"Confederate Ironclad ship data" Topic

Does anyone out there have or know of a book/link with an accurate list of the true attributes (armor/speed etc) of the Confederate Ironclads?

You can get most of them from Spencer Tucker's Blue & Gray Navies, but you have to read it through – there isn't a table or anything.
-Kle.

Capital Navies (John Coski) is loaded with details on the James River ironclads.

Failing that, Paul Silverstone's Warships of the Civil War is a good general reference.

I'll also toss out William Still's Iron Afloat.

For online resources, Series II, Vol. I of the ORN has the official data on the warships of both sides and modifications to the armament:

link

Similiar information, as well as brief histories are contain in the DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN NAVAL FIGHTING SHIPS at:

link

Images of Confederate ships can be found at:

link

BTW, G Dog is right. Coski and Still are great authorities, and their books are well worth owning.

Mark

Thanks I will have a look for all of those, what I am keen to avoid is generic descriptions. I already know what the ships were all called and their general characteristics what I am after are the specific attributes of each one of them and that seems difficlult to pin down.

Since nearly every ship was a "one off" and most of the official records, if any, were destroyed when Richmond fell, I'm not sure you can do better than the data shown in a lot of books.

Very few had decent engines, good coal, trained crews, etc. Guns were mix and match and changed fairly often, so it is difficult to pin down the exact guns at an exact time.

Unless you can find some first person accounts of their building, or serving on them, your best bet is after-action reports by Union ships that destroyed or captured them.

Dan

Yea that seems to be a general theme, even the first hand accounts are less than clear; I read such a description of the Arkansas armor scheme and I still can't be sure I understand what the fellow was banging on about.

"I read such a description of the Arkansas armor scheme and I still can't be sure I understand what the fellow was banging on about."

Join the historian. Really, little to nothing was known about such thing on the river ironclads of either side until ED Bearss found the USS Cairo in a bayou near Vicksburg
link
link
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Bearss

Maybe you can post your description and we can walk thru the possibilities.

EJ you could have a very good poitt there; a source can hardly get more primary.

"Ironclads" board game from the late '70s and expansion games would give you a bunch of information. Boardgamegeek has information on the game.

But is it accurate?

I do not have the experience in Navy data to comment. Yaquinto (sp?) Games had a good reputation, see no reason to doubt unless I discover to the contrary. Good start point. Boardgamegeek has a sample of a counter.

Years ago I compared the ratings and guns given on the ship cards in "Ironclads" with the data found in reports and other documents in the ORN and found the game to be pretty accurate. I would still track down what data is knowable, but I would do that in any case. I found "Ironclads" to be an enjoyable game system that gave reasonably accurate results.

Mark

I actually started a shoip and boat registry here: link

Its only a few weeks old and people are helping to add data everyday.