Tag Archives: CSS Georgia

Georgia cannons multiplying

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Navy divers from Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit 2 and Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 6 have so far recovered the four cannon located from the hardluck ironclad CSS Georgia.

These included a 6 pdr brought up on 15 July, a massive 9-inch Dahlgren smoothebore and 6.4-inch Brooke Banded rifle on 21 July, and a final Brooke the next day.

The divers are now switching to removing larger objects, such as the armored casemate, boiler, screw and other propulsion equipment before the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project moves into the next phase.

Her prop broke the surface on July 25

More here

Photo #: NH 58722 The Confederate Ironclad Ram 'Georgia' Line engraving published in The Soldier in Our Civil War, Volume II, page 31, depicting CSS Georgia, an ironclad floating battery that served in the defenses of Savannah, Georgia. Despite the caption included in the original image, this vessel was not a ram. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Photo #: NH 58722 The Confederate Ironclad Ram ‘Georgia’ Line engraving published in The Soldier in Our Civil War, Volume II, page 31, depicting CSS Georgia, an ironclad floating battery that served in the defenses of Savannah, Georgia. Despite the caption included in the original image, this vessel was not a ram. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

1st cannon surfaces from CSS Georgia

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The Navy is working deep in the muddy river bottom in Savannah to bring the remnants of the Peach Tree State’s namesake ironclad to the surface for the first time since 1864. 

And the first cannon has broken the surface.

150715-N-ZZ999-001 SAVANNAH, Ga. (July 15, 2015) Navy Diver 1st Class Spencer Puett of Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit 2, who is the current Military Diver of the Year, and Lt.j.g. Andrew Heckel of Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 6, pose behind the cannon they rigged for recovery this morning from the wreck site of the Civil War ironclad CSS Georgia, which has rested at the bottom of the Savannah River for over 150 years. (U.S. Navy photo by Chief Warrant Officer 3 Jason Potts/Released)

150715-N-ZZ999-001 SAVANNAH, Ga. (July 15, 2015) Navy Diver 1st Class Spencer Puett of Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit 2, who is the current Military Diver of the Year, and Lt.j.g. Andrew Heckel of Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 6, pose behind the cannon they rigged for recovery this morning from the wreck site of the Civil War ironclad CSS Georgia, which has rested at the bottom of the Savannah River for over 150 years. (U.S. Navy photo by Chief Warrant Officer 3 Jason Potts/Released)

That’s one dangerous peach

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The Confederate ironclad CSS Georgia was a seldom-seen 250-foot locomotive powered ram built by subscription from the Ladies’ Gunboat Association of Savannah in 1862-63. She haunted the river systems around that Peachtree State town, never firing a shot in battle, until the night of 21 Dec. 1864 when she was fired to prevent her from falling into Sherman’s hands.

Ah the fakery

Ah the fakery

She made news last year when a man disclosed that the only known photo of her in existence was faked back in 1986.

Well, the real deal ship has been the subject of a joint recovery effort by the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers who have been raising it before it was destroyed in a Corps harbor expansion of Savannah.

It appears that Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit (MDSU) 2 and Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit (EODMU) 6, working alongside the Naval History and Heritage Command, have had their hands full with UXO.

“We have already recovered upwards of 100 pieces of unexploded ordnance and discarded military munitions from the river bottom,” said Chief Warrant Officer Jason Potts, on-scene diving and salvage commander. “Once this portion is wrapped up, we can move on to cannon recovery and large artifact removal.”

Here’s some B-roll for you:

SAVANNAH, Ga. (July 11, 2015) Navy Divers from Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit (MDSU) 2 and Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technicians from Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit (EODMU) 6, in conjunction with archaeologists, conservationists, Naval History and Heritage Command, and the US Army Corps of Engineers, are diving the Savannah river in support of the salvage of Civil War Ironclad CSS Georgia. (U.S. Navy video by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jesse A. Hyatt/Released)