Need help identifying this mystery ship

urtch · Post by **urtch** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 2:54 am

I recently bought a model of this ship on eBay. Here's what I know about it from the seller's description:

It measured 94.5 metres long (298ft, 5in) and 18.4 metres wide (60ft, 4in) and drew 5.94 metres (19 ft, 6 in) of water. It was protected by an armoured belt 30-centimetre (1ft) thick. Experts say the ship was resistant to any firepower available at the time.
This ship was built is in 1880 by Germany's Stettiner Maschinenbay AG Vulcan shipyard, at a cost of 1.7 million tael of silver ( 6.2 million German Goldmark) The hull was laid down on 31 March, 1881 and she was lanuch 0n 28th December,1881,
The ship, 7670 tons when loaded, had 6,000 horsepower and a speed of 14.5 nautical miles per hour, and a range of around 4,500 nautical miles at 10 knots.
The main armament was four 305-mm calibre Krupp cannons in two barbettes one to the port and one to the starboard forward of amidships. These guns had a range of 7.8 kilometres, firing with a muzzle velocity of 500 metres per second. Another two 150-mm calibre Krupp cannons were installed in turrets at the exterme bow and stern. These had a range of 11,000 metres. The armament also included 6 37-mm guns and three above waterline torpedo tubes. The complete crew was around 363 officers and men.
Two torpedo boats were also carried on board, enlarging the striking distance and battle effectiveness. To meet the demands on ship, 20 desalinators were installed which could serve 300 people fresh water daily.

Can anyone help identify this ship? The only other clues I have is that's it's a Zhengdefu kit, and the ship probably served in Chinese waters.

kennylibben · Post by **kennylibben** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 3:42 am

sounds like the ironclad Dingyuan, she served in the Beiyang Fleet... which would make your assumption of Chinese waters correct.

Not sure if anyone makes a model of it tho....

Jack Ray · Post by **Jack Ray** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 7:26 am

Zhengdengfu does make a fun motorized kit of it. I think there is one in the gallery.

Jack

kennylibben · Post by **kennylibben** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 9:25 am

did you have any pictures of the kit or ship that we could compare with the one in the gallery?

urtch · Post by **urtch** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 11:45 am

Yeah, that's definitely it. Thanks for the help guys!

kennylibben · Post by **kennylibben** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 2:03 pm

no problemo, glad i could help.

urtch · Post by **urtch** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 8:20 am

The guy that sold me this ship has a ton of them he's been unloading on eBay and making pretty good money. He's been marketing them as German, and now he's claiming they're models of a Sachsen-class ship. Could it be built as such? Should I be calling BS on this guy so other people don't get ripped off?

Roger T · Post by **Roger T** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 3:22 pm

urtch wrote:...now he's claiming they're models of a Sachsen-class ship. Could it be built as such?

Good Lord, no! A very different vessel:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Sachsen_%281877%29

This card model gives a very good impression of the general look and layout:
http://www.napoleon-forum.de/index.php?showtopic=1255