In 2002, divers and engineers hauled the gun turret of the USS Monitor from the Atlantic and submerged it again in water at The Mariners’ Museum and Park in Newport News.
One hundred and forty years earlier, in 1862, the Civil War ship sank in rough seas off the coast of North Carolina and researchers needed to keep it in an alkaline bath to stop sea salts from corroding the historic find.
Every five years or so, researchers drain the 115-ton turret to change the solution and examine it. The tank was emptied this week and the public has the rare opportunity Saturday for an in-depth view.
This weekend is the 163rd anniversary of the two-day Battle of Hampton Roads, one of the most famous clashes in American history. In 1862, the United States and the Confederacy built ships made of iron instead of wood. On March 9, the Monitor and the rebels’ CSS Virginia clashed in the mouth of the James River, firing guns and circling each other in a four-hour battle that ended in a draw. The use of armored ships, however, would change the course of naval combat.
“Every time we drain the tank, the turret remains as impressive as the first time I saw it,” said Will Hoffman, the Mariners’ Museum’s director of conservation. “To be able to see its scale and know the impact that it had on world history makes being part of its conservation and preservation both extremely rewarding and humbling.”
In December 1862, the Monitor was heading South when a storm crippled the ship, sinking it.
Researchers discovered the ship’s remains in 1973 and the area was designated a sanctuary two years later. In 2007, the Batten Conservation Laboratory Complex at the Mariners opened and now preserves thousands of the ship’s artifacts. Normally, the turret is submerged in 90,000 gallons of alkaline solution.
Saturday’s free event to commemorate the Battle of Hampton Roads is 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; the event also marks the 50th anniversary of the Monitor’s designation as the country’s first national marine sanctuary. Find more information at marinersmuseum.org.
