Friday Firepower: part one of big time “no thank you”, Ironclad USS Monitor (32 Photos)

Some tough mothers to sail in that thing.

#32
That's CSS Viriginia to you, Yankee!

#1 1862…

They changed the course of the history of ship building. Wooden ships we not built after these went to battle

The Monitor had the first "below the water line" flushing toilet, operated by a series of levers. One of the officers sat down, and reversed the function, and blew himself off the toilet.

Also, after engaging the Virginia, the device that allowed her turret to stop rotating was damaged.

You have to give NOAA and the conservation folks at The Mariners' Museum some serious props. They really work hard on preserving Monitor artifacts for us all!
Check out the conservation blog, it's pretty cool.