View source for CSS Georgia (1863)

{{Short description|American Civil War Confederate ironclad warship}}
{{for|the unarmored screw steamer|CSS Georgia (1862)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2013}}
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{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image   = CSS Georgia ironclad.jpg
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{{Infobox ship career
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|Ship country        = Confederate States of America
|Ship flag           = {{shipboxflag|Confederate States of America|naval}}
|Ship name           = ''Georgia''
|Ship namesake       = [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]
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|Ship laid down      = 1862
|Ship launched       = 1863
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|Ship commissioned   = 1863
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|Ship decommissioned = December 21, 1864
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|Ship fate           = Scuttled to prevent capture. Currently undergoing salvage.
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}}
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|Ship length              = {{convert|250|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam                = {{convert|60|ft|m|abbr=on}}
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|Ship complement          = 200 officers and men
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|Ship armament            = 4 to 9 heavy cannons
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{{Infobox NRHP
  | name         = CSS GEORGIA (ironclad)
  | embed        = yes
  | nrhp_type    = 
  | image        = 
  | caption      = 
  | nearest_city = [[Savannah, Georgia]]
  | locmapin     = USA Georgia
  | built        = {{Start date|1862}}
  | engineer     = Alvin N. Miller<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.civilwarroundtableaugustaga.com/news-articles/item81|title=Articles &#124; Civil War Round Table of Augusta|website=www.civilwarroundtableaugustaga.com}}</ref>
  | architecture = 
  | added        = February 10, 1987
  | area         = {{convert|1.6|acre}}
  | refnum       = 86003746<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2013a}}</ref>
}}
|}

'''CSS ''Georgia''''', also known as ''State of Georgia'' and ''Ladies' Ram'', was an [[ironclad]] warship built in [[Savannah, Georgia]] in 1862 during the American Civil War.<ref name=USArmy2007>{{cite journal |author1=Watts, Gordon P |author2=James Jr, Stephen R. |title=In Situ Archaeological Evaluation of the CSS Georgia Savannah Harbor, Georgia |journal=Final Grant Report to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers |date=February 2007 |url=http://sav-harbor.com/Cultural%20Resources/CSS_Georgia_Site_Investigation_Report.pdf |access-date=May 7, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120208114401/http://sav-harbor.com/Cultural%20Resources/CSS_Georgia_Site_Investigation_Report.pdf |archive-date=February 8, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The Ladies' Gunboat Association raised  $115,000 for her construction to defend the port city of Savannah.<ref name=Anuskiewicz1992>{{cite journal |author1=Anuskiewicz, Richard J |author2=Garrison, Ervan G. |title=Underwater archaeology by braille: Survey methodology and site characterization modeling in a blackwater environment - A study of a scuttled confederate ironclad, CSS Georgia. |journal=In: Cahoon, LB. (Ed.) Proceedings of the American Academy of Underwater Sciences Twelfth Annual Scientific Diving Symposium "Diving for Science 1992". Held September 24–27, 1992 at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, Wilmington, NC. |publisher=[[American Academy of Underwater Sciences]] |year=1992 |url=http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/9029 |access-date=January 11, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120905194814/http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/xmlui/handle/123456789/9029 |archive-date=September 5, 2012 |url-status=usurped }}</ref>

==Service history==
[[File:C.S.S. GEORGIA Ironclad.JPG|thumb|Photograph once claimed to be of CSS ''Georgia'', later determined to be a forgery created in the 1980s.]]
Commanded by [[Lieutenant]] Washington Gwathmey, [[Confederate States Navy|CSN]], the new warship was employed to defend the river channels below Savannah, using her cannons to prevent a [[United States|Union]] advance on the city from the sea.<ref name=Anuskiewicz1992/> When her steam engines turned out to lack sufficient power for offensive use, ''Georgia'' was anchored in the [[Savannah River]] as a [[floating battery]], protecting both the city and [[Fort James Jackson|Fort Jackson]].<ref name=USArmy2007/> ''Georgia'' had been in service about 20 months, when [[Sherman's March to the Sea]] captured Savannah by land on December 21, 1864. Her [[Confederate States|Confederate]] crew scuttled the ship to prevent her capture and use against the South.

==Wreck==
In 1866, the ship's railroad track iron rail armor was partially salvaged and the wooden hull was shattered by the underwater charges used to remove it.{{Citation needed|date=May 2015}} The wreck was then left alone and forgotten. In 1968 ''Georgia'' was rediscovered during a [[dredging]] operation of the Savannah River.<ref name=USArmy2007/> The wreck was left untouched, although accidental impacts from dredging equipment and the anchors marking the site location may have damaged what remained.<ref name=USArmy2007/> By 1992, all that was survived were portions of her forward and aft [[casemate]]s and parts of her engines, including the boilers, shafts, propellers, and condensers.<ref name=Anuskiewicz1992/> Several of her cannon were located nearby, along with assorted [[Artillery|ordnance]].<ref name=Anuskiewicz1992/>

In May 2012 the [[United States Army Corps of Engineers]] (USACE) budgeted $14 million to raise the remains of the ironclad to allow for further dredging.<ref name=Bynum0512>{{cite news |title=Civil War shipwreck in the way of Ga. port project |author=Russ Bynum |url=http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2012/05/05/civil_war_shipwreck_in_the_way_of_ga_port_project/ |newspaper=Associated Press |date=May 5, 2012 |access-date=May 7, 2012}}</ref> Archeologists working for the USACE Savannah District, assisted by teams from the [[United States Navy]], raised a {{convert|64|ft2}} section of ''Georgia'' on November 12, 2013.<ref name=Rodriguez2013>{{cite news |author=Rodriguez, Raquel |title=A Piece Of Civil War History Raised From The Savannah River |date=November 13, 2013 |publisher=[[WSAV-TV]] |url=http://www.wsav.com/story/23960380/a-piece-of-civil-war-history-being-raised-from-the-savannah-river |access-date=November 15, 2013 }}</ref>

Further relics are being recovered during an ongoing nine-month salvage operation in 2015, as an initiative to upgrade waterway access for deep sea vessels requires its dredging to {{convert|47|ft|m}}. As of April 2015, USACE, with archaeologists from [[Texas A&M University]], had recovered over 1000 artifacts.<ref>{{cite web|title=New artifacts reveal more about Civil War life|url=http://balancingthebasin.armylive.dodlive.mil/2015/04/30/artifacts-reveal-more-1860s-life/|website=Balancing the Basin|publisher=USACE, Savannah District|access-date=17 May 2015|date=April 30, 2015}}</ref> The removal of ordnance and the lifting of the major remains of the [[Casemate#Casemate ironclads (American Civil War)|casemates]] and machinery occurred in June–August 2015.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Brown|first1=Heather|title=MDSU-2 Prepares for Historic Dive|url=http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=87136|website=America's Navy|publisher=US Navy|access-date=17 May 2015|date=May 15, 2015}}</ref><ref name=GastGannon>{{cite news|last1=Gast|first1=Phil|last2=Gannon|first2=Matthew|title='Seeing eye dogs' help Navy divers recover Civil War vessel in murky river|url=http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/21/us/divers-navy-georgia-savannah-civil-war-ironclad/|access-date=23 August 2015|publisher=[[CNN]]|date=21 August 2015}}</ref>

In the 1980s, a photograph was discovered that allegedly shows the ''Georgia'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://commonconstitutionalist.com/current-events/only-known-photo-of-ironclad-css-georgia/|title=Only Known Photo of Ironclad CSS Georgia|first=the Common|last=Constitutionalist|date=February 17, 2015}}</ref> but it was later discovered to be fake.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gpb.org/news/2015/04/13/ga-historical-society-comments-on-css-georgia-photo-hoax|title=GA Historical Society Comments On CSS Georgia Photo Hoax|website=Georgia Public Broadcasting|date=April 13, 2015 }}</ref>

''Georgia'' was placed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1987.

===Artifacts recovered in 2015===
<gallery>
File:CSS Georgia brass artifact.jpg|A brass artifact - part of a wood and rope assembly to move a cannon
File:CSS Georgia iron artifact.jpg|Iron artifact (heavily corroded)
File:CSS Georgia cannon elevation screw.jpg|A brass cannon elevation screw (still turns)
File:CSS Georgia unrestored iron artifact.jpg|An unrestored iron artifact (heavily corroded)
File:CSS Georgia restored artifact.jpg|A resin cast model of an iron artifact 
File:CSS Georgia cannonball and holder.jpg|A cannonball and holder for a [[grapeshot]]
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Fort James Jackson]], CSS ''Georgia'' sank in the river next to Fort James Jackson

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book |last1=Bisbee |first1=Saxon T. |title=Engines of Rebellion: Confederate Ironclads and Steam Engineering in the American Civil War |publisher=University of Alabama Press |location=Tuscaloosa, Alabama |isbn=978-0-81731-986-1|date=2018}}
*{{cite book |last1=Canney |first1=Donald L. |title=The Confederate Steam Navy 1861-1865 |date=2015 |publisher=Schiffer Publishing|location=Atglen, Pennsylvania |isbn=978-0-7643-4824-2}}

==External links==
* [http://www.sas.usace.army.mil/Missions/CivilWorks/SavannahHarborExpansion/CSSGeorgia.aspx USACE Savannah CSS ''Georgia'' project website]
* [http://www.sas.usace.army.mil/Missions/CivilWorks/SavannahHarborExpansion/CSSGeorgia/CSSGeorgiaOutreachEvents/RaisetheWreckFestival.aspx 2015 Raise the Wreck Festival]{{Dead link|date=November 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
* {{Commons category-inline|CSS Georgia (battery)}}

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{{DANFS}}
{{National Register of Historic Places}}
{{CSN ironclads}}
{{1864 shipwrecks}}
{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Georgia (battery)}}
[[Category:Ironclad floating batteries of the Confederate States Navy]]
[[Category:Georgia (U.S. state) in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:Ships built in Savannah, Georgia]]
[[Category:1863 ships]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of the American Civil War]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of the Georgia (U.S. state) coast]]
[[Category:Scuttled vessels]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in December 1864]]
[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Savannah, Georgia]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures completed in 1862]]