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I understand that the USS Monitor Center at the Mariners' Museum has the original Porter plans for the CSS Virginia. My friend Steve Lund, a noted RC ironclad model builder, had the opportunity to closely examine it. Of course, even if these were the official working drawings, other undocumented changes might have occurred in the shipyard. For instance, it's now questioned how the Confederates with their limited ironworking capabilities could have tapered the plating for the smooth conic sections seen at the ends of the casement.
Also, when I test-built the Paper Shipwright version, designer David Hathaway said he found references that the decking over the bow and stern (except for the "beavertail") was simply placed across from port to starboard and sawed to fit, instead of the normal practice of laying the planks lengthwise fore and aft. I never saw any other mention of this, though it makes sense -- considering the rushed construction and available workforce, if would have been more expedient than laying out the decking in the traditional manner and nibbing the ends.
And will you also include the pig iron ingots that were dumped onto the bow immediately prior to her first battle? It was determined that the weight distribution was off, with the unprotected portion of the bow dangerously exposed. But during the second day's battle with the Monitor, so much coal had been consumed that the Virginia was now bow-heavy, with portions of the rudder and propeller visible. In fact, it's surmised that was the Monitor's intended target when the Rebels scored a lucky hit on the pilothouse. The exposed rudder chains would have been another tempting opportunity, which later proved to be the CSS Tennessee's Achilles' heel...
David T. Okamura
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