Calling all Royal Navy V-class & W-class fans

[Mike W]

Can anyone please confirm what year(s) the Tamiya 1/700 HMAS Vampire kit represents the ship? What are the correct colours to paint it, if you model it OOB?

thanks
Mike

[Brett Morrow]

The kit`s representation OOB is mid 30`s, her appearance and config remained unaltered till transfer to Med.
Her colour at that time was 507C overall.

[Mike W]

The kit`s representation OOB is mid 30`s, her appearance and config remained unaltered till transfer to Med.
Her colour at that time was 507C overall.

So does that mean the kit is correct for her, until her repairs following damage at Calabria?

thanks
Mike

[Brett Morrow]

Upon arrival in the Mediterranean, probably at Malta, Vampire received a 2 tone scheme of 507C upperworks and probably 507A hull, all the RAN V/W`s were painted in this scheme until the end of Aug 40, directive issued on 5th of August for camouflage application.

At the Battle of Calabria, she would have been in that 2 tone scheme, and her pennant was D68.
It is unclear exactly when the flag superior changed to I, probably very late 40.

The midship single MKII pompom was still fitted at Calabria, other than the colour change and fitting of twin Lewis in bridge wings and possibly the fitting of other small calibre weapons, her config remained the same.
The aft set of TT were landed on 6/7th of Nov at Alexandria, and the 3" HA MK V was fitted.

[Brett Morrow]

Correction to my previous post concerning the 12 pounder.
The 3" HA MK V was fitted between 4th-12th April 41, the Nov 40 date is Voyager`s fitting.

[Mike W]

Thanks for that. I've had the kit lying around for years unsure what to make of it, so that gives me a simple option.

thanks
Mike

[Brett Morrow]

Just as a matter of interest Mike, my previous comment on small calibre weapons fit.
At Calabria and first half of 40, a single gun mounted on X gunhouse awning.
Very likely this single Vickers, the lower extensions on the pedestal may be what can be seen in the stern image.

[englishgunner]

Hello all,
just wondering if anyone can tell me what the two objects on the Waterhen's rear deckhouse may be. I have marked them with two purple arrows. They are just aft of the upper main gun. They seem quite large, just as big as the 20 mm Breda marked in the same picture. A penny for your thoughts,
cheers, Will

[Brett Morrow]

I think what we can see in your Waterhen attachment, the trailing blob is nothing more than an imperfection in the photo.
From the angle taken, I believe what can be seen in your forward question mark is a single Vickers in vertical position with magazine attached.
Behind the gun on the awning is a storage box installed sometime before going to Med.
The object forward of the gun is the collapsed galley exhaust pipe, they were hinged to allow training of X gun.

In my attachments, before you ask what the blobs are on the awning edge, they were some type of marker float, they donot appear to be present in the sinking image.
Your model is coming along nicely, your Breda will be on the centreline?
Cheers.

[englishgunner]

Thankyou Brett,
so you think there was a single vickers next to the upper main gun, and a twin down next to the lower main gun?. Is there a list/timeline of the modifications made to the Waterhen somewhere? I see there is a lot of information on the Vampire.
.
Yes the Breda will be in the centreline, between the aft standard compass and the 3 inch HA mount. Is that right, did the Waterhen have the aft steering and standard compass?. Those photographs you posted are great, where did you get them from - do you have anymore. I have been trying to get more from the Naval Historical Society but haven't had any luck of late. I am trying to install the myriad of voice pipes, wiring etc around the outside of the bridge structure so any good pics would help. If you see me going off course with model please feel free to correct!,
cheers, Will

[Brett Morrow]

Will, there are no lists/timelines of mods, if there were I wouldn`t pay much attention to them.
It was a constant evolution so to speak, our best sources of evaluation are images, ship log and ROP`s.

From what I see, yes, I believe it is a single Vickers on the awning similar to the one fitted on Vampire.
The gun on the Qtrdeck looks like a Lewis fitted with empty cartridge collector bag, but impossible to say for sure, and if it was, whether a single or double.
The Breda`s appear to be fitted on the centreline midway between the 3" platform/bandstand and the secondary conn, but images can be deceiving. The secondary conn was present on all the RAN V/W`s, it was identical in every way to the wheelhouse primary conn.
Another image of the floats which appear to be small oropesa`s/sweep line markers, the previous gunhouse image is a crop of Waterhen in 39.
If you seek GA arrangements of pipework etc, the NHSA files will not help you, trust me.
Your efforts would be better spent checking the A.C. Green collection at Vic state library, or IWM which can yield random and valuable reference.
If you have a question just post an enquiry or message my inbox.
All the Best

[Brett Morrow]

An afterthought, I posted the float images for identification and interest.
Once the paravane sweep equipment was removed prior to Med service so too were the floats, they were not present in 40.
In late 38 the V/W`s were fitted with 4 single DC canister cradles under the sweep gear, these in turn were landed with the sweep gear and replaced by two 4 DC canister rails.

[Brett Morrow]

A correction to my previous post, after checking my files.
It appears that the paravanes and associated sweep equipment including the floats were indeed still fitted late 39/early 40 after arrival in Med.
A cropped image of Waterhen in Malta.

[englishgunner]

Thanks Brett,
so just to get my head around this, at the time of her sinking, did she have the floats and paravanes?. It looks very bare on the stern area - I cant see any paravanes in the sinking photographs,
cheers, Will

[Brett Morrow]

All mine sweeping equipment landed very early 1940.
After crosschecking all available reference, what looks like a storage box fitted on Waterhen`s gunhouse apron, may in fact be Smoke Pots.
No images of sufficient clarity exist, but it is highly likely they were, identical to those shown in cropped image of Vendetta`s gunhouse, 3rd quarter of 1940.

[englishgunner]

Brilliant, but my kingdom for a sharper image!!!
cheers, Will

[Brett Morrow]

A piece of extra info, perhaps English Gunner and others may find of interest, some may already know.
The squat floats pointed earlier in the thread, were called `Depressor Paravanes`

The K,L,N`s , and any class rigged for TSDS carried at least one of these depressors, similar in design to the attachment.
With TSDS sweep, high speed paravanes were carried (total different design to normal paravanes) and the depressor was fitted via slip block arrangement between both sweep lines and maintained the 2 sweep lines at a predetermined depth.

In the case of V/W`s and any other destroyer class which operated the stern/qtrdeck paravane retractable gantries, a depressor was fitted to each sweep line.
The V-W`s operated normal speed sweep paravanes.

[englishgunner]

Thanks Brett, certainly of interest, your posts are helping me get my stern area sorted out!. Please keep them coming,
cheers, Will

[DJF]

I have obtained the Showcase Models HMS Vendetta kit and want to build it as fitted in late 1918 during the Baltic Campaign. Is the kit configuration correct or must I make some changes. From reading the Man O' War volume on the V and W class destroyers, it seems that Vendetta as built was fitted with two twin torpedo tubes which should be easy to convert from the triples. I am wondering about the minesweeping configuration. Was she fitted with the paravanes as provided? I haven't seen any photos of the V class with that configuration. Was she fitted instead with a depth charge rack rather than the four individual charges? Also, did she carry the code "F29" or "FA3" in the Baltic?
Thanks,
Doug

[Brett Morrow]

RN Pennant listing indicates that at the time of commissioning in 1917 her pennant was FA3, F29 was introduced 1919.
Whether the pennant was painted on her sides in 1917 is unknown to me, I have seen no images to verify.
She was fitted with 4 single DC cradles, she was not fitted at that time with paravane retractable gantries.
Whether she actually carried paravanes in 1917, you will have to consider from photo reference.
She was fitted with 2 twin TT tubes sets.