Caling all IJN Tenryu-class, Katori-class, Yubari-class & Oyodo-class fans

[ussvf17]

I believe it was a lookout station. The pipes you refer to looked like cables. I added another reference photo

[KevinD]

I believe it was a lookout station. The pipes you refer to looked like cables. I added another reference photo

I agree it was (probably) a lookout station. But is the above the same ship (Tenryu?) with just a later modification, as you will notice the area in question has been changed / modified quite a bit from the photos that 'guest' posted on previous page. (As for the 'weird piping' mentioned in 'guest' post, I also only see cabling in his photos.)

Hope no-one minds, but I will take the liberty to post over on the dedicated IJN ships forum and see what they say (and post link here after it's up there).

EDIT: Re above - http://www.j-aircraft.org/smf/index.php?topic=18260.0 (While anyone will be able to read any text answer/s posted there, you need to be a member to view any photos that may be there.)

[Dan K]

I don't agree. If you look at the 2nd and 3rd photo, there's a crows nest high above the yardarm which would serve as a lookout station.

But, I've no clue as to what it really was.

[KevinD]

I don't agree. If you look at the 2nd and 3rd photo, there's a crows nest high above the yardarm which would serve as a lookout station.

But, I've no clue as to what it really was.

Argh yes, I do see that tucked further up there Dan.

As to what it may be, the following in italics verbatim from Ed (Low) over on IJN forum >quote<"Apart from being a lookout platform, L&W seem to indicate that a Type 13 main gun director may also be located there?">end quote<. So, I wonder if it may serve two functions?

I don't have my copy of L & W at hand - (and I know Dan knows this, but for those unaware of the L&W abbreviation, Ed means the book entitled 'Japanese Cruisers of the Pacific War by Eric LaCroix and Linton Wells'; also informally, and rightly so, referred to as the Crubible ) - but for anyone who has they may want to check that book out for more detail.

[maxim]

Which part do you mean? The small items in front of the mast? Or the large platform with the white canvas cover on the top of the mast (where the spar of the foremasts is fixed)?

Lacroix-Wells mentions there only the Type 13 director, which is probably behind the canvas. It the director to guide the 14 cm guns.

[ussvf17]

I have the answer for the question.

Based on Grand Prix cruiser volume P.167, as built, the look out station was indeed located where Dan had suggested. It was later moved down to the top of the gun director the way as it was shown in the photo I posted earlier.

[KevinD]

Which part do you mean? The small items in front of the mast? Or the large platform with the white canvas cover on the top of the mast (where the spar of the foremasts is fixed)?

I have enlarged the 'guest' photo in which he circled the 'object', and it seems(?) he either means the structure in front of the mast (red arrow middle pic) with white covers / awning around the 'windows', or the smaller object/s underneath that structure (in his original pic) on the mast itself (now 'boxed in' in green in crop from one of his other photos at bottom here.)

Guess we will have to wait to see what the guest has to say?

[Fivi_1241]

Santa Claus left me a really nice Hasegawa's Tenryuu under my Christmas tree, so it's time to get interested in the ship's modifications history

Hasegawa's instruction offer us two main options:
-December 1941 - 2x single 13mm AA guns, fewer rescue boats,
-Summer 1942 - 4x twin 23mm AA guns on two platforms, more rescue boats, revised and enhaced searchlights, no decals used.

According to combinedfleet's TROM (which seems most reliable, as it is the most detailed account of changes I've found) the degaussing coil was fitted as late as in June 1942, which would suggest that the Summer 1942 option is the only one available without plastic surgery to the hull. In accordance with the TROM, the second pair of twin 23mm guns was added in June 1942 as well. Additionally, two saluting guns are claimed to be removed as late as in February 1942, and that is also when switch from 2x13 to 2x2x23mm is said to have occured. Depth charge rails were added in January 1942, further limiting the possibility to build a pre-war or 1941 vessel.

Osprey's IMPERIAL JAPANESE NAVY LIGHT CRUISERS 1941�45, however, claims that the switch from 2x13mm occured as early as in 1940, and that the second pair of twin 23mm guns was added in January 1942. No comments on salutation guns or other changes were made.

As you can see, AA configuration suggested by Hasegawa fits the combinedfleet.com timeline, but then again according to this timeline you can't really build a 1941 variant from Hasegawa's kit without some serious modifications. The Osprey's alternative timeline gives me some hope, as I prefer my IJN ships to use as few 23mm guns as possible

Are there any photos which would confirm any of the options? I didn't manage to find any Tenryuu photos after 1936... I know that there are multiple (often conflicting) drawings, but I hardly trust them on that matter.

Happy New Year everyone!
Filip

[Vladi]

Hi Filip, I came to the same conclusion like you (and Hasegawa) regarding Tenryu�s AA armament in 1942, in accordance with Japanese Cruisers of the Pacific War by Lacroix and Wells and other sources. Photos after 1936 are only few and none of them particularly clear. See below the most useful one I found in Squadron-Signal publication when doing research for my build some time ago. Note the different height of the fwd and aft TT mounts. See viewtopic.php?f=60&t=166915 for more details about my build.

Just for the matter of accuracy pls note the standard IJN light AA guns were 25mm (not 23 mm).

HTH

[Fivi_1241]

Hello Vladi, thank you for your reply! It seems like I'll have to leave it in 1942 version. You made a great remark on TT mounts in your excellent Tenryuu gallery - did you spot any other areas in the kit that require corrections?

Just for the matter of accuracy pls note the standard IJN light AA guns were 25mm (not 23 mm).

Oops, sorry, no idea why I mixed it up, must have been carried away by new year's eve

[Vladi]

Well, with so few wartime photos existent I had to rely quite a lot on pre-war shots I found (btw there are some very nice shots during Tenryu�s 1934 visit to Shanghai on the net) and what the people at Hasegawa and FiveStar provided. I just added a few pics into the link above to show what the FiveStar set provided to me, it was really useful.