Sword stolen in 1931 returned

The mystery of the missing sword has been solved after more than 70 years.

The FBI yesterday returned to the U.S. Naval Academy an elaborately decorated sword, made by Tiffany & Co., that had been missing since it was stolen in 1931.

The sword originally belonged to Capt. John Lorimer Worden, who was awarded the sword by the state of New York in 1862 for his command of the USS Monitor, the first ironclad ship in the Navy.

“The sword marks an important date in United States history and represents a pivotal moment in U.S. Naval history. We are proud to return this to the United States Navy and the American people,” said FBI agent Jeffrey A. Lampinski of the Philadelphia field office.

Capt. Worden became a rear admiral and eventually served as the seventh superintendent of the Naval Academy from 1969 to 1874.

Adm. Worden’s son, Daniel, and grandson, John, gave the sword to the Academy in 1912, and it was displayed for almost 20 years. But in 1931, a master-at-arms on his rounds discovered the sword had been removed from Memorial Hall. A search for the blade extended as far as a mining camp in California, but the weapon was not found.

The FBI discovered the sword in the past six months during an investigation of fraudulent antiques dealers on the “Antiques Roadshow,” a public television program where people’s collectibles are appraised.

With the help of “Antiques Roadshow” dealers, the sword was sold in 1998 by a family that had possessed it since the 1930s, said Linda B. Vizi, an FBI spokeswoman. The FBI would not say whether the family was defrauded by the dealers or disclose the family’s identity, Ms. Vizi said.

“They’ve been very cooperative, and they’re not charged with anything,” she said. “At this point it’s 70 years ago, and we’re pretty sure we know how it happened, but since nobody’s charged with it, we’ll just say that the individuals that took it to the ’Antiques Roadshow’ were not knowledgeable that it was stolen, because of the length of time.”

The family sold the sword to a collector in the Midwest, Ms. Vizi said, which is where the FBI found it.

“We let [the dealer] know that this piece was not supposed to be up for sale and he voluntarily turned it over. He did the right thing. We’ve brought it back to the museum, and it will stay there,” Ms. Vizi said.

Adm. Worden was wounded in the face during the historic Civil War battle between the Monitor and the southern ironclad ship, the CSS Virginia, or Merrimack, on March 9, 1862. It was the first battle between ironclad ships and signaled the end of wooden ships.

The Monitor was designed by Swedish-American engineer and inventor John Ericsson. It had a revolving turret 22 feet in diameter with two 11-inch guns. Though it was outgunned by the Virginia, which boasted six guns, its superior agility and rotating turret allowed it to fight to a draw during the four-hour battle.

The Monitor sank while being towed to Beaufort, N.C., in a fierce storm off Cape Hatteras on New Year’s Eve 1862. Four officers and 12 crewmen were lost.

Adm. Worden died in the District in 1897.