visibility Similar

The original "Monitor" after her fight with the "Merrimac"

description

Summary

Stereograph showing Union soldiers on deck by the turret of the U.S.S. Monitor seen from the stern.

No. 486.

Part of series: The War for the Union. Photographic War History, 1861-1865.

Attributed to James F. Gibson, based on LC-B811-486.

Library has three copies.

Forms part of: Civil War Photograph Collection (Library of Congress).

Exhibited: "War/Photography : Photographs of Armed Conflict and its Aftermath" at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, 2012-2013.

Copy 2 Exhibited: "War/Photography : Photographs of Armed Conflict and its Aftermath" at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2013.

Copy 3 Exhibited: "War/Photography : Photographs of Armed Conflict and its Aftermath" at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, N.Y., 2013-2014.

Original negative is: LC-B811-486.

After first battles involving of American ironclads (both with wooden ships and with one another) in 1862 during the American Civil War, it became clear that the ironclad had championed the unarmored ship as the most powerful warship. This type of ship would come to be very successful in the American Civil War. This change was pushed forward by the development of heavier naval guns (the ironclads of the 1880s carried some of the heaviest guns ever mounted at sea at the time), more sophisticated steam engines, and advances in metallurgy which made steel shipbuilding possible. An ironclad is a steam-propelled warship protected by iron or steel armor plates used in the early part of the second half of the 19th century. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or incendiary shells. The first ironclad battleship, Gloire, was launched by the French Navy in November 1859. In early 1859 the Royal Navy started building two iron-hulled armored frigates, and by 1861 had made the decision to move to an all-armored battle fleet. The rapid development of warship design in the late 19th century transformed the ironclad from a wooden-hulled vessel that carried sails to supplement its steam engines into the steel-built, turreted battleships and cruisers of the 20th century.

In the early years of the war many civilian ships were confiscated for military use, while both sides built new ships. The most popular ships were tinclads—mobile, small ships that actually contained no tin. These ships were former merchant ships, generally about 150 feet in length, with about two to six feet of draft, and about 200 tons. Shipbuilders would remove the deck and add an armored pilothouse as well as sheets of iron around the forward part of the casemate and the engines. Most of the tinclads had six guns: two or three twelve-pounder or twenty-four-pounder howitzers on each broadside, with two heavier guns, often thirty-two-pounder smoothbores or thirty-pounder rifles, in the bow. These ships proved faster than ironclads and, with such a shallow draft, worked well on the tributaries of the Mississippi.

During the Civil War, photographers produced thousands of stereoviews. Stereographs were popular during American Civil War. A single glass plate negative capture both images using a Stereo camera. Prints from these negatives were intended to be looked at with a special viewer called a stereoscope, which created a three-dimensional ("3-D") image. This collection includes glass stereograph negatives, as well as stereograph card prints.

label_outline

Tags

james river va monitor ironclad history civil war naval operations union military personnel armored vessels soldiers gun turrets war damage albumen prints stereographs monitor fight merrimac ironclad american history american civil war 1862 uss ships united states navy united states ships stereoscopic views 19th century uss monitor us navy lot 4182 stereograph cards james f gibson photo ultra high resolution high resolution navy us navy ships nga
date_range

Date

01/01/1862
person

Contributors

Gibson, James F., 1828-, photographer
collections

in collections

Ironclad War

Ironclads of American Civil War Time

Steamships of The Civil War Time

During Civil War, both Union and Confederates relied on steamboats to move troops and supplies - steamboats made the war possible.

Civil War in Stereo

American Civil War Stereoscopic Views, 1861-1865
place

Location

American Civil War Center at Historic Tredegar ,  37.53537, -77.44593
create

Source

National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
link

Link

http://www.loc.gov/
copyright

Copyright info

No known restrictions on publication.

label_outline Explore Monitor Ironclad, Gun Turrets, James F Gibson

Kreuzerfregatte Leipzig 01

James River, Virginia Deck and turret of U.S.S. Monitor seen from the bow (i.e. stern)

A view of the forward deck area of the battleship USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) with its Mark 7 16-inch/50-caliber guns trained to port. A replenishment oiler is underway off its starboard side

Emerson Electric News Flashes - NARA - 534557

Delivery of the first heavy tanks. This is the new fifty-seven-ton tank, known as the M-1 in its initial demonstration. Notice that the gun turrets are on the top, making it possible for the tank to take advantage of irregular land, sheltering the lower part and shooting from revolving turrets on top. In the turret are three-inch guns and a thirty-seven-millimeter antiaircraft gun

Terrific combat between the "Monitor" 2 guns & "Merrimac" 10 guns The first fight between iron clad ships of war, in Hampton Roads, March 9th 1862, in which the little "Monitor" whipped the "Merrimac" and the whole " school" of Rebel steamers.

[Boatswain piping in front of large cannon on deck of U.S. Naval warship; other sailors standing in background]

Monitor grand march - Public domain sheet music scan

Installation of cannons into the gun turrets

U.S.S. Miantonomoh, mounting 10 inch guns

Delivery of the first heavy tanks. This is the new fifty-seven-ton tank, known as the M-1 in the initial demonstration. Notice that the gun turrets are on the top, making it possible for the tank to take advantage of irregular land, sheltering the lower part and shooting from revolving turrets on top. In the turret are three-inch guns and a thirty-seven-millimeter antiaircraft gun

The "Monitor," showing her ports open and the muzzles of her "barkers."

Topics

james river va monitor ironclad history civil war naval operations union military personnel armored vessels soldiers gun turrets war damage albumen prints stereographs monitor fight merrimac ironclad american history american civil war 1862 uss ships united states navy united states ships stereoscopic views 19th century uss monitor us navy lot 4182 stereograph cards james f gibson photo ultra high resolution high resolution navy us navy ships nga