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Arts & Culture

NOAA Dedicates Sign Marking 40 Years Since USS Monitor's Discovery

WUNC | By Laura Candler
Published August 28, 2013 at 5:16 PM EDT
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Monitor National Marine Sanctuary

The NOAA’s Monitor National Marine Sanctuary held a ceremony in Beaufort yesterday to unveil sign recognizing the 40th anniversary of the USS Monitor's discovery. The sign is the first of five to be dedicated that marks a place of significance in the Civil War vessel’s history. The USS Monitor was discovered 40 years ago in 230 feet of water about 16 miles off the coast of Cape Hatteras. 

The Duke University Marine Lab headed the research team that discovered the ship with sonar in August 1973. The team identified the ship as the Monitor the following year. It was the first ironclad warship commissioned by the U.S. Navy in the Civil War, and it played a major role in the Battle of Hampton Roads. It was lost at sea in December 1862.

A photo of the Outer Banks from space showing the approximate position of the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary.
Credit NASA

The NOAA plans to dedicate four more signs in remembrance of the USS Monitor in North Carolina, Virginia and New York.

Arts & CultureCivil WarBeaufort CountyCape HatterasNOAA
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Laura Candler
Laura moved from Chattanooga to Chapel Hill in 2013 to join WUNC as a web producer. She graduated from the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in the spring of 2012 and has created radio and multimedia stories for a variety of outlets, including Marketplace, Prairie Public, and Maine Public Broadcasting. When she's not out hunting stories, you can usually find her playing the fiddle.
See stories by Laura Candler
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