USS Michigan was the United States Navy's first iron-hulled warship and served during the American Civil War. She was renamed USS Wolverine in 1905.
The side wheel steamer Michigan was built in response to the British Government arming two steamers in response to the Canadian rebellions in the late 1830s with Secretary of the Navy Abel P. Upshur selecting an iron hull partly as a test of practicability of using such a "cheap and indestructible a material" for ships.[1][2] The ship was designed by Samuel Hart, and fabricated in parts at Pittsburgh in the last half of 1842, transported overland and assembled at Erie.[1] The launch on 5 December 1843 was unsuccessful with the ship sticking after moving some 50 feet (15.2 m) down the ways and efforts to complete the launch ended by nightfall.[1] On returning in the morning Hart found Michigan had launched "herself in the night" and was floating offshore in Lake Erie.
[From Wiki]
I do *love* side-wheel paddle steamers for some unaccountable reason..... I think they're great. Not great warships though - or actually that great a ship of any kind... But they do have *something*... [muses]
2 comments:
all the bases covered... these were pretty common at one time...
USS Michigan was the United States Navy's first iron-hulled warship and served during the American Civil War. She was renamed USS Wolverine in 1905.
The side wheel steamer Michigan was built in response to the British Government arming two steamers in response to the Canadian rebellions in the late 1830s with Secretary of the Navy Abel P. Upshur selecting an iron hull partly as a test of practicability of using such a "cheap and indestructible a material" for ships.[1][2] The ship was designed by Samuel Hart, and fabricated in parts at Pittsburgh in the last half of 1842, transported overland and assembled at Erie.[1] The launch on 5 December 1843 was unsuccessful with the ship sticking after moving some 50 feet (15.2 m) down the ways and efforts to complete the launch ended by nightfall.[1] On returning in the morning Hart found Michigan had launched "herself in the night" and was floating offshore in Lake Erie.
[From Wiki]
I do *love* side-wheel paddle steamers for some unaccountable reason..... I think they're great. Not great warships though - or actually that great a ship of any kind... But they do have *something*... [muses]
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