber]] and weighed {{convert|14500|lb}} each. They fired a {{convert|104|lb|adj=on}} [[shell (projectile)|shell]]. The other two were {{convert|6.4|in|adj=on|0}} cannon of about {{convert|9100|lb}},<ref>Olmsted, et al., pp. 125–27</ref> one on each broadside. The 9-inch Dahlgrens were mounted three to a side; each weighed approximately {{convert|9200|lb}} and could fire a {{convert|72.5|lb|1|adj=on}} shell up to a range of {{convert|3357|yd}} (or 1.9 miles) at an elevation of 15°.<ref>Olmsted, et al., p. 87</ref> Both amidship Dahlgrens nearest the boiler furnaces were fitted-out to fire [[heated shot]]. On her upper casemate deck were positioned two anti-boarding/personnel [[12-pounder]] [[Howitzer]]s.

''Virginia''{{'}}s commanding officer, [[Flag Officer]] [[Franklin Buchanan]], arrived to take command only a few days before her first sortie; the ironclad was placed in commission and equipped by her [[executive officer]], [[Lieutenant]] [[Catesby ap Roger Jones]].