alternatehistory.com

28 April

The Leo and Sagittarius close in on Presque Isle Bay and on Erie, Pennsylvania. This anchorage was the major construction centre in the War of 1812, and a number of small ironclads are being built here - two modified Casco class, one modified Passaic and one broadside ironclad, with the broadside vessel around two weeks from launching and the modified Casco monitors awaiting casing - with several lake ships undergoing conversion to armed vessels (gunboats, essentially) and five already back in the water, along with one heavier vessel (the Lawrence). There are also hasty earthworks set up to cover the entrance to the bay, holding a total of a dozen 32-lbers and six 8" and two 11" guns.

The Lawrence is a converted dispatch vessel, and mounts four 10-inch guns and eight 6.4" Parrott rifles - which have been provided with wrought iron bolts - as well as a dozen 32-lbers. She is supported by the Somers, Porcupine, Hunter and Chippeway, all paddle wheelers with two 8" pivot guns, and the screw Mary Todd with twelve 32-lbers.


This appearance of British ironclads was a surprise to the Union garrison commander, who considered both retreating past the bar and sallying out. In the event, he notices that the British ships are moving very slowly - and thus decides to try to exploit their low speed, which appears to be around four to five knots.

Leo and Sagittarius take around two hours to reach engagement range after being spotted on the horizon, their low-powered (and lightweight) engines not giving them the speed for a major fleet action, and finally come under 11" fire at about 2pm. In reply, the two ships open their broadsides and begin firing, using their 110-lber guns to engage the shore batteries at range.
This section of the battle is slow and awkward, with the American 11" guns fundamentally unable to penetrate the armour of the two Zodiacs - especially at range - but the British rifles hampered by the tossing and pitching of their ships. After around half an hour with no particular damage done to either side (there is the loss of one 32-lber on the American side and the British Leo having taken some damage to her bare mast), the Zodiacs move in for a more decisive engagement, hoping for calmer water behind the spit which forms Presque Isle bay.

It is nearly 3pm when the main battle begins. The Union commander waits until his enemies are just shy of the bar - which he does not expect will stop ships he knows transited the Welland - and sallies at this point out of Little Bay (which is to the north of the bar). The Somers and Mary Todd aim to get in front of the ironclads, to both rake and block them from moving, and the Porcupine and Hunter shape their course to move in behind. The Lawrence aims right for the gap between the ships, trailed by the Chippeway.

Their move takes a minute to elicit a reply from the British ships, which were mostly focused on their duel with the shore batteries, and then a belated fire from four 68-lbers booms out from Leo. This salvo contains three regular shells and one Martin's Shell, but of these only two conventional shells hit home on the Mary Todd (disabling four guns and causing significant casualties).
Sagittarius is more lucky, managing to land a Martin's Shell of her own on the Porcupine and setting her aflame.

The distance from anchorage to the British ironclad formation is short, and the run in takes only about five minutes as the Union ships work up to full speed. Over this time the British ironclads get off two salvos, but these are poorly coordinated - there is no particular attempt to choose priority targets.
It is at about this point that the Union plan becomes clear, as the Lawrence alters course to aim directly for the starboard side of Leo. Moving at ten knots, she is too fast for the much slower Leo to dodge, and strikes home with a mighty crash.

Leo and Lawrence are both badly shaken by the impact. The US ship is considerably more massy, but not as heavily built - and Leo has four inches of rolled armour complete with backing. Lawrence stoves in her bows, taking on water (but still firing broadsides with her rifles at the nearby Sagittarius) and Leo is holed below the waterline by warping and working of the structure. Several planks are started by the impact.

Backing off, Leo fires a heavy broadside at Lawrence, and Sagittarius fires her 68-lbers at Chippeway - this smashes one of the paddle boxes, ruining the attempt by the slower Chippeway to repeat this performance.
Any attempt by the Union commander to capitalize on this achievement is cut short when the fires started by a Martin's Shell from Leo reach the powder store on Lawrence, and the Union ship explodes violently (killing him instantly) sending flaming debris raining down in all directions.
This concussion causes a pause in the fighting, Sagittarius turning to defend her squadron-mate, and Leo retreats from Presque Isle making damage control attempts. This will not be totally successful, and will lead over the next few hours to dumping most of the ammunition overboard along with two 68-lber guns to lighten her. (All the surviving guns are placed on the port broadside, thus ensuring balance.)

Leo is towed across to North Point by Sagittarius and is beached there as the sun goes down, to permit a full examination of the damage on friendly territory. Meanwhile, further Zodiacs are urgently requested for Lake Erie and there are plans to transfer the ones already on Lake Ontario.




(So, this one sort of happened as I wrote it. I'm not sure how much damage a ramming attempt like that would actually do, but hopefully it's realistic for a situation where the attacker has no ram.)