Divers raise wreckage of Confederate warship

Armored siding being raised in 5-ton chunks

In a Friday, Aug. 14 photo provided by the US Navy, Chief Warrant Officer 3, Jason Potts, on scene commander for Task Element CSS Georgia, supervises as a piece of casemate, made of railroad ties and timber, which served as the outer layer of armor for CSS Georgia, is raised from the Savannah River in Savannah, Ga. Navy divers are working in conjunction with archeologists, conservationists, Naval History and Heritage Command and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in a project directed by Naval Sea Systems Command Supervisor of Salvage and Diving to salvage and preserve CSS Georgia - photo by Associated Press

W Confederate Ironclad Ledb — In a Friday, Aug. 14 photo provided by the US Navy, Chief Warrant Officer 3, Jason Potts, on scene commander for Task Element CSS Georgia, supervises as a piece of casemate, made of railroad ties and timber, which served as the outer layer of armor for CSS Georgia, is raised from the Savannah River in Savannah, Ga. Navy divers are working in conjunction with archeologists, conservationists, Naval History and Heritage Command and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in a project directed by Naval Sea Systems Command Supervisor of Salvage and Diving to salvage and preserve CSS Georgia - photo by Associated Press

SAVANNAH — After 150 years at the bottom of the Savannah River, the armored skeleton of the Confederate warship CSS Georgia is being raised to the surface one 5-ton chunk at a time. Navy divers who began working in late June to recover cannons, unexploded shells and other artifacts from the riverbed finally started midweek on their last major task — retrieving an estimated 250,000 pounds of the Civil War ironclad's armored siding. The CSS Georgia was scuttled by its own crew to prevent Gen. William T. Sherman from capturing the massive gunship when his Union troops took Savannah in December 1864.

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