CSS Virginia II

CSV Virginia II was a <a href="/facts/Confederate_Navy/y1DjJ5yw">Confederate Navy</a> steam-powered <a href="/facts/Ironclad/woAQJfj3">ironclad</a> ram laid down in 1862 at the William Graves' shipyard in <a href="/facts/Richmond,_Virginia/RPT22L8B">Richmond, Virginia</a>. Acting Constructor William A. Graves, <a href="/facts/Confederate_States_Navy/y1DjJ5yw">CSN</a>, was the superintendent in charge of her construction. In order to conserve scarce iron plating, he ordered the ship's armored <a href="/facts/Casemate/bX2BhUf2">casemate</a> shortened from the specifications given in <a href="/facts/John_L._Porter/VUHWyBIk">John L. Porter</a>'s original building plans; in addition, the ship's iron-plating, while six inches thick on the casemate's forward face, was reduced to five inches on her port, starboard, and aft faces. Due to the shortening of her casemate, the number of her cannon were reduced to a single 11" smoothbore, a single 8" rifle, and two 6.4" rifles.
The Virginia II was named after the more famous Confederate ironclad, <a href="/facts/CSS_Virginia/jdyBjn6X">CSS Virginia</a>, also called the <a href="/facts/USS_Merrimack_(1855)/s9F6sqo5">Merrimack</a> because of the ship's origins as a Union frigate. The original Virginia's success at the <a href="/facts/Battle_of_Hampton_Roads/oq6LdmMs">Battle of Hampton Roads</a> caused "gunboat associations" to emerge around the South, mainly driven by women; their efforts helped with the construction of the Virginia II.

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CSS Virginia II