U.S. Navy Divers Attempting To Raise Monitor Turret

Newport News Daily Press | June 24, 2002 | AP

[Stand Watch Listen]

NORFOLK, Va. -- U.S Navy divers will begin work this week on raising the turret and guns from the sunken Civil War battleship the Monitor off the coast of North Carolina.

The divers were to leave for the wreck site off Cape Hattaras, N.C., with a team of marine archaeologists from the Newport News-based Monitor National Marine Sanctuary.

The team is hoping to bring up the entire turret, containing two Dahlgren guns weighing a combined 160 tons, by early August. The gun turret is considered the Monitor's signature feature, and officials admit recovering it presents a difficult challenge.

"We don't want to make a mistake and end up raising a turret kit with lots of assembly required," archaeologist John Broadwater said.

The artifacts will be displayed at the Mariners Museum in Newport News--along with the ironclad ship's 30-ton engine recovered last summer.

The ship sunk during a storm on Dec. 31, 1862, while being towed past Cape Hatteras to blockade duty on the coast farther south.

[Al B.]

The Mariners Museum already has pieces of the Monitor (propeller, engine) in stabilization tanks prepping them for display. Should be a great addition to the museum. For anyone interested in things nautical, this museum is definitely worth a visit.

[Rudder]

Definitely cool. I gotta go visit this museum.

[Al B.]

Definitely worth seeing if you're in the Hampton Roads area.  It's billed as one of the great nautical museums in the world, with thousands of items including almost 2,000 ship models, from fantastically-detailed miniature wooden ships to large-scale models from Newport News Shipbuilding's model shop.

There's also a collection of superb Chris-Craft wooden boats from the '30s.

Check out their website.

[Ligeia]

Sub Gets Close Look at Civil War Ironclad

The turret of the Civil War ironclad Monitor is visible
through the bubble of the four-person submersible as it
rests on the ocean floor about 240 feet below the
surface. Photo by The Virginian-Pilot / Associated Press.

OFF CAPE HATTERAS -- Down through the deep ocean, silver fish swirling around it, the small submarine dives, cobalt blue turning to gray as the light fades.

Suddenly, the flat sandy bottom appears. Depth 200 feet, letters on a small screen read. The four-person submersible glides forward and a dark shape creeps into focus.

``We've got the wreck in sight,'' Don Liberatore, the sub captain, calls into his microphone to the mother ship, an edge of excitement in his voice. ``We're at the stern, coming right up on the turret.''

``Beautiful, absolutely beautiful,'' says historian Jeff Johnston. ``This is something you've heard about all your life. And there it is right before your eyes, the USS Monitor.'' Continue at the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot.

[Stand Watch Listen]

Thanks for the link...appreciate it.

[Non-Sequitur]

The Monitor herself is an amazing story. Built in 118 days from keel laying to launch, Ericsson subcontracted the major parts - engines, turret, boilers, gunport stoppers, armor plate, etc. - to 8 different contractors. Each one, working individually and only from Ericsson's drawings, had to build their piece and then have it fit exactly with the other pieces. In the end, they did and the Monitor was launched on January 30, 1862, commissioned on February 25th, and in action on March 10. Nine months later she was lost on her way to Beufort, South Carolina. A short career, but one that influenced every Naval ship that came after her.

[Admin Moderator]

Someone submitted this abuse report.

When you get a chance, would you please be so kind and add topics "Virginia" and "North Carolina" to this thread. Thank you so much!

I just did, and you are welcome, but just so you know, you can do it yourself in the future by clicking the "Click to Add Topic" link below the topic listing on the thread. Thanks, AM

[LetsRok]

I might have to check this out. I'm going on vacation tomorrow and am spending it on Ocracoke Island. Maybe it won't be a boring vacation afterall.

[Al B.]

Thanks for the heads-up on the Virginian-Pilot story. Great story and pics!

Because of the depth -- and because of the history -- the Monitor expedition is considered the premier diving assignment in the service.

Glad those Navy guys are having fun.  Stay safe!

[backhoe]

The "Graveyard of the Atlantic." My Grandfather was bar pilot for the Nags Head/Diamond Shoal area in the 1800's.

[Stand Watch Listen]

FYI...

Life on the Monitor

Daily Life of a Monitor Crewman--George Geer

George Geer.
From the Collections of The Mariners' Museum

The following letter was written by George Geer, a fireman who had been assigned to the Monitor since her commissioning. Here, Geer writes to his wife describing his daily routine as it was during the spring of 1862 while the Monitor was stationed on the James River near City Point (present-day Hopewell, Virginia). Geer's narrative conveys the boredom faced by the majority of Union sailors assigned to blockade duty.

U.S Steamer Monitor

City Point, May 20, 1862

Dear Wife

I hardly know what to do this evening to while away time. I thought I would write you a few lines and in that manner get read [rid] of part of the eve[n]ing, but what will I write about? I wrote so much before I am out of news. I think I did not tell you before that I have no night watch: I can go to Bed when I like, and can lay untill Six if I pleas. But I cannot sleep after foor, and am up and have a good wash and clean my Room before Breakfast.

I told you I would write you how we Live, and what we eat, so I will give you a little sketch in this. To commence, on Sunday as every other day, the Boatswains shrill Whistle is herd a[t] six, and everybody must turn out and lash their Hammock up and stow them away. All hand[s] make their way on deck, get a pail when their turn comes, and have a good wash. Most of them strip to [the] waist and wash, so you see their is not many dirty ones among us, although there is a few. At seven oclock--as we on ship call it, Six Bells--the Boatswains Whistle is sounded for Grog and Breadfast, which consist of a Pot of Coffee and hard crackers, such as I gave you a sample [of] on the North Carolina. But our mess is more fortunate than some: we have an Iron Sauce Pan that will hold some three or four Gallons. Our Cook takes those crackers and brakes them up, puts some fat Pork in it (which we have plenty, as its so fat no one can eat it), puts salt and Pepper in, and cooks it untill the crackers are soft, and that makes us what we hungry men call a good Breakfast, but what I should hardly eat if I were home.

continued....

[Al B.]

Check this out.

[Non-Sequitur]

Mmmmmmm, good. Just remember, a happy sailor is a griping sailor.

[OldDominion]

Thanks.

I love the story of Ericsson, who designed the Monitor. He first tried to sell the design to the South, who turned him down because they thought what they had with the Merrimac was better. If the South had bought off on the monitor, they would have broken the North's Blockaid and we would have avoided the Clinton administration!!

[Al B.]

FYI -- in an area awash in history, the Mariners' Museum is one of the best kept secrets in the area.

[Al B.]

The latest:   Trying to lift the gun turret

[Cultural Jihad]

Update:

Diver positioning cables to pull up gun turret from ocean floor

By SONJA BARISIC, Associated Press
Published 8:20 a.m. PDT Monday, August 5, 2002

HATTERAS, N.C. (AP) - A Navy diver worked Monday to position the cables needed to haul up the gun turret of the Civil War ironclad USS Monitor after nearly 140 years on the ocean floor.


Chief Petty Officer Steve Janek of Norfolk
gets suited up for a dive from the work barge Wotan
at the site of the wreck of the Civil War ironclad
USS Monitor off the coast of Cape Hatteras N.C.,
on Monday, Aug. 5, 2002.

Underwater currents and shifting seas delayed efforts Sunday to put in place a heavy cable sling to lift the 120-ton turret - considered to be among the most significant innovations in naval warfare.

A 500-ton crane aboard a barge moored above the Monitor wreckage, 16 miles off Cape Hatteras, is to pull up the revolving turret.

It took several hours Sunday to reposition the barge and its eight anchors to face the vessel into the wind to keep it from rocking.

"Things have not calmed down a lot. It's still probably 3- to 5-foot seas out here, 15-knot winds," John Broadwater, chief scientist for the expedition, said during a Monday morning conference call. "With the orientation we've got, it's not causing us as much trouble."

A Navy diver went down Monday morning to connect cables to a custom-made steel claw that divers previously attached to the turret.

"If the diver encounters currents that are too strong, or if the motion of the barge is too much for the connect to be made, we may experience another delay," Broadwater said. "But right now, we're very hopeful. We think we're moving ahead."

The crane was to first lift the turret onto a platform the expedition has placed on the ocean bottom. Then the crane would haul up the platform.

On Saturday, divers were able to remove much of a skeleton found inside the turret. It is believed to be that of one of the 16 Monitor sailors who died Dec. 31, 1862, when the ship sank in a storm and landed upside down in 240 feet of water. The lower part of the skeleton is pinned beneath one of the turret's twin cannons.

The remains were taken from the barge in two plastic containers and were to be analyzed, then buried with military honors.

"After 140 years at depth, the preservation is amazing," Army archaeologist Eric Emery said. "I think people will be talking about this for a while."

The Union ship and the Confederate vessel CSS Virginia revolutionized naval warfare when they fought to a draw on March 9, 1862 near Newport News, Va. It was the first battle of ironclads - ships covered in iron plates to repel cannon balls.

The Virginia had banks of guns, but the entire ship had to be moved to get the best firing angles. The Monitor's revolving cylindrical turret allowed the ship to fire accurately while staying out of harm's way.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Navy and the Mariners' Museum in Newport News have been working together this summer on the $6.5 million project to raise the turret.

That is the last big job in a five-year effort to save the ship's unique features. The entire vessel is too fragile to be raised. The turret will be taken to the museum to be preserved and displayed along with hundreds of other Monitor artifacts.

The wreckage was discovered in 1973.

---

Source: http://www.sacbee.com/24hour/nation/story/489121p-3904387c.html

[backhoe]

It's quite a story... my Grandfather, J.W. Rollinson, was bar pilot and a "lifesaver" in the 1800's of the Nag's Head, Diamond Shoals area-- the "Graveyard of the Atlantic..."

[Stand Watch Listen]

Thanks for the update/links...appeciate it.