Kinston, NC is a rather
random place to visit... its your typical small southern town, not too far from the coast and on a river. the town is famous for being the home of the CSS NEUSE and CSS NEUSE II. the original NEUSE (photos left) was built in a cornfield near Kinston. it was built by farmers and carpenters and then rolled into the river to be fitted with boilers and armour plate. the ship was designed to protect the towns of north carolina from the yankees after the outer banks and the city of new bern had fallen to the yankees. there are two seperate sites, soon to be located within a stone's throw of each other. the original ship site on the outskirts of town and the reconstruction which is in the center of town. both sites are along the river. the original neuse never managed to fight the yankees. it participated in a battle near kinston, and then was destroyed when the city was given up to the federals during 1865. neuse was recovered during the centennial celebrations in the 1960s by three local businessmen with no naval architectural or archaeological training. the ship was heavy, so the guys couldnt figure out how to get it out of the water... they finally decided to break the ship apart to lighten it... and then, hoisted it out of the water with hydraulic jacks. then, the state chainsawed the ship into three separate pieces and moved it to the present site... only closer to the river.
the cool thing about the replica neuse is that you can go inside of it. it is the only
full scale confederate ironclad out there. and even the life sized replica of the monitor at newport news you can't go into. pictured are views of the casemate where the two cannons are as well as the piloting station perched slightly above and abaft the forward gun... pictured below is a picture of the fo'csle. where the crew of 87 ate and slept. apparently, these "sailors" had been secondered from a cavalry regiment. since the ship spent most of its war tied to a pier in the river, the sailors lived ashore, and actually formed a naval cavalry company.
random place to visit... its your typical small southern town, not too far from the coast and on a river. the town is famous for being the home of the CSS NEUSE and CSS NEUSE II. the original NEUSE (photos left) was built in a cornfield near Kinston. it was built by farmers and carpenters and then rolled into the river to be fitted with boilers and armour plate. the ship was designed to protect the towns of north carolina from the yankees after the outer banks and the city of new bern had fallen to the yankees. there are two seperate sites, soon to be located within a stone's throw of each other. the original ship site on the outskirts of town and the reconstruction which is in the center of town. both sites are along the river. the original neuse never managed to fight the yankees. it participated in a battle near kinston, and then was destroyed when the city was given up to the federals during 1865. neuse was recovered during the centennial celebrations in the 1960s by three local businessmen with no naval architectural or archaeological training. the ship was heavy, so the guys couldnt figure out how to get it out of the water... they finally decided to break the ship apart to lighten it... and then, hoisted it out of the water with hydraulic jacks. then, the state chainsawed the ship into three separate pieces and moved it to the present site... only closer to the river.
the cool thing about the replica neuse is that you can go inside of it. it is the only
full scale confederate ironclad out there. and even the life sized replica of the monitor at newport news you can't go into. pictured are views of the casemate where the two cannons are as well as the piloting station perched slightly above and abaft the forward gun... pictured below is a picture of the fo'csle. where the crew of 87 ate and slept. apparently, these "sailors" had been secondered from a cavalry regiment. since the ship spent most of its war tied to a pier in the river, the sailors lived ashore, and actually formed a naval cavalry company.
