Civil War shipwreck creates hurdle for government's $653M plan

Fox News ^ | May 5, 2012 | AP

[JerseyanExile]

Before government engineers can deepen one of the nation's busiest seaports to accommodate future trade, they first need to remove a $14 million obstacle from the past -- a Confederate warship rotting on the Savannah River bottom for nearly 150 years.

Confederate troops scuttled the ironclad CSS Georgia to prevent its capture by Gen. William T. Sherman when his Union troops took Savannah in December 1864. It's been on the river bottom ever since.

Now, the Civil War shipwreck sits in the way of a government agency's $653 million plan to deepen the waterway that links the nation's fourth-busiest container port to the Atlantic Ocean. The ship's remains are considered so historically significant that dredging the river is prohibited within 50 feet of the wreckage.

So the Army Corps of Engineers plans to raise and preserve what's left of the CSS Georgia. The agency's final report on the project last month estimated the cost to taxpayers at $14 million. The work could start next year on what's sure to be a painstaking effort.

And leaving the shipwreck in place is not an option: Officials say the harbor must be deepened to accommodate supersize cargo ships coming through an expanded Panama Canal in 2014 -- ships that will bring valuable revenue to the state and would otherwise go to other ports.

Underwater surveys show two large chunks of the ship's iron-armored siding have survived, the largest being 68 feet long and 24 feet tall. Raising them intact will be a priority. Researchers also spotted three cannons on the riverbed, an intact propeller and other pieces of the warship's steam engines. And there's smaller debris scattered across the site that could yield unexpected treasures, requiring careful sifting beneath 40 feet of water.

[bmwcyle]

[rockrr]

that would be great if they can resurrect her.

[thackney]

In Vicksburg, there is a great display of the USS Cairo.

http://www.nps.gov/vick/u-s-s-cairo-gunboat.htm

[Flatus I. Maximus]

The Civil War ushered in the era of armored warships. In Savannah, a Ladies Gunboat Association raised $115,000 to build such a ship to protect the city. The 120-foot-long CSS Georgia had armor forged from railroad iron, but its engines proved too weak to propel the ship's 1,200-ton frame against river currents. The ship was anchored on the riverside at Fort Jackson as a floating gun battery.

Ultimately the Georgia was scuttled by its own crew without having ever fired a shot in combat.

So they want to spend $14 million of taxpayer money to raise the remaining pieces of a 150-year-old complete failure and boondoggle that was sunk by its own crew and has mostly rusted away.

Is it just me, or is this nuts?

[sphinx]

The Cairo is a great story. And talk about doing things on a shoestring -- Ed Bearss, then a junior Park Service ranger/historian, even went on Price is Right to raise a big chunk of the salvage cost. (Ed, of course, was the fellow who located the wreck ... by scouring the river in a small boat, watching to see when his magnetic compass went nuts.) The Cairo could have been brought up intact had the Park Service, or anyone else, kicked in serious cash, but it was all strictly a do-it-yourself operation.

In a perfect world, we could even have preserved the wood. But there was no money for that, so the wood rotted away very quickly once it was exposed.

[Mr Apple]

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-us-cs/csa-sh/csash-ag/georgia2.htm

[BenLurkin]

Oh, for crying out loud.

Send in a dredge and plow it out. Get on with things that need to be done.

[BenLurkin]

It is NUTS.

[BenLurkin]

Kind of like making a T-34 tank monument in Berlin.

[Forward the Light Brigade]

If it was an important ship—that would be a different story—if she was the CSS Virginia or the CSS Arkansas or even the CSS Manassas Those were successful ironclads made by the south. Why celibate a failure? Even the CSS Tennessee would be worth saving. Pull it up quick and dirty and get on with the important work of expanding the port.

[Darteaus94025]

Or a monument to a Kenyan in Chicago.

[Daaave]

The Confederates and people here on this thread consider the CSS Georgia a failure. The Union thought differently. You can read what they thought in their own words. You can also learn why the Union took Savannah by land.

The Commander of the blockading fleet wrote in 1862: “…we have been disturbed by the repeated reports of there being an ironclad ship in the Savannah River, and for the first time since I took command of this squadron I have felt a sense of oppression…”

CSS Georgia

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks JerseyanExile.

[SunkenCiv]

Whoops, got a little confused. Bedtime.

[SunkenCiv]

GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach	join list or digest view topics view or post blog bookmark post a topic subscribe
Thanks JerseyanExile. Just adding to the catalog, not sending a general distribution. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.

[sphinx]

If they've got a section 68' by 24' more or less intact, plus other smaller sections and artifacts, they've got a heckuva good attraction for a museum. Check out the remains of the Monitor at the Mariners Museum in Newport News. Put this on display and you'll have something that will attract visitors in perpetuity.

I admit to a weakness for old ships. Go to a nautical museum and look at the models of old warships, and then pause to realize that in most instances, we have not saved even a single example of the class as a museum ship. That's sad. We're going to lose the Olympia in Philadelphia if we're not careful. A white knight needs to step up on that one.

[dhs12345]

Agreed! Saw it many years ago.

[TheOldLady]

It’s only nuts if you’re not 0bama.

I’m sure that he would love to build a monument to an expensive boondoggle that was embarrassing to Americans, regardless their side on the Civil War.

Maybe he’ll insist that a nearly-closed fist with the single finger salute be erected in the atrium so that all who enter will see his disdain for our country.

[longtermmemmory]

think of this as $14 million in crony contracts.