The Warship Under Steam 107 



by a curious chance, she was enabled to 

 meet the Merrimac the very day after the 

 latter had so signally announced her 

 prowess. The Monitor was quite a unique 

 craft, and deserves a special description, 

 for she changed the whole trend of naval 

 architecture. 



Her deck was 173 ft. long, with an 

 extreme beam of 4ijft. Her tonnage is 

 given as 614, and she drew 10 ft. of water. 

 Like the Merrimac , she has had a sub- 

 stantial backing of wood, on to which 

 4^ ins. of iron armour was screwed, 

 making in all a thickness of more than 

 2 ft. Her low decks were awash in a 

 fairly rough sea, her freeboard being only 

 a couple of feet. Both the deck and her 

 sides were heavily armoured, the latter 

 being carried well down below the water- 

 line. But the great feature of the Monitor 

 was the adoption of the turret principle. 



Here was a small round fort there is 

 no other word which so accurately de- 

 scribes the erection and this fort revolved. 



