Navy divers raising armored wreckage of Confederate warship CSS Georgia in 5-ton chunks

In a Friday, Aug. 14, 2015 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. (MC1 Blake Midnight/US Navy via AP) (The Associated Press)

In a Friday, Aug. 14, 2015 photo provided by the US Navy, from left to right, Parker Brooks, left, Jim Jobling, center, and James Duff, archeologists assigned to the CSS Georgia project, examine a piece of casemate, made of railroad ties and timber, which served as the outer layer of armor for CSS Georgia, 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. (MC1 Blake Midnight/US Navy via AP) (The Associated Press)

SAVANNAH, Ga. – The armored skeleton of a Confederate warship that spent 150 years at the bottom of the Savanah River in Georgia is being raised to the surface one 5-ton chunk at a time.

Navy divers began work midweek retrieving an estimated 250,000 pounds of armored siding from the wreckage of the CSS Georgia. Confederate troops scuttled the ironclad gunship in December 1864 to prevent its capture by Union troops taking Savannah.

Navy Chief Warrant Officer 3 Jason Potts says his crew began Wednesday breaking down three large sections of armored siding into 20 smaller chunks and raising them to the surface. The team has already recovered four cannons, the ship's propeller and other artifacts.

The CSS Georgia is being recovered as part of a $703 million deepening of the Savannah harbor.