Here is the best overhead view of USS HUDSON (DD-475) that I have. It is hard to see in the overhead view the aft deckhouse clearly, but she does have the "Tear-Drop" shaped standard twin 40-mm tub between 53 and 54 mounts. The closeup view of her aft area may help with seeing what her configuration was like in that area.
Like many FLETCHER's late in 1944, she had the "Interim RCM" mainmast installed. Because she was overhauled at Beth-SF yard, they added a rub stake below the waist twin 40-mm mounts.
Rick E Davis wrote:Sorry Bill, I meant the comment about the Lindberg 1/125 scale kit for directing to Guba, not you.
Posting when you are tired isn't always a good idea.
Oops, my bad! Yes I was talking about the Lindberg kit. What's more, how did I miss that he stated "Revel"! And 1/144 is what I build for R/C warship combat, and the Lindberg kit was out of the rules based on size alone. Thanks for setting me correct. *face smack, shaking head*
I am currently building the USS Van Valkenburgh and need help in determining the shape of the aft 40mm gun
and director platform.
There were two different shapes - looking down from the top, there was a tear-drop shape and a square shape.
The kit I am using to build from is the Bluejacket US Kidd and this has the square shaped style. But there were
many differences between the Kidd and the Valkenburgh so I don't want to assume. I have examined the
excellent photos provided by Rick Smith but can't tell from them which style the Van Valkenburgh had. I would
appreciate any information about this that anyone could provide. Thank you.
USS VAN VALKENBURGH had the standard "Teardrop" shaped bulwark around the aft 40-mm twin mount. The "Square-D" shape was a MINY sign they modified many (but not all) FLETCHER class units to when they came into their yard for work.
VAN VALKENBURGH was one of the last FLETCHER's to complete and as such had several unique features, including the ChNY style sliding metal gun port covers.
I sent a couple of images to Hank Strub, he will be forwarding them to you.
Thank you, Rick and Hank. Rick, you answered my question. (I wish the answer had been different because now I have
to re-build the platform. But that's OK - I want it to be accurate.) I got your images from Hank and thank you for those
also. The image of the Van Valkenburgh off Maui was a new one for me. Bill
Glad to have helped! I've sent you a further email with attachments in case I hadn't sent this before.
Hank
HMS III
Mocksville, NC
BB62 vet 68-69
Builder's yard:
USS STODDARD (DD-566) 66-68 1:144, Various Lg Scale FC Directors Finished:
USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) 67-69 1:200
USN Sloop/Ship PEACOCK (1813) 1:48
ROYAL CAROLINE (1748) 1:47
AVS (1768) 1:48
This is obviously my first post. I have a few questions, and a little history about myself, and hope I don't bore you guys too much. I'm an ex sailor, joining the Naval reserve while a senior in high school back in January '57. My first 2 week summer cruise was in '58 aboard the DE WILLET out of New Orleans. It was not much fun. I was assigned to the deck force, chipping paint, and swabbing decks most of the time. At times it felt like hard labor. But that's the way it goes when you're an E-1. During GQ drills I was assigned to the after steering compartment. That was kind of boring.
The following summer I took a 2 week cruise aboard the DE TWEEDY out of Charleston, SC. By then, I was E-2. That went a lot smoother, as I was assigned to the gunnery dept. No more paint chipping! lol. During GQ drills I was assigned to a compartment directly below the quad 40. When those guns went off, it sounded like being in a house with eager carpenters putting up shingles on the roof. (all that banging) That's how those guns sounded. I still have an empty 40 mm shell that I stuffed in my sea bag before leaving the ship. By comparison it was like a pleasure cruise.
The following summer '59, I reported about the USS WASP CVS-18 homeported in Boston for my 2 year active duty requirement. Growing up and working with my Dad in his blacksmith shop, I had a metal working background. So I was hoping to get assigned with the aviation metalsmiths. Well, that was not to be. It so happened that at that time, half of the personnel office guys had just been separated from active duty. So there was a void there that needed to be filled. My page 4 said that I could type 30 words per minute, so I was assigned to "X" division working in personnel doing transfers and separations. I ended up being a YN3.
There at the Boston Navy yard, on the way out to the main gate, off to the right was like a grave yard, with rows of Benson and Gleaves class DD's, and CVE's mothballed, and rotting away. A very sad sight indeed. Years later, in the early '70's, I witnessed some of those same DD's being towed in and dismantled, and scraped in Brownsville, Texas. Another sad sight indeed. Evan had a light cruiser in there at one time being scraped. What a beautiful hull it was. Another sad sight.
My last summer cruise was aboard the USS MADDOX out of Long Beach. That too was a pleasure cruise. There wasn't much room there in the tiny personnel office, so I didn't do much of anything. I was assigned to the bridge manning a sound powered telephone during GQ drills. Whenever those duel 5" 38's would go off, it just plain hurt. There were no ear plugs or ear muff being passed around. The skipper BTW was actor Walter Brennen's son-in-law. An avid sportsman, he would shoot at flying fish off the bridge with his M-1 rifle. Little did anyone know at the time that the ship would be the main character in the Gulf of Tomkin incident a few years later.
So you see, that's why I'm here now. I know what it's like to be aboard those old guys, being an old guy myself. lol When Revell first came out with the 1/144 Fletcher, I thought about getting one, but kept putting it off. Then after a year or two, Squadron put them on sale. Such a deal, so I bought one, also assuming that sooner or later they would go OOP. Needless to say, I was a bit intimidated by it. So it stayed in the stash till a couple of months ago when i attended an IPMS show in Stafford Texas. There in full view was one, which BTW took best of show, and it just blew me away. So now I'm fired up to do mine.
So before I start assembly, I'd like to ask a few questions. I would also like some day to do a 1/144 Gleaves class, and was wondering if the Fletcher torpedo tubes would be the same as the Gleave's torpedo tubes. If so I would like to do a casting of them for the Gleaves. Just thinking ahead a little.
Also, the Destroyer History Foundation's DVD-ROM of the Fletcher engineering drawings is no longer available. Is it available from another source, or maybe a duplicate? I'm thinking of doing a late war Fletcher. TIA
Best regards, glad to be here.
Patrick
Victoria, Texas
Look through this thread, I posted that the Destroyer History BIW FLETCHER CLASS DVD is now available at Tincan Sailors. Calling is the best way to order the DVD.
Thanks Rick. I sent them an email. I wanted to give them a call, but it's late and the holiday weekend, so I'll wait till after the 4th and call them then. I checked their web site, and the DVD was not listed in their ship's store. So we shall see. I'm in no hurry. Good to here about the torpedo tubes. I was guessing they were the same, just wanted to be sure.
Enjoyed your intro! Welcome aboard...here is a link to DD-629 USS ABBOT - they have a tab for FLETCHER class blueprints/plans. I think one of their goals is to upload all the engineering drawings for a typ. FLETCHER tin can. I'm gathering info for a future kit bash of a 1/144 scale FLETCHER into my former ship USS STODDARD (DD-566) 1966-68 which will take some involvement.
Builder's yard:
USS STODDARD (DD-566) 66-68 1:144, Various Lg Scale FC Directors Finished:
USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) 67-69 1:200
USN Sloop/Ship PEACOCK (1813) 1:48
ROYAL CAROLINE (1748) 1:47
AVS (1768) 1:48
Enjoyed your intro! Welcome aboard...here is a link to DD-629 USS ABBOT - they have a tab for FLETCHER class blueprints/plans. I think one of their goals is to upload all the engineering drawings for a typ. FLETCHER tin can. I'm gathering info for a future kit bash of a 1/144 scale FLETCHER into my former ship USS STODDARD (DD-566) 1966-68 which will take some involvement.
Thanks for the welcome BB62vet. And also thank you for that link to the USS ABBOT web site. Very helpful. Lot of pictures there. Took me a while to go through them all. Oh BTW, the Tin Can Sailors still have the DVD on the Fletchers for sale, happy to say. Got one coming. Well, stay cool. It feels very tropical right now here in south Texas. Just downright steamy. lol
If anyone has any actual plans for the Mk. 32 Triple Torpedo Tubes (as used onboard the FLETCHERS 1950s/60s) and can either scan them in or make .pdfs - I would appreciate it.
TIA,
Hank
HMS III
Mocksville, NC
BB62 vet 68-69
Builder's yard:
USS STODDARD (DD-566) 66-68 1:144, Various Lg Scale FC Directors Finished:
USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) 67-69 1:200
USN Sloop/Ship PEACOCK (1813) 1:48
ROYAL CAROLINE (1748) 1:47
AVS (1768) 1:48
What was the main difference between the USS Cushing (DD-7 97) and USS Sigourney(DD-643), USS Aulick(DD-569), USS Cony (DD-508)? I ask cause I want to get a tamiya cushing and mconvert it to one of the other 3.
The Tamiya 1/700 scale CUSHING kit is of a Square(Open)-Bridge FLETCHER class unit. USS SIGOURNEY (DD-643) was a Square(Open)-Bridge FLETCHER class unit. USS AULICK (DD-569) and USS CONY (DD-508) were both Round(Closed)-Bridge FLETCHER class units. The 1/700 Tamiya FLETCHER kit would be a better start for those two than the CUSHING kit.
Depending on how accurate you wish your build to be, look for photos of the ship you wish to model and see how the bulwarks and such vary between the Tamiya kit and that ship. I'm assuming you are planning on a model build as the ship appeared in WWII? The FLETCHER class units varied throughout WWII with the Anti-Aircraft Armament increasing to the mid-war five twin 40-mm mounts and seven single 20-mm guns standard. Then very late in WWII the Anti-Kamikaze mod was applied to about a third of the class, with two quad 40-mm mounts replacing the forward torpedo tubes and waist twin 40-mm guns and six twin 20-mm mounts replacing the single 20-mm guns. The CUSHING kit represents the five twin 40-mm configuration. SIGOURNEY was in the five twin 40-mm configuration for most of the war, virtually the entire time she was in the Pacific war zone. She was being converted to the Anti-Kamikaze mod as the war was ending.
Don't trust the Barrett illustrations to be accurate for individual units in the FLETCHER class. They use the same illustration for multiple units, some of which NEVER had the illustrated configuration. Reference the photos available on Navsource and elsewhere.
Rick E Davis wrote:The Tamiya 1/700 scale CUSHING kit is of a Square(Open)-Bridge FLETCHER class unit. USS SIGOURNEY (DD-643) was a Square(Open)-Bridge FLETCHER class unit. USS AULICK (DD-569) and USS CONY (DD-508) were both Round(Closed)-Bridge FLETCHER class units. The 1/700 Tamiya FLETCHER kit would be a better start for those two than the CUSHING kit.
Depending on how accurate you wish your build to be, look for photos of the ship you wish to model and see how the bulwarks and such vary between the Tamiya kit and that ship. I'm assuming you are planning on a model build as the ship appeared in WWII? The FLETCHER class units varied throughout WWII with the Anti-Aircraft Armament increasing to the mid-war five twin 40-mm mounts and seven single 20-mm guns standard. Then very late in WWII the Anti-Kamikaze mod was applied to about a third of the class, with two quad 40-mm mounts replacing the forward torpedo tubes and waist twin 40-mm guns and six twin 20-mm mounts replacing the single 20-mm guns. The CUSHING kit represents the five twin 40-mm configuration. SIGOURNEY was in the five twin 40-mm configuration for most of the war, virtually the entire time she was in the Pacific war zone. She was being converted to the Anti-Kamikaze mod as the war was ending.
Don't trust the Barrett illustrations to be accurate for individual units in the FLETCHER class. They use the same illustration for multiple units, some of which NEVER had the illustrated configuration. Reference the photos available on Navsource and elsewhere.
Thanks for that bit of information! Cause what I plan on doing is having one of the Fletcher class as of late 1944 in TF 77 before the battle of leyte gulf sailing next tovthe USS California in a dio. So the cushing would be ok if I went with the Sigourney, and if I went with one of the other two, the Fletcher would be good? But if i go with the tamiya fletcher wouldn't I have to get an aftermarket set to update it to 44 layout? Also I saw that the Sigourney was ordered to be painted in ME 32/13D but can't actually find any evidence that she was painted in the scheme. Was she only in the overall navy blue 5-N?
