Between 1903 and 1906, the US Navy built four armored cruisers known as the Tennessee class. These were: Tennessee, Montana, Washington, and North Carolina. They were armed with 4 10 inch guns in twin turrets. When the names were needed for the newer Battleships, they were renamed as Memphis, Missoula, Seattle, and yes, there was a USS Charlotte. They had simple overall hull lines with a shape and length-to-beam similar to the USS South Carolina. This makes them fairly stable. They have some interesting casements and a unique feature as far as I am aware of a secondary gun in a bulged armored casement. I built one from plans hoping it would be a nice secondary or starter for kids similar to Ken Kelly's SMS Scharnhorst which he used with his sons growing up and that impressed me. My ship had some development issues due to weight and drive issues at the time and I mothballed it. With the recent interest in this class, I will pull out my ships and mold to show what I have done and the lessons learned in battling her at Nats.
This starting post is a test of image upload. Photo 1 shows my first hull. The mold gives the smooth lines. The various secondary cannons are in an interesting combination of inward and outward bulging elements. I thought this was very difficult to get into the mold and so added them as resin castings. Alternatively, I have seen many combat ships built by adding half dowels for the casemate guns and losing a little impenetrable area with this simplification.
I think the completed hull is nice looking. Turrets are identical to the USS South Carolina. Stacks are the hard plastic cases that disposable 10cc syringes come in. Nurses in hospitals throw out hundreds of these a day. Lifeboats are from homemade molds and are fiberglass. cranes are a casting I made. This was built in about 2013 before I had a 3D printer.
And locked them in with the subdeck. soft wood between the fittings, backed with flexed strips of hardwood.
I'm really impressed with how the casemates turned out. totally wouldn't have gone that way, but mostly because I'm in a wood hull mindset. what weight is she at with that waterline? I'm probably going to go max weight to get her as low as possible.
