The preserved M33 uses exterior stairs and adapted routes so visitors with wheelchairs or other mobility needs can explore her. Those alterations prevent the ship from returning to sea. They protect the hull and make the museum accessible to more people. Looking down from the dock exposes the flat bottom that gave the monitor her shallow draught. That hull form suited coastal work off Gallipoli or Antwerp and would have been uncomfortable in the middle of the North Atlantic.
Notable Point · 36:48-38:07
Reading M33's hull in Portsmouth dockyard
Exterior access routes make M33 easier to visit and expose the flat-bottomed hull that allowed the monitor to work close to shore.