H.L. Hunley was a Confederate submersible that demonstrated the advantage and danger of undersea warfare. Although not this nation's first submarine, Hunley was the first submarine to engage and sink a warship. Privately built in 1863 by Park and Lyons of Mobile, Alabama, Hunley was fashioned from a cylindrical iron steam boiler, which was deepened and also lengthened through the addition of tapered ends. Hunley was designed to be hand powered by a crew of nine: eight to turn the hand-cranked propeller and one to steer and direct the boat. As a true submarine, each end was equipped with ballast tanks that could be flooded by valves or pumped dry by hand pumps. Extra ballast was added through the use of iron weights bolted to the underside of the hull. In the event the submarine needed additional buoyancy to rise in an emergency, the iron weight could be removed by unscrewing the heads of the bolts from inside the vessel. On 17 February 1864, the Confederate submarine made a daring late night attack on USS Housatonic, a 1,240-ton (B) sloop-of-war with 16 guns, in Charleston Harbor off the coast of South Carolina. H.L. Hunley rammed Housatonic with spar torpedo packed with explosive powder and attached to a long pole on its bow. The spar torpedo embedded in the sloop's wooden side was detonated by a rope as Hunley backed away. The resulting explosion that sent Housatonic with five crew members to the bottom of Charleston Harbor also sank Hunley with its crew of eight. H.L. Hunley earned a place in the history of undersea warfare as the first submarine to sink a ship in wartime. Reference: H.L. Hunley DISCLAIMER: THIS VESSEL IS NOT BUILT TO SCALE IN ORDER TO SHOW THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF DETAIL This picture is an overview of the map area which includes the Hunley docked to a pier with a cargo crane. Here is a slightly closer view of the Hunley. This is a detail of the spar torpedo which works via fuse. Here is the forward access hatch (the angled plates in front of both access hatches were known as cutwaters and were intended to make the vessel more hydrodynamic), snorkels, and dive planes. Here is the aft access hatch, propeller shaft, drive cables, and rudder. This is another overview from the pier side of the map area. This Map is dedicated to my Fiance Jaime. Special Thanks to FrankthaTank ST for co-forging. [FONT="]This map is intended for aesthetic purposes and historic detail. It will be somewhat playable but only for casual purposes not competitive. Feel free to comment, add suggestions, etc... Enjoy! This map will eventually be posted in the Aesthetic section. It is essentially complete only a few minor details need be applied. [/FONT]
Very good write up. Always enjoy scenes from history. Looks good, the crane and the dock especially. That may be a big water boiler and a lot of room for a crew of 8, but we'll let that one slike =] looking forward to the final post.
This looks cool... An interesting historical decription . I would change the grass to the under side of teleporter frame. Just my opinion and I think the hatches will look better... If they fit. Cranelooks awesome and I like the details added to the crane, pier and sub... I have also tried to build a quey... I used capture plates and flags to make the metal docking ties. They can have a lot of uses aesthetically ...and best of all they are free
Thanks for the great comments guys. To Grim: The Hunley isn't to scale because the actual vessel would have been far too small in forge to give it justice so I upped the pixel count in order to show more detail and add a little creative flavor. To Timmypanic: Thanks for the teleporter frame suggestion I will apply it and try it out tonight but the reason I used the Tin Cups was because they are the perfect shape to mimic the actual hatches plus I want enough room inside the hatches for at least one person to comfortably teleport...eventually. I also appreciate the quey suggestions thanks for your help.