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emperor_andreas
Post subject: Re: Benson/Gleaves class destroyersPosted: May 23rd, 2017, 11:43 pm
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Great job! What's the plan for this class?

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Colosseum
Post subject: Re: Benson/Gleaves class destroyersPosted: May 24th, 2017, 12:02 am
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Thanks, I'm not quite sure how many I'll get done - it seems that the wartime variants were all quite similar. Ideally I'd like to get one of the versions with five main guns and the tall aft searchlight tower but I'm having trouble finding decent plans of this type.

I'd also like to branch out into some of the other lesser known USN camouflage measures that were used early on. I'll try to make a plan when I get home tomorrow and let you guys know.

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Shigure
Post subject: Re: Benson/Gleaves class destroyersPosted: May 24th, 2017, 4:42 am
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Battle of Guadalcanal flashback intensifies

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emperor_andreas
Post subject: Re: Benson/Gleaves class destroyersPosted: May 24th, 2017, 5:42 am
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I hope these are of some use:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... n_1940.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... r_1940.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... DD-433.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... 543602.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... 437%29.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... -1287M.jpg

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Hood
Post subject: Re: Benson/Gleaves class destroyersPosted: May 24th, 2017, 7:52 am
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Really nice additions. Nice to see the product of painstaking research to get every detail right.

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Colosseum
Post subject: Re: Benson/Gleaves class destroyersPosted: May 25th, 2017, 9:35 pm
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OK, I tried to establish a plan and basically ended up reading through the entire 80 page thread at the Ship Model Forum and attempted to identify the major variations. There are so many though that it's basically an impossible task to show them all without literally drawing every ship in the class. Obviously I am not going to do that as my time is valuable. I've identified a few ships and timeframes I want to get to, as follows:

- Farenholt 8/42
- Gwin 4/42
- Meredith 6/42
- Eberle 1/43

Possibly some more. I'll update this later on. Just identifying the versions is a nightmare!

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Colosseum
Post subject: Re: Benson/Gleaves class destroyersPosted: May 26th, 2017, 10:30 pm
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First, had to make a few modifications to LAFFEY to correct it. This is probably one of the most complicated "classes" of ships I've ever worked on... there are 5 different major construction variations due to early experimentation and then wartime emergency orders to the various yards for more ships once hostilities began, and each ship was different from its sisters (both as built and later on as refits occurred at various navy yards) - even more so than you'd expect. I've identified literally dozens of differences... what a nightmare.

This is LAFFEY as of September, 1942. LAFFEY was a "repeat Benson"; built to the original Bethlehem plans with flat sided funnels. The biggest change I had to make was to redraw the area just aft of the #2 stack. This class has a dizzying number of variations from ship to ship; LAFFEY was completed with exposed funnel trunking in this area and a catwalk above it to the small searchlight platform. The 36" searchlight was placed on a small frame support to elevate it above the pipe railings, which would often be covered by canvas dodgers depending on crew preference.

Another area is the front of the pilot house, which had the 02 level "squared off" to accommodate a ready service cabinet for the forward 20mm guns.

[ img ]

I'm sure more edits will follow. ;)

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emperor_andreas
Post subject: Re: Benson/Gleaves class destroyersPosted: May 27th, 2017, 5:43 am
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Very nice work!

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Colosseum
Post subject: Re: Benson/Gleaves class destroyersPosted: May 31st, 2017, 10:31 pm
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A new one, this time the MEREDITH (DD-434) as of June 1942 during the Battle of Midway. MEREDITH was one of the early GLEAVES units built with a semi-enclosed Mount 53 and ten torpedo tubes. The King Board anti-aircraft rearmaments authorized in late 1941 equipped some of the early GLEAVES units with nine .50-caliber machine guns in various locations; by May of 1942, the ships of DesDiv 22 (including MEREDITH and her near-sister GWIN) were upgraded with four 20mm Oerlikons replacing four of the .50-cals.

The scheme is yet another variation on Measure 12 (modified), with much larger splotches than usual (demonstrating the leeway most of the yards/ships were given when painting into this scheme). It was apparently not well-liked by the Pacific command who ordered most of the Pacific Fleet repainted into the all-over Navy Blue Measure 21 by fall of 1942.

Most interesting is the lack of fire control radar on the Mark 37 director despite the SC air search radar on the mast; during this time the ships of DesDiv 22 never got a proper yard period where the usual Mark 4 "FD" radar could be fitted.

[ img ]

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Colosseum
Post subject: Re: Benson/Gleaves class destroyersPosted: May 31st, 2017, 11:23 pm
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... and GWIN (DD-433), during the Doolittle Raid (April 1942). Not terribly different from MEREDITH (both built side-by-side at the Boston Navy Yard), but pictured with the original nine .50-caliber machine guns in standard locations. The removal of the 3rd 5" mount (from the original design) and its replacement with six .50-caliber machine guns is an interesting choice. The 5"/38 would prove to be the main USN anti-aircraft weapon by the end of the war (surpassing even the mighty 40mm Bofors).

The problem of the crowded aft deckhouse (with six machine guns, the emergency conning station, ventilation blowers, and the searchlight platform) was resolved with the later "repeat GLEAVES" units which landed the after torpedo tubes and relocated the searchlight platform to the torpedo tube foundation. This made room for mid-war additions of dual Bofors mounts with Mk.49 (and later Mk.51) directors. GWIN was one of the few GLEAVES units to actually receive the Mk.49 directors during its 1943 refits. Almost every other ship received the (originally) stop-gap Mk.51 directors, which later became standard throughout the fleet as the issues with the Mk.49 became apparent.

[ img ]

Remember that all GLEAVES class drawings are available here: http://test.shipbucket.com/drawings/sea ... ch=gleaves

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