The United States Navy 1797

[Coog]

I finally gave in and got some ships to re-do as stand-ins for the American ones I listed earlier in this thread. Jim (Nightmoss) has already done cards for the 38-gun frigates. Has anyone done or planning to do any for a sloop or 32?

[Coog]

I just started working on American ships using the Ares models discussed in the previous posts of this thread. I am finding as I count guns on the models, the number is not the same as the ship they originally represent. For example the model for HMS Cleopatra and other Amazons have ports for 24 guns on its gun deck while these ships carried 26. Of course forecastle and quarterdeck guns often changed oven time and it would be difficult to have a model represent all the different possibilities. I am finding that in some cases the models match the American ships, such as the General Greene and Boston with 24 guns on their gun decks, better than their intended ship.

[Northern Wolves]

Such a great thread and great work on determining the most suitable models to convert and on the ship cards!

I have just ordered 3 more ships to convert to American frigates so the Constitution and United States won't be all alone. I now plan to eventually create the Guerriere, Java, Macedonian, Cyane, Levant, Phoebe, Cherub, L'Insurgent and La Vengeance.

Maybe one day the Wasp and Hornet can be done.

[Herkybird]

Thanks for this thread, I may be interested in doing some US ships thanks to these useful nuggets and cards!!!

[Dobbs]

Does anyone know if the Constitution always had a white stripe? When did the US navy standardize?

[AirborneEnginee]

The US did not standardize paint scheme until after the War of 1812. It seems the US ships began mixing white lead into the traditional yellow ochre paint making for a lighter color. Eventually moving toward white only.

There are some images of the Constitution in this thread.
http://www.sailsofglory.org/showthre...SoG-miniatures

The question often arises, *How was **Constitution** painted?* The
answers seem to be varied and they seldom seem to match primary
documentation. Here is what is known at this writing to me to be the
best color information for *Constitution* for only some of her
configurations and time periods:
In her early years, *Constitution* was always tarred below the four gun
strakes, probably until the 1806 overhaul. As-built in 1797 through
1811, she had yellow ochre (50:50 with white lead -- still a
brownish-yellow but not as dull) gun strakes, gun tompions, gallery
trim, bowsprit, and lower masts as well as two pin stripes leading aft
along the hull from the head rails. The stern had a lampblack ground
with white lead, vermilion, medium-light blue, and light yellow ochre
trim. The ship-s name is not on the stern in 1812 (see Captain Hull-s
model of September 1812 at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem,
Massachusetts). The weather rails were lampblack for all periods. ONLY
the four one-inch recessed gun strakes received the contrasting color --
NEVER a broad band of color that I have ever been able to document. The
gun strakes were white lead from 1811 through 1815 off and on with
yellow ochre (to include a change in the color of the quarter gallery
trim and, likely, the gun tompions) and were yellow ochre again from
1815 until the 1817 overhaul when the US Navy was changing to uniform
white lead gun strakes in almost all its ships, to include white lead
inner bulwarks and waterways from about 1817 as well.

[TWR]

American ships of that period would have black hulls and I believe a yellow stripe like the British. Later a white stripe was used. At the end of the post I can edit the first post and add a list that I already have completed. Here is a good picture of Boston in 1799:

Earlier in the thread Terpsichore is indicated as being most suitable of the Amazon class to represent Boston. Would Le Succes be a suitable ship instead? It looks similar to this photo above, complete with a yellow stripe.

If so what would the stats look like, given she carries 28 guns rather than 32.

[Diamondback]

Such a great thread and great work on determining the most suitable models to convert and on the ship cards!

I have just ordered 3 more ships to convert to American frigates so the Constitution and United States won't be all alone. I now plan to eventually create the Guerriere, Java, Macedonian, Cyane, Levant, Phoebe, Cherub, L'Insurgent and La Vengeance.

Maybe one day the Wasp and Hornet can be done.

Mike, let me make this easy: USS Guerriere and Java are both Constitution repaints (the captures were lost or broken up, and gave their names to Doughty's improved version of the basic Humphreys 44 design). Livelys like Macedonian are fairly close to a Hebe, so start with any of those. The smaller fry are the rub...

:)

[Coog]

Earlier in the thread Terpsichore is indicated as being most suitable of the Amazon class to represent Boston. Would Le Succes be a suitable ship instead? It looks similar to this photo above, complete with a yellow stripe.

If so what would the stats look like, given she carries 28 guns rather than 32.

Any of the Amazon class frigates would be fine for Boston. It just depends on how and what on the model you want to go about repainting. I actually ended up repainting Cleopatra for use as a 28-gun American frigate as I did not want to use a model from the starter set. As far as guns go, Boston actually carried 36 guns. Ratings, particularly American, could be quite deceiving. Further, I do not see the stats given by Ares as being that precise anyway for any models. Emphasis is put on playability, not detailed simulation. The size of the ship and the armament of the Amazon class frigates and Boston put them in the same ballpark, so the stats should be close enough for substitution if you are just looking for a little variety in nationality.

[TWR]

Thanks for your reply and clarification. I think I will repaint the flag of a spare Le Succes as one of these ships.

Just as an aside has anyone built a ship card for USS Boston and or General Greene? It would be ideal to have a suitable card. If not I will try and manually copy the card before overwriting the card.