CSS Baltic
 Engraving published in The Soldier in Our Civil War, Volume II, depicting the ironclad ram CSS Baltic at Mobile, Alabama. | |
| Career | Confederate Navy Jack |
|---|---|
| Ordered: | |
| Laid down: | |
| Launched: | 1860 |
| Commissioned: | 1862 |
| Decommissioned: | July 1864 |
| Fate: | Captured May 10, 1865 |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 624 tons |
| Length: | 186 feet |
| Beam: | 38 feet |
| Draught: | 6 feet 5 inches |
| Propulsion: | Steam engine |
| Speed: | 5 knots |
| Range: | |
| Complement: | 86 officers and men |
| Armament: | 2 Dahlgrens, 2 32-pounders, 2 smaller pieces |
| Motto: | |
CSS Baltic, an iron and cottonclad sidewheeler, was built in 1860 as a river tow boat, and belonged to the Southern Steamship Co. She was purchased by the State of Alabama, converted to an armored ram, and turned over to the Confederate States Navy in the middle of 1862. Her first commanding officer was Lieutenant James D. Johnston, CSN.
Throughout the war Baltic operated in Mobile Bay and the Mobile, Alabama and Tombigbee Rivers. Reported unfit for service in February 1863, her sinking condition prevented her joining the defense of Mobile Bay in June 1864. She was dismantled by July 1864 and her armor transferred to CSS Nashville.
Baltic was captured at Nanna Hubba Bluff, Tombigbee River, Alabama, on May 10, 1865, and sold to the U.S. Government on December 31, 1865.
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.