History
Confederate States of America
Name	Georgia
Namesake	Georgia
Laid down	1862
Launched	1863
Commissioned	1863
Decommissioned	December 21, 1864
Fate	Scuttled to prevent capture. Currently undergoing salvage.
General characteristics
Length	250 ft (76 m)
Beam	60 ft (18 m)
Complement	200 officers and men
Armament	4 to 9 heavy cannons
CSS GEORGIA (ironclad)
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Nearest city	Savannah, Georgia
Area	1.6 acres (0.65 ha)
Built	1862 (1862)
Engineer	Alvin N. Miller[2]
NRHP reference No.	86003746[1]
Added to NRHP	February 10, 1987

CSSGeorgia, also known asState of Georgia andLadies' Ram, was anironclad warship built inSavannah, Georgia in 1862 during the American Civil War.^[3] The Ladies' Gunboat Association raised $115,000 for her construction to defend the port city of Savannah.^[4]

Commanded byLieutenant Washington Gwathmey,CSN, the new warship was employed to defend the river channels below Savannah, using her cannons to prevent aUnion advance on the city from the sea.^[4] When her steam engines turned out to lack sufficient power for offensive use,Georgia was anchored in theSavannah River as afloating battery, protecting both the city andFort Jackson.^[3]Georgia had been in service about 20 months, whenSherman's March to the Sea captured Savannah by land on December 21, 1864. HerConfederate crew scuttled the ship to prevent her capture and use against the South.

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]} The wreck was then left alone and forgotten. In 1968Georgia was rediscovered during adredging operation of the Savannah River.^[3] The wreck was left untouched, although accidental impacts from dredging equipment and the anchors marking the site location may have damaged what remained.^[3] By 1992, all that was survived were portions of her forward and aftcasemates and parts of her engines, including the boilers, shafts, propellers, and condensers.^[4] Several of her cannon were located nearby, along with assortedordnance.^[4]

In May 2012 theUnited States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) budgeted $14 million to raise the remains of the ironclad to allow for further dredging.^[5] Archeologists working for the USACE Savannah District, assisted by teams from theUnited States Navy, raised a 64 square feet (5.9 m²) section ofGeorgia on November 12, 2013.^[6]

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 47 feet (14 m). As of April 2015, USACE, with archaeologists fromTexas A&M University, had recovered over 1000 artifacts.^[7] The removal of ordnance and the lifting of the major remains of thecasemates and machinery occurred in June–August 2015.^[8][9]

In the 1980s, a photograph was discovered that allegedly shows theGeorgia,^[10] but it was later discovered to be fake.^[11]

Georgia was placed on theNational Register of Historic Places in 1987.

• 
  A brass artifact - part of a wood and rope assembly to move a cannon
• 
  Iron artifact (heavily corroded)
• 
  A brass cannon elevation screw (still turns)
• 
  An unrestored iron artifact (heavily corroded)
• 
  A resin cast model of an iron artifact
• 
  A cannonball and holder for agrapeshot

• Fort James Jackson, CSSGeorgia sank in the river next to Fort James Jackson

• Bisbee, Saxon T. (2018).Engines of Rebellion: Confederate Ironclads and Steam Engineering in the American Civil War. Tuscaloosa, Alabama: University of Alabama Press.ISBN 978-0-81731-986-1.
• Canney, Donald L. (2015).The Confederate Steam Navy 1861-1865. Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Publishing.ISBN 978-0-7643-4824-2.

• USACE Savannah CSSGeorgia project website
• 2015 Raise the Wreck Festival
• Media related toCSS Georgia (battery) at Wikimedia Commons

32°5′5″N81°2′9″W / 32.08472°N 81.03583°W /32.08472; -81.03583 This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.

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

• Articles using NRISref without a reference number
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• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from November 2013
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• Articles with unsourced statements from May 2015
• Commons category link is on Wikidata
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• Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships