by D-Boy » Thu Aug 09, 2012 4:21 pm
Blue Ridge Models announced today the release of their 1:350 USS Albacore, AGSS-569, a precedent-setting boat in the development of US submarine design and technology. The perfect prompt for a new thread here!
Here's the link to the the box art:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=109821
The kit appears to be a circa 1960 conversion that added X-configuration control surfaces at the stern, reinstated a dorsal fin on the saild, and added hull-mounted dive breaks. Also hinted at in the box art is the contra-rotating propellers that were incorporated in 1962.
A quick summary of the boat's influence from the Historic Naval Ships Association website:
"USS Albacore holds a place in history as the first U.S. Navy-designed vessel with a true submarine hull form, in which surface characteristics were subordinated to underwater performance. She possessed no weapon systems; her sole function was to conduct experiments. During her early trials, she set a new underwater speed record with improved control. From 1955 to 1971, Albacore served in five distinct phases of experimentation, carrying out tests of speed, depth changes and underwater maneuvering. Through a series of configurations, she provided the model for all future U.S. Navy and many foreign submarines that followed.
U.S. Navy scientists used Albacore as a floating laboratory to test sonar devices, hydrophones, diving brakes and emergency escape systems. She also served as a high-speed, almost noiseless target for anti-submarine warfare. In 1966, she again set a new submerged speed record, earning a reputation as the world's fastest submarine. Albacore was retired from service in 1972, and transferred to the Portsmouth Submarine Memorial Association in 1984. She was placed in a permanent dry berth and opened to the public in October 1985.
USS Albacore is a National Historic Landmark and a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark."
Now a museum ship in Portsmouth, NH, the boat's technical achievements and reconfigurations are detailed here:
http://www.ussalbacore.org/html/albacore_story.html
And for sub modelers looking for some color on their display shelf, with appropriate backdating, you can model the Albacore as of 3 specific days in the summer of 1959:
http://www.ussalbacore.org/html/flotsam ... arine.html
- D-Boy
Blue Ridge Models announced today the release of their 1:350 USS Albacore, AGSS-569, a precedent-setting boat in the development of US submarine design and technology. The perfect prompt for a new thread here!
Here's the link to the the box art: [url]http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=109821[/url]
The kit appears to be a circa 1960 conversion that added X-configuration control surfaces at the stern, reinstated a dorsal fin on the saild, and added hull-mounted dive breaks. Also hinted at in the box art is the contra-rotating propellers that were incorporated in 1962.
A quick summary of the boat's influence from the Historic Naval Ships Association website:
"USS Albacore holds a place in history as the first U.S. Navy-designed vessel with a true submarine hull form, in which surface characteristics were subordinated to underwater performance. She possessed no weapon systems; her sole function was to conduct experiments. During her early trials, she set a new underwater speed record with improved control. From 1955 to 1971, Albacore served in five distinct phases of experimentation, carrying out tests of speed, depth changes and underwater maneuvering. Through a series of configurations, she provided the model for all future U.S. Navy and many foreign submarines that followed.
U.S. Navy scientists used Albacore as a floating laboratory to test sonar devices, hydrophones, diving brakes and emergency escape systems. She also served as a high-speed, almost noiseless target for anti-submarine warfare. In 1966, she again set a new submerged speed record, earning a reputation as the world's fastest submarine. Albacore was retired from service in 1972, and transferred to the Portsmouth Submarine Memorial Association in 1984. She was placed in a permanent dry berth and opened to the public in October 1985.
USS Albacore is a National Historic Landmark and a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark."
Now a museum ship in Portsmouth, NH, the boat's technical achievements and reconfigurations are detailed here: http://www.ussalbacore.org/html/albacore_story.html
And for sub modelers looking for some color on their display shelf, with appropriate backdating, you can model the Albacore as of 3 specific days in the summer of 1959: [url]http://www.ussalbacore.org/html/flotsam_jetsam/fj_orange_submarine.html[/url]
- D-Boy