“The Perfect Bake Oven”
- darrenscivilwarpag8
- Dec 30, 2025
- 2 min read
Never a dull day for #themonumentalproject team. Recently our co-founder Gina Denham collected a museum quality model of the USS Chickasaw. Gina’s forebear George Denham served as a stoker on the vessel between 1864-1865. The ironclad was described as a “perfect bake oven”, due to the stifling heat felt below decks entombed within the vessels protective iron hull.
Entombment was a primary risk in the otherwise safe ironclads. Why? When they tended to sink, they went down fast if struck sufficiently. When the ironclad USS Tecumseh struck a torpedo at the Battle of Mobile Bay it went down in about two minutes. Of 115 officers and enlisted men , 80 went down with the ship. The Tecumseh’s demise was observed by the Chickasaw’s crew and led to panic. The vessels commander George H Perkins had to come down from the Pilot tower with pistol in hand to get the men to calm down. Gina’s forebear George may have been oblivious to all the scenes of panic as he fired up the ships boilers below deck - he never referred to it in his remembrances. He made only a brief reference to serving at the famous battle when applying for his pension.
We do know that after the battle David G Farragut came aboard the Chickasaw and shook the hand’s of crew-members in thanks for their efforts. Maybe we can get a tiny 1/72nd scale model of him to place on our models deck?? A similar figure representing Englishman George Denham?
We thank John Atkinson the talented creator of this hand crafted model. John has provided other ironclad related models for us which we hope will enhance our 2026 event displays.
Please help us achieve our ultimate goal of erecting a monument for all British American Civil War veterans. Additionally, we are committed to continuing the work of identifying and honouring more American Civil War veterans. You can donate via our JustGiving page.
just giving page
Keep updated on all of our activities here
Comments