I am new and I have never built a ship. My Son and I are going to build a Battleship and name it after my Great, Great Grand-Father, General Wade Hampton III. There was a Warship named after him in World War II, here is a picture of it and like some ships during World War II our Battleship will be Flying both the American and Confederate Flag. I have read that some of these ships are 6 feet in length, could you please tell me the rules on the ships and do I need to build a Base for Contest do I need to have two ship team or more to be able to enter the Contest. I am a Combat Veteran and I am very happy to give this a try. Thank you and Deo Vindice.
Wecome aboard. First look in the threads on the different formats. They are at the top of the page usually in the stickys under the various different headings. Once you decide on a format and a scale then we can answer your questions more thouroghly.
The basic ones are fast gun, treaty, big gun, and battlestations. Fast gun and treaty both use 1/144th scale ships and are restricted to .177 or bb caliber guns. They use 1/32" balsa sheeting for penetrable area (determined by rule set) and use the same speed chart. Treaty has rate of fire limitations and pumps are set by gal per min where as fast gun can fire as fast as you can push the button or move the stick and pumps are limited only bu outlet size and type of pump. IE it must not be positive displacement type pump. Big gun uses cannons based on the size the real ship had. From .177 bb cal on up to 1/4" ball bearing shot in the largest cannons and torpedo tubes. They are sheeted with anywhere from 1/32" to 1/4" iirc depending on the ships armor thickness. Battlestations uses 1/96th scale and big gun cannons and armor rules as well as gpm pumping limits based on tonnage. The last one I know of is Queens own combat oit on thw west coast and that is 1/72nd scale and they are closer the big gun rules though its been awhile since I did anything in that scale. Aboit 25 yrs lol. Fast gun is by far the most popular and active format followed closely by treaty then big gun and battlestations are not so much but that is changing.
I believe this ship is a liberty ship which in IRC is a convoy ship, unarmed. The only time they are used in Fast-Gun IRC is at Nationals at this point and only if the group votes to have it, which they voted NO last year. I am not sure what the Big Gun format does with the Liberty Ships. You have a lot of fast gun members in Florida and Battlers Connection as well. I know Rick is in Orlando not sure where Dave and Don are specifically. Catch up with them and they can help you out more if you want to pursue it.
S.S. Wade Hampton Torpedoed 2/28/43 Liberty Ship Crew 4, AG 5 Sunk by a German U-Boat off the Coast of Ice-Land.
My father was a Naval gunnery officer attached to the tanker SS Canyon Creek during WWII. They had a few 5" inch guns. Watch the old Bogart flick "Action in the North Atlantic" for hoaky realism! It showed the navy crews on the merchant ships quite well. I can't think of a navy ship that was named after a US army general. (unless he was president also)
I knew a Wade Hampton. I grew up in Old Homosassa, Fl. I believe his family owned Hampton's Seafood. I don't remember much from my old hometown, I left in 1991 joining the USCG
