1/600 CSS Wilmington & CSS Manassas

Made by

ModelFunShipyard

Print With Shapeways

Choose Your Material

$37.73

+more

Versatile Plastic
Starting at $ 20.72

Fine Detail Plastic
Starting at $ 36.06

Choose your color and finish

Have a question about this product?

contact the designer

You must be logged in and verified to contact the designer.

Product Description

The CSS Wilmington was the last of three ironclads built in the city of Wilmington during the American Civil War. The first ironclad, North Carolina, was a complete failure, while the second, Raleigh, drove on a sand bank and broke her back, splitting the keel and making her a total loss. Wilmington, so called by the citizens living near the dock, was quite different from any other Confederate ironclad built until or since, as it had a very long length:beam ratio, and instead of a single, large casemate on top of it, had two small ones to minimize target profile and make more efficient use of the armour available. The ship was never officially named: in fact she was still on the stocks when the city as evacuated, therefore was never commissioned nor saw any service. What was probably the most advanced Confederate ironclad ever was burned to prevent it from falling into Union hands.
CSS Manassas was rebuilt from the captured icebreaker Enoch Train; she was cut down to the waterline and converted into an ironclad ram, the first ironclad ever built by the Confederacy (Sept. 1861 - CSS Virginia would not be completed until March of the following year). The ship had a very unique profile, a so-called turtle-back: the only prominent features were the smokestack amidships and the Dahlgren 64-pdr (later 32-pdr) in the bow. The ram with which she was fitted was just below waterline level. She participated in two battles, the latter one proving fatal. The ship was following a Union squadron after the battle of Fort Jackson but while engaging the paddle frigate USS Mississippi ran aground, and heavy fire from Union guns set the ship on fire and forced the crew to abandon ship. Manassas later drifted away and a Union officer in command of a mortar battery decided to save her, but the ship exploded before he could do so. Curiously, during the battle there were no casualties among the Confederate crew.