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Photo # NH 63712:  Lieutenant John L. Worden, USN.  Engraving by J.C. Buttre

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- PEOPLE -- UNITED STATES --

Rear Admiral John L. Worden, USN, (1818-1897)

John Lorimer Worden was born on 12 March 1818 in Westchester County, New York. He became a U.S. Navy Midshipman in 1834 and spent the next several years at sea in the Brazil, Mediterranean and Pacific Squadrons and ashore at the Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. Promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in 1846, he served in the storeship Southampton off California during the war with Mexico. Later he returned to the Mediterranean in USS Cumberland before making another Naval Observatory tour in 1850-52. During the remainder of the 1850s and into the early 1860s he was assigned to the Home Squadron and to the New York Navy Yard.

As the secession crisis moved toward civil war in early 1861, Lieutenant Worden was sent to Pensacola with secret instructions for the local Naval commander. While returning to Washington, D.C., by rail he was arrested by Southern authorities and held as a prisoner of war for several months, an experience that badly damaged his health. In February 1862, upon resuming active duty, he was given command of the revolutionary ironclad Monitor and took her into a historic battle with CSS Virginia on 9 March 1862. Receiving serious eye injuries in the action, he had to relinquish command. However, this battle made him a major war hero in the North.

While recovering, Worden was promoted to Commander in July 1862. Further promoted to Captain, He commanded the monitor Montauk during the first months of 1863, bombarding Fort McAllister, Georgia, in January, destroying the privateer Rattlesnake in February and participating in the 7 April 1863 attack on Fort Sumter. Captain Worden spent the remainder of the Civil War on the important duty of supervising the construction of new ironclads.

Following the end of the great conflict, Worden commanded USS Pensacola in the Pacific. He received the rank of Commodore in 1868 and the next year began five years as Superintendant of the U.S. Naval Academy, during which time he was promoted to Rear Admiral. In 1875-77, Worden commanded the European Squadron. He then had shore duty until retiring from active duty in late 1886. Rear Admiral John L. Worden died in Washington, D.C., on 18 October 1897.

The Navy has named four ships in honor of Rear Admiral Worden: USS Worden (Torpedo Boat Destroyer # 16) of 1902-1920; USS Worden (Destroyer # 288, later DD-288) of 1920-1931; USS Worden (DD-352) of 1935-1944; and USS Worden (DLG-18, later CG-18) of 1963-2000.

This page features all our pictures of John L. Worden up to his 1872 promotion to Rear Admiral, and provides links to later views of him.

For additional images of John L. Worden, see:

  • Rear Admiral John L. Worden (Part II).


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the "Online Library's" digital images, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

    Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

    Photo #: NH 63712

    Lieutenant John L. Worden, USN
    ,
    Commanding Officer of USS Monitor

    Line engraving by J.C. Buttre, after a photograph by F.A. Lewis, published circa 1862.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 99KB; 580 x 765 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 42228

    Lieutenant John L. Worden, USN


    Line engraving originally published in 1862, photographically reproduced and mounted on a Carte de Visite.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 90KB; 550 x 765 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 76323-KN (Color)

    Lieutenant John L. Worden, USN,
    Commanding Officer of USS Monitor

    Line engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", 22 March 1862, and subsequently hand-colored.

    Courtesy of the U.S. Navy Art Collection, Washington, D.C.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 107KB; 585 x 765 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 58778

    Lieutenant John Lorimer Worden, USN
    ,
    Commanding Officer of USS Monitor

    Line engraving published in "The Soldier in Our Civil War", Volume I, page 249.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 157KB; 500 x 765 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 88393

    Lieutenant John L. Worden, USN
    ,
    Commanding Officer of USS Monitor

    Retouched reproduction of a photograph taken circa 1861-62, published on a Carte de Visite by E. and H.T. Anthony, New York.

    Courtesy of Dr. Walter B. LaBerge, Under Secretary of the Army, 1978.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 51KB; 450 x 765 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 92567

    Lieutenant John L. Worden, USN
    ,
    Commanding Officer of USS Monitor

    Small engraved portrait, published on a Carte de Visite by James S. Earle & Son, Philadelphia, circa 1862.

    Courtesy of Captain A.L. Clifton, USN(MC), 1939.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 72KB; 555 x 675 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 50463

    Commander John L. Worden, USN


    Photograph probably taken soon after his 16 July 1862 promotion to the rank of Commander.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 89KB; 450 x 765 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 493

    Commodore John L. Worden, USN


    Photographed by Minor & Guiwite, Waterville, New York.
    Worden served in the rank of Commodore from 27 May 1868 until 20 November 1872.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 93KB; 515 x 765 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 47669-KN (Color)

    Commodore John L. Worden, USN

    Portrait by P. Albert Gliemann, 1869.

    Courtesy of the U.S. Naval Academy Museum, Annapolis, Maryland. Gift of William M. Woodworth.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 60KB; 590 x 765 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 53377

    Civil War Naval Leaders


    Portrait montage engraved by H.B. Hall, New York, and published during the Civil War era, featuring (clockwise from top): Charles Wilkes, John L. Worden, Charles Ellet, Percival Drayton, Hiram Paulding, and Theodorus Bailey.
    In the center is John A. Winslow.
    The picture identified on the original as Charles Ellet is actually of his brother, Alfred W. Ellet. See Photo # NH 49621.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 142KB; 560 x 765 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 53380

    Civil War "Union Naval Officers"


    Portrait montage engraved by J.C. Butre, 48 Franklin St., New York, and published in 1862 by Hurlbut, Williams & Co. It features (clockwise from top): Samuel F. DuPont, David Dixon Porter, Charles H. Davis, David G. Farragut, John L. Worden, and Louis M. Goldsborough.
    In the center is Andrew H. Foote.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 103KB; 490 x 765 pixels

     

    For additional images of John L. Worden, see:

  • Rear Admiral John L. Worden (Part II).


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the "Online Library's" digital images, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    Page made 20 June 2001
    Links added 28 January 2006