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CSS Virginia

(Almost) to-scale replica of the ironclad CSS Virginia. Dimensions are as accurate to the original as I can make them.

CSS Virginia was constructed from the burnt-down remains of the USS Merrimack. When Virginia seceeded, Union forces attempted to destroy the important naval base in Portsmouth. Due to a ruse orchestrated by William Mahone, Union forces believed there were far more Confederates arriving in Portsmouth than there actually were, leading them to abandon the base early. Over a thousand guns and the damaged Merrimack were captured by Confederate soldiers.

As Merrimack had only burnt to the waterline, it was decided to cut away the remaining burnt timbers and rebuild her with an armoured superstructure. A fantail and breakwater was added, as well as a ram as the ship's designers knew of USS Monitor and believed that the available cannons would not be able to penetrate the northern ironclad's armour.

Dring the first day of the battle of Hampton Roads, Virginia engaged the Union fleet blockading Portsmouth to great effect. USS Cumberland was crippled during an exchange of cannon fire, from which Virginia emerged relatively unscathed, then sunk after Virginia rammed her. The captain of USS Congress then ordered his frigate into shallower water, where she grounded. Virginia and Congress traded cannon fire for an hour, after which Congress surrendered. A Union battery on the north shore opened fire on Virginia while she was overseeing crewmen from Congress being ferried off the ship. Outraged, Commodore Franklin Buchanan ordered a broadside of heated cannon shot, which set the wooden Congress aflame.

Virginia was badly damaged after ramming Cumberland, and retreated until the next day. The first day of the battle demonstrated to the world that fighting an ironclad with an all-wood warship was a costly affair, as USS Congress burned throughhout the night.

The second day of the batle was much less successful for Virginia, though she did manage to force USS Monitor to retreat after a shell struck the latter's armoured pilot house and exploded, injuring the captain. Virginia was forced to withdraw herself as the tide receeded, with double the draught of Monitor she was risking becoming grounded.

Virginia was ultimately unsuccessful in breaking the blockade of Portsmouth as more Union vessels arrived and was scuttled by way of fire and magazine detonation to prevent her capture.

14,785 materials
2,035 blocks
Length: 84m
Width: 21m
Draft: 6m
Armament:
6x 9" Dahlgren smoothbore cannons
2x 7" Brooke rifled cannons
2x 6.4" Brooke rifled cannons
Armour: Wood-backed iron superstructure, wooden hull
Speed: 17 knots (ahistorical)