Anyone familiar with the ironclad Monitor??

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TRUETEXAN

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I was wondering if any of you were familiar with the Monitor, it was one of the first two ironclad naval ships that sank in a storm off of CapeHatteras. Anyway I was wondering if anyone other than the Navy knew where it was and if anyone had dove it?
 
Yes. It was discovered back in '75 I believe. Designated as the first National Marine Sanctuary. Several expeditions in the 80s visited the site and lock-out dives from a submersible were performed. First "recreational" dives occurred in '93 I believe.
Anyway, NOAA and the Navy have been working to recover several key peices of the vessel before eventual collapse. First the screw and skeg. Then the engine (2001). This year they are shooting for the turret.
I have done numerous dives on the wreck. This will be my third year participating with the ongoinf work.
You can see lots of pics and information on the AUE website, including images of last year's engine recovery.
Cheers,
Mike
 
Mike,

Isn't this wreck faily deep? Seems like I remember its 200ft+ and not exactly a rec dive. By the way, there is a scale model(seems like it's 1/2 scale) of the wreck in the North Caroline aquarium in at Maneto, NC.
 
i did see some documentares about it, and from what i recall you cant dive it without permission (and good luck getting that)

I think it is deep as well

Andy
 
You can get 235fsw up under the turret washout if you dig a little bit.

Yes, the wreck of the USS Monitor is a National Marine Sanctuary. Currently, access is restricted as there is ongoing work on the wreck. During the summer the Navy salvage divers have had a barge anchored directly over the site, and have had surface-supplied divers and saturation divers on the wreck. Aside from all of those vertical lines in the water, they also are using a lot of potentially dangerous tools that precludes allowing recreational divers on site due to the liability. It is also the *loudest* dive I have been on, as the Navy has all sorts of stuff going on and it is amazing loud on the bottom.
When the Navy are on site, we have to get permission to approach the site and then have to position for a drop. Getting in and out from under all the anchor lines, etc. is interesting.
Anyway, once the turret, etc. comes up, NOAA will start issuing concessionary permits to allow recreational divers to visit the wreck.
 
Mike: When are they going to remove the turret? I heard that it would be this (2002) summer. Saw you on TLC show about the Bermuda Triangle last weekend.

Robert "Doc":doctor:
 
Hi Doc-
The Navy is anticipating to bring it up this summer, but most of us think that may be a tad over-optimistic. They first need to excavate the turret, which in of itself, will take a bit of work. Then, they need to remove the cannon and carriages out from the turret. Then, they need to secure the turret, extract it from the wreck, and then lift it, the means of which they have not determined yet. Expect the guns to come up this year, but the turret will probably sit until next summer. There may be some other surprises in the turret, such as personal effects, bell (!) etc.

I was hoping no one would see that TLC show. the horror, the horror. If I knew that was going to be the finished product, I don't think I would have done it. They definitely had some kooks on there. However, it did pay for what would have been a very expensive trip. We also have some good stories about the production guys that went out there with us.
The camera seized at depth so we got no footage of the wreck aside from the top of the hull at ~350-370fsw. Then it locked up. Pity, as the huge warsaw grouper were outrageous. Everything on the show was contrived, which is obvious to divers as I don't think you would see a recreational diver with a single tank at 400fsw.

Hope you have a good dive season.

Cheers,
Mike
 
Mike: It will be interesting to see how they raise the turret. I understand that it is cpmprised of a zillion plates (15K?) riveted together with steel that has pobably seen its better day. From what I undeerstand, if it is not supported evenly that the rivets will give because of their brittleness. So you have any info?

Hope to see you diving, Robert:doctor:
 
Hi Doc-
Yes, the turret does consist of numerous steel plates, but I am not sure of the exact number. I don't think we are talking thousands though. The failure point is definitely the rivets, as the heads/shafts of some of those definitely may be severely compromised. They used the example of a "house of cards" crashing, should the rivets give way. I don't know the specifics yet as to how they are planning this, but they would need to do some serious engineering. It is also possible the top of the turret (now the bottom) is also seriously compromised. This is one of the reasons they need to pull everything out before raising the turret as there is no way it could support the weight of the guns. The top had a railing and weather awning on it during the sinking (I think) that is most likely crushed underneath.
In any case, I imagine they will have to slide the turret onto some form of platform and then use a hell of a lot of strappings to lash the sucker together. However, it is possible the engineers can think up something a bit more ingenious. When I see a copy of this year's research/dive plan (not even drafted yet as far as I know) I will let you know what the gameplan is.
hasta,
mike
 
About 1969, myself and two others dived on the ironclad. The location was given to us by someone who found it in the early 1960's. We approched the US Government and said that we would like to raise it and put on display. All we wanted was some money help. The US Government told us that it was off limits and that we could be in major trouble if we went near the wreck. The US Government laid out an area to protect it, NOT knowing where it really was and telling people not to dive in the area without permission. NOW they have the right to raise it after all these years, in peices. If it wasn't for the US Governments being a group of BASTARDS, the USS Monitor would be on display, in one peice.
 
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