Mural on steel bulkhead of battleship

I work on an 89 year old steel battleship. I might add at this point
that we are located in steamy Houston, Texas and are on the Houston
Ship Channel in the middle of a large concentration of chemical
plants which spew air that is less than pure.

We have a mural painted on a steel bulkhead/wall in a room that is
being restored. We've known about a portion of it (about one foot
square) that was uncovered years ago in an unprotected and
non-climate controlled area.  More of the World War II era mural has
recently been discovered and uncovered under two layers of paint.
The mural itself seems to be of a stable oil-based enamel with no
flaking.  The colors of the portion that has been uncovered do not
seem to vary by much from the portion that has been visible and
unprotected.  The room will soon be climate controlled.

Do I need to do more to protect this mural after it is completely
uncovered than cover it with a sheet of plexiglass with UV
protection that is on spacers and provides air flow?

Thank you in advance for any advice that you can send my way,

Susan Smyer
Collections Manager
The Battleship Texas
3527 Battleground Rd.
La Porte, TX  77571
281-479-2431 ex.239


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 17:26
                Distributed: Tuesday, September 2, 2003
                       Message Id: cdl-17-26-014
                                  ***