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Ken's Korner: Rebel sub’s view port is missing

Ken’s Korner: Rebel sub’s view port is missing – The Journal of Antiques and Collectibles – March 2006
The Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley — the historic vessel that disappeared right after it became the first submarine ever to sink an enemy warship in 1864 — was discovered off the coast of South Carolina ten years ago and raised in 2000. Since then, the slow process of removing the sub’s encrusted material has been underway (it’s about 5% complete). Archaeologists hope to finish restoration work  by 2009. Recently, it was found that a view port on the front of the sub is missing.
That’s significant, because if no pieces of the port are found in the ship, then it’s possible the tower was knocked off when the sub sank. And that would conflict with the popular belief that the tower was blown in by an enemy warship, causing the Hunley to fill with water. Records indicate the Hunley was spotted and fired on moments before its crew shot a torpedo at the Housatonic, a Union warship. Scientists are about a year away from finally determining how and why the Hunley sank.

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