did the Union's Monitor have a unique design for a warship?

by [deleted]

In the civil war the union had an ironclad ship called the monitor. Were there any similar ships used earlier than the american civil war? Was the design mimicked in future conflicts? More specifically the characteristics i find unique are the submerged body holding space for the crew and the turret that always stays above the water, as opposed to a modern submarine that is not designed to fight on the surface.

jschooltiger

Hi there! To take these questions one at a time:

  1. Were any similar ships used earlier than the American civil war?
  • Kind of. The first oceangoing ironclad vessel was the French La Gloire, whose keel was laid in 1858. It was essentially a frigate with iron plates bolted to its timbers above the waterline. The British navy responded with HMS Warrior, launched in 1860. Warrior was an oceangoing ironclad that was both full-rigged for sail and equipped with a steam engine, which made her the precursor of many hybrid sail/steam ironclads. Some combination of La Gloire and Warrior were the likely inspiration for the Confederate conversion of USS Merrimack into CSS Virginia, which had one day of glory when it sank USS Cumberland, burned USS Congress, and drove two other ships aground. The Virginia's design was substantially different from earlier ironclads in that the hull above the waterline was reconstructed and it depended entirely on steam power.

The Monitor was created as a design specifically meant to counter Merrimack/Virginia, and it was unique in having a revolving turret, which meant that it did not have to maneuver to bring its guns to bear. It was not, however, meant to be an oceangoing ship (nor was Virginia) and in fact it sank under tow off Cape Hatteras.

  1. Was the design mimicked in future conflicts?
  • In fact, it was mimicked in the American Civil War. There were several ships of the "monitor" type built, both with single and double turrets, which were divided into classes including river, harbor, and coastal monitors. The "monitor" type of ship came to refer generically to other ships with single turrets that would be used primarily for shore bombardment, such as this WWI-era British class. The last use of monitors in warfare by the United States was during the Vietnam war (although the design had changed substantially).

The Monitor and monitors more generally were not designed to be similar to submersibles (although the resemblance is surely there). The process by which ironclads became generally used in navies, and transformed into steel-hulled ships, is a long and interesting one -- please let me know if you have other questions!

EDIT: I realized I introduced an error by saying "single turret ships" were called monitors. I meant to say ships meant for bombardment and not needing heavy armoring.