CSS Georgia (battery)

Career
Name: CSS Georgia
Laid down: 1862
Launched: 1863
Commissioned: 1863
Decommissioned: December 21, 1864
Fate: Destroyed to prevent capture
General characteristics
Length: 250 ft (76 m)
Beam: 60 ft (18 m)
Complement: 200 officers and men
Armament: 4 to 9 guns

CSS Georgia, also known as State of Georgia and Ladies' Ram, was an ironclad floating battery built at Savannah, Georgia in 1862–1863.[1] Funding in the amount of $115,000 for her construction was provided by the Ladies' Gunboat Association.[1]

Placed under command of Lieutenant Washington Gwathmey, CSN, she was employed in defending the river channels below Savannah, training her batteries against the Union advance. Since she lacked effective locomotive power, the Confederates found it necessary to burn and destroy her during the evacuation of Savannah on December 21, 1864.[1]

After settling to the bottom of Savannah Harbor, the wreck was noted as an obstruction, and several years later a survey of the wreck was completed. This survey found that the Georgia had settled slightly into the bottom, was covered by 11 feet of water at low tide. A sandbar was rapidly building up around the wreck, which ensured that the Georgia would be buried relatively quickly.

Unfortunately, the Army Corps of Engineers undertook a dredging and expansion of the channel several times since the Civil War, with the effect that the wreck was uncovered, and gradually destroyed over the years. Today all that remains are a portion of the forward and after casemate, along with remnants of the ship's engines including boilers, shafts, propellers, and condensers. Several cannon were found near the wreck as well, along with assorted ordinance.

A survey completed in 2006-2007 confirmed that by and large, the bulk of the CSS Georgia had been destroyed by a combination of manmade and natural forces since the ship's sinking.[2] The remains have been scoured repeatedly over time by dredging and anchored ships, to the effect that scattered remains extending into the channel are the only remnants of the ironclad.

References

  1. ^ a b c Anuskiewicz, Richard J; Garrison, Ervan G. (1992). "Underwater archaeology by braille: Survey methodology and site characterization modeling in a blackwater environment - A study of a scuttled confederate ironclad, CSS Georgia.". In: Cahoon, LB. (ed.) Proceedings of the American Academy of Underwater Sciences Twelfth Annual Scientific Diving Symposium "Diving for Science 1992". Held September 24-27, 1992 at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, Wilmington, NC. (American Academy of Underwater Sciences). http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/9029. Retrieved 2011-01-11. 
  2. ^ Watts, Gordon P; James Jr, Stephen R. (2007-02). "In Situ Archaeological Evaluation of the CSS Georgia Savannah Harbor, Georgia". Final Grant Report to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. http://sav-harbor.com/Cultural%20Resources/CSS_Georgia_Site_Investigation_Report.pdf. Retrieved 2011-01-11. 

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.