"The CSS Stonewall Ironclad." Topic

"The story of both the Le'Gloire and CSS Stonewall started with their construction in France. The Le'Gloire was designed by Stanislaus Du'puy De'lone. He was very likely also involved in the design of the Stonewall. The Stonewall was of a design called a Ram and would have been heavily reinforced in the area of the bow. This type of construction made her prone to drive her bow into heavy seas. Pictures of these two ships clearly show similarities in their design.
On the eve of the completion of the CSS Stonewall it was rumored that she was designed for the Confederate Government. This rumor reached the ears of the Mexican Government and thus started some controversy. Emperor Napoleon III was informed, that if the Stonewall fell into the possession of the Confederate Government, Mexico would be made off limits for French troops. The Emperor worried a bit more what his people might think because of his policies in Mexico. It was decided the ship would be sold to Denmark instead. Shortly after the ship arrived in Denmark, Danish Naval officers took her out to sea for trials. These Viking descendants were use to sleek sailing vessels and didn't like the way the ship plowed her way through the sea. After sea trials the Danish government received the report from their Naval officers and decided to return her to the builder.
The builder's agent soon took position and before she was returned to France, a secret deal had been worked out between the builder and the Confederate government. The ship entered a small harbor and the anchor was dropped. There was another ship waiting with the Stonewall's new crew. The Confederate crew came aboard and received her as their own. The Confederate flag was raised the crew was in attendance, so the commander now announced her to be the CSS Stonewall.
The Stonewall, was a small twin-screw ironclad man of war. She weighed twelve hundred tons and was armed with one three hundred pounder and two seventy pounder guns. The information listed here is a very short history of the development of ironclad ships. I enjoyed doing this research and hope you enjoyed reading it"

Questions.

a) Anybody had made this ship for wargaming?

b) If the CSS Stonewall and the other ship mentioned here could reach the Confederation in 1863/64, would them have changed the course of the war? Or or just extend it?

c) When we read that Napoleon III was worried about what his people might think, this means that the french people was for the Union as the British?

From here with some pics and more info.
cfcwrt.com/long.html

Thanks in advance for your guidance.

Amicalement
Armand

Thoroughbred makes the STONEWALL in 1:600.

It's a sweet ship. But it's no match for the NEW IRONSIDES or for one of the two turret Monitors.

One can imagine scenarios in which STONEWALL and a few other Confederate ironclads make it to Charleston Harbor, which is one of the few places an ironclad fleet action was a real possibility. Be fun to game.

The Stonewall is a great ship but for some reason, usually does not survive whatever scenarios that it's in. The lure of using the awesome ram is so strong that you eventually end close up on the business end of 15" Dahlgrens where the lack of heavy armor is to be regretted – though if you judged the attack properly, you will probably deal out fatal underwater damage to your target if you survive the exchange of fire…

Yes, an excellent ship, fast, and powerful guns, but it really isn't very big, can't take a lot of damage.

Here's a silly but fun hypothetical British/French ironclad battle using models of the Stonewall and the New Iron sides standing in for the Gloire (I know, far too small, but we didn't care). Ships were all Thoroughbred 1/600, and not rigged. The game was played in 2000 when many people were using dial up and small byte size was important so the photos which were a respectable size in a 640 by 480 resolution are miniscule. Details are in the mousover of the image:

Full battle report
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Tim

LOL! Last time I used the Stonewall, she cut right through USS Niagara and USS Sacramento. Very short game!

Like very much the battle report.
Many thanks Tim for share!.

Amicalement
Armand

Just as a side note, the Stonewall ended its career in the Japanese navy as the Kôtetsu (later re-named the Azuma) where she rendered great service in defeating the remains of the Tokugawa Shogunate.

I have never seen anyone game the 1869 Battle of Hakodate, but then I'm not sure anyone would want to play the Tokugawas (aka: punching bags).