Adamc1776: USS United States and Wreckage

The USS United States the final ship from my US Navy box.  The United Stats awas the ship whos building was directly overseen by Joshua Humphreys in Phladelphia.   She was active durring the Quasi-War serving as flagship for John Barry.

She did further good service durring the Barbary Wars but her great moment of glory was during the War of 1812 when she defeated the Macedonian in a single ship action. This exploit along with a similar victory by the USS Constitution rocked the Royal navy to its core.  The USS United States was blockaded for the rest the war but her crew helped turn the tide on the great lakes. 

The United States has this intersting poop deck feture that doesn't apear on the other two ships of the same type (President and Constitution) at first I thought this must be some creativity on the part of Warlord...

but an early drawing does show such a feature.

The figure head seems to be two woman or angles and I really wish I had an alturnative option to use.  

The sturn looks sharp though the window details didn't full show up.  I'm out of ships for now but hope to have some more to paint soon

I've used some of my leftover bits and pieces to make some wreckage markers to indicate wreaked ships.

AdamC: Top Sail Schooner

My Xebec Project left me with some extra bits and pieces and I used them to build some schooner. I made this one a Top Sail Schooner.

Top Sail Schooners were popular ships for trade and privateering.  They were swift sailors especially good as sailing close to the wind. Cargo capacity was relatively limited but for small high value cargos schooners were ideal. 

I cut out the sails for these myself then realized I had not rigged the ship yet! fortunately I was able to get in enough rigging to make it work but I don't want to make that my regular approach. 

AdamC: USS Constellation

The second to last of my US frigates The USS Constellation my personal favorite of the original six (after the USS Constitution).  Constellation was built in Baltimore Maryland as a 36-or 38-gun frigate as usual her intended rating is a bit confused in the records. She was one of the first of the new frigates completed and took a staring roll in the Quasi-War.

The Constellation was commanded during the Quasi-War by Thomas Truxtun a man with experience in the Royal Navy as a common seaman (he was offered a Midshipman’s Warrant) then as a Privateer captain in American Revolution. Constellation fought two single ship action during the Quasi-War. Her first and most famous action was against the L'Insurgente a 36-gun French frigate with a reputation for speed. She had in fact out run Constellation on a previous occasion but on their second encounter the L'Insurgente lost a top mast in a sudden squall allowing the Constellation to close to engage. Constellation was armed with 24-pounder cannons causing to heal over so that she had to surrender the weather gage but her much great weight of metal made short work of the more lightly armed frigate. L’Insurgente was taken into the US Navy as the USS Insurgent and was commanded by Truxtun’s first lieutenant John Rodgers.

Almost a year later the Constellation encounter another French Frigate La Vengeance a ship of much greater force than the L'Insurgente. The two ships engaged in 5 hour running battle in which the Constellation batter the Vengeance into a near wreck which limed away to ground itself outside Curaçao. The French captain latter claimed the Constellation was actual a ship of the line. The Constellation required extensive repairs aloft but received the nick name “Yankee Racehorse” for her speed and power (its not Ironsides but as nicknames go its pretty cool).   

Constellation saw further service in the Fires Barbary war then went into “ordinary” at the Washington Naval Yard where she stayed until the War of 1812. She began refitting as the war came on, but supply shortages lead to her not ready for sea until 1813 by which time she was blockaded. Her crew fortified her at Canary Island and was vigilant enough to foil to Royal Navy attacks.

The USS Constellation continued to serve in the US Navy frequently as a squadron or station Flag ship in all the world’s oceans until 1853 when she was deemed to old and was broken up. Some of her hardware may have been used to help build the Sloop of War Constellation that was built that same year. This ship can still be found in Baltimore harbor but is not the original Constellation as was claimed of many years.  I've still got the USS United States to finish and a friend of mine is sending me a few 3D printed ships for my collection. 

AdamC: USS Chesapeake

Here is the USS Chesapeake one of the first US Navy ships built in what would become the Norfolk Navy Yard (called Gossport at the time). Originally she was planned as a 44 gun frigate at Washington’s requests (he wanted one of the big ships built in Virginia) budget and supply issues had her rerated as a 38 gun frigate.

 

Sometimes Chesapeake was rated as a 36 gun frigate and seems to have been the smallest of the original Six frigates.

Her stern is quite handsome.  Chesapeake had one capture in the Quasi-war taking the Le Jeune Creole (16 guns) after a chasse lasing 50 hours!  That was probably both epic and boring.

The huge eagle of figure head is also quite striking she makes a beautiful ship. Chesapeake active during the Barbary war but is most famous for her actions relating to the War of 1812. She had the misfortune to be involved on the receiving end of the Chesapeake-Leopard affair taking fire unawares from a British 4th Rate and then submitting to having her crew mustered as if she were a British merchant. 

Chesapeake made a cruise in 1812 but only captured some 5 British merchants and she did not have any opportunity to engage a ship of equal force. In 1813 she sailed out of Boston under the command of Captain Lawrence to challenge the HMS Shannon to combat. Lawrence had every opportunity to avoid combat and slip away as a raider but chose not to.

He also refused to maneuver for advantage while closing with the Shannon and chose to fight Nelson's in Nelson's fashion and "Lay your ship close alongside the enemy." As everyone knows the Shannon won the battle (though not without some hard knocks) and Lawrence expired with the words "Don't give up the ship." He uttered these words as the ship was being given up and I have always been puzzled by hero worship that Surrounds Lawrence. He is of the Heroic captains you can take in Black seas but Isaac Hull and others who won battles are ignored. English writers probably like him because he was brave and got defeated in a satisfactory manner.

AdamC Schooners, Xebec and Corvette

Some more kit bashing using Black Seas brigs.  

First up we have my second Xebec. If you are interested in my build process you can see it on my Blog Fencing Frog: Making Xebecs and thanks again to Guy Bowers for the inspiration and permission to use photos form his blog. 

T

his time I angled the fore mast forward which is sort of key to the Xebec look.

The stern windows taken from an extra frigate piece.

Top sail schooner I've done a few schooners, but this is probably the first one I’m really happy with. 

I cut the sails myself using paper from my daughter's sketch pad.  They do not look as cool as Warlords but good enough.

A smaller schooner more of a sloop or cutter. It makes a good small privateer merchant or warship.

Last a corvette or sloop of war as yet unflagged. It is acting as a merchant ship in my game this Saturday for the Let’s Roll Convention

I had thought about making this a third Xebec but decided I wanted something more flexible. 

I am very happy with how this ship's quarter deck came out. As with all things practice makes perfect.  USS Chesapeake is almost ready to go and USS Constellation is waiting for a few final bits of paint and then rigging.  

AdamC: USS Congress

The Second Ship from you US Fleet Box is the USS Congress built in Portsmouth New Hampshire.  She was one of the original six and was built in New Hampshire because Washington wanted to use the six frigates as a foundation for the navy in more ways than one.  He wanted to spread the know-how and facilities to build warships thought out the country.

The Congress is one of the officially 36-gun but always latter called 38-gun frigates. She is somewhat smaller than her consort the President.  Historically the two ships sailed together often doing two cruises in company during the war of 1812.  The Congress never found an opportunity for a dramatic single ship action but captures several British Merchants and caused the Admiralty no end of anxiety.  The two ships would have been something like the Bismarck and Prince Eugene lose in the North Atlantic except without radar and air search to help out.

Her Figurehead is an American Eagle with a Star above it head and several additional stars tailing from its tail.

Here you can see her stern with her name and coat of arms.  This part is cast in metal and looks very sharp.

The Historic Congress may not have had an exciting battle career but she is off to a good start on the table as fellow AHPC member John Michael took her helm Tuesday night and used her to good effect engaging two French frigates. 

AdamC: USS President and Corsair Xebec

Two very different ships on offer today.  The USS President and a yet unnamed Xebec.

 The USS President was a sister ship of the USS Constitution there were some differences in construction and armament.  The President was more heavily armed with 42-pounder carronades compared to Constitution’s 32-pounders.   

President side by side with Boston

President was the Flagship of commodore John Rogers in 1812 and 1813 and cruised extensively against British shipping often in company with other US war ships.  Rogers was unlucky and never had a shot at a English ship or squadron of equal force so his real contributions the American cause are over shadowed by the flashy single ship actions of other ships.  In 1814 President Switched commanders to Captain Steven Decatur and was captured by the British while trying to break the blockade. 

The details of the figurehead were a little hard to make out but I determined it was supposed to be George Washington in is Continental Army uniform which I did my best to recreate. 

 The Stern details are great lots of good "ginger bread" from the ships name to an American eagle and shield. 

 Next up a kit bashed Xebec.  I got another 6 brigs with the American Fleet set and more brigs are about the last ship type I need (I have 10).  So after waiting for Guy Bowers to share how he was going to make his Xebec.  I decided I would proceed on my own.  As a side note here are a pair of Islands I carved from packing foam. 

The hull is made from parts of two brigs.  The masts are part of left-over plastic spear parts.  The foremast should be leaning forward.  opted to have the fore and main masts with their lateen sail spreading to different sides because it looked cool (like a pair of wings) and I found several images with sails in this orientations.  The Sails are paper form my daughter’s art pad it took some trial and error, but they came out good in the end.  I sort of regret the bit of cloth I tried to make into a furled sail, but it doesn’t look too bad I suppose. 

I created a pop deck with some left-over bits including railings made from 15mm tank tracks (anyone spot that?) The paint job is of my own invention.  Green is a color that appears on several Muslim flags, so it seemed a likely choice for a warship.  I think the Xebec came together nicely and I hope to compare construction notes with Guy when he gets his finished.  Now I just need some good  Corsair ship names. 

AdamC: Black Seas Gun Boats and work in progress

I recently got the US Navy fleet box, and these are the first fruits of that purchase.

Like everything form the Black Seas line they are lovely little models. I especially liked the sculpted sails.  I did the guns to look like they are brass cannon as these are lighter and this makes a lot of sense for small boats.  

The sculped base is a nice touch thought I would have liked the option to use them individually. 

I thought I would share some of my work in progress three Xebecs and 4 of the "original" 6 US frigates.

AdamC: Back to Black Seas

First up is a shipyard I've been working on for a port to use in games of Black Seas.   The project was for a game at Huzzah Con this May.

 Unfortunatly the Convention has been canceled for this year so work will slow as I come up with way to make the best looking port I can.  I thried to put as much shipbuilding stuff as I could in the docyard: Left over Anchors from my kits, wooden blanks, mast and even smoe canvas.  All this stuff probably wouldn't be just sitting here but helps make clear that ship building is going on.

The ships are 1/1000 scale ships form GHQ they  had wire masts that I tried to manage years ago and failed utterly but they work well here as ships under construction. 

 Next up is a sctrach build of my owe devising whith a Black Seas brig for scale.  Its a costal and river vessel called a Gudalow. They were quite popular in Maine, New Hampsire and Massachusets.

You can take a ride in Gundalow in Portsmouth New Hampshire https://www.gundalow.org/

 Gundalows were sometimes pressed into service as gunboats most famously at the Battle of Valcour Island  during the American revolution.

As you can see this Gundalow is doing duty as gunboat in a harbor defence roll I'll have to come up with stats.  Gudalows are fairly large but shallow draft great for carring cargos but not very stable.  The Philadelphia  was sunk by a single hit for example (but maybe the Brititish rolled a criticle)