Monitor and Merrimac interior colors

From what I've seen in drawings, the monitor had a lot of wood panelling. I would imagine that the Virginia/ Merrimac did, too. Other surfaces were probably painted white.

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-m/monitr-n.htm

Don't know much about the Merrimac, but we can make a pretty good guess on the Monitor because it was hurried into operation.  Thus I would suppose that only things that had to be painted were painted.  Much of the ship was wrought iron, which will eventually rust but it takes quite awhile.  Any wood planking would also probably have been left unpainted.  Wrought iron is a dark gray in its natural state.  Many of the mechanisms inside were also wrought iron or else cast iron.  Very little steel.

From the pics I've seen it was a grayish color...

That was kind of what I was thinking, too.  Yeah, I figured if painted they'd be something light in color, given the amount of light that got in, and seeing as how most ambient lighting would be by some sort of candle or hurricane lamp.  From the work they're doing with the Monitor, it looks like the floor would be wood, but since iron would rust, I would have thought that they would at least try to coat things with some paint.  Okay, I won't worry about it.  Probably do a light gray on the walls and wood flooring, if I install any. 

And yeah, I kind of think of the iron clads as being pretty modern for their time, but after looking at the recovered artifacts, am reminded of how primative things were then.  And I was amazed to discover that the Bessemer process for steel was only about 10 years old during the time of the war, and making steel was a new-for-England process, and still kind of expensive.  Thanks.

Gene Beaird,
Pearland, Texas

CrashTestDummy

snip

And yeah, I kind of think of the iron clads as being pretty modern for their time, but after looking at the recovered artifacts, am reminded of how primative things were then.  And I was amazed to discover that the Bessemer process for steel was only about 10 years old during the time of the war, and making steel was a new-for-England process, and still kind of expensive.  Thanks.

 

Gene Beaird,
Pearland, Texas

Yeah.  While it was being productized in GB, it was not until after the war that the US began licensing the technology.  Didn't get under way in a big way till the 80s.