Ship Modelers Database
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USS Monitor
Sunk — foundered in a storm off Cape Hatteras, NC on 31 December 1862; the wreck was located in 1973 and now lies within the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary, with the recovered turret, engine, and other artifacts conserved and on display at The Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Virginia.
USS Monitor was the U.S. Navy's first ironclad warship, built during the Civil War to counter the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia, and is famous for its revolving gun turret, an innovation designed by Theodore Timby that gave rise to the entire "monitor" type of warship.
Kits of this ship
+ Add a kit| USS Monitor | BlueJacket Shipcrafters | 1:192 (1/16 in=1 ft) | Solid Hull | Available | |
| USS Monitor & Merrimack Civil War Ironclad Ships Set | Atlantis Model Company | — | Injection-Molded Plastic | Available | |
| 1/192 USS Monitor Model Kit | Flagship Models | 1:192 (1/16 in=1 ft) | Resin | Discontinued | |
No image | 1/200 USS Monitor & CSS Virginia Battle of Hampton Roads Paper Model | Pro-arte (Heinkel Models) | 1:200 | Card | Available |
| 1/144 USS Monitor | Mikro-Mir | 1:144 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Available | |
| U.S.S. Monitor | Cottage Industry Models | 1:96 (1/8 in=1 ft) | Resin | Available | |
| USS Monitor Card Model Kit | Orel Publishing | 1:200 | Card | Available | |
No image | USS Monitor | Modelik | 1:100 | Card | Available |
No image | Monitor and Virginia Combo | BlueJacket Shipcrafters | 1:192 (1/16 in=1 ft) | Solid Hull | Available |
No image | USS Monitor, During The Battle Of Hampton Roads | OKB Grigorov | 1:350 | Resin | Available |
No image | 1/200 Union USS Monitor Paper Model | Pro-arte (Heinkel Models) | 1:200 | Card | Available |
No image | USS Monitor, After The Battle Of Hampton Roads | OKB Grigorov | 1:350 | Resin | Available |
No image | USS Monitor - During The Battle Of Hampton Roads | OKB Grigorov | 1:700 | Resin | Available |
No image | USS Monitor - After The Battle Of Hampton Roads | OKB Grigorov | 1:700 | Resin | Available |
No image | USS Monitor 9-03-1862 | Modelarstwo kartonowe | 1:350 | Card | Available |
Plans
No plan sets listed for this ship yet. Know of museum, archive or publisher drawings? Add them so the next builder can find them.
Links go to the publisher's or museum's own page. Ship Modelers Database lists plan sets; it doesn't host or display the drawings.
Build logs
+ Link a build logNo build logs linked yet.
Resources
+ Submit a resourceHistory & specifications
- Island Free Press: New Sonar Images Reveal Detail of USS Monitor WreckArticle
Recent (2025-26) reporting on the wreck's condition, recovery history, and sanctuary status, useful for current vessel status context.
- Military Factory: USS Monitor (1862) Ironclad Gunboat ProfileWebsite
Provides dimensions, displacement, and armament specifications useful for scale modelers.
- USS Monitor WikipediaWikipedia Entry
- Wikipedia: Monitor National Marine SanctuaryArticle
Covers the sinking, wreck location, and establishment of the sanctuary protecting the wreck site.
Museums & archives
- The Mariners' Museum and Park: USS Monitor StoryMuseum
Museum overview of Monitor's design, service, loss, and the ongoing conservation of recovered artifacts, including the turret and engine on display.
Photos
- Wikimedia Commons: USS Monitor (ship, 1862) media categoryPhoto
Aggregates period photographs, plans, and artwork of USS Monitor, including the 1862 James River deck/turret photo by James F. Gibson used here.
History
Service history
Monitor fought CSS Virginia to a tactical draw at the Battle of Hampton Roads on 9 March 1862 under Lieutenant John L. Worden, the first engagement between ironclad warships. Later that year, while under tow by the paddle steamer USS Rhode Island south along the Atlantic coast, she was swamped by heavy seas in a storm off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and sank on 31 December 1862, with sixteen of her sixty-two crew lost.
Notable facts
The wreck was discovered on the seafloor in 1973, and the site was designated the first U.S. National Marine Sanctuary in 1975. Extensive archaeological recovery efforts since then — including raising the ship's iconic turret in 2002 and her engine in 2001 — have been described as the largest marine archaeological metals conservation project ever undertaken, and recovered components are conserved and displayed at The Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Virginia.