Monitor Engineer John Ericsson Photo Credit: Courtesy of The Mariners’ Museum

John Ericsson

John Ericsson was born in Sweden on July 31, 1803 and showed an early interest in mechanics. He began his career as an inventor and an engineer in Europe creating the first steam-powered fire engine, an improved steam-powered locomotive, and the first steam-powered tugboat and warship that was driven by a screw propeller rather than a paddle wheel. While living in England in the 1830's, Ericsson also helped design and build iron vessels for operating on the Thames River. He was persuaded to immigrate to the United States and was awarded a contract to build a screw-propelled warship for the United States Navy. When it was launched in 1843, the USS Princeton was the first warship in naval history to be designed and built as a screw-powered ship. However, as a result of an explosion that killed two members of the president's cabinet and wounded several others while they were on the ship, Ericsson's reputation was badly damaged. Even though he was found not to be at fault, he was not paid for his work and vowed to never to work with the government again.

In 1861, the U.S. Navy called for ironclad ship designs. Ericsson was persuaded to submit a draft design for the Monitor that was at first rejected but later accepted on condition that the ship would be constructed in 100 days and cost no more than $275,000. Although his past reputation led to local papers calling him an "incapable schemer" and condemning him for, "the sin of wasting the resources of the country," when the ship was finally launched, it floated perfectly to within 3 inches of his designed water line. Even after the Monitor became famous for succeeding to help protect part of the Unions Naval fleet, Ericsson remained upset with the government because they had given him 11-inch canons as opposed to the 12-inch ones that he requested. He felt that his original design would have been able to sink the CSS Virginia. Tests undertaken after the battle proved Ericsson would probably have been right.