Taking a Look at the USS Hatteras-- Part 1

From the September 10, 2012 ENEWSPF "NOAA Partners To Document Civil War -Era Warship Sunk in Gulf of Mexico Battle."

Teams of archaeologists and technicians today began creating a 3-D sonar map to document the storm-exposed remains of the USS Hatteras, the only US warship sunk in combat in the Gulf of Mexico during the war.  (At least one was sunk in Mobile Bay.)

The iron-hulled steamship was converted into a gunboat and sunk by the CSS Alabama on January 11, 1863, about twenty miles off Galveston, Texas.

Today, the wreck is largely intact, about 57-feet down in sand and silt.  Recent hurricanes and storms have removed enough sediment to make the effort possible. Shifting sands, however, may rebury it so speed is of utmost importance.

It has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a war grave as two of the crew went down with the Hatteras and their bodies never recovered.

The expedition would like to have the job finished by the 150th anniversary if the sinking.

Another Ship Documented.  --Old B-Runner