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[Bob K]

Are you looking for a highly unusual modelling subject guaranteed to become a unique talking point wherever you sail it?   
During my research building another weird warship I have found many others that show how creative inventiveness clashed with practical reality during the later half of the nineteenth century.

Weird Warships #1
USS Vesuvius (1888)  Dynamite Gunboat



"A fabulous oddball was the dynamite gunboat USS Vesuvius, built by Cramps, launched in 1888 and commissioned in 1890. She represented a radical concept in weaponry; her only armament was a 3-barrel, pneumatic 15" gun which shot 550-lb dynamite shells up to 1.5 miles away.
The gun was built into the hull of the ship and could not be rotated; to aim it the entire ship had to be turned, making target practice a cumbersome operation.
Range was adjusted by varying the pressure of compressed air used to propel the projectile. The dynamite gun was tested in the bombardment of forts at Santiago de Cuba during the Spanish-American War.
However, Vesuvius' principal contribution to the American victory was unrelated to her experimental weaponry. Due to her good turn of speed, she was often used as a despatch boat during the war."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Vesuvius_(1888)

http://www.cityofart.net/bship/vesuvius.html

Firing projectiles using a high pressure air pump would be a fun challenge.

[Norseman]

Firing projectiles using a high pressure air pump would be a fun challenge.

Concealing an air rifle in a model boat? Come along now laddie 

Dave

[Bob K]

Concealing an air rifle in a model boat? Come along now laddie 

Dave

More like a water pistol, but with air. 

[Norseman]

Small refrigeration unit - ice pellets - no evidence 
Sorry for playing the fool Bob - just comes natural to me.

Yes always nice to see out of the ordinary builds - I don't think we have enough of them.

Dave

[Martin (Admin)]

I've always been discombobulated at the German British MTB ... the one that drops the torpedoes off
the back and the boat pilot has to get out of it's way or get shot down my yourself! 'hosted by
your own Petard'... literally!?!!

[heritorasphodel]

I think that model's a British built inter-war torpedo boat, going by the sign. There's a restored one is the slip next to us at Chatham, CMB 103 (Coastal Motor Boat).


Andrew

[Bob K]

Nice idea Dave.  I like it !     
Martin:  That is really unusual, and would make an excellent subject to model and look great on the water.  Thanks for sharing.

Or . . . .  you try this really unusual ship, again with a modelling challenge

Weird Warships #2
USS Alarm (1874)  Spar-Torpedo Boat




“An experimental armoured ram of the U.S. Navy, USS Alarm was intended for harbour defense. Originally authorized during the Civil War and designed by Adm. David Dixon Porter, Alarm and the similar but larger ram Intrepid were meant to combine ramming capability (with a 32-foot ram for the purpose, nearly 20% of the ships' 170-foot length) with spar torpedo attack capacity. The short, nimble ships were an odd combination of gunboat, torpedo craft, ironclad, and ram. Their main weapons all faced forward. Accordingly the ships were designed for manoeuvrability, with a horizontal paddle-wheel drive that could swivel to either side of the hull to spin the vessel about on a dime -- much like today's jet-propelled tugs -- and keep the lethal prow facing target at all times.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Alarm_(1873)

http://www.cityofart.net/bship/uss_alarm.html

Modelling challenge:  To make a working paddle wheel drive for it.

[Bob K]

Here is another strange design which did not live up to practical expectations. 
The lowest possible freeboard seemed desirable with many warships of this era.


Weird Warships #3
USS Katahdin (1896).  Ironclad Semi-Submersible Ram



“An armoured ram of the U.S. Navy, USS Katahdin was intended for harbour defence. The concept was that fleets of rams would lurk in American ports and dart out to ram and sink enemy warships already disabled by coastal artillery. However, defensive strategy was re-thought during her lengthy construction period and the Katahdin proved to be a one-off rather than prototype of a mighty fleet.
Like most armoured rams of the 19th century, she proved too slow to be a genuine threat as a warship; but as a semi-submersible vessel and forerunner of the submarine she is of considerable historical interest. The vessel was constructed at Bath Iron Works, one of the first three ships built at that yard for the U.S. Navy, launched in 1893 and commissioned early 1896.
She was designed to ride with her bow awash, only the bridge works, vents, davits and stack showing above the waves, rather like the Davids of Civil War fame; hence her nickname, "Old Half-Seas Under." 6/2" Harvey armour plate covered her whaleback decks. Her conning tower carried 9" of Harvey armour.
On trials, the ship proved unable to make her design speed of 17 kts, and the Navy refused delivery. A year or more of litigation ensued. When Bath IW's attorneys proved in court that the ship's sluggish performance was due to the Navy's design -- and its continuous, maddening revisions during construction -- and not to shoddy work by the yard, the Navy was forced to accept delivery of the unsatisfactory ship and pay for her.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Katahdin_(1893)

http://www.cityofart.net/bship/katahdin.html
Modelling:   Could maybe adapted from a static diving submarine hull, providing you only dive partially.

[tonyH]

Vesuvius 'guns' courtesy of the French Ministry.
 
I made a mock up of the Fowler wheel propulsion system for USS Alarm some time ago. It actually seems to work on the bench and in practice the steering was brilliant BUT the speed was rather pathetic so according to the records so they changed it for a prop.

[Circlip]

Putting this one in here cos you can never find an appropriate area when you want one.
 
  Seen it before but BBCs repeat of "Coast" on Sunday luchtime had a reasonable piece about T.E. Lawrence /Shaw /Ross and his involvement with BPL.  Good shots of the Seaplane tender and a being rejuvinated RTTL.
 
  Regards  Ian.

[oldiron]

One of our Kawartha Marine Modelers cub members, Phil Dewsnap, built an excellent model of the Katadin. Not one often seen in model form.

John

[Bob K]

John:  That is one awesome model.  I am impressed.    Thank you
 
TonyH:  Thanks for the detail info on Vesuvius "guns", also USS Alarm propulsion system.  At least we now know how (in)effective is was in practice.
 
Just about every crazy idea has been tried at least once in nautical history.   

[raflaunches]

You can always trust a navy somewhere in the world to create some peculiar vessels!
Unfortunately I can't upload pictures from my current location due to poor Internet signal but the two weird warships I have come across so far are HMS Vulcan, a torpedo boat mother ship which carried 6 torpedo boats on its deck, built in 1889. The other is MTB 101, the RN's first experimental hydrofoil in 1938. It looks like a standard MTB but with hydrofoils!


Martin- you can see a version of the 55ft CMB soon at the Mayhem at Wicksteed because my Dad has made one in 1/12th, you can see his progress on the Warship section of the forum.

[Bob K]

HMS Vulcan was indeed highly unusual. 
Below is link to a good photo, which I did not want to copy as it is for sale from Ship Pictures.
http://www.shipspictures.co.uk/warships/prewwii/s-z/slides/DPVULC001.html

[tghsmith]

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1004061    been playing with this one for a while now , hope to have her finished up in few months, note in the later part of WW2 U-boats feared the hedge-hog, a multipul forward launching depth charge.. the VESUVIUS was doing that in the late 1880's, in 1898 her gun tubes were removed an forgotten.. she could throw a 150lbs charge over a mile

[Bob K]

Welcome to Mayhem tghsmith.  !
 
Nice link to photos of USS Vesuvius, dynamite gunboat.  Please post some photos of your build of this very unusual ship, and keep us posted about your progress.

[tghsmith]

the link is to the build thread, just keep paging though, a new feature on r/c groups is the icon that allows all pictures in a thread to be viewed together..

[tghsmith]

as she sits today, mast tubes need to glued into final position, the mast slide into these so they can be removed for transporting, lots of wood that needs stain and finish.. along with many other fitting that have to be made, but a little further along than last week...

[Bob K]

That looks really impressive, especially the three pneumatic 15" guns. 
A fine job.  Please keep us updated with progress.   

[Rob Wood]

very nice! If you need help setting up the three cannons to "fire," let me know. We've had great luck using compressed air and talcum powder to simulate cannon fire, as in:



Rob

[tghsmith]

a compressed air system has always been in plans, 1/48th was chosen to give room for this, no or little talc needed as there was no smoke or muzzle flash, will most likely make up some torpedos to launch, also going to see how confetti looks (for use in areas when the general public is about) can't wait to get this one off the bench as my list of "want to build" has taken a big jump in the last month...

[Martin (Admin)]

very nice! If you need help setting up the three cannons to "fire," let me know. We've had great luck using compressed air and talcum powder to simulate cannon fire, as in:

Rob

Hey Rob.... I can smell a whole topic come out of your post!   

[Rob Wood]

Hey Rob.... I can smell a whole topic come out of your post!   

Hey Martin, what topic are you thinking of, exactly?