The Ship Model Forum

Hi all, some data about a destroyer the Royal Australian Navy was planning to build in the early 70s to replace the aging Daring class destroyers.

The intention was something light, based on the RANs institutional memory of the Indonesian Confrontation. They had the Perth class DDGs and River class Destroyer Escorts for working with the carrier Melbourne, so they wanted something smaller, simpler and cheaper.



The early design was really quite basic, but it didn't stay that way for long.



The design suffered from mission creep, everyone thought it would be good to add stuff. Hence it grew two helicopters, the Mk-13 GMLS, ASW torpedoes, SPS-49 radar, multiple small calibre cannon mounts, extensive comms and ECM / ESM capabilities. Long range for operations in the Pacific drove up fuel capacity and hence overall size.

The British design facility YARD was retained to bring everything together in a single design, which, due to YARDs involvement in the Type 42 design, ended up looking a lot like a Type 42 with US weaponry.


The image shows a Wessex but the hangars were sized for Lynx (and the YARD builders plans explicitly show a Lynx on the flight deck).


The final design looked like this (taken from the official builders plans).


Three ships were ordered, however a change of Government saw a new, left-wing government elected on a promise to introduce a raft of social programs when saw a cut in defence procurement. The DDL was cancelled before construction commenced and in time the RAN ordered FFGs straight off the US Navy's Perry class production line, plus building two more in Australia.

Here we have a drawing from the Shipbucket site showing how the DDL would have looked in service.


Unicorn

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Pictures of model warships available at http://s554.photobucket.com/albums/jj419/Unicorn1111/?start=all

Task Force 72, home of some of the world's finest 1:72 scale model ships http://www.taskforce72.org

I like it alot!!! Definetley more capable than the Perry's they wound up with although I guess they wound up with some ships like these with the new Anzac class albeit less the Mk-13 launchers. Do you have the rest of the plans avaiable to post? It looks similiar in size to a Type 42, could you conceivably build one from a Type 42 kit with some scrathbuilt deckhouses?

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Drawing Board:
1/700 Whiff USS Leyte and escorts 1984
1/700 Whiff USN Modernized CAs 1984
1/700 Whiff ASW Showdown - FFs vs SSGN 1984

Slipway:
1/700 Whiff USN ASW Hunter Killer Group Dio 1984

Wow, talk about some serious case of mission creep - "something cheap and light" and you end up with a small CG! No wonder the project got killed.

Thanks for posting the plans, I only knew some of the artist's impressions and not the story behind it.

Jorit

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Well, I have a full set of the builders plans, (still marked Confidential) dating back to the early 1970s. With them in hand I set out to build one.

Unfortunately the board won't let me post a PDF.

I obtained a Type 42 Batch 3 fibreglass hull from Alan Pew of APS Models, together with an array of fittings and set to work.

the actual details of the DDL were:

Displacement: 4,200 tons
Length: 425 feet (129.5 m)
Beam: 48 feet (14.6 m)
Speed: 30 knots (56 km/h)
Range: Up to 6,000 miles (9,700 km)
Complement: 210

Sorry I don't have a set of build images.

She was built with wooden main deck, superstructure made from styrene and an array of resin and scratchbuilt fittings. Power was from two Sagem electric motors driven by two 7.2 Amp hour gel cell batteries. Radio was a four channel Futaba and the speed controller was a Hi-Tek with integrated BEC.

Here is the hull on builders trials (her first time in the water), basic blocks for superstructure and much work still to be done





Fortunately she ran well, which allowed me to move on to superstructure and detail, as I was racing to get her presentable for the 2009 Task Force 72 annual regatta in December last year.

Unicorn

_________________
Pictures of model warships available at http://s554.photobucket.com/albums/jj419/Unicorn1111/?start=all

Task Force 72, home of some of the world's finest 1:72 scale model ships http://www.taskforce72.org

With successful builders trials out of the way, I had to get cracking on superstructure and fittings.

Early shot with superstructures taking shape but with the funnel still to be completed.



Later shots with the ship starting to take shape. The funnel was huge for a destroyer, an order of magnitude larger than those on the Type 22 frigate or Type 42 destroyer.





Unicorn

_________________
Pictures of model warships available at http://s554.photobucket.com/albums/jj419/Unicorn1111/?start=all

Task Force 72, home of some of the world's finest 1:72 scale model ships http://www.taskforce72.org

More of the superstructure nearing completion.



The colour may look strange however the RAN uses a particularly green-tinged grey paint, known as Storm Grey.



It looks particularly unusual when contrasted with the white styrene and wooden deck.

Unicorn

_________________
Pictures of model warships available at http://s554.photobucket.com/albums/jj419/Unicorn1111/?start=all

Task Force 72, home of some of the world's finest 1:72 scale model ships http://www.taskforce72.org

With much of the superstructure completed and painted, it was time for sea trials, trying to ensure that I had weight and balance correct with the vast majority of fittings on.



Fortunately the water available was very still (it was about 7 AM) allowing plenty of opportunities for getting the balance right.



Initially she trimmed marginally down by the head, but some lead fishing sinkers aft fixed that



Unicorn

_________________
Pictures of model warships available at http://s554.photobucket.com/albums/jj419/Unicorn1111/?start=all

Task Force 72, home of some of the world's finest 1:72 scale model ships http://www.taskforce72.org

The hull was next, with multiple coats of Storm Grey plus the black anti-fouling paint used by the RAN.



I selected the number 42 as it was the next in series after the Perth class DDGs. Besides, according to the Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy 42 is the ultimate answer to life, the universe and everything!



Flight deck markings.

Please ignore the 747 on the flight deck

Unicorn

_________________
Pictures of model warships available at http://s554.photobucket.com/albums/jj419/Unicorn1111/?start=all

Task Force 72, home of some of the world's finest 1:72 scale model ships http://www.taskforce72.org

The model was ready to run at the Task Force Annual Regatta, however much remained to be completed, such as guardrails, helicopter, RIB cradles and a pile of the detail that is required to make a model come alive. That said I was happy to have her there running.

The ships if completed would probably have borne the names of Australian cities, as the FFGs eventually did. As most of the FFGs have been built in Task Force 72, I needed a new name.

I chose the name Kokoda as it was the scene of one of the greatest Australian military victories, other alternatives were Gallipoli, Milne Bay, Long Tan or Beersheba, none of which have been carried by a RAN warship. Tobruk, another alternative, has been allocated to an amphibious ship and has been built within the club.

Hence HMAS Kokoda, built as she would have been if in service in the period 2000-2005.









Unicorn

_________________
Pictures of model warships available at http://s554.photobucket.com/albums/jj419/Unicorn1111/?start=all

Task Force 72, home of some of the world's finest 1:72 scale model ships http://www.taskforce72.org

Since then, with the deadline pressure off, I have been working at a slower pace in adding more detail.

She runs very reliably, handles wind and wave well and I am very happy with how she responds to throttle and helm.









Still to be added is a helicopter, completion of the guardrails and the ships name boards, while I am still sourcing suitable crew figures.

Hope you like my little project.

Unicorn

_________________
Pictures of model warships available at http://s554.photobucket.com/albums/jj419/Unicorn1111/?start=all

Task Force 72, home of some of the world's finest 1:72 scale model ships http://www.taskforce72.org

That is a very, very nice model you have there!

Thanks a lot for sharing!

One question - did you alter the 42 hull a lot?

Jorit

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Hi Jorit,

The Batch 3 Type 42 is very close in dimensions and hull form (not really surprising given that YARD was heavily involved in both designs).

I did very few modifications to the hull, the principle ones being a different series of hull openings on the quarterdeck.

Unicorn

_________________
Pictures of model warships available at http://s554.photobucket.com/albums/jj419/Unicorn1111/?start=all

Task Force 72, home of some of the world's finest 1:72 scale model ships http://www.taskforce72.org