I have been told that scuttling a ship is a legal abandonment of said vessel. Do we have any lawyers on this board who would know if that is in fact, true?

This question is in relation to the US Navy's claim to own the Eastport, a gunboat that they scuttled in the Red River in 1864. I am aware that they are going to claim to own it whether they legally do or not, but was just wondering if there was a legitimate claim that they don't own it.