USS TECUMSEH model
USS TECUMSEH was launched on 12 September 1863 and
commissioned on 19 April 1864. The
ship's construction was delayed by multiple changes
that reflected battle experience with earlier
monitors. This included the rebuilding of the
turrets and pilot houses to increase their armor
thickness from 8 inches to 10 inches, deepening the
hull by 18 inches to increase the ship's buoyancy,
moving the position of the turret to balance the
The result was a very well built ship. The USS
TECUMSEH's hull were protected by five layers of
1-inch wrought iron plates, backed by wood. The
armor of the gun turret and the pilot house
consisted of ten layers of one-inch plates. The
ship's deck was protected by armor 1.5 inches thick.
A "rifle screen" of 1⁄2-inch (13 mm) armor 3 feet
(0.9 m) high was installed on the top of the turret
to protected the crew against Confederate snipers.
armament consisted of two smoothbore,
muzzle-loading, 15-inch (381 mm) Dahlgren guns
mounted in a single gun turret. Each gun
weighed approximately 43,000 pounds and could fire a
350-pound shell up to a range of 2,100 yards!
During her lifetime, USS
TECUMSEH was involved in a number of notable
operations along the James River.
To guard Union shipping against Confederate forces,
the Union Army and Navy worked closely together by
blocking the channel to prevent Confederate warships
from coming down the upper navigable reaches of the
James. The USS TECUMSEH was instrumental during
these operations, sinking four hulks and a schooner.
USS TECUMSEH's most famous event was the Battle of
Mobile Bay. In this battle, 18 Union ships
crossed the bar at flood tide and moved into the
bay. Tecumseh led a van of monitors, which
included USS Manhattan, USS Winnebago, and USS
Chickasaw to passed between the fortified headlands,
to starboard of the wooden frigates, in order to
take the fire from the heavy guns from Fort Morgan.
When TECUMSEH veered left to engage the the heavy
ironclad ram CSS Tennessee, she hit an underwater
mine and sank rapidly with its captain and 92
Like all our civil war ironclad model, this USS Tecumseh
construction (very important)
Armor: real metal,
individual plates (not a big piece with fake lines).
Nobody else in the world has done this kind of realistic
Weathered look: some
rust and dirt artistically made and placed to portray a real tough ironclad
All parts are wooden or metal
30" long x 10"
tall x 8 wide
S&H is $90
For display case, please
Model Ship Display Case
And please click on the
blue wording to check out our beautiful
model and USS Monitor