Item  #  A2303C

USS Kearsarge Limited Edition 35"

• 35" long x 6" Wide x 18" High (1:100 scale). 15 Lbs.
• Comes with Certificate of Authenticity as only 25 will ever be made.
• Meticulously painted to the actual USS Kearsarge.
• Authentically aged copper plated hull (prevented the torpedo worm from destroying the wooden hull).
• Includes a numbered Certificate of Authenticity as only 25 will ever be made.
• Masterfully stitched, thick canvass sails that hold their shape and do not wrinkle.
• Metal anchors and accurate black cannons.
• Perfectly taught rigging of various colors and thickness to increase authenticity.
• Amazing deck details.
• Requires hundreds of hours to build from scratch (not from a model kit) by our master artisans.
• Built with rare, high quality woods such as cherry, teak, white pine, birch and maple.
• The model rests perfectly on a large, wood base between four arched dolphins (marble base pictured).
• To build this ship, extensive research was done using various sources such as museums, drawings, copies of original plans and photos of the actual ship.

USS Kearsarge was built at Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, Maine under the 1861 American Civil War emergency shipbuilding program. The new 1550 ton steam sloop of war was launched 11 September 1861 with Captain Charles W. Pickering in command. Soon after, she was hunting for Confederate States of America raiders in European waters.

Kearsarge departed Portsmouth, New Hampshire on February 5, 1862 for the coast of Spain. She thence sailed to Gibraltar to join the blockade of Confederate raider Sumter, forcing her abandonment in December. However, Sumter's commanding captain, Raphael Semmes, soon commissioned Confederate raider CSS Alabama on the high seas off the Azores.

From November 1862 through March 1863 Kearsarge prepared for her fight with Alabama at Cadiz, then searched for the raider from along the coast of Northern Europe to the Canaries, Madeira, and the Outer Hebrides. Arriving at Cherbourg, France, on June 14, 1864, she found Alabama in port where she had gone for repairs after a devastating cruise at the expense of 65 ships of the United States' merchant marine. Kearsarge took up patrol at the harbor's entrance to await Semmes' next move.