USS Baltimore (C-3) was an American-built U.S. Navy cruiser that was in service from 1890 to 1922. William Cramp & Sons Ship & Engine Building Co., in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, completed construction of the cruiser on October 6, 1888.
Baltimore had an overall length of 102.1 meters, a beam of 14.9 meters, a draft of 6.25 meters, a maximum speed of 20.1 knots, and a displacement of 4,413 tons. It was equipped with two triple-expansion engines, making it one of the first U.S. Navy ships to use them. It had a complement of 386 personnel with armament that included four 8-inch Mark 4 guns and six 6-inch Mark 3 guns.
In the 1890s, Baltimore served as the flagship for the North Atlantic Squadron, the South Pacific Squadron, where it protected citizens during the Chilean Revolution, and the Asiatic Station. In addition, it had a role in the destruction of the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay in the Philippines during the Spanish-American War’s Battle of Manila Bay on May 1, 1898.
Baltimore also served in World War I, deploying approximately 2,000 mines off the coast of Northern Ireland and between the Orkney Islands and Norway in 1918. After World War I, in September 1919, Baltimore was redesignated CM-1 and assigned to the Pacific Fleet. It remained on the western seaboard of the United States until 1921, when it was sent to Pearl Harbor, Hawai‘i, to serve as a receiving ship.
Removed from the Navy list in 1937, the ship was sold for scrap in 1942, and scuttled in 1944 near the southern shore of Oahu, Hawai‘i.
Hawai‘i Undersea Research Laboratory rediscovered the shipwreck in August 2017.On September 29, 2017, NOAA Ocean Exploration and partners explored the wreck during an expedition aboard NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer. Remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Deep Discoverer — equipped with an Insight Pacific Zeus Plus camera capable of collecting high-definition footage — was used to document the site, which is at a depth of 600 meters and is approximately 102 meters long and 15 meters wide.
The footage used for the three photogrammetric models of the Baltimore site were from timestamps 19:20 to 23:05. This footage was processed into still images using photoshop and was not color corrected. 13,015 images were used for the four photo models of the site (the bow, port, starboard, and a plan view). While aligning the models, there was some distortion between the port and starboard sides. This caused one side to be higher than the other. To address this, separate models were created for the port and starboard sides.
The full annotated video of this dive can be viewed on SeaTube.
Site Name: USS Baltimore (C-3)
Type: UCH
UCH Vessel Date Built: October 6, 1888
UCH Vessel Date Sank: September 22, 1944
Hull Material: Steel
Official Number: C-3 (later CM-1)
Expedition Number: EX1708
Expedition Name: Deep-Sea Symphony: Exploring the Musicians Seamounts
ROV Dive Number: 22
ROV Dive Date: September 29-30, 2017
Location: Hawai‘i
Depth: 537 meters
Length: 102.12 meters
Width: 14.9 meters
ROV Used: Deep Discoverer
Camera Information: Insight Zeus Plus HD, 3-CCD color camera with 2/3-inch 2,200,000 pixel 1080i IT CCDs
Video or Stills: Video
Number of Images Used/Format: 13,015/JPG
Image Alignment Percentage: 75%
Number of Tie Points: 2,093,863
Link to Raw Video Footage: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/ocean-exploration/video/?mul=OR&key=any&geosearch=intersecting&cruisetype=all&cruiseId=EX1708&location=&oerkey=dive22&westbc=-180&northbc=90&southbc=-90&eastbc=180
Time to Complete: 12 hours
Orthomosaic Views Available: No
Images Available: Yes
Animations Available: Yes
Available File Exports/Location/POC: archaeology.oceanexploration@noaa.gov
Link to NOAA Ocean Exploration Project Page: https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1708/dailyupdates/dailyupdates.html#cbpi=sept29.html
Software: Agisoft Metashape Standard Version 2.0.1.
Developer: Raymond Phipps, NOAA Ocean Exploration explorer-in-training, July 20, 2023.
Credit: Model courtesy of NOAA Ocean Exploration, Deep-Sea Symphony: Exploring the Musicians Seamounts.
