Posted on 08/18/2015 12:08:52 PM PDT by Kartographer
The armored husk of a Confederate warship is being raised out of the depths of a Georgia river, 150 years after the ship's crew deliberately sunk it.
Government officials are pulling approximately 250,000 lbs. (113,000 kilograms) of the warship CSS Georgia's armored siding the ship's skeleton from the Savannah River.
Crews are raising the Civil War-era ship's remains in 10,000-lb. (4,500 kg) chunks that measure about 4 feet tall by 24 feet wide (1.2 by 7.3 meters). The siding is the last major ship part remaining in the water; Navy divers began retrieving the ship's unexploded shells, cannons and other artifacts in late June. [See photos of the CSS Georgia's recovery]
"The historical significance is evident in everything we do," Jason Potts, the U.S. Navy's on-scene commander, said on Aug. 12, the Associated Press reported.
Officials decided to remove the sunken ship before the start of a joint state and federal project to deepen the Savannah River's shipping channel from 42 feet to 47 feet (12.8 to 14.3 m). The channel deepening will allow giant cargo shipsto more easily enter the Savannah port, according to the United States Army Corps of Engineers.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Yes, same concept. The problem was the power plant was underpowered and it couldn't build up enough speed to sally out and engage in battle. So, they anchored it in the river and used it as a battery to protect the fort and city from Union ships attempting to sail up the river. Sherman's arrival broke up that party.
Yeah, they burned down the Margret Mitchell house once (twice ?) in Atlanta just before the 1996 Olympics.
The Confederate States Navy patterned all of its ironclad rams after CSS VIRGINIA.
The United States Navy patterned all of its ironclad gunboats after USS MONITOR.
Both designs “worked” after a fashion.
Just as soon as they find any Confederate Insignia on it.
...the ship’s crew deliberately sunk it.
***
I suspect that they actually sank it.
Weapons recovered? Looks like someone really did have a ‘boating accident’.
It’s unfortunate that they scuttled the Merrimac -it along with the Hunley rank among the most significant advancements in naval warfare in modern history.
IIRC ‘Merrimac’ is the name of the ship when it was a US Navy frigate. The US Navy scuttled it at Norfolk, the Confederate Navy raised it and rebuilt it as the ironclad ‘Virginia’.
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