In 1987, The Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Va., was designated as the repository for artifacts and archives from the Civil War ironclad USS Monitor by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Today, the Museum conserves, interprets and exhibits hundreds of relics from the ironclad that forever changed naval warfare. Visitors to the Museum can see these artifacts undergoing the arduous conservation process, while learning the history and stories behind them. What you see now is Northrop Grumman Newport News shipbuilders constructing a full-scale replica of the USS Monitor that will serve as an icon for the new $30 million USS Monitor Center - a 63,500-square-foot addition to the Museum that will enthrall families with exciting exhibits, bring students face-to-face with history, house state-of-the-art conservation labs and offer historians rich resources for research. The Center will open on March 9, 2007.