|
256-bit encryption
$500,000 protection
|
USS NEW IRONSIDES
The most powerful vessel in the Civil War
.jpg)
USS New Ironsides was one
of the Union's original three
"salt-water"
ironclad warships during
the American
Civil War.
Commissioned
at Philadelphia Navy Yard 21 August 1862,
New Ironsides
was the last, and largest, of the group
of three. With a length of 230', she had a
complement of 449 sailors.
She was named after the
sail frigate
USS Constitution, the legendary "Old
Ironsides" of the War of 1812 because of her very thick
armor.
From the waterline, New Ironsides' armor
was 4.5-inch. Below the waterline was 3 inches. This
tremendous iron protection
made the ship ideal for
blockading and she spent most of her career blockading
the Confederate ports of Charleston, South Carolina, and
Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1863–65.
USS New Ironsides was fitted with a steam
engine which propelled her up to eight knots. She
also had a sail rig, which was removed and stowed while
the ship was engaged in hostile action.
After
final fitting out at Norfolk, the large new ironclad
steamer became Rear Adm. Du Pont's flagship. She led the
South Atlantic Blockading Squadron off Charleston, S.C.,
on 17 January, guarding the wooden blockaders from
attack of Confederate ironclads.
On 7
April, Du Pont's ironclads attacked the Confederate
defensive works in Charleston Harbor. At noon the Union
ships got under way and followed monitor Weehawken into
battle. Soon the concentrated fire of the shore
batteries began pounding Du Pont's vessels; and during
the next two hours, more than 2,000 Southern rounds
challenged their progress. Some 50 times the Confederate
cannoneers hit New Ironsides but did not severely damage
her. The tricky currents in the narrow channel also
proved formidable, twice forcing the
New Ironsides
to anchor to avoid running
aground. In addition, New Ironsides lay directly over a
torpedo containing over a ton of powder for nearly an
hour, but a broken wire prevented the Confederates from
exploding the "infernal machine." As darkness
approached, Du Pont ordered the ironclads to retire. He
learned that the efficiency of his monitors had been
greatly impaired and USS Keokuk had been severely
damaged (she sank the following day.) New Ironsides, on
the other hand, had withstood her intensive pounding
with less damage. During the ensuing weeks, while most
of the monitors were absent for repairs, New Ironsides
remained off Charleston guarding the vulnerable Federal
wooden hulled ships.
New Ironsides' broadside battery of eight
heavy guns on each side made her a uniquely valuable
ship for bombardment purposes.
Early in July, New
Ironsides resumed operations in Charleston Harbor
concentrating against Fort Wagner. For about two months,
she hammered Confederate positions. On 4 September, Col.
Lawrence M. Keitt who commanded the fort, reported,
"rapid and fatal" effects of the Union guns. The next
day the shelling killed 100 of the fort's defenders and
the bombardment grew in intensity until the Confederacy
secretly evacuated Morris Island on the night of 6
September.
The
following day, USS Weehawken ran aground during an
attack on Fort Sumter, and New Ironsides joined four
monitors in shelling Confederate batteries to cover
their helpless sister. The next morning, she placed
herself between Weehawken and the Southern batteries to
draw fire while Union tugs labored to refloat Weehawken.
Although hit over 50 times, the powerful flagship
emerged unscathed.
A few
weeks later, on the night of 5 October, CSS David, a
Confederate torpedo boat, slipped into the harbor and
exploded a spar torpedo against New Ironsides' starboard
quarter, somewhat damaging her. She nevertheless
remained on blockade duty off Charleston until steaming
to Philadelphia in May 1864 for repairs on 30 June.
Recommissioned on 27 August 1864, New Ironsides joined
the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron at Norfolk, Va.
New Ironsides got underway on 18 December to rendezvous
with the Union armada. On Christmas Eve, she led other
ironclads into attack. The admiral reported that New
Ironsides "took her position in the most beautiful and
seamanlike manner, got her spring out, and opened
deliberate fire on the fort which was firing at her with
all its guns...they were silenced almost as soon as the
New Ironsides opened her terrific battery."
On 13
January 1864, the Union renewed the attack. New
Ironsides led the monitors to within 1,000 yards of Fort
Fisher and opened on the batteries. Meanwhile, Union's
8,000 troops landed out of range of the fort's guns. At
mid afternoon on the third day of the fighting, the
fleet ceased firing and the soldiers, aided greatly by a
landing party of some 3,000 Sailors and Marines, charged
the Confederate fortifications. The battle hung in the
balance until the guns of the Union ships, firing at
right angles to the direction of the Union advance,
opened with deadly precision. Col. Lamb, the Confederate
commander, later wrote "as the tide of the battle seemed
to have turned in our favor, the remorseless fleet came
to the rescue of the faltering Federals."
The fall of Fort Fisher on
15 January 1865 and the closing of Wilmington cut off
the South's last source of supplies for its armies in
the field and severed Confederate communications with
the outside world.
New
Ironsides stood out for
Hampton Roads on 17 January to join the James River
division supporting Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's final
operations against Richmond. As the Confederacy
collapsed, New
Ironsides steamed to Philadelphia and
decommissioned at League Island on 6 April 1865. A fire
destroyed the veteran ironclad on 16 December 1866.
This primarily
wood model of the ironclad USS
New Ironsides is
28" long x 10.5" tall x 7" wide (1/100 scale.)
$2,650 
Shipping and insurance in
the contiguous USA included.
Other places: $300 flat rate.
This model is in stock
and can be shipped within five business days.
Be
sure to check out our beautiful
USS Cairo,
CSS Virginia, USS Monitor
model, USS Tecumseh,
CSS Tennessee.
Learn more about the
New Ironsides here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_New_Ironsides
|
