According to Canney's Sailing Warships of the US Navy, the ship was laid down in June 1816, and was commissioned by 18 December 1824, so 8 years and 6 months before she was put into use. By comparison, mine took from September 2014 to March 2018, or 3 years and 6 months. If we use Canney as a benchmark, I flew through building my version. 😀 According to the Dictionary of American Fighting Ships (DANFS, the online address is: https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs.html ), North Carolina was laid down in 1818, launched on 7 September 1820, and got her first captain on 24 June 1824. That's only 6+ years, so even by those real world standards I'm still doing pretty good. That's enough self-congratulations for right now I think, so let's move on to some photos of the new model. First though, a plan of the original ship:
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| I saw an online comment that said this ship looks like the Constitution on steroids. Maybe.... |
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| Remember, this is officially a 74-gun, 2 deck ship of the line. |
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| The sails obscure just how flat the ship is. No waist, or stacking of decks here. Just one cabin above the spar deck. |
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| This earlier photo gives a better idea of what I mean. |
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| Pretty enough, but in a very practical, almost brutal, way. I think it's due to the ship being mostly black and white. |
I did have a bit of a problem on deciding how to paint the masts. Paintings and models show a number of different ideas. There are white masts with black hoops:
Or, white masts with white painted mast hoops:
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| This model is at the USS North Carolina (BB-55) memorial at Wilmington, NC (http://www.battleshipnc.com/) |
And in some cases, black masts with white hoops:
The last picture was painted in 1827 and was probably commissioned by one of the ship's officers. So, it's possibly the most correct. However, I didn't think this looked very good on the model (too much black), so went with the white mast/black hoop combo.
As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, North Carolina wasn't commissioned until 1824, so will never fight under US colors except in some sort of "what if" scenario. Given her paint job and distinctive appearance, it's almost certain that she will be impressed into the Russian navy as a 74 for various scenarios. Either way, the first unicorn is finished, and others will be following
Ship looks really great! I wasn’t even aware that USA even made a 74. The model Coming in at full sail even! It looks so determined!
ReplyDeleteI like the way the masts came out.
Hope it felt good that first unicorn complete 😀
The story of US 74-gunners is kind of complicated, and probably worth its own blog post. We planned 3 during the Revolution, but only finished one and gave it to the French. We planned 12 in 1799 and plans were drawn up, but obviously none of them were built. In January 1813 Congress authorized 4 and three of them were actually completed: Independence in Boston; Washington in Portsmouth, NH; and Franklin in Philadelphia. Independence and Washington could maybe have been completed in time to participate in the War of 1812. Problem was, when fully loaded for service their lower gunports were only 3 feet above the water. The problem appears to have been partially fixed by replacing some/all of the 32 pound guns on the middle deck with 24 pounders, but both of them had pretty short active lives as ships of the line.
DeleteNorth Carolina was the first ship of a class that was designed to fix the problems of those first generation 74s. There were 6 of them planned, but only two were ever completed: North Carolina and Delaware. There was another active 74 named Columbus, but she was apparently a one-off design.
The thing to remember about all these ships is that they were MASSIVELY overgunned for a 3rd rate 74. North Carolina was pierced for 102 guns(!) and normally carried 92-94, with those guns all being either 32-pounders or 42-pounder carronades.
As for the mini, since she is not "guns out," I wanted to show how fast she was so went with the all plain sails set. And you know, it did feel good to finally put that one in the "completed" column. Next will come the two Russians.
Thanks for the extra history, I found that really interesting actually. Funny how the Americans constantly over gunned the ships. Maybe bc the heavy frigate was such a success ? But sticking 100 guns on a ship the size of a 74 seems ridiculous! 😀
ReplyDeleteNow I want to brush up on my history of the war of 1812. 😀
Well, she's really a 74 in name only. North Carolina is 196 feet long between perpendiculars and 53 feet wide. By comparison, HMS Victory is 184 feet on the gundeck, and 52 feet wide.
DeleteHoward Chapelle was a giant in American nautical research, and he said, ". . .the new 74s of 1817-18 were as powerful, in weight of broadside, as many British liners rating 120 guns when the latter were carrying 126 guns and the American liners 102. In justice, it must be said that the new American ships should have been rated as at least 84's, and even then were unusually large for their class when built, and for ten or fifteen years afterward, in fact." So, think of the US 74's as at least equal to a British 98 or better.
Lovely looking model Brian and certainly some great information and detail on the vessels and the US Fleet of the time. Look foreward to regularly visiting and seeing more of your wonderful work.
ReplyDeleteThank you Carlo, and welcome aboard! Please enjoy yourself here, and I look forward to hearing more from you.
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