The USS Monitor was the Union's response to the Confederate ironclad ship, USS Virginia. Launched from the East River, New York in 1862, the Monitor was sailed down to Norfolk to meet the Virginia, which had been terrorizing the Union Navy along the coast. After a 2 day battle in which little was accomplished, the skirmish was considered a tactical draw, and both vessels went on their merry way. The Monitor its self was a revolutionary design. It featured numerous patentable inventions, and utilized a rotating tower, which contained two cannons. The Monitor represented the beginning of modern naval warfare for the union.