If you think Tsouras is bad, stay away from Manifest Destiny: Lincoln Sneezed by Bryan Boyington. He has a super ship named USS Stonewall which is fitted with a 20" Dahlgren and enough turret armor to shrug off all British shot and shell. I had trouble believing there was a 20" Dahlgren gun but there were four of them cast. They weighed 100,000 pounds each (!).
...wait, this is late 1860s? And there's a shotproof ship?
Cripes, for that against a 9" 12-ton gun you'd need about twelve inches of solid armour...
I suspect the ship described by Boyington is the Puritan under a new name. It was never launched (took two years of construction to get to the point she was abandoned on the stocks), and the speed given for the ship is far in excess of the real speed of similar monitors. Much worse, though, the 12" armour on the turret of the real ship is not sufficient to resist the 9" 12-ton gun - for that you need 12" equivalent solid wrought in 2" layered wrought - and layered armour is effective as the square root of the number of layers.
(i.e. you need four 2" layers to be equal to 1 4" layer.)
What that means in practice is that, if the Stonewall is both "immune to the 12-ton gun" and built with real Union metallury, her turret would have to be in excess of four feet thick - which is, of course, not possible.
If her turret was instead formed of multiple thick (4.5") sections, she'd take years to build but would be able to resist British fire with only two and a half feet of armour thickness. (This is more a weakness of the laminate system than anything.)
Of course, what's worse is that a 20" Dahlgren would take something like half an hour to load. The ship would be cripplingly vulnerable to simply being boarded!
Well, by OTL construction rates the Stonewall would be ready for service some time in 1868 or so if it were laid down at the time of the PoD, by which point Bellerophon has been in service for years and Monarch (12" main battery) is being launched - a ship which could shoot through Puritan's turret at 1,000 yards even if it were single piece rolled wrought iron instead of laminate.
Meanwhile, by Krupp's penetration formula (assuming the same MV as the 15" Rodman) the 20" Dahlgren would be able to penetrate at the muzzle roughly 243mm - that is, 9.5 inches. This means she'd be able to penetrate Monarch at battle range if barely... and, of course, fires about 1/20 the shots per minute. (Monarch one aimed shell per two minutes per gun with four guns; 15" Dahlgren in a Monitor turret 15 minutes per shell with two guns.)
(Note both of these penetration figures assume Palliser shells, which only the British have at this point IIRC.)
It's the former CSS Stonewall, refitted with the two 20" Dahlgrens and 8" turret armor (doesn't say if it's lamellar). And the British guns can't pierce it.
As far as I am aware Union industry was not up to producing 8" single layer wrought iron. It's likely to be 4 layers of 2", which is equivalent to 4" single layer and would hence be (just) invulnerable to single penetration by the 68-lber. It would be vulnerable to the Somerset Cannon and all heavy RML guns (some of which could pierce 12" of single thickness wrought iron at 1,000 yards.)
Of course, that ignores that refitting the Stonewall like that means adding another 600 tons to the top weight of a 1,400 ton ship.
As far as I am aware Union industry was not up to producing 8" single layer wrought iron. It's likely to be 4 layers of 2", which is equivalent to 4" single layer and would hence be (just) invulnerable to single penetration by the 68-lber. It would be vulnerable to the Somerset Cannon and all heavy RML guns (some of which could pierce 12" of single thickness wrought iron at 1,000 yards.)
Of course, that ignores that refitting the Stonewall like that means adding another 600 tons to the top weight of a 1,400 ton ship.
The Vanderbilt stops a prize two days out of Bristol, the Calypso. Her cargo (largely cotton clothing, to be sold in the Confederacy and in South America) is siezed where possible and useful, and some of the coal from the ship itself is loaded into Vanderbilt.
As the American steamer does not have the spare crew for many prizes, her captain starts as he means to go on - he takes what he can over the course of the day, then has the crew of Calypso made prisoner and sets her alight. He will later put the crew ashore at a French port. (As the Calypso is slower than the Vanderbilt, he does not want to keep the ships in company for disposal of Calypso at a neutral port.)
A small skirmish aound Lake Champlain escalates, with both battalions of the Royal Irish Regiment (the 18th) getting themselves into trouble and then shooting themselves out again. 1/18th takes considerable casualties due to friendly artillery fire (aimed to create a beaten zone, the fuzes were set too short) and the incident is the source of bar fights for the rest of the century - a man asking for "a pint of shrapnel" in one of the bars frequented by the Royal Irish is liable to get his teeth kicked in!
20 June
The Pegelius goes out for another attempt. This time it is successful in reaching the blockaders, and detonates a keg containing nearly fifty kilograms of gunpowder near the Duncan.
The powerful submarine explosion holes the Duncan and causes her to take on hundreds of tons of water, and she is driven ashore on the island the Royal Navy is using as their Boston base (Great Brewster) in order to prevent her sinking; nevertheless, she is disabled until the damage can be repaired.
The Pegelius does not survive the attack, as she is caught by the gunboat Pincher on her way back to Boston (the air within being insufficient for a two-way submarine journey out to the British anchorage and back). A single hit breaches her fragile waterproofing, and the submersible vanishes into the harbour - taking with her the entire crew, including the inventor.
Charleston sails into Gosport Naval Yard, to wild cheers from the men of the Confederate Navy, Confederate Army (those manning the batteries) and several thousand civilians who took the trip down to see her. The Charleston may be a wooden ship, but she is the largest ship yet owned by an American country at 5,150 tonnes.
The Confederacy being the Confederacy, claims are made that she could whip any three Union ships. (These are almost true, if only by virtue of the Royal Navy having destroyed most of the USN's heavy ships, but the Eads ironclads would be too much for the Charleston to take on alone.)
The Confederacy being the Confederacy, claims are made that she could whip any three Union ships. (These are almost true, if only by virtue of the Royal Navy having destroyed most of the USN's heavy ships, but the Eads ironclads would be too much for the Charleston to take on alone.)
In fairness to the Confederate gung-ho attitude, the Charleston is a lot of ship and - if armed with anti-armour weapons, like 68-lbers or heavy rifles to replace her 30-lbers on a 2:1 or 3:1 basis - she could throw fifteen armour piercing shots per broadside. Add that to a broadside mount being much superior to an Ericsson turret for firing ML guns and you've got a recipe for something that really could beat multiple Union armoured vessels.
Of course, that does depend on the CSA being able to mount large numbers of rifles in her.
As far as I am aware Union industry was not up to producing 8" single layer wrought iron. It's likely to be 4 layers of 2", which is equivalent to 4" single layer and would hence be (just) invulnerable to single penetration by the 68-lber. It would be vulnerable to the Somerset Cannon and all heavy RML guns (some of which could pierce 12" of single thickness wrought iron at 1,000 yards.)
Of course, that ignores that refitting the Stonewall like that means adding another 600 tons to the top weight of a 1,400 ton ship.
As a hull, yes, the CSA's navy is small and this is their capital ship. It would be an entirely feasible project to razee her and make her an ironclad, too, along the lines of the Prince Consorts.
As a fighting machine as-is, dubious - it depends on what her rifles are.
As a prestige project? Hell yes, only serious naval powers have steam liners and this is a modern steam battleship - for perspective, Italy only has one steam liner and it's smaller than this one.
Yes, it's basically the guy trying to start a fight.
It's a parallel of the real world virulent enmnity between some British regiments.
"...brawling was such an integral part of British army life that there was a well-established lexicon which a soldier could use if he wanted to start a fight with a man from another regiment. In many respects, this lexicon reminds me of the slang and symbolism used by the 19th century homosexual subculture. Asking a member of the Black Watch "who took a bite out of your spats?" would invariably trigger a fight, as would asking a Gordon Highlander "who shot the cheese?". The phrase "Threes about" spoken to a member of the 14th Light Dragoons, or the phrase "Delhi Rebels" said to the Royal Munster Fusiliers, would have the same effect."
(via Robcraufurd)
The "bite out of your spats" refers to breaking a line, for example - embarassing incidents become the things men say if they want a really nasty fight. Supposedly at least one fight was started by someone asking for a "pint of broken square", but the account is quite anonymized.
ED: found another one's source.
Chillianwallah, 13 Jan 1849
Having covered themselves in glory at Ramnuggur, the 14th were to experience the opposite effect at Chillianwallah in January 1849. Sir Hugh Gough managed to turn the Sikh flank and force them off the Chenab. They went up as far as Chillianwallah where a pitched battle took place in which the 24th Foot suffered heavy casualties. The experience of the cavalry was much less heroic. Unfortunately the 14th were in the second cavalry brigade with the 9th Lancers and the 1st and 6th Bengal Native Cavalry. The brigade commander was an elderly officer named Pope who previously had only experienced command of a squadron. Some parts of the field were covered in thick jungle which made things difficult but the real problem was Pope himself, who made bad decisions. His brigade was on the right flank and he brought his regiments into line without scouts in front and a reserve behind. His men were masking the artillery and fire from the infantry, and they drifted too far to the left. Major King suggested that Brigadier Pope give the order for Threes - Right, but instead the old soldier shouted "Threes - about!" The squadrons in the centre wheeled to the rear and the others followed. This was seen by the Sikhs as a sign of weakness and their cavalry charged. They drove the Native Cavalry off the field, and the 14th and 9th Lancers had to put enough distance between themselves and the Sikhs to turn, form up and charge back. But their movements gave the impression that they were retreating.
Their counter-attack turned the tide and the enemy were stopped. They killed many Sikhs but lost Cornet Augustus Cureton, son of General Cureton, and Private George Tookey whose letters home have survived to tell us so much about a soldier's life in India. Two more men died of wounds and another 12 were wounded as well as one officer. The cavalry gained an unfavourable reputation from this battle and were unfairly accused of running away. The 14thLD were very bitter about what happened and for many years after their soldiers were taunted by thoughtless men from other units shouting "Threes about".
As a hull, yes, the CSA's navy is small and this is their capital ship. It would be an entirely feasible project to razee her and make her an ironclad, too, along the lines of the Prince Consorts.
As a fighting machine as-is, dubious - it depends on what her rifles are.
As a prestige project? Hell yes, only serious naval powers have steam liners and this is a modern steam battleship - for perspective, Italy only has one steam liner and it's smaller than this one.
Yes, it's basically the guy trying to start a fight.
It's a parallel of the real world virulent enmnity between some British regiments.
"...brawling was such an integral part of British army life that there was a well-established lexicon which a soldier could use if he wanted to start a fight with a man from another regiment. In many respects, this lexicon reminds me of the slang and symbolism used by the 19th century homosexual subculture. Asking a member of the Black Watch "who took a bite out of your spats?" would invariably trigger a fight, as would asking a Gordon Highlander "who shot the cheese?". The phrase "Threes about" spoken to a member of the 14th Light Dragoons, or the phrase "Delhi Rebels" said to the Royal Munster Fusiliers, would have the same effect."
(via Robcraufurd)
The "bite out of your spats" refers to breaking a line, for example - embarassing incidents become the things men say if they want a really nasty fight. Supposedly at least one fight was started by someone asking for a "pint of broken square", but the account is quite anonymized.
3 June
The Falchion sails down the Thames River in Connecticut. She is a heavily armoured ship built not with iron armour, in the main, but timber - the brainchild of an inventor from Ohio and built by the Connecticut state government, she has a total thickness of six feet of wood forming her sides - split into four 18" layers with 1/2 inch boilerplate between each.
This weighs about as much as a foot solid of iron would, but is certainly easier to produce - and gives important bouyancy to the craft, which is unfortunately not very mobile (using two locomotive engines, she can make about six knots). Fitted with a 15" Rodman gun in front and smaller weapons on the side, the intent is to be able to destroy ironclads while being largely immune to the dreadful effect of a Martin's Shell - the theory being, a single layer being set alight would only burn this layer.
This was back on page 2, and I think I'll have to declare it "noncanon" and shift it to the 21 June. Due to the lack of Rodman guns I'll also have to give it a lighter weapon of some description, which means it might need to be a case of "this design's not had the support the engineer thinks it should".
The Falchion sails down the Thames River in Connecticut. She is a heavily armoured ship built not with iron armour, in the main, but timber - the brainchild of an inventor from Ohio and built by the Connecticut state government, she has a total thickness of six feet of wood forming her sides - split into four 18" layers with 1/2 inch boilerplate between each.
This weighs about as much as a foot solid of iron would, but is certainly easier to produce - and gives important bouyancy to the craft, which is unfortunately not very mobile (using two locomotive engines, she can make about six knots). Fitted with a 9" Dahlgren sleeved rifle in front and smaller weapons on the side, the intent is to be able to harm or destroy ironclads while being largely immune to the dreadful effect of a Martin's Shell - the theory being, a single layer being set alight would only burn this layer.
In the event the Falchion first encounters the local blockading squadron - quickly reinforced from components of other blockading sections spread over the area, as it is the entrance to Long Island Sound. Within an hour or so, she is engaging the Aboukir, frigate Amphion and the gunboats Sparrow and Victor.
The timberclad takes several hits from shell (the contact-fuzed shells penetrating into the first layer of timber and blowing large chunks away, but not doing damage to the fighting value of Falchion) and shot (which in some cases bounces and in other cases penetrates to no further effect). One of the 32-lbers on the side is knocked out by a direct hit, but the main problem Falchion is having is simple speed - the Aboukir has four knots of speed on her and can often get out of her arcs, though Amphion is only as fast as the timberclad and takes several hits from 32-lber shell (some of them causing internal damage and knocking out a few guns.)
After a full salvo by Aboukir at close range (forty-six guns at two hundred yards, over half of which hit and which cause the Falchion's fire to slacken) , the steam liner closes to board. This somewhat unexpected tactic causes confusion on Falchion, then belated shock as the captain realizes he does not have the crew to fend off the boarders should they get under the armour.
As such, he turns about and sails for the Thames - there are batteries armed with hot shot on Eastern Point, with 32-lbers at an unusually high angle, and if the Aboukir is caught by three or four of them while grappled to Falchion she will be in serious trouble. This does not occur, but the threat makes Aboukir abandon the chase when she comes under long-range fire.
22 June
Jackson's corps crosses the Potomac at Williamsport, brushing aside a light Union screen, and begins an advance on Hagerstown.
The Falchion's damaged wooden armour has been replaced, but she finds herself confronted by an additional foe - the ironclad Virgo, which begins engaging the Eastern Point batteries at about 10 AM.
Arguments take place as to the best way to employ Falchion, and it is pointed out that the channel's depth (25 feet even at the lowest of low tide, as far as Norwich) means that, once the Eastern Point batteries are disabled, it will be possible for Aboukir to ascend the channel and assist the British ironclad. Thus, delaying the confrontation would garner no meaningful advantage.
As such, Falchion sails out to fight Virgo. The British ironclad shifts her fire to Falchion, and the Eastern Point batteries go silent as the two armoured ships approach one another - they cannot fire accurately enough to target one ship over the other, a side effect of their modifications.
Virgo's first major move is to fire a Martin's Shell from her fore port Armstrong 110-lber, and the munition strikes home - setting a fire on the Falchion's wooden glacis, but while the result is spectacular it does not disable Falchion. (The confidence of the British crew in their weapon is such that it takes a while for them to realize the burning warship in front of them is still capable of fighting!) Temperatures inside the American timberclad are uncomfortably high, but they have a system to reduce the impact (via piping in cold river water) and continue engaging Virgo.
Once most of the top 18" of wood have been reduced to charred remains, the Virgo manages to penetrate the thin iron armour on Falchion with several rounds of solid shot (even the Armstrongs can pierce such thin iron). Another Martin's Shell is fired once the second layer of wood is seen, but this one does not hit the penetrated areas - it instead simply smashes, splattering hot iron over the side of Falchion and producing a cloud of steam when the iron runs into the water.
At this point, shell is used by Virgo - less successfully than before as two of her guns have been disabled via grape blasts - but the results are critical, as two Armstrong shells penetrate the iron and then burst. This causes several of the half-inch iron plates to fall off, exposing the second layer of wooden backing.
Once this is done, the Falchion's fate is effectively sealed - the Virgo sets her second layer afire, then blasts the second iron separator off with 68-lber and Armstrong shells. Falchion attempts to retreat, but the fire damage to her chimney means she cannot draw enough steam to get to safety in good time, and her captain abandons ship.
The verdict on the Falchion is ultimately that it is an ingenious solution to the problem of Martin's Shell, but that it was not sufficient to win alone. (One opinion is that a half-dozen Falchions could swam an ironclad under for roughly the same cost as the ironclad - taking a minimum of half an hour to burn down each is not a bad thing for this purpose!)
My idea is that Lee will use a primary threat and a secondary one to drive McClellan to concentrate and fight (on good defensive terrain), then will send another force - his cavalry - through the void created by McClellan concentrating to battle Lee.
Their aim is to drive McClellan to notice a threat to his rear and assume it's more than it really is, and hence decamp to avoid being cut off - then pursue him all the way up the Shenandoah valley, snapping up stragglers.
The Falchion sails down the Thames River in Connecticut. She is a heavily armoured ship built not with iron armour, in the main, but timber - the brainchild of an inventor from Ohio and built by the Connecticut state government, she has a total thickness of six feet of wood forming her sides - split into four 18" layers with 1/2 inch boilerplate between each.
This weighs about as much as a foot solid of iron would, but is certainly easier to produce - and gives important bouyancy to the craft, which is unfortunately not very mobile (using two locomotive engines, she can make about six knots). Fitted with a 9" Dahlgren sleeved rifle in front and smaller weapons on the side, the intent is to be able to harm or destroy ironclads while being largely immune to the dreadful effect of a Martin's Shell - the theory being, a single layer being set alight would only burn this layer.
Question: What timber is used in her armour construction? 'Green' timber (ie recently cut and not yet dried) or 'seasoned' timber (ie dried and possibly treated). The reason for this is important: Seasoned timber will burn much easier and is more brittle (To a degree) than green timber. Green timber is harder to burn BUT is still drying so shrinks down. Seasoned timber is used for wooden ships because it won't shrink more and open seams, but for the sacrificial armour, green timber (Being harder to burn) may be used.
Also, has the Union thought of putting a few water outlet pipes on the top of the ship to douse the wood armour with water, aiding in putting it out and making it harder to set alight? They know of the Martin Shell and that it can set it alight, so may employ this system to hinder that.
Also, has the Union thought of putting a few water outlet pipes on the top of the ship to douse the wood armour with water, aiding in putting it out and making it harder to set alight? They know of the Martin Shell and that it can set it alight, so may employ this system to hinder that.
I doubt it would be enough, really, though I might be wrong in that. Mind, I might be wrong in this being able to work at all! (the sides of a standard ship of the line were three feet of hard oak or similarly resilient wood.)
