CSS Pee Dee Cannons Raised

[georgew]

Thanks, that's the one.

 

[rebelatsea]

Hi Bil: you wonder if a Nashville would have the room and boiler capacity for a hybrid layout. Do we have only Porter's (USN) estimate on the length of the "Monster"? Another question is whether they would have just dropped in a parallel section amidships to get more room which seems a characteristic of Porter's (CSN) designs. With a hybrid their coal consumption would have been pretty high. I also wonder if Brown fished up the guns from the Van Dorn and Polk below the obstructions at Yazoo City. There should have been two guns from Van Dorn, I'm not sure what Polk had left or whether some of her guns were among those abandoned in a battery upriver. Has anyone heard of any attempt to salvage the machinery from the Van Dorn and Polk?

The Yazoo Monster dimensions 310ft x 70ft are in proportion an almost exact match for the dimensions of an enlarged "Nashville" as are the two sidewheels. These would have been 40ft diameter powered by " two standard western river type engines" . These certainly would be recovered from an existing vessel, and it might just be possible to identify which one by a process of elimination. The two 8ft screws are a strong indication that the machinery (and boilers?) for those were originally constructed for Arkansas sister ship.

 

[rebelatsea]

Van Dorn had two guns ,Polk seven when burned, CSS Mobile had four and the Livingston six. I drew the monster as I thought John L Porter may have done ,as an enlarged Nashville for the reasons explained above. I do wonder though if I. N. Brown may have constructed her above the knuckle to his own ideas given the constraints he was under at Yazoo City.

 

[georgew]

Van Dorn had two guns ,Polk seven when burned, CSS Mobile had four and the Livingston six. I drew the monster as I thought John L Porter may have done ,as an enlarged Nashville for the reasons explained above. I do wonder though if I. N. Brown may have constructed her above the knuckle to his own ideas given the constraints he was under at Yazoo City.

John are you sure about these numbers of guns? I ask because a number of the guns from the CSN gunboats were placed in batteries ashore below Fort Pillow. A couple were shipped up rivers in Arkansas and Lt. Stone saved at least one by disobeying an order to leave them all. I know that the Van Dorn still had two guns when she arrived below the obstructions. I have no numbers on how many guns may have been aboard the CSN boats.

 

[georgew]

Hello Bil,
As you know, as we have discussed this before , I have struggled with the concept of this vessel for a long time
By coincidence I had just completed these drawings of the monster. This before. This is what I think John Luke Porter supplied to the builders
View attachment 86960
However, because Isaac Newton Brown was struggling with shortages of all descriptions , and because of his experience with Arkansas and his proposed conversions, this is what I fell the vessel may have been like if completed.
View attachment 86961

But I am fully prepared for you to tell me that is rubbish, and go back to the drawing board !
Incidentally I feel that CSS New Orleans would be a far better name than out previous thought, CSS Yazoo!

Nice work, Rebel. I agree with you that Brown would have wanted more guns fore and aft if the ordnance and space was available. Do you think that the outboard corner guns would have been on rotating mounts and serve on the broadsides too?

 

[georgew]

Hello George,

Excellent thoughts. If the YM did have a hybrid machinery arrangement I agree that they would have used the Tennessee's machinery. It was the only screw propelled machinery available at YCNY that I am aware of besides the Mobile's. I just haven't found any documentation from the builders or the CSN Dept. that such a design change occurred. On another note, I forget the precise source, but the original engineer of the Arkansas knew how to properly operate the engines. His replacement was not competent and it was his errors, not the machinery itself, that lead to the loss of the Arkansas. Supposedly her engines were quite sophisticated and required careful management.

All the best,
Bil

Hi Bil: do you suppose that Brown was informed that none of the available side-wheel machinery available was powerful enough for this size vessel and Brown made the decision to add the twin screw propulsion?

 

[USS ALASKA]

Civil War cannons returning to Florence
Matthew Christian Reporter [email protected]
May 23, 2019

FLORENCE, S.C. – The three cannons of the doomed Confederate Cruiser CSS Peedee are set to return to Florence. After nearly four years of conservation at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center in North Charleston, they will soon move to their permanent home at the Florence County Veterans Center in Florence.

Full article can be found here - https://www.scnow.com/news/local/article_3dd08f0e-7dc3-11e9-acb6-0fb388c4d9e5.html
1702

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[rebelatsea]

John are you sure about these numbers of guns? I ask because a number of the guns from the CSN gunboats were placed in batteries ashore below Fort Pillow. A couple were shipped up rivers in Arkansas and Lt. Stone saved at least one by disobeying an order to leave them all. I know that the Van Dorn still had two guns when she arrived below the obstructions. I have no numbers on how many guns may have been aboard the CSN boats.

George, Idon't know how many would have actually been available, what I put is what was on the ships to start with.

 

[USS ALASKA]

Civil War cannons mounted at Florence Veterans Center
Matthew Christian Reporter [email protected]
Jun 12, 2019

FLORENCE, S.C. – The three cannons from the CSS Pee Dee have returned to Florence. The cannons were mounted Tuesday afternoon at the Florence County Veterans Center after nearly four years of conservation at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center in North Charleston, according to the Florence County Museum. They will be a part of the museum's Civil War exhibit and visitors will be provided directions to get from the museum to the Veterans Center on National Cemetery Road.

Full article with more pics can be found here - https://www.scnow.com/news/local/article_2bd076dc-8d74-11e9-bace-af7e5373ade0.html
1795

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[USS ALASKA]

University of South Carolina
Scholar Commons
Presentations
Maritime Research Division
4-2012

Mars Bluff Navy Yard
Christopher F. Amer
University of South Carolina

Publication Info
2012.
http://www.cas.sc.edu/sciaa/
© 2012 by The South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology

This Presentation is brought to you by the Maritime Research Division at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Presentations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected].

Lots of cool pics.

Because of copyright, please see this link - https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=mrd_prsn

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[USS ALASKA]

Interesting 8 page article published in 1959...

JOURNAL ARTICLE
The Confederate Gunboat "Pedee"
Leah Townsend
The South Carolina Historical Magazine
Vol. 60, No. 2 (Apr., 1959), pp. 66-73 (8 pages)
South Carolina Historical Society

https://www.jstor.org/stable/27566221

Full article at above link on JSTOR with Google sign-in (In the upper right-hand corner of the linked page, there is a 'Log in' button. If you have a Gmail account, you have a Google sign-in and this will allow for free reading of 100 articles a month).

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[USS ALASKA]

South Carolina Shipyards: Labour, Logistics, Lumber and Ladies
Lynn Harris
8 June 2010
Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010

Abstract
Southern shipyards, like Hobcaw and Mars Bluff, were established at locations chosen primarily for convenient access to transportation networks, building materials, clientele and labour. The historical record reveals a home front role played by local plantation owners and slaves as shipyard labour. Women served as project fundraisers, shipyard dilettantes, shipwright's wives and possibly slave mistresses with a paucity of material culture to confirm their presence in the archaeological record. Archaeological investigations on land and underwater yield evidence of artefacts associated with diet, shipbuilding, warfare and ethnicity.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/226659855_South_Carolina_Shipyards_Labour_Logistics_Lumber_and_Ladies

Due to copyright, please see above link

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[Santee1821]

The Southfield / Pee Dee 9-Inch Dahlgren

7-Inch Double Banded Brooke Rifle S-46

6.4-Inch Double Banded Brooke S-53

Many more photos: https://www.santee1821.net/preserved-artillery/the-guns-of-css-peedee