But at that very time the hastily completed _Monitor_ was speeding southward under the command of Lieutenant Worden, who had risen from a sick bed to assume the duty which no one else was willing to undertake. Her crew numbered 16 officers and 42 men, with Lieutenant S. Dana Green as executive officer. Her voyage to Hampton Roads was difficult and of the most trying nature to the officers and crew, who were nearly smothered by gas. The boat would have foundered had not the weather been unusually favorable, but she reached Hampton Roads on the night of March 8 and took a position beside the _Minnesota_, ready and eager for the terrific fray of the morrow. The _Monitor_ carried two 11-inch Dahlgren guns and fired solid shot. [Illustration: THE BATTLE BETWEEN THE "MERRIMAC" AND "MONITOR."] When the _Merrimac_ steamed back the _Monitor_ moved out from her position and boldly advanced to meet her. The huge monster and smaller craft, whose appearance suggested the apt comparison of a cheese box on a raft, silently drew near each other until within a hundred yards, when the smaller opened with a shot to which the larger replied. The battle was now between two ironclads. If the shots of the _Monitor_ glanced harmlessly off of the _Merrimac_ those of the latter were equally ineffective against the _Monitor_. The latter had the advantage of being so much smaller that many of the shells of the _Merrimac_ missed her altogether. Those which impinged against the pilot house or turret did no harm, while the lesser boat was able to dart here and there at will, dodging the _Merrimac_ and ramming her when she chose, though such tactics accomplished nothing. All attempts to run down the _Monitor_ were vain. The novel battle continued for four hours, when the _Merrimac_, unable to defeat her nimble antagonist, steamed back to Norfolk and the strange contest--the first between ironclads--was over. The _Monitor_ had proven her inestimable value and was held in reserve by the Government for future emergencies. But the first battle between the two proved the last. Some months later, when the Union troops advanced upon Norfolk, the _Merrimac_ was blown up to prevent her falling into the hands of the Federals, while at the close of the year the _Monitor_ foundered in a gale off Cape Hatteras. This fight marked an era in the history of naval warfare. The days of wooden vessels were numbered. All nations saw that their warships to be effective must be ironclad, and the reader does not need to be reminded that such is the fact to-day respecting the navy of every civilized nation. During this memorable fight a shell from the _Merrimac_ lifted the iron plate of the pilot house of the _Monitor_ and disabled Lieutenant Worden by driving the fragments into his face, while he was peering out of the peep-hole. He was compelled to give way to Lieutenant Green, who handled the little ironclad throughout the remainder of the fight.