Matt's Model Boats

Savannah, as a consequence of the State of Georgia joining the Confederate States of America, was blockaded by the United States Navy. Blockade-runners, in order to deliver consignments of war material to the ports of the Southern Confederacy, attempted to communicate with Savannah while its lines of communication were being disrupted by the Federal armada.  CSS Fingal , which had been built in Scotland, delivered a cargo of firearms and rifled guns to Savannah. It proved to be impossible, however, for the merchantman to run the blockade of the city on a second occasion. A decision was made, therefore, to transform the blockade-runner into an iron-cased ram. A pair of Ericsson batteries waited for  CSS Atlanta , as CSS Fingal  became known after its conversion into a man-of-war, at Wassaw Sound. A battle between the ironclads, in the June of 1863, soon followed.  CSS Atlanta , which was armed with a battery of 6-inch and 7-inch Brooke rifles, fired the open...

USS Keokuk , which was designed by Charles W. Whitney, was an ironclad that was built in the second year of the American Civil War. Charles W. Whitney drew the plans for the iron-cased ram while Rear-admiral Joseph Smith, who was reviewing blue-prints on behalf of the Navy Department of the United States of America, approved the design. Smith, thereafter, awarded Whitney with a contract to built the fighting vessel. It was suggested, however, that expensive modifications should be made to the design of the ironclad. Service with the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, at the time in which it was under the command of Rear-admiral Samuel Francis Du Pont, lay on the horizon and the iron-cased ram proceeded towards South Carolina. Lieutenant-commander Alexander Colden Rhind, who would later be promoted to Commander, was appointed as the superior officer onboard the iron-plated warship. A number of ironclads, in the third year of the War of the Rebellion, were being sent to the South Atlant...

Torpedo-rams of the  David -class were cigar-boats that are believed to have been built in Charleston, Mobile, Savannah and Wilmington. War between the Confederate States of America and the United States of America, which is also known as the War of the Rebellion, led to the use of torpedoes for the defence of harbours as well as rivers. David Bushnell and Robert Fulton are often credited as the inventors of the torpedo, which could be defensive or offensive in nature, while Russia is believed to have been the first nation to deploy the explosive devices in combat. Torpedo-boats, however, were invented by the Confederate States Navy during the insurrection.  CSS David  and  CSS Saint Patrick , the latter of which is reputed to have been built at Selma, are two examples of torpedo-rams while  USS New Ironsides  is a notable victim of a torpedo-boat attack. Charleston was blockaded by the United States Navy during the American Civil War and it was h...

USS Stromboli , which was built during the penultimate year of the War of the Rebellion, was a torpedo-vessel that spent the majority of its wartime career on the James River. Chief Engineer William Willis Wiley Wood, who had served under Rear-admiral Francis Hoyt Gregory, helped to design the torpedo-ram while Assistant Engineer John L. Lay was the first officer to be placed in command of the fighting vessel. It was possible to raise or lower the depth of the torpedo-ram, in a similar manner to which a submarine boat descends beneath the water or rises to the surface, via the admission and expulsion of water from its ballast tanks. An upward curve, which followed the line of the keel, gave the deck of the torpedo-craft the appearance of a turtle-shell. Iron plates, which were two-inches in thickness, protected the deck from projectiles. A pilot-house, smoke-stack and ventilator could be observed above the line of the water. No weapons were installed above the waterline o...