CSS Baltic

CSS Baltic was an <a href="/facts/Ironclad_warship/woAQJfj3">ironclad warship</a> that served in the <a href="/facts/Confederate_States_Navy/y1DjJ5yw">Confederate States Navy</a> during the <a href="/facts/American_Civil_War/A9FT3ksD">American Civil War</a>. A <a href="/facts/Towboat/q0PVYWqv">towboat</a> before the war, she was purchased by the state of <a href="/facts/Alabama/1Xk8EveN">Alabama</a> in December 1861 for conversion into an ironclad. After being transferred to the Confederate Navy in May 1862 as an ironclad, she served on <a href="/facts/Mobile_Bay/5N6rP11g">Mobile Bay</a> off the <a href="/facts/Gulf_of_Mexico/bGE5s57G">Gulf of Mexico</a>. Baltic's condition in Confederate service was such that naval historian <a href="/facts/William_N._Still_Jr./428uQlfA">William N. Still Jr.</a> has described her as "a nondescript vessel in many ways". Over the next two years, parts of the ship's wooden structure were affected by wood rot. Her armor was removed to be put onto the ironclad <a href="/facts/CSS_Nashville_(1864)/Kou2YUaD">CSS Nashville</a> in 1864. By that August, Baltic had been <a href="/facts/Ship_commissioning/aPxGm7yB">decommissioned</a>. Near the end of the war, she was taken up the <a href="/facts/Tombigbee_River/wymhbHgV">Tombigbee River</a>, where she was captured by <a href="/facts/Union_(American_Civil_War)/KW6wJt7J">Union</a> forces on May 10, 1865. An inspection of Baltic the next month found that her upper <a href="/facts/Hull_(ship)/hY6LxATt">hull</a> and deck were rotten and that her boilers were unsafe. She was sold on December 31, and was likely <a href="/facts/Ship_breaking/qh49CobX">broken up</a> in 1866.

CSS Baltic open-in-new

CSS Baltic