Engraving published in The Soldier in Our Civil War, Volume II, depicting the ironclad ram CSS Baltic at Mobile, Alabama |
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| Career | |
|---|---|
| Name: | CSS Baltic |
| Launched: | 1860 |
| Commissioned: | 1862 |
| Decommissioned: | July 1864 |
| Fate: | Captured May 10, 1865 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 624 tons |
| Length: | 186 ft (57 m) |
| Beam: | 38 ft (12 m) |
| Draft: | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) |
| Propulsion: | Steam engine |
| Speed: | 5 knots |
| Complement: | 86 officers and men |
| Armament: | 2 × Dahlgren guns, 2 × 32-pounders, 2 × smaller pieces |
The CSS Baltic was an iron and cottonclad sidewheeler ship built in 1860 in Philadelphia as a river tow boat belonging to the Southern Steamship Co. She was purchased by the State of Alabama, converted to an armored ram, and turned over to the Confederate States Navy in the middle of 1862. Her first commanding officer was Lieutenant James D. Johnston, CSN.
Throughout the American Civil War the Baltic operated in the Mobile Bay, Mobile, Alabama and Tombigbee Rivers. The Baltic was reported unfit for service in February 1863, with her deteriorating condition preventing her from joining the defense of Mobile Bay in June 1864. She was dismantled in July of 1864 and her armor transferred to CSS Nashville.
The Baltic was captured at Nanna Hubba Bluff, Tombigbee River, Alabama, on May 10, 1865, and sold to the U.S. Government on December 31, 1865.
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
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