be thick and an additional steam engine would be necessary to rotate the turrets and run the ventilation fans. They estimated that this conversion would take three and a half months and cost $495,000. Welles accepted their recommendation and Roanoke began her reconstruction at the Brooklyn Navy Yard when she arrived in New York City on 25 March. The navy yard removed her masts, rigging and everything above the upper deck except her funnel while the Novelty Iron Works located at 12th street, New York, received a contract in early April to shape and mount all of her metal work. To save weight the number of turrets was reduced to three and her deck armor to . Each turret was virtually identical to those of the s and consisted of eleven layers of plates. The forward two turrets were surmounted by a stationary pilothouse with armor nine inches thick. Novelty was given a choice in protecting Roanokes sides, it could either with six layers of plates or a single plate thick that reduced to inches below the waterline. It chose the latter and delays in their delivery were largely responsible for drawing out the reconstruction time to around a year. The plates were manufactured by the "Franklin Forge" of Tugnot, Dally & Co. An auxiliary boiler was added to provide steam for the engines that powered the turrets, fans and steering and little to nothing was done to reinforce the hull to withstand the weight of her armor and turrets. The deck beneath each turret was reinforced by a series of stanchions that transferred their weight to the ship's bottom, which was not reinforced to handle their weight. The stress caused Roanoke to leak around per day by the end of the war. In her new configuration, her crew numbered 347 officers and men. Roanoke was armed with two muzzle-loading smoothbore 15-inch Dahlgren guns, two Dahlgren guns and a pair of eight-inch, 150-pounder Parrott rifles. The forward turret mounted one 15-inch Dahlgren and a 150-pounder Parrot rifle, the middle turret was fitted with 15- and 11-inch Dahlgrens and the aft turret with one 11-inch Dahlgren and a 150-pounder rifle. Shortages of the 15-inch Dahlgren forced the substitution of two 11-inch Dahlgrens. Each of the former guns weighed approximately . They could fire a shell up to a range of at an elevation of +7°. The 11-inch Dahlgren weighed and could