- Joined
- Feb 18, 2013
- Location
- Hoover, Alabama
Has anyone ever seen a list of the armament's (cannon) on the Confederate vessels at Mobile, I am particularly interested in the guns on the CSS Morgan.
Outstanding work, I have gone through about a dozen books and couldn't find the answer. The reason for all of this was that a 7" Britten shell has come my way that was supposedly fired from the CSS Morgan at the Union siege lines at Blakeley/Spanish Fort. Thank you for the information, it helps confirm the information that came with the shell.Silverstone lists the armament of Gaines and Morgan as one 7-inch rifle (pretty safe in assuming a Brooke), one "6-inch rifle" (error for 6.4"?), two 32-pounder rifles and two 32-pounder smoothbores.
And in support of that, Silverstone notes that Morgan was damaged in an engagement near Blakely in April 1865, so she was known to be there.Outstanding work, I have gone through about a dozen books and couldn't find the answer. The reason for all of this was that a 7" Britten shell has come my way that was supposedly fired from the CSS Morgan at the Union siege lines at Blakeley/Spanish Fort. Thank you for the information, it helps confirm the information that came with the shell.
Outstanding work, I have gone through about a dozen books and couldn't find the answer. The reason for all of this was that a 7" Britten shell has come my way that was supposedly fired from the CSS Morgan at the Union siege lines at Blakeley/Spanish Fort. Thank you for the information, it helps confirm the information that came with the shell.
Many thanks my friend for all of this valuable information.And in support of that, Silverstone notes that Morgan was damaged in an engagement near Blakely in April 1865, so she was known to be there.
Many thanks my friend for all of this valuable information.
Here is the info from the CS Naval records and the shell along with a map of the position of the Morgan at Blakley.Has anyone ever seen a list of the armament's (cannon) on the Confederate vessels at Mobile, I am particularly interested in the guns on the CSS Morgan.
Says the man that put this baby on me. BTW, this type of shell has been called "the most famous shell of the Civil War" as an identical one was fired by the CSS Alabama during it's fight with the USS Kearsarge from it's 7" Blakeley Rifle which struck the sternpost of the Kearsarge but failed to explode. Mine failed to explode due to a defective percussion cap in it's percussion fuse which prevented it from exploding. Photo by NavSourceHere is the info from the CS Naval records and the shell along with a map of the position of the Morgan at Blakley.
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Mark, just a note of caution about the ordnance warrants at Mobile. The only vessels that I can be 100% sure included Brooke MLR from a process of elimination in the surviving Tredegar and Selma records CSS Tennessee (confirmed by the USN) , CSS Nashville, CSS Selma and CSS Gaines. Charlie Robbins may have some observations on this.Now... I've just checked a secondary source. If you need something proven beyond reasonable doubt, I'll need to go to primary sources--- say, if there's some question about valuation (or evaluation) of the 7" round. (But the story hangs together so far.)
I would think that a variety of 7" rounds (Mullane, Broun, Brooke, Britten, Schenkl etc.) would fit a 7" bore (Brooke, Britten, Parrott, rifled 42#er etc.) and I would have to agree that in an area where you couldn't throw a rock and not hit a Brooke that Brookes would dominate. I also wondered how Britten guns got to Mobile instead of along the East coast where they seem to be found most. Regardless of what fired it, I still tickled to have the Britten shell. Plus, my round has a rather distinctive Britten percussion fuse.I'm a little out of my depth here-- ammo isn't my specialty area-- but the only rounds I can find in Ripley that look like that are Schenkls. What's a Britten?
Given that Olmstead, Stark and Tucker don't list any 7" Blakelys other than the one from Florida at the Washington Navy Yard and the one from Alabama in France, and that the Selma foundry cast somewhere around two dozen 7" double-banded Brookes for the Mobile area, I'm going to have to assume the piece was overwhelmingly likely to be a Brooke, even if the round was different.
You are correct, a 7 inch shell is a 7 inch shell. The reason the Morgan had Britten gun s is her keel was laid in mid 1861 and launched in mid 62. Selma was not making big naval guns yet. I would say that the Britten guns for the Morgan came into Mobile from England as a lot of CS supplies did till the blockade.I would think that a variety of 7" rounds
Been there, done that, got the T-shirtApologies for the almost duplicated reply. CWT had a brain fart on my computer and it appeared the first one had vanished !
Just a comment. Some time back I ran across correspondence from Richmond to Mobile with directions on how to rifle existing 32-lb smooth bores. I don't recall it mentioning the issue of banding the tube. The instructions included the pattern of the grooves for the conversion. It may be that early in the war Richmond tried to encourage on-site conversions across the Confederacy in existing foundries. This may also tie in with the appearance of the 6-inch rifles. I'm going to have to hunt through my files for the actual correspondence and will post it when found.Mark, just a note of caution about the ordnance warrants at Mobile. The only vessels that I can be 100% sure included Brooke MLR from a process of elimination in the surviving Tredegar and Selma records CSS Tennessee (confirmed by the USN) , CSS Nashville, CSS Selma and CSS Gaines. Charlie Robbins may have some observations on this.