Re: HMS Warrior vs. USS Monitor

In article <1174352477.632969.206830@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Jack Linthicum <jacklinthicum@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
One of those What Ifs that has the British intervening in the American
Civil War also features a possible battle between the HMS Warrior and
the USS Monitor. I have seen an old thread on a Warrior vs.Virginia,
what would be the possible outcome of a Warrior-Monitor battle on
Chesapeake Bay or in the Virginia Capes, near Hampton?

First question is whether the Warrior could make the journey and once
in U.S. waters sustain her presence?

Get there? No problem. _Warrior_ (and the other RN broadside ironclads)
were true blue-water ships. Sustain her presence? again, should be easy
enough - there were sufficient coal stocks at Bermuda and a well-equipped
dockyard, accustomed to hosting high-powered steamship (_Warrior_'s wooden
predecessors, _Mersey_ and _Orlando_, both were based there during
the _Trent_ crisis). Only trouble would be fouling of the hull in the warm
waters and the lack of a dry-dock to clean the hull, but given the low
speed of US fleet units this would not be a real issue.

Second is whether the Warrior could depress her guns sufficiently to
hit the Monitor.

Yes.

Third whether the smaller weight of the Monitor's shot would be
ineffectual against the Warrior's armor.

Monitor's big guns would have been capable of damaging _Warrior_ /if she
could hit her/. With two slow-firing guns in a turret which was incapable
of accurate training this would be difficult except at touching-distance.
In the meantime _Warrior_ is plying about 14 armour-piercing guns on
_Monitor_ (I'm ignoring the Armstrongs here). The difficulty for _Warrior_
would be her poor manoeverability, which in the littoral would be a severe
problem. Frankly, given _Monitor_'s virtually non-existant seakeeping
ability and _Warrior_'s deep draft and poor manoevering ability I don't
see _Warrior_ being able to come to grips with _Monitor_, and _Monitor_'s
captain would have to be insane to come out to fight _Warrior_ at sea.
Much more likely that _Monitor_ would be facing Crimean-vintage floating
batteries (similar in layout to _Virginia_ but well-designed,
well-armoured and - by the start of the 1860s - carrying effective
armour-piercing guns). _Warrior_'s job would be to ensure that no-one
interfered.

--
Andy Breen ~ Not speaking on behalf of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth

"Who dies with the most toys wins" (Gary Barnes)
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: HMS Warrior vs. USS Monitor
    ... operations should be no problem - _Warrior_ was, after all, a Frigate. ... It likely wouldn't take much of a bump to swamp Monitor. ... The Warrior exhibit at Portsmouth claims the armor was proofed against ... it guns, as a safety measure it only fired half charges. ...
    (sci.military.naval)
  • Re: HMS Warrior vs. USS Monitor
    ... the USS Monitor. ... I have seen an old thread on a Warrior vs.Virginia, ... what would be the possible outcome of a Warrior-Monitor battle on ... Monitor was tasked as a close-in blockade enforcer, ...
    (sci.military.naval)
  • Re: HMS Warrior vs. USS Monitor
    ... the USS Monitor. ... I have seen an old thread on a Warrior vs.Virginia, ... what would be the possible outcome of a Warrior-Monitor battle on ... Warrior has more and heavier guns, but the Monitors low freeboard and greater maneuverability would make her a hard target to hit. ...
    (sci.military.naval)
  • Re: HMS Warrior vs. USS Monitor
    ... I have seen an old thread on a Warrior vs.Virginia, ... what would be the possible outcome of a Warrior-Monitor battle on ... and the Monitor isn't seaworthy. ... A port is required. ...
    (sci.military.naval)
  • Re: HMS Warrior vs. USS Monitor
    ... Civil War also features a possible battle between the HMS Warrior and ... the USS Monitor. ... I have seen an old thread on a Warrior vs.Virginia, ... what would be the possible outcome of a Warrior-Monitor battle on ...
    (sci.military.naval)