monitor

views updated May 17 2018

monitor former term for a shallow-draught warship mounting one or two heavy guns for bombardment, named for a vessel developed by Swedish engineer John Ericsson for the Union forces. In a letter of 1862 he said that he proposed to name the new battery Monitor on the ground that ‘The iron-clad intruder will thus prove a severe monitor [that is, something providing guidance to moral conduct] to those leaders [of the Southern rebellion].’

This prototype vessel engaged the Confederate ironclad Virginia in Chesapeake Bay in a battle that drew worldwide attention; after this a number of similar warships were built by the Union. The original Monitor, however, went down off Cape Hatteras in 1862.