The USS MonitorThe USS Monitor was one of the first Union battleships. She was one of four Union ironclads commissioned in late 1861. The Monitor was invented by Swedish inventor John Ericsson. Ericsson was born in Sweden in 1803. He moved to London in 1826, where he invented the first screw propeller. A screw propeller is an underwater propeller designed to move ships. At that time, in 1826, all steamships had wooden paddle wheels on the back or sides. This was a problem because they represented a very easy target for enemy ships to hit. With a propeller, however, it could not be destroyed so easily, as it was protected underwater. After Ericsson realized that both the propeller and the engine that drove it would be underwater, he wondered what the meaning of a partially or completely submerged warship was. Thus the Monitor was born. Ericsson invented the Monitor in 1854. It was a two-hulled ship, made entirely of metal, with a rotating turret in the center of the deck. The upper deck would be extremely well armoured, the only things above water would be the wheelhouse, where the ship is driven, and the turret. Everything else was protected under water. Now all Ericsson needed was someone to sell his designs to. He tried to send them to France, but all he got was a polite rejection letter. His chance finally came in 1861, when U.S. Navy Secretary Gideon Welles asked for plans to build a battleship. The designs for the Monitor were accepted and it was built. It was dispatched minutes before new orders were sent, from Gideon Welles, to go to Washington DC, instead of Hampton Roads.CSS Virginia (USS Merrimack) The history of the CSS Virginia begins on April 20, 1861. Three days earlier, the... half of the card... the legal premium of n. The Army troops stationed on the territory behind Congress, however, were not part of the Navy. They opened fire on Confederates going to Congress to capture survivors. Buchanan, never a man able to control his temper, was outraged. He went on deck, grabbed a gun and returned fire. A Union shell hit him in the thigh. With Buchanan wounded, Virginia's executive officer took command. Letting Congress burn, the executive officer attacked the USS Minnesota. However, dusk was approaching and the tides were receding. For the Virginia with its 22-foot draft, or how far into the water the shallowest part of a ship goes, that would have been a problem. Then Virginia withdrew, confident that she could return and finish her job of destroying the blockade. None of the crew aboard the Virginia could have had any idea what awaited them that morning.