Today marks a momentous milestone in Charleston history as it was on this day 25 years ago the world watched the long-lost Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley rise from the sea.

The Hunley broke the ocean’s surface 4 miles off Sullivan’s Island at 8:39 a.m. after a tense, one-minute pause when it hung suspended in its lift cables barely 10 feet off the bottom, The Post and Courier reported of that moment in 2000. But after the crane operator got the final “OK go,” up it came, marking the recovery of the world’s first successful attack sub.

Much has followed since, including a battle over where its final resting place would be.

More than three years later, the crew’s eight sets of human remains were removed and buried at Magnolia Cemetery. That was the priority, Kellen Butler, executive

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