MERRIMAC notes.
January 2nd, 2009 From
>X-Authentication-Warning: ecom7.ecn.bgu.edu: mslrc owned process doing -bs
>Date: Mon, 1 Dec 1997 23:10:43 -0600 (CST)
>From: “Louis R. Coatney”
>X-Sender: mslrc@ecom7.ecn.bgu.edu
>To: “The Paper Modellers’ List”
> marhst-l@qucdn.queensu.ca, consim-l@net.uni-c.dk, > Mahan@microwrks.com,
> MilHst-L@ukanvm.cc.ukans.edu
>Subject: MERRIMAC notes.
>Precendence: bulk
>Sender: mahan-owner@microworks.net
>Reply-To: mahan@microworks.net
>
>Well, I’ve drafted MERRIMAC(K/CSS VIRGINIA) and … as usual … it
> *wasn’t* as easy as I thought … it would be.
>
>I had it pretty well finished when my son observed that my 45-degree
> casemate sides seemed a little steep. As it turns out, they were
> 35 degrees. With a scrap cone, I dead-eyed the pie-shape at
> 295 degrees. Robert did a quick course in trigonometry and found
> that using sine it came out to 294+ degrees. Call me Deadeye. 🙂
>
>The beast is too big for 1:200 on a 11×17 max. sheet, so I had to
> scale it down to 1:240 … and MONITOR will have to be reduced
> accordingly. (So that makes the 100-foot Scale Selector 5″,
> instead of 6″.)
>
>Porter, the Southern naval architect, had to make an ironclad from
> the hull of a wooden warship. The ever-curving lines of MERRIMAC(K)
> are even reflected in the slightly elliptical/curving sides of
> the casemate. I’ll tell you right here: SORRY, *my* MERRIMAC’s
> sides are rail-straight. (Maybe I’ll play with those compound
> curves some *other* time. The top deck’s sides seem to have been
> straight and trying to reconcile the top with the bottom and
> maintain levelness should be great fun.)
>
>What was more interesting was that the side gunports aren’t symmetric.
> I’ve got them located more or less correctly. (In fact, the only
> thing easy about MERRIMAC/VIRGINIA is its stack! … which I nearly
> forgot. 🙂 )
>
>I’ve omitted the lifeboats, but they were in REALLY bad shape by the
> end of the battle, anyway. 🙂 (… and they would make a nice,
> instructive design experience for neophyte cardstock model designers,
> at that.)
>
>I *did* remember the conical conning tower at the front of the top deck.
> It was a far superior design and location than the pilot house on the
> MONITOR’s foredeck (wherein CAPT Worden was blinded).
>
>I checked out William C. Davis’s DUEL BETWEEN THE FIRST IRONCLADS, and
> it is fascinating reading. The Union sailors on the wooden-hulled
> frigates, sloops, etc., were demoralized when they saw how humble a
> little contraption the much-touted MONITOR appeared to be. They seem
> to have wanted to used M. as a rescue/evacuation vessel. 🙂
>
>When the Confederates saw MONITOR, they thought she was a barge, bringing
> a new steam boiler to MINNESOTA. … and the “cheese box” description
> does seem to have been a common reaction.
>
>Moreover, after the day’s Jutland-like slugout-to-a-draw, everyone
> present seems to have been aware that (naval) history had just been
> made.
>
>Anyway, I’ll test-build my little monster sometime this week, and I
> should have it up on my webpage by then.
>
>Lou
> Coatney, www.wiu.edu/users/mslrc/
>
>Incidentally, Robert and I had a great, cliff-hanging 1ST ALAMEIN
> game, over the Thanksgiving weekend. It ended up with 2. Armoured
> Brigade helping me to wrest the initiative from Deutsches Afrika
> Korps deepest penetration past Alam Halfa Ridge … in the nick of
> time.
>
>Robert had also risked and lost some Italian infantry divisions, attacking
> the Alamein Box frontally. He also pushed Recce Gruppe 1 hex too far.
> 🙂
>
>On the other hand, he had my southern box … filled with the New Zealand
> and South African *divisions* AND 4. Armoured Brigade … surrounded.
> He attacked it twice, for the 1/6 chance of eliminating them, but
> failed and then went instead for the deep lunge for C11 — the Coastal
> Road supply/reinforcements/victory hex. If he had taken that box, it
> would have *all* been over, of course.
>
>The game ended in about an hour after 10 full turns. My nephew and
> nieces liked Robert’s “Neat!” tanks and airplanes. 🙂