New 3D map of Civil War shipwreck released

On Jan. 11 in 1863, a Union warship was sunk in a skirmish with a Confederate vessel in the Gulf of Mexico.

3D sonar view of the USS Hatteras from the vessel's port (left) side. More than half the hull lays buried in sediment. The curved tooth-like outline to the right is the remains of the stern and rudder [Credit: NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries/ExploreOcean et al]

Exactly 150 years later, a new 3D map of the USS Hatteras has been released that shows what the remains of the warship look like. The Hatteras rests on the ocean floor about 20 miles (32 kilometers) off Galveston, Texas, according to a release from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, which helped to sponsor the expedition to map the shipwreck.

The Hatteras was sunk in a battle with the Confederate raider CSS Alabama, and was the only Union warship sunk in combat in the Gulf of Mexico during the Civil War.

"Most shipwreck survey maps are two-dimensional and based on observations made by sight, photographs or by feeling around in murky water while stretching a measuring tape," said James Delgado, with NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, in the statement. "Thanks to the high-resolution sonar, we have a three-dimensional map that not only provides measurements and observations, but the ability for researchers and the public to virtually swim through the wreck's exposed remains and even look below the surface at structure buried in loose silt."