Editing CSS Baltic (section)

==Service history==
[[File:Frank Leslie's scenes and portraits of the Civil War (1894) (14760685724).jpg|thumb|left|alt=Floating barrels with cylinders under them|A period depiction of one type of Confederate naval mines.  ''Baltic'' laid mines in Mobile Bay.]]
On May 12, 1862, ''Baltic'' was transferred by the State of Alabama to the [[Confederate States Navy]].  The Confederates placed her under the command of [[Lieutenant (navy)|Lieutenant]] [[James D. Johnston]].{{sfn|Luraghi|1996|p=280}}  The vessel was formally [[ship commissioning|commissioned]] that month.{{sfn|Joiner|2011|p=48}}  She served on Mobile Bay, the area around Mobile, Alabama, and on the [[Tombigbee River]].<ref name="DANFS" />  By February 1863, the ship was too dilapidated for active service,<ref name="DANFS" /> and she was relegated to placing [[naval mines]] to protect Mobile Bay.{{sfn|Joiner|2011|p=49}}  Prior to [[CSS Tennessee (1863)|CSS ''Tennessee'']]{{'}}s completion in February 1864, ''Baltic'' was the only Confederate ironclad on Mobile Bay.  Once ''Tennessee'' was completed, Johnston was transferred to command her,{{sfn|Bisbee|2018|p=123}} and Lieutenant [[Charles Carroll Simms]] was appointed to command ''Baltic''.{{sfn|Bisbee|2018|pp=56{{en dash}}57}} Through late 1863 and early 1864, ''Baltic{{'}}''s condition worsened.  By March 20, 1864, naval constructor [[John L. Porter]] had surveyed the ship's condition, judging it to be in such poor condition that he recommended that the iron be removed from her.  On May 20, Simms wrote that ''Baltic'' was very rotten and was "about as fit to go into action as a [[wikt:mud scow|mud scow]]".{{sfn|Bisbee|2018|p=57}}

In July, the vessel was partially dismantled,{{sfn|Joiner|2011|p=49}} and some of her armor was removed and placed onto the ironclad [[CSS Nashville (1864)|CSS ''Nashville'']].{{sfn|Still|1985|p=204}}  After her armor was removed, Confederate naval officer [[John Randolph Tucker (naval officer)|John Randolph Tucker]] noted that engineers had declared her boilers to be unsafe and that they were having to be patched.{{sfn|Bisbee|2018|p=57}}  On July 21, Simms was appointed to command ''Nashville'', and the rest of ''Baltic{{'}}''s armor was removed to be put on ''Nashville''.{{sfn|Bisbee|2018|p=139}} By the time of the [[Battle of Mobile Bay]] in early August, ''Baltic'' had been [[ship commissioning|decommissioned]].{{sfn|Bisbee|2018|p=125}} With the end of the war approaching, ''Baltic'', ''Nashville'', and other vessels were sent up the Tombigbee River.  They were captured by Union forces on May 10, 1865, at [[Nanna Hubba Bluff]].  The next month, Union authorities surveyed ''Baltic'' and noted that below the [[Load line (watercraft)|load line]] she was in good condition, but that the portion of her hull above the load line and the deck were both rotten.  Although the engines were in good condition at that time, the boilers were unsafe to use.  The surveyors suggested that with repairs, ''Baltic'' could return to use as a towboat, but this never happened,{{sfn|Bisbee|2018|pp=57{{en dash}}58}} and she was sold on December 31.{{sfn|Silverstone|1989|p=235}}  Bisbee believes that ''Baltic'' was probably [[ship breaking|broken up]] at some point in 1866 and suggests that the ship's known poor condition and the lack of further records relating to her indicate that she was likely not used for any other purposes.{{sfn|Bisbee|2018|p=208 fn. 109}}