1/600 Stevens Battery

Stevens Battery (I have conjecturally named her "USS New Jersey" in accordance with the stated desires of her inventor) was a radical, broadside ironclad design with massive armored stacks, a central battery, and several pivot guns mounted on the centerline - essentially a pre-dreadnought several decades before her time. Indeed, she was proposed and accepted by the US Navy in 1844! EA Stevens design was focused upon protection of the crew to the exclusion of all else. Everything but her deck was armored, and only then as a weight saving and economy move since it was felt that her armored sides would provide adequate protection and plunging fire was not a serious concern. All crewmen were to man their stations from completely inside the vessel, including the loading, aiming, and firing of the guns, which were to be accessed from underneath via hatches. The large, central casemate was provided with four large open bays - ventilation to some, extensive viewports to others - and her stacks were among the largest ever proposed for a steamship (and as i said, armored, to boot.) Stevens Battery languished on the stocks due to various Navy Department shenanigans, the need to create new technology out of whole cloth, and a variety of re-designs. By 1861, she was fairly far along in her 1861-62 era configuration, and Stevens again proposed her delivery to the US Navy This was considered, pondered, and never fully decided, which is even stranger when one considers that Stevens offered to complete her at his own cost and only lacked the Navy's guns, which they had thus far refused to deliver... In 1867, Stevens died and willed a significant amount of money to the State of New Jersey, along with his ship, instructing them to finish the ship as a vessel in the New Jersey State Navy. New Jersey's governor enthusiastically agreed and then made the worst possible decision he could have at that time: he gave over responsibility for finishing her to George B. McClellan. Ever the ego maniac, and utterly unqualified for navy work, McClellan completely redesigned the Battery -again-, this time as a turreted ram, and managed to exhaust the millions that Stevens had set aside during his life to ensure her completion. In 1874, the State and Federal Governments demanded that McClellan report on her status. He replied that she would require another 450,000 just to launch, plus 850,000 for completion. This was the last straw. She was seized, since the Stevens heirs were all now dead, and then offered to Prussia. Prussia demurred, and she was instead purchased by a ship breaker, who made quite a hefty profit in the transaction... This very powerful, very unusual ship has never been rendered in 1/600 scale until, well... now. She is as she appeared in a sketch done by EA Stevens in 1862, in an effort to enlist public interest in seeing her completed - unusually layered armor and all. She makes quite an impressive addition to any collection. Why should the Rebels have all the ungainly monsters? BSF is strongly recommended.