One of my too numerous hobbies has been ships. I've built literally hundreds of models, read about and seen movies having to do with ships.
I thought I'd bore most of you with a post or 2 each week on this thread about notable ships throughout history.
C.S.S. Alabama
History
CSS Alabama was a screw sloop-of-war built for the Confederacy in 1862 by John Laird Sons and Company, Liverpool, England. Launched as Enrica, it was fitted out as a cruiser and commissioned 24 August 1862 as CSS Alabama. Under Captain Raphael Semmes, Alabama spent the next two months capturing and burning ships in the North Atlantic and intercepting American grain ships bound for Europe. Continuing the path of destruction through the West Indies, Alabama sank USS Hatteras along the Texas coast and captured her crew. After a visit to Cape Town, South Africa, Alabama sailed for the East Indies where the ship spent six months cruising, destroying seven more ships before redoubling the Cape en route to Europe.
On 11 June 1864, Alabama arrived in Cherbourg, France and Captain Semmes requested permission to dock and overhaul his ship. Pursuing the raider, the American sloop-of-war USS Kearsarge arrived three days later and took up a patrol just outside the harbor. On 19 June, Alabama sailed out to meet Kearsarge. As Kearsarge turned to meet its opponent, Alabama opened fire. Kearsarge waited patiently until the range had closed to less than 1,000 yards. According to survivors, the two ships steamed on opposite courses moving around in circles as each commander tried to cross the bow of his opponent to deliver a heavy raking fire. The battle quickly turned against Alabama because of the poor quality of its powder and shells, while Kearsarge benefitted from the additional protection of chain cables along its sides. A little more than an hour after the first shot was fired, Alabama was reduced to a sinking wreck, causing Semmes to strike his colors and send a boat to surrender. According to witnesses, Alabama fired 150 rounds at its adversary, while Kearsarge fired 100. When a shell fired by Kearsarge tore open a section at Alabama's waterline, the water quickly rushed through the cruiser, forcing it to the bottom. While Kearsarge rescued most of Alabama's survivors, Semmes and 41 others were picked up by the British yacht Deerhound and escaped to England. During its two-year career as a commerce raider, Alabama caused disorder and devastation across the globe for United States merchant shipping. The Confederate cruiser claimed more than 60 prizes valued at nearly $6,000,000.
The Wreck
One hundred and twenty years after its loss, the French Navy mine hunter Circe discovered a wreck under nearly 200 feet of water off Cherbourg, France. French Navy Captain Max Guerout later confirmed the wreck to be Alabama's remains.
In 1988, a non-profit organization, the Association CSS Alabama, was founded to conduct scientific exploration of the shipwreck. Although the wreck resides within French territorial waters, the U.S. government, as the successor to the former Confederate States of America, is the owner. On 3 October 1989, the United States and France signed an agreement recognizing this wreck as an important heritage resource of both nations and establishing a Joint French-American Scientific Committee for archaeological exploration. This agreement established a precedent for international cooperation in archaeological research and in the protection of a unique historic shipwreck.
The Association CSS Alabama and the U.S. Navy/Naval Historical Center signed on 23 March 1995 an official agreement accrediting Association CSS Alabama as operator of the archaeological investigation of the remains of the ship. This agreement will be in effect for five years and is renewable by mutual consent. The signing of the agreement establishes a precedent for international cooperation in archaeological cooperation and the protection of a unique historic shipwreck. Association CSS Alabama, which is funded solely from private donations, is continuing to make this an international project through its fund raising in France and in the United States, thanks to its sister organization, the CSS Alabama Association, incorporated in the State of Delaware.
Here's a link to this same article:
http://www.history.navy.mil/branches/org12-1.htm
There's a bunch of links there to other related articles, photos, engravings & prints.
JB
Btw, I have an unbuilt 3-foot model of this ship. I hope to eventually get a display case built for it's construction. Revell/Germany is currently producing the U.S.S. Kearsarge and I hope to get that model as well.
Calypso
Calypso is the name of a ship that Jacques-Yves Cousteau, one of the most important researchers in oceanography, equipped as a mobile laboratory for field research.
Calypso was originally the minesweeper BYMS-26 (British Yard Minesweeper) built for the British Royal Navy by the Ballard Marine Railway Co, Seattle, WA., in the US. As hull number J-826 she was launched on March 21, 1942, and after acceptance and commissioning by the UK was assigned to the Mediterranean. After the war she became a ferry between Malta and the island of Gozo, and was renamed Calypso because, according to Homer, Calypso, a nymph, lived on the island of Gozo. Cousteau bought her, restructured and transformed her into an expedition vessel, to provide support for immediate oceanographic analysis, diving, and filming.
A barge accidentally rammed Calypso and sank her in the port of Singapore in 1996. Calypso is now in the Maritime Museum of La Rochelle.
I stole this article from Wikipedia. Here's the link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calypso_%28ship%29
Jacques Cousteau has done more, IMO, than anyone in history for research in our oceans, lakes and rivers. Here's a link to the Cousteau Society:
http://www.cousteau.org/en/cousteau_world/our_ships/calypso.php
JB
IJN Yamato
The Yamato and her sister the Musashi were quite possibly the ultimate design in battlships during WWII. Fortunately for the allies they were never given the opprotunity to go head to head with any other battleships.
A third ship of this class called the Shinano was hastily converted into an aircraft carrier following the loss of the carriers Akagi, Kaga, Hiryu and Soryu at the Battle of Midway in 1942. She was topedoed and sunk by a U.S. submarine while on her sea trials.
Historical Info:
Yamato:
http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-fornv/japan/japsh-xz/yamato.htm
Musashi:
http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-fornv/japan/japsh-m/musashi.htm
Shinano:
http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-fornv/japan/japsh-s/shinano.htm
http://diodon349.com/Stories/story%20about%20archerfish%20vs%20shinano.htm
The pride of my state, worthy of being uttered in the same breath as the Iron Brigade and Old Abe.....
U.S.S. Wisconsin BB-64
Historical link:
http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/ships/battleships/wisconsin/bb64-wi.html
Official website:
I have two pens made from the teak off the deck of USS Missouri BB-63 when she was in Bremerton before she was sent to permanent retirement in Pearl Harbor.
QwazyWabbit wrote: I have two pens made from the teak off the deck of USS Missouri BB-63 when she was in Bremerton before she was sent to permanent retirement in Pearl Harbor.
Cool. It was fitting that the Missouri was anchored next to the wreck of the Arizona. Symbolic of the beginning and the end of the Pacific war.
JB
JB, Do you know the name of the steamer that sunk from a boiler explosion.? It was at the end of the Civil War and Killed some 3000 men.
I think that it was Sul..... something. I think it happened on the Mississippi River.
Thanks J
Charger wrote: JB, Do you know the name of the steamer that sunk from a boiler explosion.? It was at the end of the Civil War and Killed some 3000 men.
I think that it was Sul..... something. I think it happened on the Mississippi River.
Thanks J
My Lord, yes, I've read about the Sultana. That was probably the greatest tragedy on the Mississippi River. between 1500 and 1900 souls died either from the boiler explosion, resultant fire or drowning. The really sad part was that the vast majority of the dead were Union POW's just released from Confederate Camps. To survive a hell-hole like Andersonville only to die on an overloaded riverboat.
Anyhow, here's a detailed site on this infamous ship...
Sultana
Steam powered river boat, U.S.
http://www.rootsweb.com/~genepool/sultana.htm
I read a couple of these stories. Fascinating. Good luck with your ship building )(er)(es that's sounds pretty cool.
Life isn't about Finding Yourself.
Life is about Creating Yourself.
Never Look Down on Someone
Unless You are Helping Them Up.
AAAGGHHH!! wrote: I read a couple of these stories. Fascinating. Good luck with your ship building )(er)(es that's sounds pretty cool.
What has always been so fascinating to me is that every ship has a history of it's own. It's not like the vast majority of all the other military and civilian machines. They each had their own personna, reputations and nick-names. And certainly many left mysteries behind that remain unsolved.
As to the ship building, I've got a model of the H.M.S. Bounty I've been anxious to build. I'll finally have some space in a few weeks where I can put some sailing ships.
Let's see...Ship Mystery.....
Marie Celeste
There's an old sea superstition that it's bad luck to change the name of a ship.....
http://www.fortogden.com/maryceleste.html
http://www.maryceleste.net/part2.htm
I'm partial to the Confederate ship Texas, that was found in the Sahara by D. Pitt. Very interesting story.
The story of U.S.S. Cyclops, among others, is here http://www.bermuda-triangle.org/html/lost_ships.html
Life isn't about Finding Yourself.
Life is about Creating Yourself.
Never Look Down on Someone
Unless You are Helping Them Up.
Snake wrote: I'm partial to the Confederate ship Texas, that was found in the Sahara by D. Pitt. Very interesting story.
I hate to burst your bubble on this one but that story is a work of fiction.
The real C.S.S. Texas was never fully completed and fell into Union hands after being abandoned by the Confederates in 1865.
C.S.S. Texas
U.S. Ships that bore the the name, Texas:
The first U.S. Battleship: U.S.S. Texas
http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/ships/battleships/texas/texas.html
U.S.S. Texas, BB-35
http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/ships/battleships/texas/bb35-tex.html
U.S.S. Texas, CGN-39
http://navysite.de/cg/cgn39.htm
U.S.S. Texas, SSN-775
http://www.sublant.navy.mil/texas775.html
AAAGGHHH!! wrote: The story of U.S.S. Cyclops, among others, is here http://www.bermuda-triangle.org/html/lost_ships.html
http//www.hutch.demon.co.uk/prom/bermuda.htm
I read this book years ago. I'll have to pick this one up again for re-reading.
Here's an interesting link on the Cyclops:
http://www.numa.net/expeditions/cyclops.html
)(er)(es wrote: I hate to burst your bubble
What bubble? 😈
Was wondering if anyone would pick up on that 🙂 Thanks for the links tho, looking forward to reading the real history behind the name.
Wow... AND thanks for the NUMA link.. never knew about site.. good stuff 8)
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