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The USS Monitor was the first ironclad warship to be built for the US Navy during the Civil War. She was commissioned on February 25, 1862 at Greenpoint, New York. Here are her general characteristics:
Length: 172 feet
Beam: 41.4 feet
Draft: 9.5 feet
Displacement: 1,038 tons
Armament: Two eleven-inch Dahlgren guns
She is best remembered for the Battle of Hampton Roads, or the Battle of the Ironclads where she faced off against the CSS Virginia (previously known as the Merrimack) in March of 1862.
On December 31, 1862, while in tow by USS Rhode Island to Beaufort, North Carolina, Monitor sank during a severe storm off the coast of Cape Hatteras. Four officers and twelve crewmen lost their lives.
As early as 1951, proposals were made to raise the Monitor and discussions and other proposals ensued over many years. In 1978 the US Navy abandoned their interest in raising the vessel when the calculated cost and possible damage expected from the operation, $20 million to stabilize the vessel in place, or as much as $50 million to bring all of it to the surface was deemed to high.
In 1988 the propeller was raised to the surface and in July of 2001 divers from the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary and the US Navy brought to the surface the 30-metric-ton (30-long-ton) steam engine.
Finally, in August of 2002, after 41 days of work, the gun turret was recovered by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and a team of U.S. Navy divers. Before they removed the turret, the divers discovered the remains of two trapped crewmen. Since these sailors died while on duty, they became the responsibility of the Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) located at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii where they await positive identification.
A group of forensic scientists have been working on that identification process since 2002. Louisiana State University's Forensic Anthropology and Computer Enhancement Services (FACES) has teamed up with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and JPAC to give these men a name so they do not have to be buried as unknowns.
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The results of their work, pictured here, was unveiled in the auditorium of the US Navy Memorial, March 6, 2012.
Since there was not enough DNA to help identify these men, the work began through casts of the men's skulls and hip bones, the LSU experts were able to determine that one man was about age 20 and the other was roughly 32. The forensic team then used the casts to create plastic skulls when then lead them to be able to use clay to rebuild the faces.
Once the faces were sculpted and given the appropriate hairstyles for the time period, they were photographed and uploaded into a computer program that made them look more human.
Here you can find 13 photos that take you through the stages of constructing these faces.
Federal officials believe that one of two skeletons found in the Monitor’s turret could be that of James Fenwick, a 24-year-old sailor from the North End who was born in Scotland and you can read more about this story here.