The CSS Birmingham in Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters.
The CSS Birmingham was, originally, a Confederate Ironclad warship sunk at the bottom of the sea, until the war god, Ares, raised it from the depths so that his daughter, Clarisse La Rue, may have transportation and a crew to escort her to the Sea of Monsters. It is not meant for use in deep water.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians[]
The Sea of Monsters[]
Ares raised the CSS Birmingham to serve Clarisse La Rue in her quest because, as Clarisse explained, the losing side of any war owed a debt to Ares. After rescuing Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase from a Hydra attack, the ironclad departs for the Sea of Monsters, otherwise known to mortals as the Bermuda Triangle. When entering the Sea of Monsters guarded by Scylla and her sister Charybdis, the ship's engines started to overheat and although Tyson delayed it, the ship exploded. Percy, Annabeth, and Clarisse managed to escape in the nick of time in lifeboats. Though they would've gone down with the ship, Annabeth was able to use Hermes' thermos to propel the lifeboats away from the ship. However, the two boats ended up blasted in different directions. Percy and Annabeth wash up on the shores of Circe's Island, while Clarisse ends up at Polyphemus' Island. Tyson also survived due to his Cyclops invulnerability and a rescue by his friend Rainbow the Hippocampus.
Later, when Tyson creates a shield for Percy, one of his designs on it is of the CSS Birmingham blasting its cannons at Charybdis.
The Heroes of Olympus[]
The Mark of Athena[]
While fighting a hydra in Rome, Percy Jackson remembers that the last time that he'd fought one, he was rescued by a battleship with bronze cannons which had blasted the monster to pieces.
Trivia[]
- In Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, one of the undead soldiers is called Riordan, a reference to author Rick Riordan.
- While the CSS Birmingham is a wholly fictional Confederate warship, the ship that appears in Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters has a strikingly similar design to the CSS Albemarle.