Hello everyone,
while trying to redo the piping on Astoria´s forward smokestack I spotted another minor difference between New Orleans class members. The leftmost photo below shows the pipe leading to the port whistle on Astoria „switching sides“ from starboard to port side of the funnel below the whistle platform (let´s call it the „knot“).
Attachment:
NO class 1st batch whistle piping comparison.png [ 1.48 MiB | Viewed 9435 times ]
I checked about her sisters and noticed that this pipe went straight on Minneapolis and San Francisco. New Orleans had no whistles/pipes there until her December 1944 refit. Later there was a „knot“, too, but different from Astoria. All cruisers of the second batch (Tuscaloosa, Quincy and Vincennes) had whistles on the aft funnel without any „knot“.
My problem is I just cannot find any photo showing clearly where the pipe would originate from on Astoria´s starboard side. There are plenty of photos showing her starboard side in the thirties but the whistles were installed only shortly before WW2. I asked Dick J to kindly check his collection but he found no answer there either. If no other evidence is found I´d asume the pipe went parallel to the other pipe.
I´d apreciate if you can check your files for a photo of either Astoria or New Orleans (after 12/1944 refit) that would show the
starboard side of the face of the forward funnel with at least some clarity in the area of the "knot".
My shared
New Orleans class comparison table (as of 1942) was updated accordingly to include this feature across the class.
Thanks
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Battle of Savo Island Collection (all 1/700)
Recently completed:
USS Wilson DD-408At works:
USS Astoria CA-34 |
USS Patterson DD-392 & USS Bagley DD-386Prep stage: USS Vincennes CA-44 | HMAS Australia | Yubari | Kako