USS Monitor, famous for its role in the first battle of ironclads during the American Civil War, was designed by Swedish-born John Ericson and built in 118 days in Brooklyn, N.Y. beginning Oct 25, 1861. Less than two weeks after its Feb. 25, 1862 commissioning, it entered Hampton Roads on March 8 for the fateful encounter with its confederate rival. A little more than nine months after that, the ship sank in a storm off the coast of North Carolina Dec. 31, 1862, taking with it 16 Sailors.