John L. Worden. She was not a good sea boat; and she nearly
foundered on her way down from New York to Fortress Monroe. Her
underwater hull was shipshape enough; but her superstructure--a
round iron tower resting on a very low deck--was not.
Contemptuous eyewitnesses described her very well as looking like
a tin can on a shingle or a cheesebox on a raft. She carried only
two guns, eleven-inchers, both mounted inside her turret, which
revolved by machinery; but their 180-pound shot were far more
powerful than any aboard the Merrimac. In maneuvering the Monitor
enjoyed an immense advantage, with her light draft, strong
engines, and well-protected screws and rudder.

On the eighth of March, a lovely spring day, the Merrimac made
her trial trip by going into action with her wheezy old engines,
lubberly crew, and the guns she had never yet fired. She shoveled
along at only five knots; but the Confederate garrisons cheered
her to the echo. Seven miles north she came upon the astonished
fifty-gun Congress and thirty-gun Cumberland swinging drowsily at
anchor off Newport News, with their boats alongside and the men's
wash drying in the rigging. Yet the surprised frigates opened
fire at twelve hundred yards and were joined by the shore
batteries, all converging on the Merrimac, from whose iron sides
the shot glanced up without doing more than hammer her hard and
start a few rivets. Closing in at top speed--barely six
knots--the Merrimac gave the Congress a broadside before ramming
the Cumberland and opening a hole "wide enough to drive in a
horse and cart." Backing clear and turning the after-pivot gun,
the Merrimac then got in three raking shells against the
Congress, which grounded when trying to escape. Meanwhile the
Cumberland was listing over and rapidly filling, though she kept