In Stock and Ready for Immediate Shipment!
Long SOLD OUT at the Perth Mint!
Monitor vs. Merrimack! The revolutionary Civil War navel battle, the first clash of ironclad warships,
is immortalized on this full color, pure silver proof!
North versus South
in the Duel of the Ironclads! Talisman Coins and the Perth Mint are
extremely pleased to present the new
Famous
Naval Battles Series. Following on the heels of the
tremendously well received
Famous
Battles of History program, the
Famous
Naval Battles Series
offers pure silver dollars commemorating five
important naval conflicts that have shaped the course of history. All
are remembered for their landmark contributions to the annals of naval
warfare. The third salvo (if you will) is the Battle of Hampton Roads,
the indecisive first clash of ironclad warships during the American
Civil War.
The
Civil War
Monitor
and
Merrimack
charted a completely new course for the future of the warship. Before
the Battle of Hampton Roads, the seas were dominated by wooden
vessels, propelled by the wind, firing cannon through
gunports. No more
radical transformation has ever overtaken the world's navies, much less
in a single day. After the historic duel of the ironclads on May 9,
1862, wood and sail were out; the new naval order involved steel ships
cruising the world's oceans under the power of steam while firing
rifled guns from turrets. Ironclads proved to be one of a number of the
Civil War's modern
technological innovations (including the machine gun, submarine, trench
warfare, and aircraft) that would later surface in the First World War.
Duel of the Ironclads!
The
Battle of Hampton Roads, often referred to as the Battle of the
Monitor and
Merrimack (or
Merrimac),
was the most famous, and arguably most important, naval battle of the
American Civil War (from the standpoint of naval innovation and
development). It was fought over two days, March 8-9, 1862, in Hampton
Roads, a roadstead in Virginia where the Elizabeth and Nansemond Rivers
meet the James River just before it enters Chesapeake Bay. The battle
was a part of the effort of the Confederacy to break the Union
blockade, which had cut off Virginia's largest cities, Norfolk and
Richmond, from international trade.
The major significance of the battle is that it was the first meeting
in combat of ironclad warships. The Confederate fleet consisted of the
ironclad ram CSS
Virginia
(Merrimack) and several supporting vessels. On the first day of battle,
they were opposed by several conventional, wooden-hulled ships of the
Union Navy. On that day,
Virginia
was able to destroy two ships of the Federal flotilla and threaten a
third,
USS Minnesota,
which had run aground. The action was halted by darkness and falling
tide, so
Virginia
retired to take care of her few wounded (which included her captain,
Flag Officer Franklin Buchanan) and repair her minimal battle damage.
Determined
to complete the destruction of
Minnesota,
Catesby ap Roger Jones, acting as captain in Buchanan's absence,
returned the ship to the fray the next morning, March 9. During the
night, however, the ironclad
USS
Monitor had arrived and had taken a position to defend
Minnesota. When
Virginia
approached,
Monitor
intercepted her. The two ironclads fought for about three hours, with
neither being able to inflict significant damage on the other. The duel
ended indecisively,
Virginia
returning to her home at the Gosport Navy Yard for repairs and
strengthening, and
Monitor
to her station defending
Minnesota.
The ships did not fight again, and the blockade remained in place.
The
battle received worldwide attention, and it had immediate effects on
navies around the world. The preeminent naval powers, Great Britain and
France, halted further construction of wooden-hulled ships, and others
followed suit. A new type of warship was produced, the monitor, based
on the principle of the original. The use of a small number of very
heavy guns, mounted so that they could fire in all directions using the
turret concept was first demonstrated by
Monitor
but soon became standard in warships of all types. Shipbuilders also
incorporated rams into the designs of warship hulls for the rest of the
century, and finally saw the reality of using steam power without masts
or sails.
Rediscovery and Recovery of USS Monitor
In 1973, the wreck of the ironclad
Monitor
was located on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean about 16 nautical miles
southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. In 1998 the
warship's
propeller was raised to the surface. On July 16, 2001, divers from the
Monitor National Marine Sanctuary and the US Navy brought to the
surface the 30 ton steam engine. In August 2002, after 41 days of work,
the revolutionary revolving gun turret was recovered by the U.S.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and a team of
U.S. Navy divers. Before removing the turret, divers discovered the
remains of two trapped crewmen. The remains of these sailors, who died
while on duty, are at the Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) at
Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, awaiting positive identification. The
site is now under the supervision of NOAA. Many artifacts from Monitor,
including her turret, cannon, propeller, anchor, engine and some
personal effects of the crew, have been conserved and are on display at
the Mariners' Museum of Newport News, Virginia.
Once again, the Perth Mint has done history proud! The Battle of
Hampton Roads Silver Proof depicts the height of the first fight
between ironclads the world had ever seen, with the color vignette a
true historical record of the battle, taken directly from a famous
Currier & Ives print of 1862, entitled "Ironclads Engaged in
Terrific Combat". The scene depicts
Monitor and
Merrimack trading
broadsides at point blank range!
USS
Monitor is deftly engraved and struck in frosted cameo
relief in the center of the coin, superimposed on a piece of
CSS Virginia's
armor, complete with gunports.
The Battle
of Hampton Roads Pure Silver Proof is the third in the ongoing
Famous
Naval Battles series, to be released by the Perth Mint. The
complete program comprises:
Salamis
- 480 BC - Ancient triremes
Trafalgar
- 1805 AD - Nelson and
Victory
vs. Napoleon
Hampton
Roads - 1862 AD - The duel between ironclads
USS Monitor and
CSS Virginia (
Merrimack)
Jutland
- 1916 AD - Clash of the Dreadnoughts
Midway
- 1942 AD - Carrier vs. carrier
+
Five
Coin Display Box
Please see the article further below for a short presentation on the
Cook Islands.
Obverse
USS Monitor,
instantly recognizable with its low freeboard and round turret, is in
the center of the coin, struck in
frosted cameo relief.
Monitor
is superimposed on a piece of
CSS
Virginia's
armor (complete with gunports). The battle itself is portrayed
in
color in a vignette taken from a period Currier & Ives print.
The
legend BATTLE OF HAMPTON ROADS 1862 defines the theme. The
Perth
Mint’s "P" mint mark can be found at the 9:30 position near
the
edge.
Reverse
Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, in crowned profile facing
right. This portrait, featuring Her Majesty wearing a tiara and pearl
drop earrings, was executed by the sculptor Raphael Maklouf. The
legend QUEEN ELIZABETH II, the date of issue and denomination also
appear.
Packaging
The coin is encapsulated inside a handsome taupe leatherette,
clamshell-style presentation case, lined with black velvet and satin,
and protected by a full-color outer box. An individually-numbered
certificate of authenticity is included.
The Cook Islands are a self-governing parliamentary democracy in free
association with New Zealand. The fifteen small islands in this South
Pacific Ocean country have a total land area of 92.7 square miles (240
square kilometers), but the Cook Islands Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)
covers 700,000 square miles (1.8 million square kilometers) of ocean.
As of the 2006 census, the country has a total population of just under
20,000.
The main population centers are on the island of Rarotonga (14,153 as
of 2006), where there is an international airport. There is also a much
larger population of Cook Islanders in New Zealand, particularly the
North Island. In the 2006 census, 58,008 New Zealanders identified
themselves as being of ethnic Cook Island Maori descent.
With over 90,000 visitors traveling to the islands in 2006, tourism is
the Cook Islands' number one industry, and the leading element of the
economy, far ahead of offshore banking, pearls, marine and fruit
exports.
Defense is the responsibility of New Zealand, in consultation with the
Cook Islands and at its request. In recent times, the Cook Islands have
adopted an increasingly independent foreign policy.
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