USS Cumberland

The USS Cumberland was the first ship sunk by the CSS Virginia (Merrimack), in Hampton Roads, Virginia off the coast of Newport News. Just a year or so later, the Confederate ironclad CSS Arkansas was scuttled and burned and came to rest about a mile away.

Clive Cussler tells the story of the sinking of both ships in his book, The Sea Hunters. The Cumberland, with a crew of 326 men, was in the sheltered harbor of Hampton Roads, just off the southern coast of Newport News, on March 8, 1862. The wooden ships in the harbor were aware that the Confederates had been working on an ironclad at the Norfolk Shipyard (just as the Confederates knew that the Union was working on an ironclad of their own).

The Virginia was under the command of Franklin Buchanan, a Union officer who had resigned his commission when he expected that his state, Maryland, would secede. When it did not, he tried to get his commission back, but was rebuffed, and so went over to the Confederate side anyway. On that day, the Virginia had the freedom of the water. With its engines, it could literally run rings around the stationary wooden ships, many of which ran aground in an effort to escape. She attacked the Cumberland first, firing with cannon and then ramming her (losing its ram in the process). 120 men died in the subsequent carnage.

After burning the Congress, the Virginia drew off, intending to finish off the rest of the ships the next day. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your point of view) the USS Monitor arrived that very night, and was waiting for the Virginia the next day. The two ships fought to a standstill.

Two weeks after the battle, a salvage diver dived on the Cumberland, finding her lying in 66 feet of water at a 45 degree angle. He determined that she was too badly damaged to be raised. After the 1870s, the ship was forgotten.