Hi,

Does anybody have information on the conversion of the Tyler into a Timberclad?

I haven't been able to find info on the thickness of her timber bulwarks, but eyeballing some photos it looks like its about a foot thick. Were the decks strengthed to carry guns or the engines/boilers protected with additional timber, in addition to the tall wooden bulwarks.

The ships battery is a quite a headache, since they kept adding guns as the war went on. Common sense tells me the six 8" SBs were in the broadside ports on the lower deck. But at one time the ship carried those cannon plus three 30pdr. rifles, one 12pdr. and four 24pdrs.

I have some copies of photos that show the number of ports increasing as time goes on. One photo shows a port further forward of the broadside ports, since the ship had such a bulbous bow, it seems possible that 2 of the 30pdrs. were mounted forward as bow chasers, and I would guess that the lighter guns were on the spar deck. But I am clueless as to how the cannon were arranged around the stern. The lower ports seem to have normal split shutters, but the upper ports appear to have single piece shutters that open to the rear, can anyone confirm this?

Thanks in advance,

Chase Rath