The Ship Model Forum

Does anyone know if the Buckleys shipped a 3" practice loader?

I can find pics of the loader in other DE classes, usually forward of the stack, but given
the amount of trunking and ventilators on the Buckleys there is no room for it there.
In all the pics I have viewed on Navsource, I cant pick out anything on deck that resembles a
loader for this class.

I dont think it would be below decks, would it?

Paul

I've seen a picture but can't remember 100% if it was on a Buckley class.

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Tracy White -Researcher@Large

"Let the evidence guide the research. Do not have a preconceived agenda which will only distort the result."
-Barbara Tuchman

Yes the BUCKLEY's had a 3-in Practice Loader. It was located just aft of the foremast and to the portside. It is really difficult to spot in profile views.

HOT DAMN!! Rick you never cease to amaze me.

I wonder if the loader was taken off as a weight saving measure late war.
Did the Lloyd ever get the A/K refit? I dont see anything in Friedman.
These Buckleys with the anti kamikaze fit dont have the loader in that position.
http://www.navsource.org/archives/06/im ... 621803.jpg

More things to ponder...........



added img

Well, the BUCKLEY's in the photo you referenced wouldn't have much need for a 3-in practice loader ... they were units rearmed with 5-in guns.

The 3-in armed DE's (all classes) upgraded with the Anti-Kamikaze AA augmentation and retaining 3-in guns, basically replaced the twin 40-mm or quad 1.1-in mount with a quad 40-mm (or when there was a shortage of quads, they retained the twin 40-mm mount) and added two twin 40-mm mounts in place of the four single 40-mm guns (or the TT mount if the ship didn't get the single 40-mm guns). Also, the number of 20-mm guns were increased. There wouldn't have been any impact on the 3-in practice loader unless it was decided to relocate it. The 3-in practice loader was such a "simple" device, that removing it wouldn't have saved much weight and would make training difficult.

Ya know, that pic was the best midship Buckley pic I could find for detail, the 5" upgrade never
occurred to me. Out of frame, out of mind.

Thanks,

Paul

Hello everybody,

For anyone who's interested I've posted some pics of my Trumpeter 1/350 Buckley DE in the In progress section (or go directly here).

Regards,

Bas

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1/350 HNLMS Friesland D-812
1/350 USS San Francisco CA-38 1944 diorama

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I am new to this site, but I have served in the Navy for several years, and one ship was a frigate, the USS Stein FF 1065. I am a model builder, have been for about 45 years, so being new to this site I may need a little advice, thanks.

Hello all,
New to the forum and this is my first post. I've been out of the hobby for close to 20 years but I've decided to get back into model building. I've never built a ship before but for whatever reason I seem to have been bitten by the ship bug. I've been reading and researching online the last few weeks. Since the Trumpeter USS England is often recommended as a first time ship kit I've decided to go with it.

So, I've got the kit, I've bought the GMM PE set, and since I want to start off with a simple paint scheme I'm going with MS21. I'd like to model something other than the England so I've decided to go with USS Harmon in 1944. I don't really know enough about the kit or ships in general to be able to tell what, if any, differences there are between the kit and the Harmon. So my question for the experts, what changes would the kit need to model the Harmon in 1944?

Thanks,
Adam Coffman

Welcome back and aboard!

One resource you may or may not know about is navsource, which has profile pages for all major ships in the USN. Harmon's page is here. One immediate change I see is that she had the 5" turrets and not the open mounts; you can source these through various aftermarket companies (I believe this is discussed earlier in this thread). Otherwise I recommend comparing the two; look at the line drawings and isometric instructions and compare them to what you see in the photos. It's a great way to learn the intimate details of a ship.

_________________
Tracy White -Researcher@Large

"Let the evidence guide the research. Do not have a preconceived agenda which will only distort the result."
-Barbara Tuchman

Thanks Tracy, that's one of the sites I've used for my research. From the notes on the photos I believe the Harmon didn't get the 5" turrets until 1945. I also read somewhere that after the refit the 5" guns were never actually fired in combat. I'll be modeling the ship in 1944 so I don't think I'll need those turrets. I suppose that'll be better for me since I've already jumped into the deep end of the pool with the PE set. I'm treating this first kit as a major learning experience.

Adam

Also, if you would like to see plans of the 5" Buckley, go to http://www.hnsa.org/doc/plans/index.htm and scroll down to DE-701.

The England kit does not include the vents visible in the photo above, a vent like the rectangular one ahead of the stack uptake that was in a similar position behind the aft uptake nor indicate a door that is in the superstructure bulkhead opposite the inclined ladder in the photo above. It does appear on the plans. The 5" upgrade also had a practice loader, placed on the main deck between the aft 5" mount and the aft bulkhead of the deck house.

Those wishing to build a Cannon class DE using the Trumpeter 1/350 England kit can now utilize Naval Models' conversion set that will allow for the construction of a post-war French unit: http://www.larsenal.com/catalogue/index ... s905136236

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De quoi s'agit-il?

Actually, I believe you can also build an Edsall class DE using the same conversion parts.

And Btw: to cut this conversion back to a WW2 version is very simple too: the three 40mm guns and their directors need to be removed, and you can use the parts from the Trumpeter kit (Chicago Piano and torpedo tubes) instead.

The conversion kit is also available from Naval Models, but then with decals and instructions to build a Dutch navy 'Van Amstel' class frigate. http://www.navalmodels.com

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Even now I see the foreign flag a-raising, their guns on fire as we sail into hell"
Roger Whittaker +9/13/2023

It appears that the conversion kit could also allow you to build a Buckley 5"/38 // 40MM conversion to take you into the '50s and early '60s
http://www.navsource.org/archives/06/im ... 621910.jpg

and then the final configuration of this hull as a Naval Reserve Training ship in the mid to late '60s

http://www.navsource.org/archives/06/im ... 621911.jpg

Though Edsall Class ships did retain their 3"/50s in this latter roll.

Hello... I'm new to the forum. Ran across it by accident while looking for information on DE-665, USS JENKS, which was my father-in-law's ship from Jan '44 thru the end of the war. He was sound/sonar operator... More to the point for this forum, I just completed building a Revell USS Buckley kit to give him as a gift. I'm not an advanced modeler so it was basically built as it came from the box, other than scratching together a 1.1" gun to replace the twin 40mm in the aft position (since JENKS had 1.1") and putting JENKS number and name rather than the Buckley decals, and adding crew members. If I've correctly figured out how (I'm also no great shakes at all this IT stuff), I'm posting a picture here of the JENKS underway in May 1944, as well as a picture or two of my model as completed depicting JENKS on 4 June '44 in action against the U-505.



My intention now is to build a second model, depicting JENKS' later version, with her torpedo tubes removed and the 4 single 40mm mounts in their place. The conversion was done in July or Aug '44, following the capture of U-505, and JENKS then made several convoys to the Mediterranean so I want my f-in-law to have a model of both versions. What I haven't yet been able to determine, and would like help with if anyone can, is whether the 1.1" mount was converted to some 40mm variation at that same time? It seems to me it would have made sense to do convert to 40mm from a 'use the same ammo type' perspective, but perhaps a shortage of dual/quad 40mm [or just a desire to reduce shipyard time] might have meant they kept the 1.1" (unfortunately my father-in-law doesn't remember for sure)?

Can't tell you about DE-665 herself but I can say that some of them received the 4 single Bofors mounts AND retained the quad 1.1" for some time so its possible that she never got a twin or quad 40mm.

That's a nice, clean build of her there, nice job

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I checked the Jenks' war diary on fold3.com. She was in the yard in Boston during September '44, not July/August. Unfortunately the diary is silent as to what was done because the diary prior to 6 Ocy 44 is a reconstruction. It seems the captain during that period didn,t bother to keep one, as required so the new skipper had to rebuild it from logs. In October she was back on convoy duty Anyway, I kept going and following a convoy to the Med, there was gunnery practice and the Jenks expended "37 rounds of 3"50. 175 rounds of 40mm. 1,012 rounds of 20mm. 239 rounds of 1.1"
So, on 7 Nov '44, she still had the 1.1

25 Mar '45 after availability at Brooklyn NY, she still had 1.1/75

After a Med convoy, she spent May in Boston. Then on 5 Jun ordered to Miami for short duty as training ship to be followed by conversion to radar picket beginning 10 August at Brown Shipbuilding, Houston, TX

The last order was changed in mid-July with orderts to return to Brooklyn for availability from 21 July to 15 August.

15 August, test fired newly installed guns......test fired 40mm and 20mm guns.
18 Aug, underway to Gitmo
The diary ends on 31 August after 2 weeks of training.

JENKS (DE-665) was rearmed with one quad 40-mm and two twin 40mm mounts during her refit at the New York Navy Yard.

The 10 July 1944 Weekly Armament Summary Update lists DE-665 JENKS as receiving "Four single 40-mm mounts and deleted the TT mount" (yard unknown) ... likely they were installed after the U-505 capture (returned stateside 16 June 1944) and prior to here next cross Atlantic escort mission on 31 July 1944. This installation didn't require much effort, so likely it was done right after her return to (? at which yard ... my guess is Boston or New York) the end of June and prior to training at New London, given the approx. one week or time lag in armament changes reported to the Armament Summary bean-counters.

Sorry, I don't have any images of JENKS.

Any one got any picture's of the Spangler? I'm about to start putting on the the little bits and such and what to double check a few things. Mostly the midship area.
Thanks
Paul

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