Officials remove overhead truss from Hunley | News

NORTH CHARLESTON (WCSC) - Fans of the Hunley can now see a fully-unobstructed view  of the submarine after officials removed the overhead truss that has been supporting it for over a decade.

That truss lifted the Hunley submarine in 2000, and has held her since.

Led by Dr. Michael Drews and Paul Mardikian, the Hunley conservation team used a crane to remove the truss on Thursday morning at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center.

“Separating the truss from the Hunley represents the official beginning of the final conservation treatment of the Hunley,” said Mike Drews, Director of Clemson’s Warren Lasch Conservation Center, home to the legendary submarine and other significant pieces of American history.  

Next, modifications will begin on the Hunley’s 90,000-gallon conservation tank.  The tank – which currently holds chilled fresh water to stabilize the submarine as she awaits treatment – needs to be altered in order to accommodate the chemicals necessary for conservation. 

Scientists hope to have the submarine soaking in the chemical bath by the end of this year.  The solution is designed to slowly leach out the salts that infiltrated the Hunley’s iron during her 136-year stay on the ocean floor.  Those salts are toxic to iron and threaten the very survival of the world’s first successful combat’s submarine.  

After several months of soaking in the solution, the layer of concreted sand, shell, and silt that encases the Hunley will be carefully removed, allowing for a faster pace of conservation. 

Though it is no longer needed to support the Hunley, the steel truss will continue to have a role in the Project.  It will be stored and used in the future museum display of the Hunley.  “The large steel structure was an integral part of the cutting edge technological achievement in the Hunley’s recovery.   It will be preserved and placed in the planned Hunley Museum to tell future generations about  the technology that encompassed every aspect of the Hunley story from the submarine itself, to its recovery, and to its conservation and preservation,” said Senator Glenn McConnell, Chairman of the Hunley Commission.

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