Historic milestones are on the horizon this year at The Mariners’ Museum and Park, and the 160th anniversary of the Battle of Hampton Roads marks a monumental one.

The Newport News museum will commemorate the famous Civil War battle on Saturday, March 12, with engaging activities, immersive lectures, and encounters with the museum’s conservation and education teams in the USS Monitor Center from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

In addition to the battle’s commemoration, this year marks 20 years since the recovery of Monitor’s turret from the Atlantic Ocean and the 50th anniversary of the creation of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s first national marine sanctuary, the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary.

“The Mariners’ Museum is in a unique position to share all of the complexity of this historic event,” President and CEO Howard Hoege III said. “The Monitor story is about technology and innovation that you continue to see today in the work that our Conservation team does to s...