USS Katahdin

[Chris707]

I've posted an 1892 article on the USS Katahdin which was sort of an 1890s aberration - devised by a retired Civil War era Rear Admiral, she was a harbor defense ram - essentially a semi-submersible with no armament other than the ram. Given that there was no real ventilation, temperatures in the *wardroom* reached well in excess of 110 degrees - they didn't even try to measure in the engineering spaces.
Essentially useless by the time it was built, and only served a few years...

Chris

[NARSES2]

Interesting. I find the whole period fascinating from a military hardware standpoint as things were changing so rapidly. I've read about harbour defence that had fixed and steerable mines plus electric wire guided torpedo's to supplement the guns but not this type of semi-submersable. Thanks 

[Chris707]

Thanks - it is indeed an interesting period - there were ships that would have been more at home in the Civil War, alongside others, that although obsolete by WWI, would in some cases still be afloat in the 1940s or even later.

[NARSES2]

That's right. It's one of those periods of history where mankinds ingenuity (especially when it comes to warfare) seemed to go into overdrive (aliens ?  ) , and then there was a collective pause whilst we figured out how to deal with what we had created !

[JoeP]

Take a look at USS Vesuvius of 1888, the only dynamite gun ship ever built.

The USN also reconstructed several monitors. I've written an alternate history where they evolve into coast defense battleships.

[NARSES2]

Take a look at USS Vesuvius of 1888, the only dynamite gun ship ever built.

The dynamite gun's story is an interesting one. I've photos of the one in the museum in Havana somewhere. I presumed that was from the US-Spanish War as the label didn't say much about it at all.