Recovery of the USS Monitor's Turret-- Part 1

I wrote about the GE Monitor top refrigerator in the last post (so-named because of its resemblance to the turret of the USS Monitor) and the death of  Phillip Carson Lee, who participated in the raising of the real turret in the post before that.

From Wikipedia  "Recovery."

The 2002 dive season was dedicated to the difficult task of trying to raise the 120 long-ton turret of the USS Monitor since the recovery of the whole ship was impossible because of deterioration.    This was the part Phillip Carson Lee participated in.  

Around 160 divers were assembled to remove  parts of the hull, including the armor belt, that lay on top of the turret.  (The turret had fallen off upside down as the ship sank and the hull had landed on top of it.)  They used chisels, exothermic cutting torches and 20,000 psi hydroblasters.  They removed as much  of the debris from inside the turret as possible to reduce the weight to be lifted.

This debris was mostly in the form of concreted coal as one of the ship's coal bunkers had ruptured and dumped much of its contents into the turret.

--Old B-Runner

Some More Information on the GE Monitor Top Refrigerators

Since I have been writing about monitors a lot lately.

A couple posts ago, I wrote about the unique (well, to me) refrigerator dating to the 1920s and 1930s.  It received its name because of the unique compressor on top of it that resembles you-know-what.

Since this is a historical appliance, I am writing about it in my Cooter's History Thing blog.  You can get to it by going to the My Blogs List section to the right of this and clicking on it.

--Old B-Runner

Anybody Remember a Monitor Refrigerator?

From the Santa Barbara (California) Independent  " 'Museum' on West Valerio" by Betsy J. Green.

There is am old home at 230 W. Velerio  Street in Santa Barbara which is like a walk back into time.  It was built in 1912 for $1,500.

So, you might just be asking what exactly does this have to do with anything regarding the Civil War Navy?

Well, it is full of old stuff.

Owners Robert Sponsel and Patricia Chidlaw have it looking like a museum, but it isn't.

One of the most interesting objects in the house  is a 1930s GE refrigerator.  These were commonly nicknamed "Monitor" refrigerators because the round compressor located on top of it resembled the gun turret of the USS Monitor of Civil War fame.

I Don't Remember It.  

But, Sure Beat the Old Ice Box.  --Old B-Compressor