Great battle! Really great getting back out and slinging some shot. Hopefully the couple new folks that came out and played get the itch to build boats of their own. Some more lessons learned for the old Shigure, but nothing in the boat broke and we shot some allied ships. It was a good day. Could use a couple more knots of speed, but what you gonna do right? Looking forward to next year!
Weather could not have been more perfect for Combat Saturday. As far as I've been told, both are hooked. One has already been over to Z-Boats shop, trying to figure out what he will build and the other new member has already picked up a two gun Russian Novik destroyer to run. Below is a picture from yesterday's event. Brandon's IJN Shigure about to do harm to the USS Gearing. The Shigure has a twin rotating gun up front, with no rear gun for protection. The Gearing has a twin up front in the "A" turret position and the rear is a rotating single. If you note the position of the Gearing's front and rear guns, you can tell the Shigure won't be getting any return fire out of this broadside.
Depends on the ships and if they have elevation/depression. The picture I provided shows about the average distance of most combat, which is about 5-7 feet apart. Most shots are that far away or more unless a couple ships get into a running battle where the distances will be a few inches apart. Most captains will avoid this except the larger 3 gun destroyers with rotation. My little 2 gun Swedish destroyer is set to shoot about 5 feet away at low elevation and maybe 10 feet at high. When we run the Cruisers and Pocket Battleships, the ranges are 25-35 feet on average or more.
Yes. We have a ships list (similar to what Fast Gun has) that dictates how many guns a ships can have. It also indicates how many rounds each gun will get. For example a small 2 gun destroyer like a US 4 Piper (722 Class) gets 50 rounds per gun. A larger ship like a Z-Boat or USS Gearing (723 Class) gets three guns and 55 rounds per gun. My still larger destroyer the FN Mogador (725 Class) gets 5 guns and 65 rounds per gun. We have everything up to 729 Class ships for 9 guns. This is for the largest Battleships (725-250 Class) and Heavy Cruisers with 6" or smaller main guns and they are considered 729-187 Class ships. The (72) stands for scale of 1/72, (9) is the number of guns and the (187) or (250) is the caliber of the shot you fire.
That have operated in battle: German Pocket Battleships DKM Deutschland, Graf Spee and Lutzow. American Heavy Cruisers USS Houston and Lousiville. HMS Exeter. All in the neighborhood of 8 feet long and armed with 6-1/4" guns. We have an armed DKM Tripitz with 8 1/4" guns that is ready to go. It's 11 feet long. I have 9 guns made and ready to put in my 12 foot USS Missouri, but can't bring myself to do it. I am currently arming an HMS Prince of Wales with 8 guns. I believe an Italian RM Zara is currently under construction and a member of Queen's Own is working on the IJN Yamato.
Thanks for the challenge! Remember what they say, "Don't come to a gun fight armed with just a knife".
These first pictures are scans of photos I have and a little hard to see, but they still tell a story. They get better towards the bottom. This one is of the USS Brooklyn. She's armed with 9 3/16" guns. Again, a little hard to see but this is the DKM Admiral Sheer (as it was named at the time) running against the RM Capatani, USS Shaw and HMS Marne. Unfortunately I could not find a picture of the IJN Kinugasa in battle or on the water (so it didn't happen), but here it is on the bench just prior to battle. You can clearly see she is armed up front with 4 1/4" guns. The other 2 are in the stern. Because this ship was so long and narrow and the superstructure built so heavy; it was quite the rock-n-roller. Here is the DKM Graf Spee when it was owned and operated by Bill Safari, another former WWCC Member. This picture was taken during the Queen's Own Nationals in Southerlin Oregon. This is a picture of the three pocket battleship once John Kort, Deryk Haole and Joe Moore completed building and arming them. This is from a maneuvering event that was held in Modesto, CA. They didn't fight this day, but we did have a sink. The USS Maddox was rammed by one of them, which rolled it over and sank it immediately. Here is the USS Houston and the USS Louisville during a battle with the DKM Lutzow and DKM Graf Spee, QO Nationals in Southerlin Oregon. DKM Lutzow with her Z-Boat escorts. Here's the HMS Exeter and USS Louisville again. Exeter is currently owned and operated by Deryk in San Jose, CA. In this one the FN Mogador is attempting an attack on the DKM Deutschland, last year at a PMWC Memorial Day event. I know it's hard to see, but in this photo we have the USS Pensacola (not fully armed and ready to go at this point) and HMS Exeter side by side, with the DKM Deutschland and DKM Tirpitz just behind them. As I have said, Tirpitz is ready to fight; she's just waiting on the USS Missouri. As I think I heard someone say... None of this really happened.
Ships Cruiser size or larger have always been launched by two members. When I was running the pocket BB and Mike Harter was running the USS Louisville, the two of us would put his in the water then go over and put the pocket in the water together. We would then go shoot the S*** out of each other, then retrieve them together. On the water we were always enemies, but on the bench we had to work together. Even with us working together, we could have still both used an onsite Chiropractor.
Kinugusa last I heard was owned by Tim McNeal in Bremerton WA. He was very active in the club until the Gulf War, started. He worked in the shipyard up there and was called on to work endless overtime turning the real ships around for the Navy. If you were interested, I could try to track him down and see if he wanted to part with it. It did start to work well once the top heaviness was eliminated. Had good guns in it.
Do you have a picture of you poping out of your mama? No, well does that mean it didn't happen? Of course not. I'm not sure if your statement is a challenge or an attempt of light friendly banter. Contrary to the misinformation posted by WWCC let me assure you that I am the builder of the 1/72 scale Missouri they have often claimed as their own. The Missouri did run however it was not gunned at the time. I can't find a picture but does that mean it did not happen. I'm telling you it did and you should accept that for the truth unless you have facts to prove me wrong. Okay, enough said about the Missouri. Let's talk about the 1/72 scale Tirpitz. Sometime around 2005 I built and with Gary Powell's help, armed this ship. Go to www.pacificmodelwarship.com where you can view the construction string of the ship. To further prove my point please refer to the attached photographs of Gary Powell and myself launching the Tirpitz. These photographs were taken by a WWCC member at a WWCC event. Happy to cross swords with you, anytime.
Sure, couldn't hurt. One of my favorite cruiser classes, yet somehow I've never built one. About the only class I haven't built lol
