The USS Camanche was a Passaic Class ironclad, the first type built after the USS Monitor proved the concept of the turreted ironclad. Her components were fabricated in New Jersey and shipped to San Francisco for assembly, for her to become the Union’s “Ironclad of the Pacific”. Her mission was to protect the port from Confederate high sea raiders such as the CSS Shenandoah. Shenandoah raided the US whaling fleet in the Bering Sea from April to August 1865. (The war ended in June of 1865!) Specifications: Length-200’, Beam-46’, Draft-10’ 6”, Tonnage-1335t, Speed-7kts, Crew-67, Armor-11” Turret, 5” Sides, 1” Deck, 8”Pilot House, Armament- Two XV in Dahlgren smoothbores. Assembled- San Francisco, CA. Launched- November 1864. The Model: 1/72 Scale, 34”Long. The scratch built model is in the “post war” configuration that the Monitors assumed in that era. The uncluttered decks of the wartime configuration gave way to a “Hurricane Deck” aft with the ship’s helm relocated there from the armored pilot house. That feature gave the crew an area from which to escape the miserable wet and hot conditions found below decks on all the ironclads.