such close range that they collided five times. By 11:00 am Monitors supply of shot in the turret had been exhausted. With one of the gun port covers jammed shut, she hauled off to shallow waters to resupply the turret and repair the damaged hatch, which could not be fixed. During the lull in the battle, Worden climbed through the gun port out onto the deck to get a better view of the overall situation. Virginia, seeing Monitor turn away, turned her attention to the Minnesota and fired shots that set the wooden vessel ablaze, also destroying the nearby tugboat Dragon. When the turret was resupplied with ammunition, Worden returned to battle with only one gun able to fire. Towards the end of the engagement, Worden directed Williams to steer Monitor around the stern of the Confederate ironclad; Lieutenant Wood fired Virginias 7-inch Brooke gun at Monitors pilothouse, striking the forward side directly beneath the sight hold, cracking the structural "iron log" along the base of the narrow opening just as Worden was peering out. Worden was heard to cry out, My eyes—I am blind! Others in the pilothouse had also been hit with fragments and were also bleeding. Temporarily blinded by shell fragments and gunpowder residue from the explosion, and believing the pilothouse to be severely damaged, Worden ordered Williams to sheer off into shallow water, where Virginia with her deep draft could not follow. There Monitor drifted idly for about twenty minutes. At the time the pilothouse was struck Worden's injury was only known to those in the pilothouse and immediately nearby. With Worden severely wounded, command passed to the executive officer, Samuel Greene. Taken by surprise, he was briefly undecided as to what action to take next, but after assessing the damage soon ordered Monitor to return to the battle area. Shortly after Monitor withdrew, Virginia had run aground, at which time Jones came down from the spar deck to find the gun crews not returning fire. Jones demanded to know why and was briefed by Lieutenant Eggleston that powder was low and precious, and given Monitors resistance to shot after two hours of battle, maintained that continued firing at that point would be a waste of ammunition. Virginia soon managed to break away and headed back towards Norfolk for needed repairs, believing that Monitor had withdrawn from battle. Greene did not pursue Virginia and, like Worden,