Subject: SMML VOL 1885 Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2002 00:39:51 +1000 SMML is proudly sponsored by SANDLE http://sandlehobbies.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1: Re: Why the Iowas are important 2: Re: The USS New Jersey and USS Missouri 3: Help regarding Olympia at Manila Bay battle 4: HMS Prince of Wales' Escorts 5: Oilless or Oilled? 6: HMS Illustrious - colour info 7: IN MEMORIAM Cdr. Peter Richardson, D.S.C., R.N. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD INDEX 1: 1/350 CV-8 USS HORNET ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: Percy_John@emc.com Subject: Re: Why the Iowas are important Folks, I don't know anything about what ships are available, or the whys and hows. I only know that we NEED them. Why? Simple answer: Naval Fire support, i.e. off-shore bombardment for the support of amphibious landings. Only the Iowas can supply the type of firepower that marines need to do this. The man any 5 inch guns (which is the 'main' gun of all our ships nowadays) just want cut it, either in range, hitting power or whatever. For more details, check out this website: http://usnfsa.com/ Lots of interesting articles. John ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: Steve Allen <> Subject: Re: The USS New Jersey and USS Missouri >> The USS Iowa is listed in the same status as the Wisconsin, but it is supposedly the parts hulk for the Wisconsin, if the Wisconsin is ever reactivated. The damaged #2 turret was never repaired, so only 6 of the 9 16 inch rifles are functional. << While largely true, this is not the whole story. The repairs WERE begun; much of the work was finished before it was suspended. All remaining necessary parts are stored in the turret; finishing the job would add a small burden to a recommissioning crew. That it will almost certainly never happen doesn't change the fact that it is not only possible but already partially done. Steve Allen ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: DECOFELIX@aol.com Subject: Help regarding Olympia at Manila Bay battle Hello, could anyone help my brother Joe with any of the below. The usual knowledgeable sites have been deadly silent. I would hate to see the kid go back to 1:18 cars because source data was unavailable. "Have a few questions regarding the Olympia as configured for the battle of Manila Bay. Evidence on the net is a bit contradictory. 1. Paint scheme? Confirming that the hull and upperworks were painted in grey. Funnel bands in black. Which color were the decks? Armament? Masts? Any sources on her paint scheme at the battle, other than grey hull and upperworks? 2. Wood decks or metal decks? I read the U.S. ships removed all wood to lessen fire/splinter damage. Was the wood structure behind the forward mast removed? Or was it covered with netting to catch splinters? Another source indicates that the Olympia was the one ship of the squadron which did not remove any wood from the ship,(except the admiral's piano). One of the Olympia restoration sites indicates the ship had fir planks over steel. 3. Lifeboats removed for battle? Recently read at the Spanish-American War site that the lifeboats were not onboard during the action. Lifeboats were actually towed by the McCulloch which did not take part in the battle line. Another source indicates that the lifeboats were left behind at Hong Kong. 4. Splinter netting 1898 fashion. What would this look like? 5. Any other information is appreciated." Felix C ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: Paul OReilly Subject: HMS Prince of Wales' Escorts All; Having just moved to my new abode I find myself staring at packed boxes of models and reference materials which will remain stored away while we conduct renovations on our house. My workshop, aka the second bedroom, is one of the rooms to be renovated and I'll be out of modelling action for a few months. That leaves me free for research! So I'm reading the book "Battleship - The Loss of The Prince Of Wales and the Repulse" by Martin Middlebrook and Patrick Mahoney. It's a very good read and I recommend it to anyone interested in Royal Navy actions. I think I'll build the ships of Force Z in 1/350 scale. I already have the Tamiya PoW and if/when WEM puts out their Repulse I'll be first at the door. My question is, are there 1/350 models of the destroyer escorts, namely HMS Electra (H27), HMS Express (H61), HMS Tenedos (H04) and HMAS Vampire (D68)? What classes are these ships as I might be able to get a sister ship and convert it to one of these if there isn't a model readily available? As my reference materials are all put away I'm hoping that someone from this august group will have the answer. Paul O'Reilly ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: Boatbldr Subject: Oilless or Oilled? Hi folks I have used the nitrogen cylinder approach to power my airbrush, but the $90 a year rental plus my infrequent use of it has prompted me to investigate a compressor. So I turn to all of you folks to ask whether oilless or oiled is the way to go. There were some horror stories I heard about potential oil splotches on your paint job, even despite having a moisture and oil trap. The oiled compressors seem to be cheaper - any ideas? regards Boatbldr ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: "John Clements" Subject: HMS Illustrious - colour info I am putting the finishing touches to my Revell Illustrious in late 90's fit, ie as presented in the kit and before the latest refit, and am having trouble determining the colours of the deck vehicles (I have the full set from WEM) and the Harriers. I have access to plenty of photographs but they are not closely enough dated. I'd be most grateful if anyone could advise me on the deck vehicles, and when the Harriers lost their roundels and adopted their current scheme of overall light (barley?) grey. I'd like to put a specific year between 1996 and 1998 on the nameplate, if that helps. Thanks, John Clements ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From: "Tony Ireland" Subject: IN MEMORIAM Cdr. Peter Richardson, D.S.C., R.N. Commander Peter Richardson, DSC, R.N. died recently, aged 78, probably in or near Portsmouth, England, where he had lived for most of his distinguished career as an anti-submarine warfare expert. On reaching the rank of Commander in 1960 he spent some years in command of the destroyer HMS Carron and the frigates Venus, Vigilant and Urchin. He held posts at the R.N. underwater warfare school in Portsmouth and the training base HMS Raleigh, at Plymouth. He is most widely known and respected for his enthusiasm and organizational skills in reviving post-war yachting in the south of England. He began by helping to organize the sailing in 1946 by R.N. volunteer crews of about 150 ex-German war reparations yachts from Kiel to Portsmouth, as a boost to the R.N.Sailing Association. For four decades he inspired young people with his love of sailing, ending up by helping to run the first four Whitbread 'Round the World' yacht races. Peter and I were shipmates aboard the frigate HMS Cayman in early 1946 when we voyaged from Londonderry to Chesapeake Bay. Some highlights of that trip were described in Vol 1417 of 20th Nov. last, and in Vol 1464 of 5th Jan. 2002. I'm convinced that Peter saved our lives - after relieving me as watch-keeping officer in mid-afternoon - at the height of a severe storm in mid-Atlantic when a boiler explosion robbed us of all power. He put the helm hard over, while we still had headway, to enable us to lie with our stern into the gale and huge seas for 36 hours - although we came close to capsizing during this manoeuvre. It's a tribute to Peter's modesty that he never revealed to me his years of hard-won experience of handling small ships in such storms. He gave no hint that he was two years my senior, and had been a Midshipman in the corvette HMS 'Abelia' escorting Atlantic convoys when I and my fellow cadets were unexpectedly forced to abandon the old T.S. 'General Botha' at Simons Town owing to the threat from U-boats. (see my 'First Ship' post, on 8th Dec.2000) Only now, 56 years later, through the kindness of two SMML'ies in sending me obituaries, have I learned what Peter had gone through before we met. After A/S duties in the sloop HMS 'Black Swan' he was seconded for anti-submarine duties to the R.C.N.destroyer 'Assiniboine', which rammed and sank U-210 during the night of 6/7th August 1942 at the start of a five-day battle to protect the slow east-bound Convoy SC94 from night attacks by wolf packs of up to eighteen U-boats. Two nights later, U-379 was also sunk by the corvette HMS Dianthus. However, the previous night had seen such terrifying sights of ships blowing up or burning among the 36 merchantmen that the crews of three ships panicked and abandoned them even before being torpedoed. The crews of the 'Empire Moonbeam' and 'Empire Antelope' were later persuaded to re-board their ships and rejoin the convoy, and both reached Liverpool safely - although the latter ship was sunk by U-402 on 1st Nov. in another convoy. The crew of the 3,700-ton 'Radchurch' refused to return to their ship, which still had its captain on the bridge, where he died when U-176 sank the lone straggler next day, far astern of the convoy. This was the only such case during the long Battle of the Atlantic in which 32,000 British merchant seamen perished. Eleven merchant ships in all were sunk in this 7.5-knot convoy. On this 60th anniversary of the most critical point in that long struggle it is sad to reflect that these merchant seamen were pawns in a gigantic chess game. Very long range Liberator bombers were arriving in Britain, and the navy knew they were the only way to close the disastrous mid-Atlantic gap that lacked A/S air patrols. However, the German army was reaching the oilfields in the Caucasus, the Stalingrad battle was still six months away, Stalin was demanding a British and U.S. landing in France or Norway to relieve the pressure, and it still seemed possible that Russia might sue for peace, as in 1917/18. Thus even Mr Churchill, who later said that his greatest fear had been the U-boat menace, sided with his Air Force chiefs who refused to allocate Liberators to Coastal Command's A/S patrols, so they could reinforce the strategic bombing of Germany to weaken German military strength. The Dieppe fiasco on 19th August also comes to mind, especially to Canadians. Sub-Lieut.Peter Richardson R.N.V.R. later served as A/S Control Officer in the frigate HMS 'Tweed'. In 1943 he was A\S C.O. in the Canadian corvette 'Giffard' in many convoy battles. In 1944 he played the same vital role aboard the U.S.-built Captain class frigate HMS 'Rupert'. I must have learned from Peter that this class had a fine turbo-electric propulsion system. But I'm amazed that he never mentioned his ship escorting U.S. troops who landed on Omaha Beach in Normandy, not far from where I had been, or being very successful in protecting two Murmansk convoys later in 1944. Or the details of how he had guided 'Rupert' in successful attacks on U-965 and U-755 lurking inshore off the Western Isles of Scotland on 27th March, 1945 - and his sinking of U-1021 three days later. For this he was awarded the D.S.C. The fact that I mentioned 56 years later (in my posting last Nov.19th) my slightly inaccurate recollection that Peter had 'sunk three U-boats in 24 hours' makes me sure that I heard this not from Peter but from someone else in the Wardroom of HMS 'Cayman' in Feb.1946. Despite the fact that many surrendered U-boats were moored near us and attracted great interest, Peter never revealed that he had taken charge of many of them as official Boarding Officer - and later supervised the towing of many of them to where they were scuttled in deep water off Malin Head. I suppose he was upholding the traditions of the 'Silent Service'... A ludicrous perversion of this tradition, ironically, prevented me from ever meeting Peter again or learning that he had transferred to the Royal Navy on his promotion to Lieutenant later in 1946. With Cdr.Sherwood in New York City, Peter had put my name down as a volunteer to sail ex-German yachts to Britain. After disembarking from the 'Queen Mary' at Southampton we duly went through Customs inspection. My 14 lb weight of boxed chocolates and many pairs of nylon stockings, intended for my female relatives, incurred no charge - luckily, as I was flat broke. I asked the senior R.N. officer in the Transit office whether I was expected to report to, or phone, the Admiralty after I reached my home in Brighton. He warned me emphatically not to bother them in any way as they were over-worked dealing with demobilization - and they would send me orders for my next posting, at the address I had just given him. I assured him I would obey this order. Thus I found myself, as summer broke, in England's greatest seaside holiday spot - with 52 pubs within a half-mile semi-circle of the Palace Pier - and with my parents who had seen almost nothing of me, their only child, for nearly six years. Naturally, they were pleased as the weeks went by with no word from the Admiralty. Eventually, of course, I did go to London and report to the Admiralty. Another bad-tempered, over-worked senior naval officer reacted badly. He began angrily looking through files, obviously seeking the most unpleasant job he could find for me. Then I mentioned that I had registered with Cdr.Sherwood as a volunteer for Operation Homeward. He produced that file - Naval Party 1742 - and found my name listed. With bad grace he ordered me to report aboard the new destroyer HMS 'Comus' at Portsmouth, three days later, for passage to Kiel. Sadly, I never encountered Peter Richardson during the week when four of us prepared the former Luftwaffe 50-square metre, 6-ton racing sloop 'Norbeck' for her trip to Portsmouth. We optimistically estimated this would take a week, but it took us six weeks to get there. We were lucky not to be drowned in a strong gale off Den Helder, where we were towed in a sinking condition by a Dutch trawler. Fresh provisions were unobtainable in Kiel. We loaded every nook in the boat with tinned food, and piles of cases of Remy Martin Cognac drawn from Kriegsmarine warehouses. Then in company with six other similar yachts we sailed to Denmark to exchange the brandy for eggs, ham, bacon, cheese and butter - despite the best efforts of an under-staffed Customs dept. No doubt Peter Richardson had devised this system many weeks earlier. It reminded me of our jaunt across the border on St Patrick's night, from Londonderry to Buncrana, poorly disguised as civilians, where I first tasted Irish whisky.... R.I.P. Peter. Cheers, Tony ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: AAA Hobby Subject: 1/350 CV-8 USS HORNET Trumpeter has announced a price and date for this kit. The expected arrival date is December 1, 2002 and the price will be $129.95. AAA Hobby is accepting preorders now for these kits at a rate of $110 plus shipping. The kit will be 28" long, but the box will be longer and I have no idea what the weight or shipping will be. The model will have 2 F4F, 2 SBD, 2 TBD and 2 B-25 with Trumpeter having said that extra plane sets will also be available. Due October 10, 2002 will be the USSR CVH Kiev - so the guesses were correct. The price will be $39.95, with the SMML price being 15% off that at $33.96 for a total with PM shipping of $38.00 (same as Minsk) James Corley AAA Hobby Supply email: aaahobby@earthlink.net ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Check out the SMML site for the List Rules, Backissues, Member's models & reference pictures at: http://smmlonline.com Check out the APMA site for an index of ship articles in the Reference section at: http://apma.org.au/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- End of Volume