Calling all USS Saratoga CV-3 fans

[DrewVIII]

go thru this link viewtopic.php?f=59&t=165105 & look for my Idaho & California to give you somewhat an idea on how to do the blister.

Incredible work! looking forward to getting into this!

[sas1975kr]

USS LEXINGTON (CV-2) in April 1934. I don't know what type of mount this is, but if I have to guess, it is an experimental multiple MG mount?

Report of Matterial Inspection U.S.S. Leington (CV2). Held 14-16 January 1935 by Board of Inspection and Survey.

p.143

19. There are installed on the tops of Nos.2 and 3 high turrets two machine gun mounts, each mount carrying six .30-caliber Lewis machine guns. These sextuple mounts are trained and elevated through gear mechanisms...

The "twin-mounted, single-pedestal" .50-caliber weapons were not installed until both the Lex and Sara reached the West Coast, with Lex receiving hers during the ship's first visit to Naval Yard Puget Sound in late 1928. The Sara didn't have the weapons installed until the ship's second visit to Puget Sound in late '29, but neither carrier received a six-barrel A/A mount that been reportly installed. The Navy also were reportly to install some of these twin-barreled weaponry on some of it cruisers during the early '30s, but have only personally researched the Lexingtons' usage of the A/A batteries.

I guess sextuple Lewis really installed on Lexington
1) Report of Matterial Inspection
2) I found a photo of only covered mount. But you can see on them that Lexington mount are much wider than on Saratoga.

[MartinJQuinn]

Sara at Pearl Harbor, 1945, from the LIFE archives.

[TOMLABEL]

Thanks, Martin.

Never seen those before. Good stuff in them!

Kelley

[mister me]

Does anyone have insight into what the .50 caliber AA guns/mounts atop #2 and #3 turrets looked like around 1936?

Cap'n Price,
The Saratoga had only the two single pedestal-mounted water-cooled .50s on the new box platform on the No. 2 turret, that replaced the twin .50s single pedestal mount during the ship's late 1933 visit to Puget Sound. The No. 3 turret carried the twin .50s single pedestal mount upon top until late '35, but afterwards, no .50s were installed, like the forward turret's, until prior to the war. Also, by late '36, the Saratoga was wearing her first 'E' award on the funnel stack, that was awarded to the carrier during July '36.
If you're able to, catch a glimpse of the movie 'DIVE BOMBER', during the flick they have a shot taken from the number 2 turret looking down upon the flight deck, and a quick shot of the single water-cooled .50s on the gun mount (and also the ones mounted on the No. 1 turret that were installed later).
The single mounted pedestal looked similar to the ones on the Ranger's photo that Aggie posted, but the machine gun's barrels lacked the flash deflectors on the Saratoga's weapons.

Hope this helps, and Good Luck on the 'Ship of Happy Langings'!
Fellow Chattanoogain,
Michael,VA

not sure with that :

look at those pictures and my comments. the twin mount is visible.

[Jeff Sharp]

Here are 3 pics of Sara in 1941 wearing MS-1

[ArizonaBB39]

Jeff, I've never seen these pictures before, they'll be a great help for my Sara 1941 build! Thanks for sharing.

[MartinJQuinn]

Saratoga at Puget Sound Naval Yard, March 1941. Photo from National Archives NARA II, RG 71-CA (Yards and Docks), courtesy of Roger Torgeson.

[drdoom1337]

By 1944, how many AA guns would be onboard? I'm reading

23 quad 40mm
2 twin 40mm
16 20mm

I'm building the Tamiya kit and may try to source aftermarket resin or 3d printed AA. The kit supplied ones aren't BAD but I think it would be nice to upgrade them.

[Mike Lowe]

Just got around to using the deck markings on Sara and realized the smaller elevator markings and the deck stripes aren't long enough to reach the full length of the ship. Any suggestions ???? I've had this kit for a while, thought she was nice. Thanks, Mike.

[Timmy C]

A previous thread on the too-short markings issue: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=240797&hilit=saratoga+decals

Basically, either paint or get aftermarket stripes.

[MartinJQuinn]

Nice 1930's Sara over on the German language website Modellmarine.de

[mister me]

hello !

does someone have a rigging scheme for SARA in 1930's range ?

[ArizonaBB39]

Could anyone tell me how close the Tamiya late war flight deck is to how it appeared in 1941? If anything is the profile the same so I could scratchbuild the correct forward portion to replace the one in the try trumpeter kit? Thanks

[Dick J]

The deck shape changed little after mid 1941. The biggest thing was the notches in the forward flightdeck. In late '41, she had two smaller notches for the 1.1" mounts. By 1945, those notches were slightly bigger, and two more had been added where quad 40MM replaced the 20MM seen in this photo from 1942. http://www.navsource.org/archives/02/020343j.jpg

But during the war, most of the changes were added AA, added electronics, and the jettison ramp on the port side of the flightdeck. Of course, her final fit removed the original elevators and replaced the forward one with a more square "standard" platform, but the kit is dated to before that mod.

[ArizonaBB39]

Dick, thanks for the reply. (I apologize if my next question has been discussed already.) I've also noticed on wood deck overlays that it appears there is planking running mostly perpendicular to the normal planking. I assume catapults were removed and the deck was repaired, my question is when did this happen? If after 1941 I won't be able to use any of the available wood deck overlays like I was planning. Thanks

[Dick J]

Both Lex and Sara were built with a flywheel catapult when first built. It angled from near the starboard, forward 5" gallery to a point between centerline and the right edge of the flightdeck at the bow. The cat didn't last long since increasing aircraft weight quickly left it behind and no replacement was immediately available. So both ships had a strip of planking that followed the original track, Lex until sunk and Sara until the big kamikaze strike off Iwo Jima. But in 1944, Sara had two H-2 cats installed parallel to the centerline, with a bit of parallel planking on either side of each one.

[ArizonaBB39]

Thanks again Dick. More questions if I may. Here is the overhead from the Tamiya kit (found online)

Here's the trumpeter Lexington:

Saratoga's bow looks more angular, are the sponsons added to support the wider bow the same as on Lexington? How similar was the AA arrangement between the two in 1941? Is there a line drawing anywhere that shows the Saratoga 1941 arrangement?

I've got a trumpeter 1930s Saratoga (and the old fujimi Saratoga), I already have the necessary parts from Model Monkey for the 1941 time period, and am considering getting another kit (Tamiya Saratoga or trumpeter Lexington [or maybe even just a Saratoga wood deck overlay to get the shape to copy]) to help get me the extra pieces I need to widen the flight deck and get the weapon sponsons I need. At this point I'm pretty sure I'll have to scratchbuild the forward flight deck part I'm just wanting to have the parts to get the rest of the ship as close as I can.

[ArizonaBB39]

David, correct. The Tamiya is from their 1944 kit. The Lexington's AA fit around the deck was more or less the same in 1941 as in the trumpeter kit. I was using them as reference mainly to compare deck shapes.

[ArizonaBB39]

David, thank you for those. Now I just need to figure out the AA guns she had and how similar the arrangement was to Lexington. I may already have the pictures to determine this, but I'm not currently on my computer where all my references are.