Scamp
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March 8 1862. The Confederate ironclad warship CSS Virginia makes wooden warships obsolete and wreaks havoc on the Union Navy in the Battle of Hampton Roads. The Virginia attacked the Union blockade squadron of 5 wooden warships and left three aground and sank the other two.
The Virginia came right through Union cannon fire, with shots bouncing off her armor, and rammed the USS Cumberland with her iron ram. The Cumberland sank. Next Virginia sank the USS Congress with her cannons. The USS Minnesota ran aground and that saved her from being sunk but several of her crew were killed or wounded by cannon fire.
At the end of the day The CSS Virginia went back to port leaving 400 dead enemy sailors, with a loss of two. But the brave commander of the Virginia, Franklin Buchanan was wounded by a shot to the leg after he left the safety of the ironclad and climbed out onto the deck to shoot at the enemy at close range. Now that's a fighter. His leg would have to be amputated.
This was the United States Navy's greatest defeat until World War II.
After hearing this news, other countries stopped the building of wooden warships.
The Virginia came right through Union cannon fire, with shots bouncing off her armor, and rammed the USS Cumberland with her iron ram. The Cumberland sank. Next Virginia sank the USS Congress with her cannons. The USS Minnesota ran aground and that saved her from being sunk but several of her crew were killed or wounded by cannon fire.
At the end of the day The CSS Virginia went back to port leaving 400 dead enemy sailors, with a loss of two. But the brave commander of the Virginia, Franklin Buchanan was wounded by a shot to the leg after he left the safety of the ironclad and climbed out onto the deck to shoot at the enemy at close range. Now that's a fighter. His leg would have to be amputated.
This was the United States Navy's greatest defeat until World War II.
After hearing this news, other countries stopped the building of wooden warships.