Painting Challenge Post 3: Protected Cruisers

 If there were two subject areas on the Library Map that you could bet money on me visiting it would have History and Maritime.  So here's the second of these with a selection of 1:2400 scales ships for the Spanish American War, all of which fought at Manilla Bay in 1898.  All the toys are produced by Tumbling Dice, who do good castings with excellent service.

First up is a set of four Protected Cruisers for the US Navy.  Protected cruisers were a late 19th century development when navies were looking for speed with firepower at the cost of armour.  Early armoured cruisers had decent armour belt protection but the weight was so high that they were no faster than the battleships that they were to scout for.  A protected cruiser did away with the armour belt and substituted a armoured deck that would hopefully shield the engines and lower hull from the effects of shellfire.  British Arms magnate Lord Armstong's Elswick yard produced these as a popular option for smaller navies looking for prestige ships.

USS Boston was one the the first three cruisers for the US Navy using a home grown design heavily influenced by the Chilean Esmeralda.  Commissioned in 1887 she carried her two 8" guns in barbettes that were slightly offset to supposedly increase end on fire.  She was slow and slow firing by 1898 standards.

What's a barbette you ask?  Here's a picture from her sister ship Altanta.  The barbette was an armoured cylinder that protected the training and loading mechanism of the gun but provided no protection the the men serving the weapon.  Note the blue jacket fully exposed above the waist. 

These early ships came from a time when navies were loathe to abandon sails.  Boston carried an impressive full rig, but I've assumed that this would be downsized for combat.

  

The USS Baltimore was US built but used a design purchased from Armstong's.  Her 8" and 6" guns were broadside mounted but the crew had decent gun shields protecting them.

When I was adding ship labels I noticed that I had the Raleigh mounted differently from the other ships so that her table is on the starboard side instead of the port side.

USS Raleigh was a smaller ship commissioned in 1894.  She had mainly 5" guns which was the largest rapid fire gun available to the US Navy at the time plus a slow firing 6" on the foredeck.  She is credited with firing the opening shot at Manilla Bay. 

USS Olympia is a first class protected cruiser and one of the best cruisers afloat in 1898.  She carries four 8" guns in proper turrets and flies the flag of Commodore (soon to be Admiral) Dewey.  Dewey was a giant in the US navy pre WW1 and quite a character (see his bio here).  Most importantly, Olympia is still afloat and I visited her in September.

Look beyond my moose travelling companion and you can see where Dewey stood on the open deck while shell and shot whizzed past him.

Finally a trio of smaller ships.

USS Concord was a Yorktown class gunboat, useful for diplomatic missions!

Two members of the ill fated Velasco class, small cruisers with no armour and light guns.  Both (plus the Velasco herself) were sunk at Manilla Bay.  Two more members of the class were lost in storms. 

Summing up that 7 ships in 1:2400 scale at two points a hull plus 20 for the Maritime section nets me a total of 34 points.

This is my third section covered and my updated map is as follows.