Turret of Civil War ironclad raised after 140 years in ocean

HATTERAS, N.C. -- The coral-encrusted gun turret of the Civil War ironclad USS Monitor was raised Monday from the floor of the Atlantic, nearly 140 years after the warship sank during a storm.

As salvage crews cheered, the 120-ton turret was pulled out of the depths by a huge crane on a 300-foot barge. A Civil War-era American flag fluttered from the salvage apparatus and silt-colored water poured out of the turret into the whitecapped sea before the wreckage was swung aboard the barge.

The turret is the biggest piece of wreckage recovered during a salvage operation run by the Navy and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which controls the underwater sanctuary 16 miles off Cape Hatteras.

"It's fantastic," said John Broadwater, NOAA's director of the Monitor sanctuary. "It's sitting on the barge and we're looking at dents that the Virginia put on it March 9, 1862."

On that date, the Union ship and the Confederate vessel CSS Virginia revolutionized naval warfare when they fought to a draw near Newport News, Va.

The Monitor's revolving cylindrical turret was an innovation: It allowed the crew to maneuver the ship out of harm's way while maintaining accurate fire simply by adjusting the turret. The Virginia had to be steered into position to take accurate aim.

Skeleton found

On Saturday, divers removed most of a human skeleton found inside the turret. The remains are believed to be those of one of the 16 sailors who died when the ship sank in a storm on Dec. 31, 1862, and landed upside down in 240 feet of water. The lower part of the skeleton is pinned beneath one of the two huge cannons inside the turret.

The remains will be analyzed, then buried with military honors.

The wreckage was discovered in 1973, but only bits and pieces had been recovered until recently. Researchers said the wreck was disintegrating and in the last several years have made an effort to save some of the vessel's unique features. The entire vessel is too fragile to be raised.

The turret will be taken to a museum in Newport News, Va., to be preserved and displayed along with hundreds of other Monitor artifacts.

Crews expected to recover the turret Saturday but were foiled by bad weather.