Tinclad #24 USS Champion in 1/250 scale

[ct ertz]

Coming soon...
The USS Champion IV was a civilian steam acquired by the US Navy during the Civil War and Outfitted as a war ship. Officially named “Tinclad #24”, the Champion was lightly armored against small arms fire and fitted out with two large cannon, an older smooth-bore gun, and two light howitzers. Working from the only known lithograph of #24, I have tried to recreate the ship as she might of looked during the summer of 1864.


Like all “tinclads”, #24 was had a shied of iron running around her gun deck, to protect the gunners, and the machinery and boilers. The ½ inch iron was backed by 18 inches of wood, providing plenty of protection against small arms fire and even field artillery. The armor was far less effective against heavy artillery. The wheelhouse was also armored, in this case with additional layers of heavy timbers, and the windows are reduced to narrow view ports. The cabins located between the wheelhouse and the gun deck were not reenforced, and would be vacated during combat. A temporary hurricane deck has been added to the roofed over section aft of the pilothouse. A large bulwark of wood has been added to the cabin deck to provide some cover for the boat howitzer crews, should they be called upon to suppress rifle fire from the river banks.


This ship is quite small, only 145 feet in length and 26 feet in beam. The deck extend beyond the beam of the hull and the paddle wheel houses added to the width of the ship, but this left the gun deck quite crowded. Because of this, you will not that the broad sides of the tinclad's gun deck have no angle to them, and only the for and aft casement walls are angled. Although the armament could be man-handled and placed in a number of places, it is likely that the two large rifled guns were mounted at the front ports, the smooth-bore mounted at the stern and the light howitzers mounted on wheeled carriages to be used on deck. I have also added small dead lights just under the cabin deck to allow light into the gun deck, in the same manner used on the USS Essex.



I am working on the steam winch and ships launches now, and internal formers. This will be a waterline kit and will not have a detailed gun deck. It will be available soon in the free download section. Hopefully, I will have some new models available for ecardmodels as well. Too many irons in the fire these days.:o
CT

[Knife]

I'll be back home Saturday if you need a beta builder! (hint, hint):D

[outersketcher]

This looks like it will be a fun build. The steamships have always been a favorite of mine. Did she serve in any serious fights? It seems to me that those high-sided paddle wheel housings would present an irresistible target...

[Don Boose]

Glad to see USN ships emerging from your shipyard, Cory!

Looks great. Can the Eads Gunbboats and the Army Ram Fleet be far behind?

Don

[ct ertz]

As far as I know Number 24 was used for patrol, transport, and denying the Confederates use of river fords on the Tennessee, Mississippi, and Red rivers. It stayed away from any big gun trouble, such as duels with fortifications. The vulnerable wheels were not too big of an issue, for when this type of ship had to tangle with rebel gun boats, it would fight head on as much as possible. The wood and light iron plating would keep all of the machinery safe from shpore ambush by Confederate horse artillery and sharp shooters (a frequent happening with Forrest's men out and about!)

I also plan on having the USS Tyler and USS Essex up soon.

CT

[Wyvern]

Looks great, Corey!

Wyvern

[jmr248]

You could also do the USS Lexington which was with the Tyler at Shiloh. It was a timberclad gunboat.

[Zathros]

I love your models and the History lessons.

[Torakaze-222]

Can barely wait to try building it. Thanks for this one!

[Kazziga]

Corey, it's a pleasure to see you designing these beautiful Civil War warships. Is there a chance that we will see the ships of other 19th century navies?