March 8 in Military History — On This Day

Battle of Hampton Roads

The Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia (rebuilt from the scuttled USS Merrimack) steamed into Hampton Roads on March 8th and devastated the Union wooden fleet, sinking two warships and damaging three others. The next morning, the newly arrived USS Monitor — a revolutionary low-profile ironclad with a rotating gun turret — met the Virginia in a four-hour duel at close range. Neither could penetrate the other's armor. The era of wooden warships was over in a single day.

The world's first battle between ironclad warships made every wooden warship on earth obsolete overnight. Britain and France immediately suspended construction of wooden warships. The Monitor's rotating turret became the template for warship design for the next century. Naval warfare was transformed permanently in a single afternoon.

Full battle details →

⚔️📍 Hampton Roads, Virginia1862

CSS Virginia Destroys Union Fleet — Day 1 of Hampton Roads

The Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia (rebuilt from the USS Merrimack) steamed out and attacked the wooden Union fleet, sinking two warships and running a third aground before retiring for the night. Wooden warships were helpless against iron armor.

Virginia's attack rendered every wooden warship in every navy obsolete overnight and triggered a global naval revolution in ironclad construction.

Outcome

Confederate tactical victory; 2 Union ships sunk

Casualties

433