Oven Bluff Vessel, Morgan Class, CSN

[ct ertz]

My MAAD has kicked in again. (Model Attention Deficit Disorder) With the Alexandria in test build, the Marietta and Snag Barge done, and progress on a number of other models, I am adding another.

This unnamed vessel was built at Oven Bluff Alabama and seemed to have been completed despite the malaria outbreaks at that ill fated shipyard. It was said to be a Morgan class gunboat, 180 feet between perpendiculars, and around 200 feet overall. It's engines were made at the Navel Ironworks in Columbus Ga. I took a guess at the guns, putting the popular Brookes rifles on a for and aft pivot and augmenting that with a pair of old 9 inch shell guns. As with most Morgan Class ships, this one was probably designed with out a pilot house, one being added later. This ship, like most of the Confederate Navy, was burned to prevent capture at wars end. This vessel was one of 10 Morgan Class ships planned or built during the war.

Because so little is know, I had a bit of fun with this one. I left off the upper masts, and many river craft had there masts shorten or removed. The guns, as stated, are a guess, and other details are used that are known to be common to such ships. I also filled in the space between the main deck and the upper deck with a bulkhead, effectively enclosing a larger deck house.

This will be a waterline kit in 1/250 scale and would be a great addition to the CSS Peedee, showing some of the non-ironclad style home built Confederate ships.

CT