This week conservators are installing improved impressed current cathodic protection anodes on theMonitor’s gun carriages. The anodes are flexible wires supported on removable frames made of PVC pipes. Josiah designed and built the frames which allow the anode wires to protect the metal parts of the gun carriages from corrosion during wet conservation treatment. The frames are lightweight and easily removable to provide easy access to the carriages during deconcretion.
Today was a major milestone in the effort to conserve USS Monitor’s amazing artifacts. Almost 147 years after the iconic ironclad sank, conservators rotated the port gun carriage to its original upright position.
USS Monitor’s two custom-built gun carriages have been upside down since the ironclad sank on December 31, 1862. The gun carriages were discovered by archaeologists during excavations of the turret in 2002. The carriages were still secured to the 8-ton Dahlgren guns they supported during the Battle of Hampton Roads. Conservators and archaeologists carefully removed both carriages from the turret in 2004.
We’ve placed a new anode for the impressed current system to improve the corrosion protection of the Monitor’s turret. This anode is suspended within the turret to protect the interior metal surfaces.
The turret is made of eight layers of 1-inch thick wrought iron plate. You can see each of the layers in the photo below.
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