Dismal Swamp Vessels, Civil War Ironclads

[Knife]

I forgot to thank CT for letting me do the test build. I'm going to build another one, without the mistakes I made in the first one.

Thanks for the compliments, Thomas. I think the laser-cut ships wheels is the route to go.

Now for a suggestion for CT's next project, the CSS Pioneer:

[ct ertz]

Wow, great build! I am re-coloring the before mentioned wood parts, and I will add the marks for the boat davits. I am also going to add a water base similar to the one you used in the pictures (though I may green up the water a bit).

Some thoughts on this craft. I do not know about the winches? Your guess is as good as mine. All historical dater for the CSS Albemaral and the reproduction of the gun deck in Columbus Ga shows on long winch just behind the forward gun, with the anchor chains running over the guns pivot rails. On this small ship I chose two separate and some what smaller hand cranked winches. Still, the chains would be covering the gun rails. I do not know???

As for the piloting, from what I gather these little ships were more of a self propelled floating battery as apposed to the "rams" of the period. In he drawings John Wallis sent me no fixtures of any kind were drawn for a pilot house. (the Union's William Norris Gun boat is also drawn with out a pilot house) My guess would be that at some point, had these batteries been finished, some protection would have been added for the pilot, but as designed it was a simply a matter of moving the grate and sticking ones head up, or taking direction from the captain who would be on the top deck during navigation. I suspect that during battle these ships would have been guided by looking through the gun ports.

I do not know if these boats would of had gun port shutters or not.

Anyhow, thanks Knife for your hard work and I will shoot you over the final draft with the water base and color corrections as soon as they are done.

Oh, and I almost forgot, thr CSS Pioneer would be cool. If no one else is working on it (Avery? Trent? Dragos?) i may have to give it some though.

CT

[rebelatsea]

Not all CS ironclads were rams, that's just one of the many myths that have grown over the years. I think CT is right in that at least initially pilots would have been guided by the Officer of the watch or Captain standing on the hurricane deck. Armoured protection would have come later, but even some late design ships did not have full pilot houses. What we have to remember is that these vessels were completely new technology, everyone was feeling their way, finding old methods and ways of doing things didn't always work and inventing new ones.

[rebelatsea]

As to gunport shutters, the answer is probably not initially, Virginia's were an addition during construction and the broadside ones were not mounted in the Hampton roads action. They were subsequently changed from cast sheet iron to built up armour afterwards.

[Knife]

Being a floating battery, I don't think this ship would not be capable of producing much wake. On my printer, which only has four colors of ink, the Palmetto State base in the photos turned out more green than blue.

I can't build an ironside vessel without thinking of the opening scene of the movie Sahara, "based" on a story by Clive Cussler. The scene is only a few minutes long, but shows well the battle conditions aboard a Confederate ironside. Come to think of it, the CSS Texas (mythical vessel from the story) might also be a canidate for a future model.

In the story, President Lincoln is kidnapped and taken aboard the CSS Texas, which then disappears into history. The assassination story is then concocted to cover up the kidnapping.

The movie diverged so much from the book that Cussler sued the production company, which then counter-sued and won many millions of dollars from the author. The movie wasn't bad, but the book's storyline is better.

One last shot of the "Creature From The Swamp" docked with the rest of my 1:250 fleet.

[chicharrero]

Hello, Knife.
What is the name of the bigger ship in your las post?
The blue one.

Regards, jose luis

[Knife]

It is the USS Oregon from Digital Navy. The USS Oregon is the only ship to serve in the Spanish/American war, World War I, and World War II. I put it in the shot to show how warships grew in the 40 years from 1863 to 1903. The Digital Navy model allows you to build the ship as waterline or full hull, and has three different color schemes. Here's their website:

Ships

[chicharrero]

Very thanks, Knife

[1950lemans]

Hi, You mentioned black sailors serving on the CSS Georgia. I'd be interested to know your references. Thanks.

[ct ertz]

Hello,
Here are some links on African American Soldiers and Sailors who wore gray.

1862blackCSN
Black Confederates In the Confederate Navy & Marines
Black Confederates
Black Soldiers in the Confederate Army.
On Black Confederates
Black Confederate Soldiers
The Forgotten Confederates
The Black Confederate
Walter Williams

Enjoy, I have other links too but I have them bookmarked on my other computer.

CT