Come Sail Away: US, Russian and Dutch fleet photos

Here we have the smaller fleets in my collection: the Americans, the Russians, and the Dutch. Since two of those three navies used white stripes for decoration, we have the above title. Most people think that the white stripe along the gunports was a uniquely American paint scheme, but this isn't true. In fact, the Russian Navy adopted the scheme first, during the period 1796-1801.

First up is the United States Navy. The first pictures below are the Constitution. Although I purchased this one, it is modified and somewhat repainted. I added the gunports but as my latest book shows, even in 1812 she used the split gunports. So, I need to change these at some point in the future. Might be time to do a little bit of re-rigging as well.

Next up is the sister ship of the Constitution, the United States. Also known as "The Old Waggon" due to her lackluster sailing qualities, I built this ship from another Constitution model. I added the roundhouse on the upper deck and the additional galleries needed. I based the stern on the old Revell model of the ship.

OK, so not all the US ships are painted with white stripes

Kinda proud of the stern, since I did it a good while back.
Now, I would probably add more detail.

Next up is what Langton refers to as the USS Congress. One of the original six frigates, Congress never had a very distinguished career. She can however be used as her sister ship Constellation and I would even use her as Chesapeake, although she might not be completely correct.

Last up for the Americans is the USS Essex. This mini was one I purchased.

The next act in our White Stripes get-together are the originators of the scheme, the Russian Navy. Of course, not all of them are painted that way either, as you will see below. First up is a 32 gun frigate:

This next ship is the oddball of the bunch. Langton calls it a 46 gun heavy frigate, but the gunport arrangement doesn't match anything in Tredrea and Sozaev book, Russian Warships in the Age of Sail. So, I'm considering it to be one of the 46 gun Pyotr Apostol class of frigates. Since most, but not all of these, were out of service by 1800, I decided not to go with the black/white scheme.

The next unfinished ship is a 50 gun heavy frigate. I haven't gone through the book trying to figure out which class this one is, but decided to give it the black/white treatment since there were large frigates around during the 1806 Russian-Ottoman war (which is my interest).

Next up is a 66 gun ship, which was the standard small SOL of the Russian navy. These serve throughout the Age of Sail.

Like all other navies, the Russians built large numbers of 74 gun ships, and they see extensive service in both the Baltic and Black Sea theaters, along with the other areas the Russian navy ventured into. For example, in 1798-1800 they actually cooperated with their long-time Ottoman enemies against the French!

A very no-nonsense looking ship.

The last ship for the Czar is the 100 gun three-deck SOL. Even in confined waters like the Black Sea the Russians kept several of these. This particular miniature probably represents a ship of the Ches'ma class, which may or may not be based on the design of HMS Victory.

Last in this post are my Dutch ships. "Fleet" is a bit much, since I only have two ships. There is not much information available in English on the painting and decoration of Dutch ships during this time, unlike the earlier 17th Century. Before I build any more of this navy, I want to find more information. These are painted based on information from the Langton website.