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USS Wampanoag

By fStop Fitzgerald | 24 May 2019 | Comments 0 Comment

http://davidpisarra.com/?p=6500 When I took over Naval History‘s Historic Fleets column, one of the first things Editor-in-Chief Richard Latture did was change its title to Historic Ships, which is more in keeping with the piece’s focus.

http://stephanepereira.com/wp-json/oembed/1.0/embed?url=https://stephanepereira.com/work/films/the-day-i-saw-your-heart For my very first column, I chose Wampanoag, a ship very few have heard of, but one that should be known as it was in all respects the progenitor of what later became known as battle cruisers.

This is the link to the column: https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2016/april/historic-ships-wampanoag-germ-idea-battlecruiser

As with so many of the early ships, especially those that have relegated to the back pages of history, documentation is thin. For this piece, I relied on Navy and Congressional reports. This from 1868 provided much information.

These line drawings are contemporary with the ship. Regrettably, my recording of sources at this time was deficient, so I cannot direct you to the source. It may have been from *The Century* magazine.

This drawing, most likely based on the above drawing was published by Proceedings in December 1937, page 1734. Note how compact (low) the engines and boilers are

Photographs of *Wampanoag* are rare and good ones are non-existent. This image of the ship at the New York Navy Yard, according to its source, the Naval History and Heritage Command, could be one of two things. The photo’s original mat has a date of 1874. In March 1874, the ship now renamed *Florida*, departed New York to become a receiving and store ship at New London Naval Station, Connecticut. This may show her after her refitting for that purpose. It is possible, however, than given her “new” condition appearance, this may have been taken in the winter of 1868, at the time of her trials. (NHHC NH 54159)

Perhaps the best extant photograph of the ship was most likely taken at the New York Navy Yard, c. 1869. (NHHC NH 76423)

This very poor image, also from the New York Navy Yard, probably in 1866, shows (from left) Wampanoag, fitting out; a screw gunboat of the *Cayuga* or *Kansas* class; *Madawaska*, preparing for trials; *Susquehanna;* *Idaho*, laid up after her unsuccessful trials (across the channel from *Wampanoag*): two “Double-Ender” sidewheel gunboats; and *Vermont*. (NHHC NH 85970)

This painting by J. C. Roach is entitled “An Incident of the Late War with Great Britain . . . USS *Wampanoag* Escaping from the Channel Fleet after Destroying the Halifax Convoy, July Fourth, 1866.” It depicts the ship performing her designed mission in an imaginary conflict. (NHHC NH 95699-KN)

An engraving of the ship show her under both sail and steam. (Source Unrecorded)

This very clean etching may have been based on photo NH 76423. (Source Unrecorded)

CSS Tennessee Brooke Rifles

By fStop Fitzgerald | 25 June 2017 | Comments 0 Comment

The Confederate ironclad Tennessee was effectively armed with a concentrated and powerful armament of two 7-inch Brooke double-banded rifles fore and aft on pivot mounts and four 6.4-inch Brooke double-banded rifles, two per broadside.

The 7-inch rifles, weighing 15,300 pounds each, were manufactured in Selma, Alabama. This, the bow gun, tube no. S-10, is property of the Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC) and located at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, DC. Its companion tube, no. S-5 at the stern pivot, is also the property of NHHC, is on loan and on display outside the Selma City Hall. In the background, the three visible guns are from Tennessee’s four-gun broadside battery.

This gun is one of the four 9,000 pound 6.4-inch broadside rifles, three of which are also at NHHC in Washington. It was forged at the Tredegar Ironworks in Richmond, Virginia.

This illustration shows the guns mounts. The pivot guns were mounted on large sliding carriages and the broadside guns on two-wheel Marsilly carriages.