Hello Folks!
Here is a project I started in December, 2008 and which is now entering its final phase.
This diorama (40 % resin kits and 60 %scratch) shows the American heavy cruiser
Minneapolis (CA 36,
New Orleans class) the day after the battle of Tassafaronga, on November 30th, 1942.
I used the Combrig resin kit of her sister ship USS
Astoria and the Corsair Armada kit of the tug boat USS
Vireo, modified to represent the Submarine Rescue Ship US
Ortolan (ASR-5).
A Small Historical Introduction (for non-US Navy connoisseurs, yes the’re some):
(Sources: S.E.M. Morison and WWW)
On August 8th, 1942 the American expeditionary forces landed to Guadalcanal and to Tulagi in the Solomon Islands (South Pacific). This started a long campaign of conquest, island after island, of this archipelago, the beginning of a conquest of the Pacific.
A long campaign had to follow with short, but very violent night-naval actions inside this long strait which separates both parts of the archipelago: The Slot
The Japanese tried to supply their troops at night ashore and the Americans tried to stop "the Tokyo Express" nearly every night.
These battles mainly involved cruisers and destroyers (except some battleships actions). Guns vs torpedoes, with many losses on both sides.
The strait was soon nicknamed "Ironbottom Sound" because of the large number of wrecks. This long and painful campaign forged many American tactics which deeply transformed the US Navy efficiency.
The main part of the strain and losses was sustained on the American side by these pre-war cruisers of light construction and thin armour.
On November 29th, 1942, Task Force 67 sailed again to intercept the Tokyo Express which tried to supply Guadalcanal. The battle of Tassafaronga, or «4th Battle of Savo» (for the Japanese) or «battle of Lunga Point» (In some US period reports) was going to start.
On the Japanese side, a force of 8 destroyers (
Naganami Flag, admiral Raizo Tanaka-
Takanami,
Kuroshio,
Oyashio,
Kagero,
Suzukaze,
Kawakaze and
Makinami) among which six with a heavy supply cargo (half fed barrels) intended to be dropped into the sea near the shore. To save weight, these ships had no torpedo refills. No radar, but excellent night fight training.
On the American side, a force of 5 cruisers (
Minneapolis,
New Orleans,
Pensacola,
Northampton and
Honolulu) and 4 destroyers (
Fletcher,
Drayton,
Maury and
Perkins) under command of rear-admiral Wright (Minneapolis) which had just replaced admiral Kinkaid the day before. Warned by intelligence, Task Force 67 had left Espiritu Santo, 900km into the South, on November 29th at midnight and was making 27 knots towards the Slot.
On paper, the Americans had the radar, the advantage of number and power. But the Japanese developed better tactics in night fight and, above all, they had the “Long Lance”, much superior to that of their opponent.
That moonless night, the sea was very quiet. A perfect one for a true "dog fight in a tunnel".
Both forces came to contact at about 11 pm, on November 30th. The Japanese destroyers detected the American column at 11:16 pm and Tanaka immediately suspended the supply operation.
The Americans got only
Takanami on radar screen, the island of Savo masking the rest of the force, but Admiral Wright held the cruisers opening fire, thinking of not being at the optimal distance. As a consequence the US destroyers at the head of the column passed the enemy force and went out of the best bearing for torpedo attack.
The US fleet opened fire at 11:21 pm, concentrating on the heading destroyer,
Takanami, which was soon reduced to a burning wreck by
Minneapolis shells. The rest of the Japanese squadron had still not been detected: the Japanese destroyers took advantage of this to increase speed and launch a single 44 torpedoes salvo in the direction of the US artillery flashes.
At 11:37 pm the massacre began:
Minneapolis took two torpedoes. The first one hit port side just in front of turret A. The entire bow now just hanging by the fo’c’sle, bent downward by 70 °, inducing a rough braking of the cruiser who was at full speed and set panic behind, the column being making 27kts in the moonless dark. The second torpedo hit port, at no2 boiler room, whipping out 3 boilers of the cruiser 4.
New Orleans came next, 900m behind. A torpedo hit between A and B turrets. The bow was torn away on starboard with turret A and sank quickly in the dark.
Pensacola followed and just avoided the two leading ships by portside, that is right in the path of torpedoes. She was struck portside below the after mast, setting a gigantic oil fire, the mast acting as torch; her hull took about 3,000t of water (on an 11,000t displacement).
Just behind,
Honolulu was lucky to avoid cruisers in passing on the starboard beam and got unscathed.
Finally came
Northampton, which also passed on the starboard beam, but without increasing its speed: she was struck by two torpedoes in the aft machine space area. Time was 11:48 pm.
So, in only eleven minutes, the quasi-entire cruiser force had been annihilated.
Its supply mission failed, Tanaka withdrew, leaving
Takanami which sank at about 1:30 am.
On the American side this went dramatic:
Northampton had soon to be given up and sank at about 3:00 am.
Minneapolis,
New Orleans and
Pensacola were severely damaged. After a heroic fight of the damage control parties, they were able to crawl by their own power to Tulagi harbor, to get emergency repairs.
Pensacola was seriously damaged: the torpedo had caused such extensive damage aft that the heavy cruiser's stern was barely attached to the rest of the ship and swayed gently with the current. A few frames, some hull plating, and one propeller shaft were practically all that still held the aftermost section to the rest of the ship. He was able to sail to Nouméa on one shaft and was temporarily repaired by Vestal (one of the most outstanding job done by this repair ship during the Campaign) and went back to Mare Island for a six months reconstruction.
The two other cruisers were " patched " with a temporary bow of steel and coconut logs and sailed back later by their own power to Mare Island for reconstruction.
This battle ended as a new tactical victory for the Japanese: however, the supply of Guadalcanal had failed.
Wright got an award for his bravery and some critics later went on Cole, destroyer squadron commander who had failed to launch their torpedo attack in time.
At that time the Americans did not know the exceptional characteristics of the Japanese torpedo “Long Lance” and had not taken in account the great inferiority of their own torpedoes. Furthermore, their artillery used a powder type which generated flashes during firing, immediately revealing their ships position in the dark.
This battle drove a Staff reflection, which soon asked for improvements on these points. The US Navy got later benefits, particularly during the battle of Surigao Strait during the night of October 25th, 1944.
The diorama:I got the idea of building a diorama when discovering long ago the famous pictures taken the next day in a small bay of the Northeast coast of Tulagi. Many are available on NavSource, the ever-excellent source for USN ships pictures.
Minneapolis is anchored right close to the shore, her damaged bow folded down under him.
She’s down by the bow by a good metre.
The submarine repair ship USS
Ortolan is busy near the bow. Underwater workers are cutting it out.
Here's USS
Widgeon (ASR-1), the lead ship of
Ortolan's class with the same 1943 configuration as I want for my dio.
Note the dive bell on fantail.
This bow is still there, about 19m deep, upside down. Scuba divers often do her a visit:
http://www.michaelmcfadyenscuba.info/vi ... age_id=752
The cruiser had taken a lot of water: pumps are “spitting” all around.
To lighten the ship the crew is throwing material overboard: searchlights from the midship platform, 5” guns shields…
Finally, the cruiser was covered with camouflage nets with palm trees vegetation to make her almost invisible from air reco.
Kits selection:The only 1:700 scale kit
Minneapolis (Combrig, resin) shows her in her 1943 post-reconstruction fit, with open bridge, thus wasn’t compatible any more with the 1942 version. I needed a kit of a sister ship with flat sided turrets (the first pair of this class had turrets identical to those of the Northampton because they had been ordered before the project wasn’t deeply improved).
The only possible choice was the kit of USS
Astoria (Combrig).
Since the beginning of my project, Trumpeter produced practically all the New Orleans class in injected plastic. I was too much involved in my project and I decided to keep going with the Combrig kit, which is better with thinner details.
About the USS
Ortolan, a quick search on NavSource told me she was modified version of an older
Lapwing class minesweeper of 1918 and luckily enough, of the same class as the famous Pearl Harbor tug USS
Vireo.
I thus got the Corsair Armada kit of
Vireo and kit bashed her easily from Navsource pictures.
« Custom » improvements:I designed and my own photo etched sets for both ships.
About
Minneapolis: she had off-loaded her planes two days before and I wanted to have her hangar opened used as temporary repair workshop showing the internal structure. The Combrig kit being a little brief in this way, I designed the whole hangar from the official plans of
Tuscaloosa (CA 37).
Original kit parts:
Tuscaloosa plan:
.. And my custom photo etched sheet:
To be continued...
_Bruno
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is my first response and then when I come too, I commence this action 
As always fantastic work, wish I could do that in 1/350.
