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Description

Ported to OBJ, textured, and further modified from the STL format low poly waterline tabletop war gaming model created by Patrick Woodard. Preview picture posed in XNALara XPS. You can download Mr. Woodard's original STL model as part of his Confederate Ironclads Pack at the link below but be warned! STL models normally come untextured because they're made for use with 3D printers, with the end user expected to hand paint the 3D printed model. Furthermore I've added extra parts to this one in order to soup it up a bit and make it look somewhat better. If you want this to look the way it does in the above picture (or even better if you have the skill), then you'll have to round up your own textures and extra parts and do the job yourself, just like I did. Here's that link:

www.thingiverse.com/thing:3179…

CSS Huntsville was an ironclad ram built for the Confederate States Navy (CSN) during the American Civil War (1862-65). Work began in Selma, Alabama in the late spring of 1862 and her finished hull was launched on 7 February 1863. Because she had not yet received her engines nor part of her armor she was towed to Mobile for her final fitting out. Due to increasing and severe resource shortages within the Confederacy resulting from the increasingly effective Union blockade of Southern ocean ports, Huntsville was never completed and this sad fact limited what could be done with her. She was finally given engines from an old riverboat because they were all that could be had; however, they were never designed to drive the weight of an ironclad and the best Huntsville could do after they were installed was about three knots top speed -- downstream and with the current. She also never got all of her armor, although she did get armed with the expected four 32-pounder smoothbores. Most sources also state the CSN also managed to scare up a 6.4 inch Brook rifle for her as well, although that meant she had five guns for only four gunports, so one of the 32-pounders was returned to shore. The CSN had no choice but to use Huntsville as a floating battery instead of the attack vessel they had originally intended given her many limitations; however, they made the most of what few capabilities she had. She only took part in two major engagements during her brief naval career. The first was the Battle of Mobile Bay on 5 August 1864, when she was parked outside Mobile itself to defend the city while the few other and more capable CSN warships went downstream led by the CSS Tennessee to meet an overpowering Union fleet at the bay ... and you can guess what happened, if you don't already know. The second was the Battle of Spanish Fort (27 March - 8 April 1864), when along with two other CSN vessels, CSS Nashville and CSS Morgan, they straddled the river abreast of the battle zone and shelled Union positions until they ran out of ammo. It did little good, with the superior Union forces winning the field on 9 April. Three days later came the surrender of General Robert E. Lee and the total surrender of his Army of Northern Virginia, the most respected of all Confederate forces in the field, at Appomattox in the face of overwhelming Union forces. While that did not end the Confederacy it definitely sounded its death knell. Once he heard the news then the mayor of Mobile promptly surrendered the city to prevent its destruction, which forced the immediate evacuation of all CSN naval units to prevent their capture. Failing to find anything strong enough to tow Huntsville and the incomplete Tuscaloosa away to prevent their capture, the local senior CSN officer had both scuttled and burned, and thus denied the Union the two most powerful ironclads left under his command. Their wrecks were rediscovered in 1983 buried deep in mud and silt on the river bottom about 12 miles out from Mobile a few miles north of the present day Cochrane-Africatown Bridge. There they still lie as I write this, given lack of funding and lack of public interest in raising them for preservation as museum ships.

This model is missing many of the finer details of the original Huntsville as intended in her final form. That's because it was originally created for use as a small naval war gaming miniature, and I for my part only added the lower hull structure, the missing guns, the small boats, and the flagpole. That said I think it's still decent for what it is, and it will do nicely as a placeholder for now. I hope you have fun with it too once you download it and start playing with it yourselves. XD

For non-profit, non-commercial use only. If you use, mod, re-release in original or modded form or do anything else with Mr. Woodard's models, please give him credit for his original handiwork, okay? Thank you.

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Description

Ported to OBJ, textured, and further modified from the STL format low poly waterline tabletop war gaming model created by Patrick Woodard. Preview picture posed in XNALara XPS. You can download Mr. Woodard's original STL model as part of his Confederate Ironclads Pack at the link below but be warned! STL models normally come untextured because they're made for use with 3D printers, with the end user expected to hand paint the 3D printed model. Furthermore I've added extra parts to this one in order to soup it up a bit and make it look somewhat better. If you want this to look the way it does in the above picture (or even better if you have the skill), then you'll have to round up your own textures and extra parts and do the job yourself, just like I did. Here's that link:

www.thingiverse.com/thing:3179…

CSS Huntsville was an ironclad ram built for the Confederate States Navy (CSN) during the American Civil War (1862-65). Work began in Selma, Alabama in the late spring of 1862 and her finished hull was launched on 7 February 1863. Because she had not yet received her engines nor part of her armor she was towed to Mobile for her final fitting out. Due to increasing and severe resource shortages within the Confederacy resulting from the increasingly effective Union blockade of Southern ocean ports, Huntsville was never completed and this sad fact limited what could be done with her. She was finally given engines from an old riverboat because they were all that could be had; however, they were never designed to drive the weight of an ironclad and the best Huntsville could do after they were installed was about three knots top speed -- downstream and with the current. She also never got all of her armor, although she did get armed with the expected four 32-pounder smoothbores. Most sources also state the CSN also managed to scare up a 6.4 inch Brook rifle for her as well, although that meant she had five guns for only four gunports, so one of the 32-pounders was returned to shore. The CSN had no choice but to use Huntsville as a floating battery instead of the attack vessel they had originally intended given her many limitations; however, they made the most of what few capabilities she had. She only took part in two major engagements during her brief naval career. The first was the Battle of Mobile Bay on 5 August 1864, when she was parked outside Mobile itself to defend the city while the few other and more capable CSN warships went downstream led by the CSS Tennessee to meet an overpowering Union fleet at the bay ... and you can guess what happened, if you don't already know. The second was the Battle of Spanish Fort (27 March - 8 April 1864), when along with two other CSN vessels, CSS Nashville and CSS Morgan, they straddled the river abreast of the battle zone and shelled Union positions until they ran out of ammo. It did little good, with the superior Union forces winning the field on 9 April. Three days later came the surrender of General Robert E. Lee and the total surrender of his Army of Northern Virginia, the most respected of all Confederate forces in the field, at Appomattox in the face of overwhelming Union forces. While that did not end the Confederacy it definitely sounded its death knell. Once he heard the news then the mayor of Mobile promptly surrendered the city to prevent its destruction, which forced the immediate evacuation of all CSN naval units to prevent their capture. Failing to find anything strong enough to tow Huntsville and the incomplete Tuscaloosa away to prevent their capture, the local senior CSN officer had both scuttled and burned, and thus denied the Union the two most powerful ironclads left under his command. Their wrecks were rediscovered in 1983 buried deep in mud and silt on the river bottom about 12 miles out from Mobile a few miles north of the present day Cochrane-Africatown Bridge. There they still lie as I write this, given lack of funding and lack of public interest in raising them for preservation as museum ships.

This model is missing many of the finer details of the original Huntsville as intended in her final form. That's because it was originally created for use as a small naval war gaming miniature, and I for my part only added the lower hull structure, the missing guns, the small boats, and the flagpole. That said I think it's still decent for what it is, and it will do nicely as a placeholder for now. I hope you have fun with it too once you download it and start playing with it yourselves. XD

For non-profit, non-commercial use only. If you use, mod, re-release in original or modded form or do anything else with Mr. Woodard's models, please give him credit for his original handiwork, okay? Thank you.

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