Navy Salvages Two Cannons From CSS Georgia-- Part 2

The first cannon was raised July 15 and the second one on July 21.  Once all are brought ashore (they have found four cannons) technicians will support field inerting (making them non explosive) of the unexploded shells.

The SUPSALF team will be on site (at Old Fort Jackson below Savannah, Georgia) through October.  This team is responsible for Navy ocean engineering, including salvage, in water ship repairs, towing, driving safety, equipment maintenance and procurement.

The letters stand for Supervisor of Salvage and Diving.

--Old B-Runner

Divers Facing Challenges in CSS Georgia Salvage-- Part 4

The CSS Georgia was built in 1862 in Savannah.  original plans do not exist, so historians have little more than contradictory contemporary accounts on which to rely.

But era engravings as well as eyewitness descriptions suggest the warship was  160 feet in length, with a beam of 55 feet and a ten-foot draft.  A single smokestack was on top.

A double layer of interlocked railroad iron weighing more than 1,500 pounds was fixed atop 15 inches of solid timber and covered with cement filled with iron filings.  The 24-foot iron walls rested at a 45-degree slope.

The ship was scuttled on Dec. 20, 1864, as General William T. Sherman's Union troops seized Savannah, the city the Georgia was built to defend.  Its watery grave is roughly five miles from Savannah off Old Fort Jackson on the north edge of the Savannah Harbor navigation channel.

--Old B-Runner

Navy Divers Prep to Raise CSS Georgia-- Part 3: Not Much of a History for It

At one point will certain people in the United States demand the ship be destroyed rather than raised because it represents the Confederacy and you know what it was fighting for.

The CSS Georgia was built in 1862 in Savannah, mostly by Confederate soldiers and with money raised by the Ladies Gunboat Association who raised $115,000.  It was constantly plagued by leaks because it was made of unseasoned wood.  Its engines were too weak to move against the Savannah River's strong current.  Though designed for ten guns, it was only carrying four and two light ones when the Confederates sank it in late 1864 to avoid capture.

Since it couldn't move against the current, it had spent its career anchored by Old Fort  Jackson south of the city and used as essentially a floating battery (which was why guns facing away from the river were removed).

Although, its very presence helped keep the Union fleet from ascending the river to take Savannah.

--Old B-Runner

Delay in CSS Georgia Recovery

From the June 1, 2015, WTOC, Savannah.

Maritime archaeologists from Memphis have pulled up over 1,000 artifacts from the shipwreck since January.  Work to raise the Georgia's remnants were scheduled to begin June 1st, but are being delayed because even more artifacts are being found.  The Navy divers now hope to start the heavy work in three more weeks.

When the vessel is finally brought up, the area around it will be blocked off, but in July, it is hoped that it will be open to the public.  They hope to be finished in August.

Texas A&M will be restored all artifacts and parts of the ship.

I suppose there will eventually be a display of the ship's remains, hopefully by Old Fort Jackson where the ship is being raised.

--Old B-Runner

Raising the CSS Georgia

Yesterday, we found it MUCH EASIER leaving Tybee Island.  Absolutely no traffic jams like what kept us there Sunday night.

Drove back to Savannah and then to Old Fort Jackson, which I toured.  This little-known fort actually has more cannons than Fort Fisher, which now has only two coast defense cannons, one that fires.

I saw a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers boat tied up by the buoy that  marks the wreck of the Confederate ironclad CSS Georgia which was scuttled when Sherman captured  Savannah.  It is about fifty yards off Old Fort Jackson.  This was where the Georgia spend most of her career after it was found that her engines ncould not propel it against the strong Savannah current.

I was told they are currently bringing up small poieces, but this summer they intend to bring up cannons and pieces of the casemate.

--Old B-Runner

Going to Check Out the CSS Georgia

In a short time we leave Tybee Island and go to Old Fort Jackson by Savannah to check out progress on the raising of the remains of the CSS Georgia.

A Real Piece of History.  --Old B-Runner