American naval officer, born in Westchester County, NY, on the 12th of March 1818. He entered the United States naval service in 1835, and at the beginning of the Civil War he was arrested by the Confederates and confined for seven months. Subsequently he was exchanged, ordered to superintend the completion of John Ericsson’s Monitor and appointed to take command. In this vessel he left New York hastily, and after a stormy and hazardous passage arrived at Hampton Roads. On March 8th the Confederate ironclad ram Merrimac had destroyed the wooden ships of war Congress and Cumberland, deeming herself invulnerable. The commander of the Monitor only reached there in time to hear the news, and finding the Minnesota aground on the shoal, anchored alongside, prepared to defend the wooden fleet of the government from further disaster. On March 9th the Confederate ram prepared to destroy the Minnesota, but when she had approached within a mile the Monitor steamed forth to intercept her progress. In the ensuing action the Merrimac’s broadsides glanced off from the turret of the Monitor, while the latter’s broadsides struck fairly, but failed to penetrate the Merrimac’s armored sides. This cannonade continued for more than two hours, and ended in a drawn battle. Later, Worden destroyed the Confederate privateer Nashville, which had taken shelter under the guns of Fort McAllister, and took part in the attack on the forts of Charleston harbor under Admiral Dupont. On May 27, 1868, he was promoted commodore, and from 1870 to 1874 he served as superintendent of the United States Naval Academy. He was commissioned rear-admiral, November 20, 1872, and December 23, 1886, was retired at his own request.
