Shipbucket

Thank you sir. Is the URL just simply paint.net?

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Best regards,

RegiaMarina1939

It's getPaint.Net

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“Close” only counts with horseshoes, hand grenades, and tactical nuclear weapons.
That which does not kill me has made a grave tactical error

Worklist

Source Materiel is always welcome.

Send me your email address by PM when you're ready for the files.

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Redhorse

Current Projects:
Republic of Texas Navy
FD Scale F-14s

Ok cool I will get on it later today! Thanks to both of you.

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Best regards,

RegiaMarina1939

Serpent-class Torpedo boat:
- By 1879, it had already become clear that the Charleston Naval treaty of the 1870's had become irrelevant. By now, major nations were no longer building ironclads, but had begun construction on all-iron vessels. The Carolinian Admiralty issued a decree that all ships would now be built either of all iron or all steel. Also, the Admiralty had very little funds to spend on capital ships at a time when the army was modernizing (as we will see soon.) The Navy's funds had been spent heavily on the construction of the four Native-class ships, but 20 old Civil War-era ships had been paid off, scrapped, or decommissioned. The Navy determined that the funds freed up by disposing of these combatants could be well spent on a class of modern, small-scale units for coastal defense. Experiments with torpedo boat-type vessels had already shown the practicality of the TB concept, and the Admiralty resolved to build more of them for coast defense. A new contractor was also enlisted to assist in the development of the new class. The Port Royal Dry dock Company were the foremost experts in the building of small, lightweight ships for the navy, having already constructed the 3 experimental boats earlier on. The design was finalized in 1879 and ordered the same year, with six units to be completed by 1880. However, the Navy's construction of the Native-class had been very costly and therefore the order was delayed, with construction to begin in 1880 and the boats to be delivered in 1881. The time freed up by the delay was used to further refine the design, and a new torpedo assembly was developed. It consisted of 2 18-inch revolving tubes with manually-operated cranes to load the torpedoes into the tubes. The only gun carried was a single 3-pounder gun in the bow for self-defense and attacks against any target in general. They were built of steel rather than iron, as they didn't require as much of the expensive material as a capital ship did, and were propelled by smaller versions of the new boilers used in the Native-class. Also a new feature was the single compound engine used in the design, which propelled the boats to a speed of 22 knots, very respectable for the day. For the first time in a Carolinian combatant, twin-screw propulsion was adopted, with 2-shafts driving 3-bladed bronze propellers. The Admiralty continued the practice of painting the bottom of the boats green with gray hulls. The command structure was rather bulky and therefore caused some stability issues in rough seas, but, as the boats were coast defense vessels and therefore intended to operate in the calm waters of the Carolina sounds, this was not really considered a major issue. Construction started, as planned, in 1880, and the boats were all laid down that year. Completed and commissioned in 1881, they were the most advanced vessels of their kind in any American navy. They served until 1898, when they were sold for scrap in favor of larger, faster, more heavily armed destroyers and TB's. Their names were Viper, Cottonmouth, Copperhead, Rattlesnake, Boa, and Anaconda.


Specifications:
Type: Coast defense torpedo boat
Length:110 feet
Beam: 8 feet
Draft: 4 feet
Displacement: 105 tons
Speed: 22 knots
Range: 330 Miles at 12 knots
Machinery: 2 x Circular, high-pressure coal-fired boilers, 1 x Compound reciprocating steam engine
Armament: 2 x Revolving 18-inch Torpedo tubes with 2 reloads each and 1 in the tube, 1 x 3-pounder QF gun, later also 2 x 7.92mm machine guns.


I fixed the crediting!

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Best regards,

RegiaMarina1939

The National defense act of 1880: By the 1870's and 1880's, it had become apparent that the Carolinian Army and Coast defense branches, which had fallen behind in funding and technological advancement in favor of the Navy, needed drastic re-organization and modernization. The Carolinian Congress, dead-set on supporting not only it's military but also the associated infrastructure and industry needed to build up the armed forces, passed the National Defense act of 1880. This act gave the Armed Forces of the Carolinas up to 60 million United States Dollars to buy arms, improve their bases, and train new troops, and also expanded the size of the Armed Forces to 80,000 men in total across all branches. The Army selected the Remington Rolling-Block as it's universal service rifle across all branches that fell under it's control, including artillery and cavalry troops, who used the carbine version as a replacement for the Sharps Carbine in use since 1865. The Army also signed a 9 million dollar contract with Armstrong's of Great Britain to produce enough of it's 24-Pounder RBL guns and carriages to re-equip the entire artillery service. The Cavalry re-equipped itself, as did the officer corps, with new Colt Single-Action Army revolvers chambered in .44 with a 7.5-inch barrel (For the Cavalry) and a 4-inch barrel (for the officer corps) All new small arms were purpose-built to fire metallic cartridges rather than the old paper cartridges, and were still around when smokeless powder became available, although they were soon replaced by bolt-action firearms as standard. The coastal artillery service adopted new breech-loading guns of calibers ranging from 2-inch to 10-inch, and reconstructed or strengthened all it's existing fortifications at Fort Fisher, Charleston Harbor, and in the Outer Banks by use of copious amounts of concrete. All Army and Coast Defense modernization work was completed by 1885, and then the Navy could scrap the bulk of it's old ironclads in favor of a new construction program favoring modern ships made of iron and steel and armed with new guns and torpedo tubes. The navy program was to officially begin in 1884 with the placement of orders, to be paid for in advance, with both domestic and foreign contractors. The program called for 2 battleships of modern construction, 2 armored cruisers, 3 scout cruisers, 8 destroyers, and 12 torpedo boats. In total, it would take the government 5 years to pay back the contractors after the ships had been delivered. Interestingly, also added under the new program, was a contract with the Beaufort Boat Yard Company for 6 steam-powered launches. The launches were officially ordered by the navy, but were to be handed over the the revenue service, who didn't have the funding at the time to order the boats themselves. They would serve as revenue boats for harbor officials, armed with a single machine-gun, unless in times of war, where they would be handed over to the navy and armed with a 1-pounder and take on a crew of navy sailors. The designs for all the ships under the program were finalized in 1884, with orders placed that same year and the ships would start building in 1885...

-Watchful-class revenue service steam launch

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Best regards,

RegiaMarina1939

Independence-class battleship, 1885: Seeing that it's ironclads were badly out of date and outclassed by the new ships of other nations, the Carolinian Fleet initiated it's 1884-85 design/order program to obtain designs and contracts for the construction of a new fleet. The program called for 2 modern battleships, and these were to be named Independence and Liberty. Since they displaced 11,150 tons, they were too big to be built at any local dockyard, and as such were ordered in Britain to be built at Armstrong's Yard. The armament was identical to the British Navy's Admiral-Class battleships whom they resembled, consisting of four 13.5-inch guns in two twin barbettes fore and aft. The guns featured electrically-driven traverse and elevation mechanisms, as well as electric ammunition-handling gear. They fired up to 4 rounds a minute and could reach a target out to a range of 12,000 yards at a muzzle velocity of 2,016 feet per second. The largest breech-loaders in any North American navy, the ships were also considerably more powerful in terms of secondary armament, which was arranged for optimum fire control and targeting. The secondary battery consisted of eight 6-inch guns that were more powerful than any secondary gun then in service anywhere. Manufactured by the Raleigh Ordnance Works, it fired a heavy shell out to 6,000 yards and they were a potent force against destroyers and TB's. Also carried were twelve 3-inch guns that served as additional protection from light units. They too were produced by Raleigh Ordnance Works and were fitted along with the 6-inchers when the ships arrived in Wilmington for fitting-out work, having been shipped the Carolina Shipbuilding Company docks via the Wilmington-Raleigh rail line. Carried in addition to these weapons were ten 6-pounders, four 3-pounders, and twelve 1-pounders, along with eight 7.92mm machine guns. These weapons were intended to chew a TB to pieces if they were brave enough to come close, even if they managed to survive the 6-inch and 3-inch guns. They were propelled by compound steam engines, just like the last few ships commissioned into the fleet. These were fueled 12 coal-fired, circular, high-pressure boilers arranged in two rooms each with six boilers divided into two 3-boiler compartments. These could, like the rest of the ship, be sealed off with steam-powered watertight doors in the event of flooding. Electric pumps were installed to drain the compartments in these cases, and fans (also electrically powered) helped better ventilate the compartments and crew quarters. The engines (there were 2 of them, as per usual) were located in a large room that was well-ventilated, and were also surrounded in a 3-foot high wall of steel within a drainable compartment. The low wall was intended to hold off the water as long as possible, while the pumps and doors could be activated. Coal bunkers were located alongside the boilers, on the same deck (unlike the previous ships of the Native-class) Hoses were available to drench the bunkers in case of a fire, fed by the feed-water tanks for the boilers. The battleships had a steaming range that could take them across the Atlantic two times over if the luxury of en-route coaling was not available. Crew quarters were well-ventilated for summertime heat, and during the winter steam heating could be provided for them. The lookout posts also were fitted with steam heating for cold winter nights and days. The main battery guns were fitted with a Scottish-made Barr and Stroud optical array, one of the best at the time. Top speed was 17 1/2 knots, and they were the only Carolinian capital ships fitted with forced-draught for the boiler furnaces. The armor belt consisted of thirteen inches of face-hardened steel developed in England and used in contemporary armored ships. Fourteen inches protected the conning tower, and 13.5 protected the barbettes. The deck armor was 2 inches thick and it was covered in laminated wood. They were ordered in 1884, and the keel was laid in 1885. Completed in 1887, they were commissioned the same year after fitting out work in Wilmington was completed. They served with the main fleet as flagships for the Caribbean and Atlantic squadrons respectively. The Independence shelled Havana and served during the Spanish-Carolinian War of 1896 (something I will talk about later). They were never fitted with torpedo tubes during their service career, and were only refitted once in 1899. Re-classified as coast defense ships in 1904, they were de-commissioned in 1919 and scrapped.

Independence-class battleships (Independence and Liberty):

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Best regards,

RegiaMarina1939

- 12-Pounder field gun section, 1880: The National Defense Act of 1880 contained a contract with Armstrong's of Great Britain. The contract was valued at several million USD and provided for the purchase of roughly 250 individual field artillery pieces. The guns began to arrive in Wilmington and Charleston in 1880. Despite dating back to 1865, the guns were determined sufficient for service for a few years more. The guns ordered were, however, modified slightly upon arrival, receiving a new breech mechanism and the capability to store a few rounds of ammo on the gun carriage itself, not just in the ammunition chests. This somewhat enhanced their combat capability to the point where it was felt the improved weapons could continue to serve until a suitable replacement could be found. They became the standard armament of the Carolinian Field Artillery arm and continued in service until the mid-1890's, when they were replaced by more modern guns.

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Best regards,

RegiaMarina1939

Hi RegiaMarina.
Changing the breech is a very good idea! Do you have in mind something with a De Bange type obturator? Cheers!

Yes indeed! I did some reading on artillery and familiarized myself with the different breech mechanisms. I found that the De Bange system was probably the most popular at the time and the idea was for the Carolinian designers to try and adopt something that would allow a higher rate of fire than the previous Armstrong breech mechanism. The guns would still have to adopt ammunition that could be loaded with this mechanism but not be too powerful for the guns to effectively fire without the dangers of barrel explosion. Therefore development of an indigenous round might have been necessary, as no manufacturer at the time produced shells for guns dating from the 1860s, but using a newer breech mechanism that had been retrofitted. If the breech blocks were machined with the same rifling as the barrel, then surplus shells could maybe be purchased from Armstrongs in England if any were still remaining. Or licensed production of Armstrong projectiles could be undertaken locally.

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Best regards,

RegiaMarina1939