The Sinking of the Cumberland
On the morning of March 8, 1862, the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia (rebuilt from the captured USS Merrimac) steamed into Hampton Roads, Virginia, and attacked the Union blockading fleet. The wooden frigate USS Cumberland, commanded by Lieutenant George Morris, was among her targets.
The Cumberland’s broadsides bounced harmlessly off the Virginia’s iron-plated hull. The ironclad then rammed the wooden ship, piercing her hull with her iron prow. As the Cumberland sank in the James River, her crew refused to surrender—continuing to fire even as the water rose around them. The ship went down with her flag still flying, nailed to the mast.
The engagement marked the end of wooden warships in naval warfare and set the stage for the following day’s historic duel between the Virginia and the USS Monitor—the first battle between ironclad warships.