Dr. DuCoin volunteers at the USS Monitor Center and has extensively photographed and documented the Monitor’s turret during conservation. He frequently lectures on Civil War naval history and contributed a chapter to Craig Symonds’ book Union Combined Operations in the Civil War (Fordham University Press, 2010). He has written about the Monitor previously in Naval History and Civil War Times.

Articles by Francis DuCoin

Naval warfare was forever changed by the Battle of Hampton Roads, in which ironclad faced ironclad for the first time. But every depiction of this history-altering showdown may be missing a key element of the Monitor’s appearance on that fateful day.

A New Look for an Old Icon

By Francis DuCoin
April 2024
The world is well familiar with the iconic design of the ironclad USS Monitor—but there is compelling evidence to suggest that the images of her in battle are not correct.