CSS Albemarle mock up, National Civil War Naval Museum Columbus GA

CSA Today

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Honored Fallen Comrade
Joined
Dec 3, 2011
Location
Laurinburg NC
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One of the differences between Albemarle and her sister Neuse is that Neuse had quarter gunports (i.e., gunports for the guns to bear at 45-degree angles ahead and behind, in addition to straight-on and to the side). I wonder if they were eliminated on Albemarle to save time?
 
Mark, i think it was more a case of finding that in close quarter fighting, Albemarle's arcs of fire severely limited he damage she could have done. Had they been given a breathing space it's probable she would have had quarter ports cut.
 
When we consider the total effort involved in building and armoring the ship, four extra gunports doesn't seem like that much more work. The original Virginia had quarter ports for her fore and aft guns, but most of the later ironclads didn't. The later ships were much more maneuverable than Virginia; perhaps they felt that obviated the need.

I found the piece about the twist drill bit fascinating. That's what we think of as "a drill bit", funny to think of it as a new invention. I wonder what the earlier drill bits were like?
 
When we consider the total effort involved in building and armoring the ship, four extra gunports doesn't seem like that much more work. The original Virginia had quarter ports for her fore and aft guns, but most of the later ironclads didn't. The later ships were much more maneuverable than Virginia; perhaps they felt that obviated the need.

I found the piece about the twist drill bit fascinating. That's what we think of as "a drill bit", funny to think of it as a new invention. I wonder what the earlier drill bits were like?

George Sinclair suggested closing the quarter ports and opening new ones to allow the 7" rifles to fire on the broadside.
Brooke wanted to change the 9"sb for rifles so some re-arrangement would have been necessary anyway. Here is how Virginia would have looked with all the changes.
CSS VIRGINIA 1 Proposed alterations.jpg
 
George Sinclair suggested closing the quarter ports and opening new ones to allow the 7" rifles to fire on the broadside.

That would require rearranging the broadside ports to make room for six on each side, but I don't quite get why they'd have to close the quarter ports. The gun slide still has the same centerline pivot point, does it not? It would move past the quarter position going from center to broadside or v.v. That would also seem to place the broadside ports for the pivot guns directly opposite each other, as in Neuse.
 
That would require rearranging the broadside ports to make room for six on each side, but I don't quite get why they'd have to close the quarter ports. The gun slide still has the same centerline pivot point, does it not? It would move past the quarter position going from center to broadside or v.v. That would also seem to place the broadside ports for the pivot guns directly opposite each other, as in Neuse.
Apparently the 7" gun captains complained that they could not add their weapons to the broadside, but why Sinclair wanted to close the quarter ports I don't know, unless he wanted to make the end armour continuous if you see what I mean.
 
I reckon changing the sbs to mlr would have meant a major re-arrangement internally, and if Brooke had obtained his 300pdrs for the pivots some rebuilding of the ends of the casemate would have been needed. Sadly Brooke either never made a plan or it has been lost.
 
Yes, but...........to look at the above pic, the reinforcing (sp) band seems to be larger then the gunport thus blocking any view while attempting to aim.
That gunport is too small in all directions. The "standard " Porter gun port was 3ft wide and 5ft high at maximum on the outside, tapered inward to allow roughly 5 degrees train either way and 5 degrees elevation.
adequate for close range, not enough for longer range fighting.
 
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