USS Monitor's Condenser

3D Model

Recovered from USS Monitor’s wreck site in 2001, the condenser is a jet injection type that was common for the period. Steam was piped from the engine to the condenser where it was turned back into water for reuse in the engine system. Essentially, this object made the steam system run more effeciently.

When viewing this artifact, remember that it (like many other large artifacts in our collection) is upside down because the ship landed inverted on the ocean floor. Therefore, the jutting beam at the top of the condenser would have been a support beam securing the machine to the ship’s floor.

Courtesy of The Mariners’ Museum and Park.