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Off the coast of Cape Hatteras, N.C., the revolving gun turret from the civil war era ironclad ship USS Monitor is lifted from the ocean floor, and placed onto the derrick barge Wotan on Aug. 5, 2002. U.S Navy photo, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Va. museum gets federal grant for USS Monitor conservation


Tom Hoepf
Tom Hoepf

Off the coast of Cape Hatteras, N.C., the revolving gun turret from the civil war era ironclad ship USS Monitor is lifted from the ocean floor, and placed onto the derrick barge Wotan on Aug. 5, 2002. U.S Navy photo, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) – The Mariners Museum in Newport News will receive a federal grant of nearly $100,000.

The National Park Service and the Maritime Administration announced $2.6 million in grants Monday for maritime preservation projects nationwide.

The Mariners Museum will use the grant for work to conserve and restore the USS Monitor’s turret and other large artifacts from the Civil War ironclad.

Congress had designated the private museum as the official repository of artifacts from the Monitor.

The Monitor sank off in rough seas off North Carolina’s coast on New Year’s Eve 1862.

The museum’s wet lab was closed in January 2014 because of a federal funding shortfall. Work on the project resumed last May when the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration committed $200,000 after receiving its fiscal year appropriation.

Online:

www.marinersmuseum.org

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