Kelly,
Welcome aboard, you've chosen a VERY scrutinizing band of modelers to get involved with!!! LOL! Since you know the scale of your intended model, the particular ship you wish to convert it into, there is (at this point, anyway!) only one other question I would ask - when was your grandfather's service on USS BURNS? Knowing what years he served aboard determines a lot of things about how your model will look.
As for your question re. his battle station vs his rating (job, i.e. baker) - generally speaking, they are NOT tied together EXCEPT that usually crew assigned to the Weapons Department (gunners mates, torpedomen, etc.) generally were also assigned gunnery battle stations. This was also to a certain degree true of those whose jobs revolved around the Engineering Department (boilers mate, engineman, machinist mate, electrician, internal communications, etc.). They also usually kept watch during GQ in their usual locations. Crew members of other rates (yeoman, boatswains mate, commissarymen (cooks/BAKERs), etc. were assigned battle stations as the ships needs dictated when they first came aboard. There was also the Condition 2 watch - which is a modified General Quarters (a bit more relaxed) and these could be 12 hour shifts depending on the nature of that ship's operations (12 on/12 off). And the Condition 2 Watch Bill was not the same as the GQ battle stations. For example, I was a Personnelman (Admin. Dept.) and my GQ station was amidships in a repair party with a lot of engineering dept. personnel. My Condition 2 watch station was 2nd loader on Mount 33 (dual 3"/50 cal. D.P. gun mount). We actually did more firing from Cond. 2 watches (this was during the Vietnam War) than at GQ. I even moved from 2nd to 1st loader during that cruise due to transfers of personnel. All the enlisted crew and their duties are contained in the Watch, Quarter, & Stations Bill - it outlines who, where, when, etc. amongst the crew.
As for photos - have you looked on NavSource under Gun Destroyers? (
http://www.navsource.org/)? I actually just did - USS BURNS (DD-588) -
http://www.navsource.org/archives/05/588.htm - rather short career and this site has very few photos.
So, she served during WWII and was decommissioned in 1946 - well, the question I asked about her dates of service have been answered quickly and this build will probably be quite straight-forward. Very little change in her appearance from Launch to decommissioning. Still, would be good to know when your grandad was aboard.
Now, my guess is that our forum research admiral - Rick E. Davis will have spotted your post and will respond shortly with whatever assortment of photos he has in his vault on the BURNS. He's the Rick Davis who wrote your book on Square Bridge FLETCHERs, by the way!
The Bath Ironworks CD you mentioned - well, I'm not sure that will actually help you out as it is VERY complicated in it's layout and everything is by drawing number - not by title, which makes it extremely cumbersome and time consuming to try to use when you need to find a detail about a distinct piece of equipment. But - one reference item I will HIGHLY recommend you get is this: The Floating Drydock's E-Plan Book for FLETCHER Class Destroyers - it is written and drawn up for a WWII vintage FLETCHER with 1/8" scaled drawings from stem to stern. Here is the online link:
http://www.floatingdrydock.com/books.html - this takes you to the page with that item. I recommend taking the CD to a print shop and have them print it out in 11"X17" format and bind it together (like the original book was done). It's much easier to follow things when it's right in front of you!! Old School, yeah, the RIGHT way!!!)
OK, hope all this helps you out!
Hank Strub
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FAQ
The only big difference between these two destroyers, is that there appears to have been the addition of an air conditioning unit (?) to the back of the cabin.
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