NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) -- The Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley will be in clear view for the first time in almost 150 years once a truss weighing more than eight tons surrounding it is removed.
The work is scheduled for Thursday at a conservation lab in North Charleston.
The truss was used to suspend slings that lifted the sub from the water off the South Carolina coast almost a dozen years ago.
Scientists say finally removing the truss will provide the first unobstructed view of the hand-cranked sub since it sank in 1864.
The Hunley sent the federal blockade ship Housatonic to the bottom, becoming the first sub in history to sink an enemy warship. But the Hunley sank as well and scientists still aren't sure why.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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