This morning the turret arrived in downtown Newport News on board the barge Wotan. The ceremony was nice - but the most wonderful thing was that I got to go on the barge and see it up close.

Of course I had to touch it.

You could see the gunports, the murky outlines of the Dahlgren cannons within, and most incredibly, the dents in the iron made by determined Confederate batteries - on Board the CSS Virginia as well as at Drewry's Bluff.

It was like seeing Chartres for the first time, or holding a piece of the Mary Rose. I wanted to laugh - I wanted to cry. Like John Stewart said last night on The Daily Show - it really doesn't get better than this for a maritime museum - or a maritime historian. Of course - he was making light of it - but he and Mr. Hightower are right.

We take possession of it tomorrow. It's going to be a long, wonderful day.