On the morning of March 9, 1862, the CSS Virginia was preparing to finish off the Union fleet in Hampton Roads. As the daylight increased, watchers on shore and ship noted with disbelieving eyes, the slow approach of an object and shape never seen before in naval history.
Admiral Farragut, who had remained aboard the helpless Federal flagship later described it as a "giant shingle, floating on the water with a cheesebox on top." (I am not sure Farragut was at the battle as he was headed for the Battle of New Orleans in April.)
It was, in fact, the Theordore Ruggles Timby inspired USS Monitor, as black and menacing as the mythical monster of Loch Lommand with only a few inches of its slim iron hull above the waterline, as it parted the waves and closed upon the CSS Virginia.
Most striking to onservers, it bore at its midsection a cylindrical iron turret that was seen to revolve around its center. Twenty feet in diameter, with iron walls 8 inches thick the turret rotated, as if in the hunt for a line of fire to its prey. Upon command, the gaping muzzles of two huge 11 inch smoothbore guns appeared from behind small ports in the armored wall of the turret.
The genius of the Timby machine and patent, as intended of course, was that it could fire in any direction, with devastating effect on targets.
--Old B-Runner
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