Only a small part of the USS Monitor is currently being restored. The balance is still at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Cape Hatteras. The turret house and the big guns of the ship are at the Museum. One of the guns is shown here in the restoration tank. The Monitor had two 11-inch smoothbore muzzle-loading cannon. This meant that the gun had to be retracted and loaded after each round. One can only imagine what it must have been like in the turret when the ship was engaged in action.
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