From reports in Northern newspapers, "Virginia"s designers were aware of the Union plans to build an ironclad and assumed their similar ordnance would be unable to do much serious damage to such a ship. It was decided to equip their ironclad with a ram, an anachronism on a 19th century warship. "Merrimack"'s steam engines, now part of "Virginia", were in poor working order; they had been slated for replacement when the decision was made to abandon the Norfolk naval yard. The salty Elizabeth River water and the addition of tons of iron armor and pig iron ballast, added to the hull's unused spaces for needed stability after her initial refloat, and to submerge her unarmored lower eves, only added to her engines' propulsion issues. As completed, "Virginia" had a turning radius of about and required 45 minutes to complete a full circle, which would later prove to be a major handicap in battle with the far more nimble "Monitor".