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Turret of USS Monitor visible at Mariners' Museum

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) — Hampton Roads has a rich history, and there's no more memorable battle than the one between the Monitor and the Merrimac. The turret of the USS Monitor is in the middle of preservation, and has been in a tank for several years. Visitors receive rare chance to view historic USS Monitor turret at Mariners' Museum and Park It's a tight squeeze, but take a look inside a tank that sits a piece of Naval history, as 10 On Your Side got a special look inside the Civil War battleship. 'The Monitor story really is a Hampton Roads story,' said Will Hoffman of the Mariners' Museum. 'It's a story of technology. The story of the Navy is a story of shipbuilding. It's a story of people.' The turret sits upside down inside the tank that's normally filled with a solution meant to help preserve it. 'We're draining it to do some visual inspection of the turret and shifting around some artifact,' Hoffman said. 'And we're really draining it to clean the clutch chemical system that's on the surface of the object.' Launched out of New York in January 1862, it fought the CSS Virginia to a draw in the Battle of Hampton Roads in March of that same year. Later in December, while in tow, it sank in rough waters, 16 miles off the coast of Cape Hatteras. While the ship didn't have a long life, it left an impact that's still being felt today. 'That turret is the first turret that fought in combat in world history,' Hoffman said. 'Every turret on a ship, you know, from gun battleships all the way through now with autonomous lidar you see on modern ships, all that comes from the turret that's sitting in that tank behind me. … This is an actual artillery shot from the battle of Hampton Roads.' Through 3D imaging done in 2016, they can tell where every dent and ding came from, and which battle it came from. Some are in old photos of the ship. 'These dents are those dents up there,' Hoffman said. The hope one day is to flip that turret right-side up. 'That's our next big phase of the tour is turning it over,' Hoffman said, 'so that that can set the stage, ultimately, to finish the object and get it out on display.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.