In regard to the Monitor and Merrimack, the actual battle was between the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia. When Union forces at the Norfolk Navy Yard evacuated on April 20, 1861, they scuttled a number of ships, including the USS Merrimack which was a screw frigate. Along with being scuttled, the ship was also burned. The hull of the USS Merrimack was converted by the Confederates to become the ironclad CSS Virginia in 1861-1862. Original Specifications for the CSS Virginia Length: 263 feet Beam: 51 feet Draft: 19 to 22 feet depending on load Tonnage: 3200 Speed: Rated 9 knots; Actual was 4 to 5 knots Engines: 2 horizontal, back acting; 2 cylinders, 72 inches in diameter, 3 foot stroke Boilers: 5 tubular; 4 main, 1 auxiliary, Martin Type Horsepower: 1294 Coal Consumption: 3400 pounds of anthracite per hour Propeller: 2 blade, Griffiths, diameter 17 feet 4 inches Battery: Eight 9 inch rifled Dahlgren shell guns in broadside; two 7 inch Dahlgren pivot guns, bow and stern, each firing through 3 available ports Ram: 1500 pounds, cast iron, 2 feet long Anchors: Two at the bow Also, there was a CSS Merrimac that was a blockade runner. This ship was a sidewheel steamer purchased in England for the Confederate Navy in 1862. The ship was captured off of the coast of the Cape Fear River, North Carolina on July 24, 1863. The ship then became the USS Merrimac. Early in 1865 the USS Merrimac was reassigned to the East Gulf Blockading Squadron. She got underway for the gulf early in February, but encountered extremely bad weather which forced her to stop at Beaufort, North Carolina, on the 7th and at Charleston, South Carolina on the 12th. Underway for Key West the next day, the USS Merrimac ran into still worse weather which she fought until turning north on the 14th to seek the first port. On the afternoon of February 15, 1865 Acting Master William Earle ordered the crew to abandon ship after its tiller had broken, two boilers given out and the pumps failed to slow the rising water. That night, when the crew had been rescued by mail steamer Morning Star, the Merrimac was settled rapidly and sank. Note: The name of USS Merrimack that was scuttled and turned in to the ironclad Virginia ended with a "K". The name of the blockade runner CSS Merrimac that was purchased in England and later captured by the Union ended with a "C". Edward