author
John Lorimer Worden
1818–1897
Best remembered for commanding the USS Monitor in its famous clash with the Confederate Virginia, he stood at the center of a turning point in naval warfare. His long career carried him from the age of sail into the era of ironclads and modern naval leadership.
1 Audiobook
The Monitor and the Merrimac : Both sides of the story
by John Lorimer Worden, Samuel Dana Greene, H. Ashton Ramsay, Eugene Winslow Watson
About the author
Born in New York in 1818, John Lorimer Worden entered the U.S. Navy as a midshipman in 1834 and spent decades building a steady professional career at sea and ashore. He served in the Mediterranean, Pacific, and during the Mexican-American War, gaining a reputation as a capable officer before the Civil War made him widely known.
His name is most closely tied to the USS Monitor. In March 1862, he commanded the ironclad during the Battle of Hampton Roads, the first celebrated clash between ironclad warships. Although he was wounded in the fight, the battle made him one of the best-known naval officers of the war and linked him forever with a major change in military technology.
Worden went on to hold important senior posts, including service as superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy and later command of the European Squadron. He retired as a rear admiral and died in Washington, D.C., in 1897, remembered as an officer whose career bridged an era of dramatic change in the American Navy.