After years of planning, the Army Corps of Engineers District announced on January 29 that it is planning to begin spending nine months raising the remains of a Confederate ironclad that was deliberately sunk in the Savannah River in 1864.
The 120-foot-long, 1,200-ton CSS Georgia proved unseaworthy and was used as a floating gun platform, but was sunk to keep it from falling into the hands of Gen. William T. Sherman in his march through Georgia.
The state of Georgia and the federal government will spend about $14 million to raise the vessel. The effort is part of a $703 million plan to deepen the Savannah River channel and harbor so that post-Panamax vessels can reach the Port of Savannah.
The vessel still officially belongs to the U.S. Navy as a captured enemy vessel. Cataloging the vessel’s remains is expected to take at least a year.
