Mark makes a good point about the wood backing being an important element of the protection system. If it stopped a projectile, it would be as much due to the strength and flexibility of the wood as the iron facing.
To be fair, the budget they could scrape together for the raising and restoration probably wouldn't keep the power on in the museum today...
The Cairo's exposure to the gulf elements at Pascagoula did more damage than the original mine.
Unfortunately culpability and stupidity played a large part in "helping" destroy much of
Cairo. This 1965 photo shows my first visit to the "ship": it was taken by my fiance down by Vicksburg's waterfront levee that fronts the old Mississippi River channel, now the Yazoo River Diversion Canal. We were visiting Vicksburg NMP and had gone to see the retired sternwheel towboat
Sprague ( which has long since burned ) that uased to be moored there as an attraction. I noticed this derelict THING sitting forlornly in one end of the parking lot; any guesses as to what it IS?
I had seen a couple of poor photos taken prior to the raising of
Cairo; to "whip up" interest and enthusiasm ( and no doubt some BUCK$! ), several items were dredged up from the wreck and put on display - one of the 42-pounders and its carriage was in the old pre-
Mission 66 NPS Visitor Center. Another photo showed THIS, and I recognized it: this is the
pilot house! One of its sides had been wrenched off and can barely be seen behind, resting against the levee wall; inside it was the remains of a campfire, littered with wine and beer bottles. At the time, it was virtually COMPLETE, backed by all its wooden structure, studded with huge square nails holding it together. A coat of light gray "rust proof" ( yeah, right ) paint had been slathered over the iron plates.
If you'll notice, today only the iron plates remain, suspended above the casemate - all the rest was allowed to disintegrate or wind up as souvenirs. ( I have a chunk of the wood and one of the nails! ) Soon after
Cairo was put on display in the park, I looked down the service road behind the museum and saw KEGS of those square nails of various sizes!