I sent this photo to a naval history fan friend of mine. This was his response:
The screw sloop Franklin has an interesting history. It all begins with a 74 gun ship of the line (battleship) built in the late 1815 (too late for the war of 1812). Franklin only saw 9 years of active duty before becoming first "Station Ship" and from 1843 when whe was housed over (like the later Franklin) to become a "Receiving Ship) in Boston. In 1852 she was towed to Portsmouth Navy Yard and disassembled. This is where the story of the Franklin in your pictures enters the equation. As the Navy was not allocating much in the way of new funds for new construction the Navy had begun "rebuilding" old ships using funds from the repair and refit budget. The later Franklin was built with as much wood as possible from its predecessor, particularly the hull frames, which were recut, and had addtiional material scabbed on in various places to reflect the different shape required for a steam powered screw sloop. The later ship was significantly longer but narrower then the original. This is also why the later Franklin was begun in 1854 but her machinery was not ordered until 1862 (when there was a lot of new Navy spending) and she was commissioned in 1867 - only thirteen years in construction. This later Franklin was only in service a total of eight years (she was obsolete when completed) and from 1877 to 1915 she served as the Receiving Ship illustrated in your first picture at Norfolk Navy Yard. Paul M. > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Mike Hungerford" <[email protected]> > To: "Papermodels II" <[email protected]> > Sent: Saturday, April 04, 2009 3:04 AM > Subject: [Papermodels II 35489] Is there a model of this? > > >> >> I don't recall seeing one, but it's an odd enough subject to suit *my* >> tastes. :-) >> >> http://www.shorpy.com/node/5843 >> -- >> Mike Hungerford >> http://users.sdccu.net/chthulhu2/models.html >> Fools! I will destroy you all! (Ask me how!) >> >> > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Papermodels II" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Papermodels?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
