Confederate Sub Upright For First Time Since 1864, Bruce Smith,
Associated Press, June 24, 2011. The first submarine in history
to sink an enemy warship is upright for the first time in almost
150 years, revealing a side of its hull not seen since it sank
off the South Carolina coast during the Civil War. Workers at a
conservation lab finished the painstaking, two-day job of
rotating the hand-cranked H.L. Hunley upright late Thursday. The
Hunley was resting on its side at a 45-degree angle on the
bottom of the Atlantic when it was raised in August 2000 and
scientists had kept it in slings in that position in the lab for
the past 11 years. But they needed to turn it upright to
continue with the job of conservation. Scientists hope the
hidden side of the sub will provide clues as to why the Hunley
sank with its eight-member crew in February, 1864, after sending
the Union blockade ship Houstonic to the bottom. While there was
no immediate clue from a first look at the hidden hull but "we
are seeing some tantaliz