Encyclopedia > Hampton Roads

  Article Content

Hampton Roads

Hampton Roads is a channel through which the waters of the James River, Nansemond River[?], and Elizabeth River[?] of Virginia pass (between Old Point Comfort[?] to the north and Sewell’s Point[?] to the south) into Chesapeake Bay. It is an important highway of commerce, especially for the cities of Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Newport News, and is a chief rendezvous of the United States Navy. For a width of 500 feet the Federal government during 1902 through 1905 increased its minimum depth at low water from 25.5 feet to 30 feet. The entrance from Chesapeake Bay was (in 1911) defended by Fortress Monroe[?] on Old Point Comfort and by Fort Wood[?] on a small island called the Rip Raps[?] near the middle of the channel; and at Portsmouth, a few miles up the Elizabeth river, is an important navy-yard.

The famous battle between USS Monitor and CSS Virginia (ex-Merrimack) took place in the Roads.

(from an old encyclopedia)



All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

 
  Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!
 
 
  
  Featured Article
French resistance

... flamboyant Peter Churchill (no relation to Winston). Secret Intelligence Service and Special Air Service also sent agents to France. Because US and British ...

 
 
 
This page was created in 40.1 ms