rebelatsea
Captain
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2013
- Location
- Kent ,England.
The Nashville type ironclads
Accepted wisdom has long been that this class of vessel was designed by Confederate Naval Chief Constructor John L. Porter to utilise existing side-wheel machinery removed from laid up merchant steamers. However the need for ironclads with a shallower draft and an acceptable broadside for offensive operations led to scaled up and beamier version of the original Tennessee II type hull with twin screws in its original form, as seen in the Whitehall NC vessel and CSS Macon.
The difficulty in providing screw machinery and the ready availability of side-wheel machinery forced John L. Porter to modify the design. His concept was a success insofar as CSS Nashville was reasonably fast and very manoeverable despite her size.
Name: Unknown
Class : Nashville, modified Type: Ironclad sloop Screws : two Speed: 7 knots
Dimensions: 216ft OA x 65ft EX x 9ft DR, 1,905 tons
Guns : 4
Armour: unknown
Design: J. L. Porter / James H Warner Builder: Unknown , White hall, Neuse River NC
Laid down: yes Launched : yes
History:
View attachment 42618
Suggested general arrangement drawing by the Author
In December 1862, at White Hall on the Neuse River: Vessel reported by US army and workmen to measure 200ft x 50ft (the hull proportions of a Nashville type IC) with 4 guns. Twin screws, shortened casemate, probably driven by adapted paddlewheel machinery by James Warner. Recent discoveries suggest the hulk of this vessel is still in the Neuse River.
Name : CSS Macon
Class: Modified Nashville, Type: Ironclad sloop.2 screws or 2 x 22ft side-wheels. Speed 8.3 knots calculated..
Dimensions: 250ft (OA), x 60ft over knuckle, 80ft over paddle-boxes x 10ft (D).
2,143 tons displacement
Guns: 10 -12 originally, 8 if completed with side-wheels
Armour:. 4" iron on 24" wood, 35 degree slope to casemate.
Design. Original J. L .Porter
Conjectural appearance plans by the author.
View attachment 42619
. Incomplete as seen by spies and deserters
As fitted with machinery from the Waterwitch.
View attachment 42620
Contracted for with an unknown builder at Savannah, Georgia in 1862, this vessel has been confused with CSS Georgia ever since.
Believed to be contracted for as CSS Macon, she surrendered her name to the wooden gunboat formerly known as "Ogeechee" when it became apparent she would not be completed.
Stated in the ORNs to be "long in construction", she was referred to by Scharf as a Nashville class ironclad. Her length and beam as quoted in the ORNs and US Naval Chronology special appendix certainly match the proportions of the class. If completed to the original design she would have been screw propelled.
The vessel never received machinery, guns or armour. Union spies and Confederate deserters, seeing her in the incomplete condition, confused her with CSS Georgia, a much smaller vessel to a different design. The capture intact of CSS Waterwitch and subsequent inability to utilise that vessel led to a proposal to remove her machinery for use in the incomplete ironclad. There is no evidence that shafting, gearing or screws were prepared so presumably the machinery would have been utilised in paddle wheel form and not converted.
Events overtook any such proposal and the vessel disappeared during the fall of Savannah to the Union. However her final fate and resting place is unknown, and probably never will be due to reconstruction of the Savannah waterfront over the years and it is probable that she has been lost forever if not completely destroyed under land reclamation.
The Paddle wheel Nashvilles
Type: Ironclad steam sloop. two protected sidewheels. Speed: 9 knots
Guns: 7
Dimensions: 271ft (OA), x 63ft (EX), x10ft (D), 2,439 tons.
Armour : 4" iron on 22" backing, sloped at 35 degrees
Design :J.L. Porter
As designed:
View attachment 42621
CSS Nashville
Type : Ironclad paddle sloop. Two sidewheels. Speed: 8.7 knots
Dimensions: 271ft (OA) x 62.5ft (EX) x 10.75ft (D), 2,683 tons.
Guns: 7 as designed, as built Nashville carried 3 - 7ins MLR, 1 - 24 pdr SB
Armour: 6ins iron on front, 2ins iron on rear of casemate, 22ins backing 35 degree slope on sides and rear of casemate, (29 degrees on front face.)
Builder: Anderson & Montgomery, Montgomery Ala.
Laid Down: 05/1862. Launched: 06/1863. Completed: 07/1864
History:
Constructed with a square stern, presumably for simplicity, and with her wheelhouses inset into the casemate. She was said to be too weak for her full armour, whether due to a design or construction fault is unknown. Nevertheless she took a very active part in the defence of Mobile, although not present at the Battle of Mobile Bay. She was found to be hog braced athwartships when surrendered at Nanna Hubba Bluff 10/05/1865, very manoeuvrable and reasonably fast. Her forward casemate face was sloped at 29 degrees, resulting in the forward 7" gun having to be made longer in the barrel. Note that the Fremaux print shows her stack being forward of the wheels. In this case the author has chosen to go with the majority verdict.
The Selma Vessels.
Name : CSS Phoenix
Class : Modified Nashville
Type: Ironclad side-wheel sloop. Paddles: 2 side-wheels Speed: 9 knots
Dimensions: as far as can be ascertained, as per CSS Nashville
Guns: 6 intended
Armour : 4" iron , backing unknown. 35 degree angle on knuckle, 50 degree slope on casemate
Builder: J.T. Shirley & David Dehaven, Selma Ala.
Laid Down: 03/1863 Launched: 1864
History:
Original plan by the Author, drawn from two prints identified as being CSS Nashville,
But in fact depicting CSS Phoenix as a transport at Mobile.
Note the considerable differences between her and CSS Nashville.
One of a pair constructed at Selma, and often confused with her yard mate described below,
her engines came from the side wheel steamer Republic. Intended to be named CSS Memphis, she suffered a broken keel at launch and although repaired, consequently was never armoured or armed, but taken to Mobile and used as a transport, sold to a private buyer for use as a blockade runner. Sunk, after her machinery was removed, as an obstruction in Mobile Bay. Her wreck has been discovered and surveyed. The casemate and paddle housings have not survived, but her hull is intact.
Unnamed side wheel ironclad
The other sidewheeler of the pair built by Anderson at Selma Ala, this ship was wrecked beyond repair at launch, and alleged to have been sold for scrap to assist in paying off the contract. However another wreck lying in the obstructions in Mobile harbour is now believed to be the remains of this vessel..
CSS Montgomery
Class : Half or Semi Nashville
Type: Ironclad side-wheel sloop. Paddles: 2 side-wheels Speed: 8 knots
Dimensions: 240ft OA x 57.5ftEX x 10.5ft D, 2,070 tons
Guns: 6
Armour: probably 4" . casemate slope 45 degrees.
Builder: Possibly John T Shirley, at Montgomery Ala.
Laid Down: 02 or 03/1863 Launched: 1864
History:
Plan redrawn from a badly damaged original, courtesy of by Ben Shuman.
The second of three ironclads known to have been constructed at Montgomery, this vessel was a large riverboat conversion. Reported by a Union spy to be at Mobile in late 1864, she was armed and armoured at least on the casemate. Never commissioned, she may have reverted to mercantile use after the war. Final fate unknown.
Name: The Yazoo Monster
"The un- named monster" was at the time, and remains, the biggest warship ever built inland.
Type: Ironclad Frigate.
Paddles: two independent side-wheels powered by 4 western river type engines.
Screws: two 8.5ft, . Speed: 10 knots calculated, 13 – 16 knots intended.
Dimensions: 310ft (OA), x 70ft over knuckle, x 13ft (D), 3,410 tons.
Hull: 289ft (BP) x 56ft (B) x 13ft (DPH),
Guns: 12 probably intended to be 4 – 7"mlr pivots and 8 – 6.4" Brooke mlr.
Armour: 4.5" ins iron, from Shelby Iron Co. Casemate slope 30 degrees
Design: Thomas Weldon Builder: T. Weldon / J. McFarland, Yazoo City Navy .Yard, Mississippi.
Laid Down: October 1862 Destroyed to prevent capture 21 May 1863
History:
Conjectural general arrangement drawing by the Author using input from multiple sources
Designed to utilise existing side-wheel and screw engines, possibly taken from CSS St Phillip, and those that were to be fitted in CSS Tennessee I respectively.
The vessel was "Skiff built" with both ends of the hull configured the same, which has caused much confusion over the years, being taken to mean that the vessel had one screw at each end. However the original design for the "Nashville" type was for a twin screw configuration. Distribution of weights, layout of machinery boilers etc, plus the disadvantages of drag conferred by a screw at each end indicate that a more traditional layout was intended .
Designed by Thomas Weldon to a modified Nashville type plan, as indicted by the proportions of her dimensions, construction was supervised by Lt Isaac Newton Brown CSN. There is some doubt as to whether this was a State or CSN sponsored vessel, but the CSN met the bills !
The four paddle engines would have been geared in pairs, with both wheels independently driven.
It is difficult to see the purpose of such a large ship, but with a relatively high freeboard and designed speed perhaps Weldon and Brown saw her taking control of the Mississippi, and even getting into coastal waters.
No name was ever assigned but CSS Yazoo has been suggested as appropriate.
CSS Caddo
Originally believed to be the name under which the vessel launched as CSS Missouri was ordered, this was a second vessel intended for construction at Shreveport Louisiana.
John Smoker and Thomas Moore contracted for one Nashville Class ironclad to be built there, the contract was not approved by Secretary Mallory, but in October 1862 he ordered one large IC for construction on the Red River.
Although known to be a paddle wheel ironclad, what plan it was actually to be constructed to is a matter of considerable debate with various authorities giving different opinions. However Union reports indicate a possible sister to the Yazoo Monster, blown up in March 1863.
Name: Unknown
James H Warner surveyed the engines of CSS Pontchartrain and found them fit for use in powering a vessel proposed for construction at Little rock Arkansas..
Whether construction of this particular vessel ever began is uncertain but at least one other vessel besides CSS Pontchartrain is known to have been commenced at this facility.
Name: unknown
A Possible Nashville type ironclad,Laid Down in late 1861, reported as building late 1861 - 1862, in Tennessee. Fades from history
2, Names unknown
Class: Morgan or Nashville class
Type: Ironclad Steam Sloop. Paddles: two Side-Wheels,
Guns: 8
Design: Sydney Porter or J. L. Porter
Builder 1: unknown at Charleston Sc,
Builder 2: unknown at Georgetown Sc .
Construction details unknown, vessel burned 18/02/1865 Builder 2: Vessel under construction on Peedee River , to use engines recovered from a blockade runner. burned 18/02/1865.
Accepted wisdom has long been that this class of vessel was designed by Confederate Naval Chief Constructor John L. Porter to utilise existing side-wheel machinery removed from laid up merchant steamers. However the need for ironclads with a shallower draft and an acceptable broadside for offensive operations led to scaled up and beamier version of the original Tennessee II type hull with twin screws in its original form, as seen in the Whitehall NC vessel and CSS Macon.
The difficulty in providing screw machinery and the ready availability of side-wheel machinery forced John L. Porter to modify the design. His concept was a success insofar as CSS Nashville was reasonably fast and very manoeverable despite her size.
Name: Unknown
Class : Nashville, modified Type: Ironclad sloop Screws : two Speed: 7 knots
Dimensions: 216ft OA x 65ft EX x 9ft DR, 1,905 tons
Guns : 4
Armour: unknown
Design: J. L. Porter / James H Warner Builder: Unknown , White hall, Neuse River NC
Laid down: yes Launched : yes
History:
View attachment 42618
Suggested general arrangement drawing by the Author
In December 1862, at White Hall on the Neuse River: Vessel reported by US army and workmen to measure 200ft x 50ft (the hull proportions of a Nashville type IC) with 4 guns. Twin screws, shortened casemate, probably driven by adapted paddlewheel machinery by James Warner. Recent discoveries suggest the hulk of this vessel is still in the Neuse River.
Name : CSS Macon
Class: Modified Nashville, Type: Ironclad sloop.2 screws or 2 x 22ft side-wheels. Speed 8.3 knots calculated..
Dimensions: 250ft (OA), x 60ft over knuckle, 80ft over paddle-boxes x 10ft (D).
2,143 tons displacement
Guns: 10 -12 originally, 8 if completed with side-wheels
Armour:. 4" iron on 24" wood, 35 degree slope to casemate.
Design. Original J. L .Porter
Conjectural appearance plans by the author.
View attachment 42619
. Incomplete as seen by spies and deserters
As fitted with machinery from the Waterwitch.
View attachment 42620
Contracted for with an unknown builder at Savannah, Georgia in 1862, this vessel has been confused with CSS Georgia ever since.
Believed to be contracted for as CSS Macon, she surrendered her name to the wooden gunboat formerly known as "Ogeechee" when it became apparent she would not be completed.
Stated in the ORNs to be "long in construction", she was referred to by Scharf as a Nashville class ironclad. Her length and beam as quoted in the ORNs and US Naval Chronology special appendix certainly match the proportions of the class. If completed to the original design she would have been screw propelled.
The vessel never received machinery, guns or armour. Union spies and Confederate deserters, seeing her in the incomplete condition, confused her with CSS Georgia, a much smaller vessel to a different design. The capture intact of CSS Waterwitch and subsequent inability to utilise that vessel led to a proposal to remove her machinery for use in the incomplete ironclad. There is no evidence that shafting, gearing or screws were prepared so presumably the machinery would have been utilised in paddle wheel form and not converted.
Events overtook any such proposal and the vessel disappeared during the fall of Savannah to the Union. However her final fate and resting place is unknown, and probably never will be due to reconstruction of the Savannah waterfront over the years and it is probable that she has been lost forever if not completely destroyed under land reclamation.
The Paddle wheel Nashvilles
Type: Ironclad steam sloop. two protected sidewheels. Speed: 9 knots
Guns: 7
Dimensions: 271ft (OA), x 63ft (EX), x10ft (D), 2,439 tons.
Armour : 4" iron on 22" backing, sloped at 35 degrees
Design :J.L. Porter
As designed:
View attachment 42621
CSS Nashville
Type : Ironclad paddle sloop. Two sidewheels. Speed: 8.7 knots
Dimensions: 271ft (OA) x 62.5ft (EX) x 10.75ft (D), 2,683 tons.
Guns: 7 as designed, as built Nashville carried 3 - 7ins MLR, 1 - 24 pdr SB
Armour: 6ins iron on front, 2ins iron on rear of casemate, 22ins backing 35 degree slope on sides and rear of casemate, (29 degrees on front face.)
Builder: Anderson & Montgomery, Montgomery Ala.
Laid Down: 05/1862. Launched: 06/1863. Completed: 07/1864
History:
Constructed with a square stern, presumably for simplicity, and with her wheelhouses inset into the casemate. She was said to be too weak for her full armour, whether due to a design or construction fault is unknown. Nevertheless she took a very active part in the defence of Mobile, although not present at the Battle of Mobile Bay. She was found to be hog braced athwartships when surrendered at Nanna Hubba Bluff 10/05/1865, very manoeuvrable and reasonably fast. Her forward casemate face was sloped at 29 degrees, resulting in the forward 7" gun having to be made longer in the barrel. Note that the Fremaux print shows her stack being forward of the wheels. In this case the author has chosen to go with the majority verdict.
The Selma Vessels.
Name : CSS Phoenix
Class : Modified Nashville
Type: Ironclad side-wheel sloop. Paddles: 2 side-wheels Speed: 9 knots
Dimensions: as far as can be ascertained, as per CSS Nashville
Guns: 6 intended
Armour : 4" iron , backing unknown. 35 degree angle on knuckle, 50 degree slope on casemate
Builder: J.T. Shirley & David Dehaven, Selma Ala.
Laid Down: 03/1863 Launched: 1864
History:
Original plan by the Author, drawn from two prints identified as being CSS Nashville,
But in fact depicting CSS Phoenix as a transport at Mobile.
Note the considerable differences between her and CSS Nashville.
One of a pair constructed at Selma, and often confused with her yard mate described below,
her engines came from the side wheel steamer Republic. Intended to be named CSS Memphis, she suffered a broken keel at launch and although repaired, consequently was never armoured or armed, but taken to Mobile and used as a transport, sold to a private buyer for use as a blockade runner. Sunk, after her machinery was removed, as an obstruction in Mobile Bay. Her wreck has been discovered and surveyed. The casemate and paddle housings have not survived, but her hull is intact.
Unnamed side wheel ironclad
The other sidewheeler of the pair built by Anderson at Selma Ala, this ship was wrecked beyond repair at launch, and alleged to have been sold for scrap to assist in paying off the contract. However another wreck lying in the obstructions in Mobile harbour is now believed to be the remains of this vessel..
CSS Montgomery
Class : Half or Semi Nashville
Type: Ironclad side-wheel sloop. Paddles: 2 side-wheels Speed: 8 knots
Dimensions: 240ft OA x 57.5ftEX x 10.5ft D, 2,070 tons
Guns: 6
Armour: probably 4" . casemate slope 45 degrees.
Builder: Possibly John T Shirley, at Montgomery Ala.
Laid Down: 02 or 03/1863 Launched: 1864
History:
Plan redrawn from a badly damaged original, courtesy of by Ben Shuman.
The second of three ironclads known to have been constructed at Montgomery, this vessel was a large riverboat conversion. Reported by a Union spy to be at Mobile in late 1864, she was armed and armoured at least on the casemate. Never commissioned, she may have reverted to mercantile use after the war. Final fate unknown.
Name: The Yazoo Monster
"The un- named monster" was at the time, and remains, the biggest warship ever built inland.
Type: Ironclad Frigate.
Paddles: two independent side-wheels powered by 4 western river type engines.
Screws: two 8.5ft, . Speed: 10 knots calculated, 13 – 16 knots intended.
Dimensions: 310ft (OA), x 70ft over knuckle, x 13ft (D), 3,410 tons.
Hull: 289ft (BP) x 56ft (B) x 13ft (DPH),
Guns: 12 probably intended to be 4 – 7"mlr pivots and 8 – 6.4" Brooke mlr.
Armour: 4.5" ins iron, from Shelby Iron Co. Casemate slope 30 degrees
Design: Thomas Weldon Builder: T. Weldon / J. McFarland, Yazoo City Navy .Yard, Mississippi.
Laid Down: October 1862 Destroyed to prevent capture 21 May 1863
History:
Conjectural general arrangement drawing by the Author using input from multiple sources
Designed to utilise existing side-wheel and screw engines, possibly taken from CSS St Phillip, and those that were to be fitted in CSS Tennessee I respectively.
The vessel was "Skiff built" with both ends of the hull configured the same, which has caused much confusion over the years, being taken to mean that the vessel had one screw at each end. However the original design for the "Nashville" type was for a twin screw configuration. Distribution of weights, layout of machinery boilers etc, plus the disadvantages of drag conferred by a screw at each end indicate that a more traditional layout was intended .
Designed by Thomas Weldon to a modified Nashville type plan, as indicted by the proportions of her dimensions, construction was supervised by Lt Isaac Newton Brown CSN. There is some doubt as to whether this was a State or CSN sponsored vessel, but the CSN met the bills !
The four paddle engines would have been geared in pairs, with both wheels independently driven.
It is difficult to see the purpose of such a large ship, but with a relatively high freeboard and designed speed perhaps Weldon and Brown saw her taking control of the Mississippi, and even getting into coastal waters.
No name was ever assigned but CSS Yazoo has been suggested as appropriate.
CSS Caddo
Originally believed to be the name under which the vessel launched as CSS Missouri was ordered, this was a second vessel intended for construction at Shreveport Louisiana.
John Smoker and Thomas Moore contracted for one Nashville Class ironclad to be built there, the contract was not approved by Secretary Mallory, but in October 1862 he ordered one large IC for construction on the Red River.
Although known to be a paddle wheel ironclad, what plan it was actually to be constructed to is a matter of considerable debate with various authorities giving different opinions. However Union reports indicate a possible sister to the Yazoo Monster, blown up in March 1863.
Name: Unknown
James H Warner surveyed the engines of CSS Pontchartrain and found them fit for use in powering a vessel proposed for construction at Little rock Arkansas..
Whether construction of this particular vessel ever began is uncertain but at least one other vessel besides CSS Pontchartrain is known to have been commenced at this facility.
Name: unknown
A Possible Nashville type ironclad,Laid Down in late 1861, reported as building late 1861 - 1862, in Tennessee. Fades from history
2, Names unknown
Class: Morgan or Nashville class
Type: Ironclad Steam Sloop. Paddles: two Side-Wheels,
Guns: 8
Design: Sydney Porter or J. L. Porter
Builder 1: unknown at Charleston Sc,
Builder 2: unknown at Georgetown Sc .
Construction details unknown, vessel burned 18/02/1865 Builder 2: Vessel under construction on Peedee River , to use engines recovered from a blockade runner. burned 18/02/1865.
Bringing the