Salvaging CSS Georgia: Unexploded Shells in Black Water

Описание: CSS Georgia was scuttled in 1864—yet today CSS Georgia is one of the most dangerous shipwreck recoveries in America. Sitting in the Savannah River inside a modern dredging footprint, this Confederate ironclad isn’t just historic debris—it’s a flooded ammunition depot in zero visibility “black water,” where divers must map the wreck by touch, grid by grid, while fighting current and suction.

The real nightmare isn’t depth. It’s ordnance. The recovery begins as a bomb disposal mission: divers feel objects buried in silt and must identify—by geometry alone—whether they’re holding scrap iron or a live artillery shell. Navy EOD technicians render munitions safe before heavy work can continue, because one mistake could be fatal. In total, CSS Georgia yields 185 munitions, with 170 large projectiles requiring careful neutralization.

Then salvage engineering takes over. With the wreck’s railroad T-rail armor collapsed into unstable interlocking piles, the team can’t rig a normal lift. Crane heavy lift and mechanized grapples clamp and tear massive casemate sections free from clay that grips like concrete, raising corroded iron that hasn’t seen daylight since 1864.

By the end, CSS Georgia is cleared with roughly 440 tons brought up—selected artifacts stabilized by conservation (including electrolysis) while the channel reaches the required depth.
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