Killerbeans wrote:I'm curious if the USN used a standardized compass? I following a couple of carrier builds here, I got to wondering. An unusual rig, what with steering levers and the compass seperated. Was this the same on Lex?
I notice the base kit is a decent start, but once one digs into the details...
Short answer to both questions is "yes". The drawing below is from
Lexington's General Arrangement Plan. The protective housing around the actual compass itself is called a "binnacle". The binnacle typically includes a lamp which illuminates the compass so it can be read during periods of limited visibility. The two balls on each side are iron "correcting spheres" which help compensate for any magnetic deviation caused by metal objects near the binnacle such as the ship itself. The US Navy typically sourced binnacles from civilian contractors such as the A. Lietz Company which made the binnacle shown below. Binnacles were made to meet Navy specs.
Large ships often had more than one binnacle.
Lexington had at least two, one inside the pilot house near the helm, and another on the platform aft of the bridge. Ships with an emergency control station or separate armored conning tower station were likely to have a binnacle inside that station as well.
On some ships like RMS
Titanic, a binnacle was sited on an elevated platform as shown in the photo below.
The Trumpeter
Saratoga and
Lexington kits are indeed good starting points and the hull shape is good. The kits can be made into decent replicas out of box. But the kits do have some conspicuous inaccuracies such as odd features and the shape of the island, funnel and rudder are off.
[quote="Killerbeans"]I'm curious if the USN used a standardized compass? I following a couple of carrier builds here, I got to wondering. An unusual rig, what with steering levers and the compass seperated. Was this the same on Lex?
I notice the base kit is a decent start, but once one digs into the details...[/quote]
Short answer to both questions is "yes". The drawing below is from [i]Lexington[/i]'s General Arrangement Plan. The protective housing around the actual compass itself is called a "binnacle". The binnacle typically includes a lamp which illuminates the compass so it can be read during periods of limited visibility. The two balls on each side are iron "correcting spheres" which help compensate for any magnetic deviation caused by metal objects near the binnacle such as the ship itself. The US Navy typically sourced binnacles from civilian contractors such as the A. Lietz Company which made the binnacle shown below. Binnacles were made to meet Navy specs.
Large ships often had more than one binnacle. [i]Lexington[/i] had at least two, one inside the pilot house near the helm, and another on the platform aft of the bridge. Ships with an emergency control station or separate armored conning tower station were likely to have a binnacle inside that station as well.
On some ships like RMS [i]Titanic[/i], a binnacle was sited on an elevated platform as shown in the photo below.
The Trumpeter [i]Saratoga[/i] and [i]Lexington[/i] kits are indeed good starting points and the hull shape is good. The kits can be made into decent replicas out of box. But the kits do have some conspicuous inaccuracies such as odd features and the shape of the island, funnel and rudder are off.