Battleship, Sunk

As the 4 pm naval battle drew near, the walled-off arena swelled with all the people it could possibly hold—just under a thousand. Heavy-duty safety glasses were distributed at the door. It was the third confrontation of the day, and the ships of the Western Warship Combat Club , model-like in their detail, already had been shot up in previous engagements and repaired—their splintered wooden hulls were covered in tape. When the battle commenced, the ships immediately open fire, blasting pea-size steel ball bearings across the water at about 200 feet per second. The 3/16-inch projectiles cracked loudly against the arena's heavy plastic enclosure, stopping 10 feet short of the crowd. The first ship sunk within 5 minutes.George McManus is a two-year builder who joined the WWCC after six or seven years as a spectator. "It's the most demanding hobby I've ever been involved in," he says. As much sweat and smarts as it takes to engineer these remote-controlled ships, just as much—if not more—effort goes into making sure they honor the past. "Everyone one of these ships has history," McManus says. According to the group's rules, models must be based on real ships built between 1900 and 1943.