DavidP wrote:what do you mean by "biggest of them all"?
OK. i meant the widest.
I understand Wee Vee was built out to 114 feet wide at max, too wide for Panama and was widest of all USN battleships. So, If I want MS21 paint job and I cant do WeeVee which never had it, which was the next widest of the Big 5 as they werent all identical to my knowledge - or? I have this desire to build a chunky battleship, exactly with looks fo Big 5, but I really like the MS21 paint scheme also. Please dont ask me for Venn diagramme.
California and Tennessee were reconstructed the same as West Virginia with the same width. There are photos of Tennessee right after reconstruction in Measure 21, 1943 early 1944 time frame and late war 1945. California may also have been in Measure 21 late war again late 1945. Try Navsource for better dates.
USS Tennessee wore the MS 21 between May 1943 and December 1943. After that, since January 24th, 1945.
USS California wore the MS 21 since April 24th, 1945 (she was repainted during three months lasting repairs in the PSNY after suffering a kamikaze hit in January 1945).
USS West Virginia wore the MS 21 since (unknown). But she did.
Here is some color film footage of USS Colorado and USS Maryland. The camera is on Colorado. Both ships still have their cutdown main cage masts and both appear to be in MS-21 camo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btOA8c2KrxM
I plan to eventually tackle the 1/700 Pitroad Colorado. I would like to replace the quad, twin 40mm and the 20mm mounts. Can anyone give me a count of how many of each mount I should be ordering?Also were the quad 40mm on Colorado shielded or unshielded? I may go with the finemolds parts as they're plastic and easier to work with.
drdoom1337, on my December 1943 1/350 Colorado with the cut down (stump) main cage mast I replaced 4 twin 40mm, 6 quad 40mm (no shields) and 43 20mm. 4 20mm are located on the stump cage mast
As a general rule, the 40MM on all pre-war BB's were unshielded. There was an exception. In Maryland's last refit, her new bow quad was shielded, but was the only shielded mount on the ship. The earliest installations on the North Carolinas and the South Dakota and Indiana appear to have been unshielded, but the shields were added soon after.
Dick J wrote:As a general rule, the 40MM on all pre-war BB's were unshielded. There was an exception. In Maryland's last refit, her new bow quad was shielded, but was the only shielded mount on the ship. The earliest installations on the North Carolinas and the South Dakota and Indiana appear to have been unshielded, but the shields were added soon after.
Interestingly, it looks as though the Tennessee was to receive 10 shielded mounts in 1945, but they arrived too late to install and were placed on other ships.
Check out this amazing HD color footage of Tennessee. Looks like it's not painted exactly according to the MS32-1D camo guide either. There's ocean gray 5-0 on the bow and stern port sides and maybe on the aft turrets and in other places where the guide says should be Light Gray 5-L. Maybe they painted her according to the shades on the guide and not the written colors as there's some discrepancies there.
I'm planning to dig my Trumpeter 1/700 44 Colorado out of the stash to buy aftermarket parts for and build this fall and winter as Maryland.
My question is, did the Maryland retain all of her casemated 5" .51 until her major rebuild in 1945? Or were some sacrificed for additional AA
from previous yard refits? I realize the OBB didnt have weight issues like the treaty cruisers, but I'm still not sure if they are ALL there or not.
