Newsletter Volume 43, Number 10, Oct. 2016

Contacts Work in Progress President: Don Dressel (909) 949-6931 September 21, 2016 E-Mail: [email protected] Reporter: Dave Yotter Vice President: Bill Schultheis (714) 366-7602 AUCTION NIGHT FOR THE E-Mail: [email protected] Secretary: Paul Payne OCTOBER SMA MEETING (310) 544-1461 Treasurer: Larry Van Es SO DON’T BRING YOUR MODELS (714) 936-0389 FOR THE WORKS IN PROGRESS - E-Mail: [email protected] BRING YOUR ITEMS FOR AUCTION! Editor, Don Dressel

(909) 949-6931 908 W. 22nd Street USS Swordfish (SSN-579) – Dave Yotter Upland, CA 91784-1229 USS Swordfish (SSN-579), a skate-class E-mail: [email protected] , was the second submarine of the United Web Manager: Doug Tolbert: States Navy named for the swordfish. The contract to (949) 644-5416 build her was awarded to the Portsmouth Naval Web Site Shipyard of Kittery, Maine on 18 July 1955, and her keel www.shipmodelersassociation.org was laid down on 25 January 1956. She was launched on 27 August 1957 sponsored by Mrs. Eugene C. Meeting – Wed. Oct. 19, 7 PM, Riders, and commissioned on 15 September 1958 with Red Cross Building, 1207 N. Commander Shannon D. Cramer, Jr., in command. Lemon, Fullerton, CA. 92832 Name: USS Swordfish Ordered: 18 July 1955 Officers meeting –Wed., Nov. 2, Builder: Portsmouth Naval Shipyard 2016, 7 PM, Bob Beech’s house, Laid Down: 25 January 1956 130 Clove Pl. Brea, CA. 92821 – Launched: 27 August 1957 (714) 529-1481. Commissioned: 15 September 1958 Decommissioned: 2 June 1989 Struck: 2 June 1989 Fate: Submarine recycling program General Characteristics: Class and Type: Skate-class submarine

1 Displacement: 2,570 long tons surfaced 2,861 long tons submerged Length: 267 ft 7 in. Beam: 25 ft. Draft: 22 ft. Propulsion: 53W reactor Speed: 18 knots Complement: 87 officers and men Armament: 8 X 21 in (530) mm) tubes. Swordfish was the fourth nuclear submarine built by the US Navy. USS Nautilus (SSN-571) was the first followed by USS Seawolf (SSN- 575). Seawolf was the second nuclear submarine, and the only US submarine built with a liquid metal cooled (sodium) nuclear reactor known as the Submarine Intermediate Reactor (SIR) or Liquid Metal Fast Reactor (LMFR). The Skate-class were the ’s first production run of nuclear-powered submarines. They were an evolution of the Tang-class in everything (except their propulsion plants), which were based on the operational prototype USS Nautilus. The four Skate-class boats re-introduced stern torpedo tubes (6 forward, 2 aft). Although among the smallest nuclear-powered attack submarines ever built, the Skate-class served for many years, with the last being decommissioned in 1989. USS Skate (SSN-578) was the first to surface at the North Pole, on 17 March 1959. Skate and USS Sargo (SSN-583) were built with the S3W reactor, Swordfish and USS Seadragon (SSN-584) also had the S3W reactor in the S4W reactor plant – same machinery in an alternate arrangement. The Skate-class were designed as economical production nuclear-powered submarines (SSN’s), and thus were smaller and more austere than their ground-breaking predecessor Nautilus, whose high cost had raised concerns. They were designed before Nautilus demonstrated the advantages of sustained high underwater speed, thus their designed speed was about the maximum speed of the conventional Tang class. Their S3W reactor was a scaled-down version of Nautilus’ S2W reactor with about half the power output; it was known as SFR (Submarine Fleet Reactor) during development. A slightly modified version known as S4W powered the second pair of Skate-class boats. Unfortunately, scaling down the reactor did not reduce the weight of reactor shielding proportionally, and it was eventually realized that further downsizing was impractical. Their armament was the same as the Tangs, six bow and two stern 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes. Like the Tangs, the stern tubes had no ejection pump, and could only be used for swim-out weapons such as the Mark 37 ASW homing torpedo. The quest for a high submerged speed and improved sonar led to the subsequent Skipjack and

2 Thresher classes becoming the model for further development. Your reporter served aboard Swordfish while home ported in during 1964 and 1965. The model of Swordfish was made by Mel Douyette of Cold War Submarines in 1:192 scale. The hull is of cast resin with aluminum masts. The model has since been installed in a case made for it by Plexidisplays at 700 East Lambert Rd, Ste J in La Habra, Cal. – www.plexiDisplays.com. This is the same plexi-glass establishment that Dave used to make the plexi-glass for his very large case to house the Philadelphia, which was on display at the recent NRG Conference in San Diego. Good job, DAVE!

Halifax – Don Dressel Don brought in his completed Halifax with all the masting and rigging completed on the model. The masting and rigging was based on the plans by Harold Hahn of the Halifax along with information obtained from the book The Colonial Schooner 1763 – 1775. The spars were turned down using my long bed Sherline lathe, first cutting the spars in square section. All spars were Degame (lemon wood). The rigging line was obtained from my “stash” of linen rigging line obtained over many years of purchasing the line, since I did not have the time to use my rope walk to actually fabricate the line. The case was obtained in parts from Lloyd Warner (he no longer makes cases) and assembled by myself, with some added assistance given by Lloyd in the way of jigs to use in making the case. The plexi-glass was purchased from the same source as Dave Yotter used, namely Plexidisplays as indicated above. The flags were made by Gus Agustin using his usual method, which also saved me some time. The model was completed and cased in time for the NRG Conference in San Diego on October 6, 7 and 8 and was a very successful conference. More details will be provided on the NRG Conference next month in the SMA Newsletter for November.

Container Ship Mary Arctica – Burt Goldstein Royal Arctic Line A/S (RAL) or Royal Arctic is a seaborne freight company in Greenland, wholly owned by the Greenland Home Rule Government. It was formed in 1993 and is headquartered in Nuuk. Royal Arctic operates cargo routes among the Greenland settlements and between Nuuk and Aalborg in Denmark and manages 13 harbors in Greenland as well as the Greenlandic base harbor in Aalborg, which serves as the source for all European shipping to the island. Seaborne traffic from North America goes to Reykjavik aboard Eimskip, whence it is

3 carried to Greenland aboard Royal Arctic. In 2011, government concessions accounted for 76% of the company’s income. Royal Arctic Linietrafik operates the company’s fleet, currently consisting of ten ships – six container ships and four “settlement ships” – with five more under construction. The three largest ships – the Naja Arctica (782 TEU (Twenty-foot equivalent units)), Nuke Arctica (782 TEU) and Mary Arctica (588 TEU) – are principally used for the Aalborg route. The Irene Arctica (424 TEU), Arina Arctica (283 TEU) and Pajuttaat are used within Greenland and have equipment for unloading in cities without harbors. All these container ships are double-hulled and built with high freeboards and the highest ice ratings: the Mary Arctica has even been chartered for Antarctic service. The settlement ships Angaju Ittuk, Anguteq Ittuk, Aqqaluk Ittuk and Johanna Kristina are all older and smaller (220-320 m3) and used for supplying the smaller ports. One of the new ships is considered Mary-class and will have a capacity of 606 TEU. Of the four others, two will have 108 TEU and two will have 360 TEU capacity. Bert’s cardstock model of the container ship Mary Arctica is built in 1:400 scale. The kit comes from a Polish company, JSC. This made the model more difficult as the instructions were in Polish. Even the photos proved to be poor and difficult to interpret. Bert credits years of cardstock modeling experience to being able to overcome the difficulties presented by this kit and it took about one and one-half months to complete. There was no baseplate included in this waterline model’s design. Consequently, to keep the hull from warping it had to be constructed symmetrically across the hull. The cargo was built in units of six by four container unite and seven by three container units and are removable. Here again the photos were the only help as the written instructions were impossible.

Zerstörer 1 (D170) – Burt Goldstein USS Anthony (DD-515), a Fletcher-class , was laid down on 17 August 1942 at Bath, Maine, by the Corp.; launched on 20 December 1942; sponsored by Miss Alice Anthony and Miss Frances Anthony, granddaughters of Sergeant Major William Anthony; and commissioned at the Boston Navy Yard on 26 February 1943, Lieutenant Commander Blinn Van Mater in command. Anthony earned seven battle stars for her World War II service, and was awarded a Navy Unit Commendation for heroism during the Okinawa campaign. She was placed out of commission, in reserve, in 1946. In 1958, the destroyer was loaned to the Federal Republic of , and renamed Zerstörer 1. She was returned to the United States custody and simultaneously struck from the Navy list in 1972 and sold to West Germany for cannibalization and scrapping. The ship was stricken in 1976. She was sunk by U-29 as a torpedo target in the Mediterranean on 16 May 1979.

4 Burt’s cardstock model of Zerstörer 1 is being built from a Wilhelmshaven Models Kit in 1:250 scale. He mentioned that this particular scale was used historically for recognition models. The model is now complete. Final operations included construction and installing the mast and guns. The guns elevate and rotate. He mentioned also that the torpedo launcher amidships has five tubes instead of the prototypical six. This allows the model to be constructed with a rotating launcher.

USS Constitution – Paul Payne On 31 October USS Philadelphia, under the command of William Bainbridge, ran aground off Tripoli while pursuing a Tripoline vessel. The crew was taken prisoner; Philadelphia was refloated by the Tripolines and brought into their harbor. To deprive the Tripolines of their prize, Preble planned to destroy Philadelphia using the captured ship Mastico, which was renamed Intrepid. Under the command of Stephen Decatur, Intrepid Tripoli Harbor on 16 February 1804 disguised as a merchant ship. Decatur’s crew quickly overpowered the Tripoline crew and set Philadelphia ablaze. Withdrawing the squadron to Syracuse, Sicily, Preble began planning for a summer attack on Tripoli, procuring a number of smaller that could move closer to Tripoli than was feasible for USS Constitution given her deep draft. Arriving the morning of 3 August, Constitution, Argus, Enterprise, Scourge, Syren, the six gunboats and two bomb ketches began operations. Twenty-two Tripoline gunboats met them in the harbor and, in a series of attacks in the coming month, Constitution and her squadron severely damaged or destroyed the Tripoline gunboats, taking their crews prisoner. Constitution primarily provided gunfire support, bombarding the shore batteries of Tripoli. Despite his losses, Karamanli remained firm in his demand for ransom and tribute. In a last attempt of the season against Tripoli, Preble outfitted Intrepid as a “floating volcano” with 100 short tons of gunpowder aboard. She was to sail into Tripoli harbor and blow up in the midst of the corsair fleet, close under the walls of the city. Under the command of Richard Somers, Intrepid made her way into the harbor on the evening of 3 September, but exploded prematurely, killing Somers and his entire crew of thirteen volunteers. USS Constellation and USS President arrived at Tripoli on the 9th with Samuel Barron in command; Preble was forced to relinquish his command of the squadron to Barron, who was senior in rank. Constitution was ordered to Malta on the 11th for repairs, and while on route captured two Greek vessels attempting to deliver wheat into Tripoli. One the 12th, a collision with President severely damaged Constitution’s bow, stern, and figurehead of Hercules. The collision was attributed to an “act of God”, in the form of a sudden change in wind direction.

5 Paul is continuing progress on his 1:96 scale scratch built model of USS Constitution, which is built in her launched configuration. The deadeyes have been installed on the channels using photo-etch straps. These turned out to be a pain and he does not plan to use this method again. In response to a question on the armament he said that the main deck guns were turned from aluminum and those on the spar deck were turned from box wood. In both cases he used a lathe with a duplicator. The ships boats are underway with three of the six needed in various stages of completion. These have been carved from solid pine down to a very thin hull and then the interior added.

6

Halifax – Don Dressel USS Swordfish – Dave Yotter USS Constitution – Paul Payne

Container ship Mary Arctica and Zerstörer 1 – Burt Goldstein

7

By Don Dressel

Old Salts in Port: John Bakker, Don Dressel, Steve Jones, Guy Bell, Don Leyman.

Ships in Port: Robert E. Lee, Washington Galley, HMS Pegasus.

It was a real nice day for a get together of the group to discuss all the upcoming events and things happening in the month of October. There are lots of things happening this coming month, including the NRG Conference in San Diego, which many of us are preparing for.

Robert E. Lee – Don Dressel

I was the first up and discussed the slight progress I had made on my Robert E. Lee. Since my main effort was to complete the Halifax, her masting and rigging, and the case to display her in, I had not done very much on the Robert E. Lee.

The third deck structure was assembled and mounted on the model but the bulkheads have yet to be planked and the doors and windows installed. This will be followed by the third deck being planked. The “middle section” shown in the photo is also covered over and planked as part of the third deck which will be installed when the bulkheads are completed first. Lots of planking and painting to do on this model which makes it easy for a modeler who does not to like to do too much rigging. Since the month of October will be so busy with other ship modeling events taking place, there probably will not be much more work done on the Robert E. Lee until after the October SMA meeting and the SMA club meeting auction that will take place.

HMS Pegasus – Don Leyman

Don has been doing a lot of work on the HMS Pegasus, one of the Swan group of ship models that he is working on. He will be on the “Swan Group” panel at the NRG Conference in San Diego and will represent a ship modeler who does not have a mill or a lathe as part of his

8 modeling tools, where the other members of the “Swan Group” panel will all have these tools. He discussed the process and making of the head rails for the model (see the photo of the drawing method he used to the left). This isometric procedure is probably the best and most accurate way of making the head rails. Don indicated that much of the information is included on page 216 of the book The Fully Framed Model, HMN Swan Class Sloops 1767‐ 1780 by David Antscherl. Don used a scraper (made from an old razor blade) to put the detail on the head rails. He is also working on the rudder and the installation of the gudgeons and pintals using a lot of the information supplied in the book The Naiad Frigate (38) 1797 by Edward J. Tosti, Volume II. This covers both the head work and the work on the rudders. The photo to the right shows the great progress Don is making on the model and the detail that can be accomplished without the use of many of the more expensive tools that many of us use.

Washington Galley – John Bakker

John briefly discussed the progress he is slowly making on the Washington Galley and the many problems he is running into while building the model. He is not entirely happy with the results, but will persevere and continue work on this project. He is contemplating planking the entire hull but it was suggested that he leave a few planks missing to show the detail of the frames he has installed. Techniques and methods were discussed. We will see the progress on this model next month, I am sure.

9 The ROPE Tokyo Honorary SMA Members – Part III

By Don Dressel

Mr. Tanaka’s Models

The continuation of this article on Mr. Tanaka’s models continues with a repeat of the two fine Sandbagger Sloop models, a basic repeat of last month’s comments but with the added point that John Simmons will be rewarded with another look at these models (John loves Sandbagger sloop models). We will then continue our “adventure” with the more details of Mr. Tanaka’s exceptional models and the continuing involvement in ship modeling activities.

Sandbagger Sloop

The next two models are definitely scratch built, as there is no “kit” of these models as far as I am aware. Here Mr. Tanaka shows two different aspects of the Sandbagger sloop in two different years, 1868 and 1880. The photos below show both models, which were displayed together. One is a yacht for pleasure use and the other is a work boat. I am sure you can tell the difference. The yacht is the one designated 1868, the work boat is 1880.

The sandbagger sloop is a type of sailboat made popular in the 19th century as a work vessel which also could be used as a pleasure craft. They are a descendant of shoal‐draft sloops used in oyster fishing in the shallow waters of New York Bay. The term “sandbagger” refers to the use of sandbags to shift the boat’s center of gravity in order to obtain the most power from the sails. In practice, the sandbags were actually filled with gravel in order to keep them from retaining excessive amounts of water. The vessels could be anywhere from 20’ to 30‘in length, but with a sail area disproportionate to their size. They were crewed by between 10 to 15 men.

Le Cygne

Cygne was an Abeille‐class 16‐gun brig of the French Navy, launched in 1806. On 10 November 1808, under Lieutenant Menouvrier Defresne, Cygne departed Cherbourg, part of a squadron

10 under Rear‐Admiral Hamelin also comprising the frigates Vénus, Junon, Amphirite and the brig Papillon, bound for Martinique. The next day, the ships of the squadron were scattered. On 13 November, Cygne captured the Portuguese ship Miliciano and set her ablaze.

Arriving near Martinique, Cynge was chased by the frigate HMS Circe (Augustin Collier), the corvette Stork (George Le Geyt), the brigs HMS Morne Fortunee (John Brown), Amaranthe (Pelham Brenton), Epervier (Thomas Tudor) and the schooner Express (William Dowers). On 12 December, Cygne passed the Northern cape of Martinique; seeing that he would be overhauled by the British squadron before reaching Saint‐Pierre, Menouvrier Defresne decided to drop anchor under a shore battery at Anse Céron.

Two of the British brigs then dropped anchor in positions that cut Cygne’s retreat to Saint‐Pierre, while the other ships launched boats to attempt a cutting out boarding. Cygne sank three before they reached her. Circe approached with her crew ready for boarding, but was repelled by a grapeshot broadside, while the surviving boats reached Cygne’s stern; the British party was repelled and 17 men were taken prisoner.

The next day, Cygne found herself becalmed; Defresne attempted to move his ship by having her hauled from the shore by infantrymen and by using her oars, and progressed towards Saint‐Pierre, under fire from Amaranthe. But due to a navigation error, Cygne ran aground and started taking water. As the other British ships closed within range, Defresne ordered Cygne abandoned and scuttled by fire. Defresne was offered a sword of honor by the city of Saint‐Pierre for his defense. As a token of esteem, Brenton gifted him a sword belt, and Lieutenant Hay, a dagger. The wreck was discovered in 1991 and was explored the next year. A 1:36 scale model of the ship is on display at the Musée National de la Marine in Paris. (Adapted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).

The beautiful scratch built model built by Mr. Tanaka I believe is based on the monographs and plans by J. Boudriot, part of the collection Archeology Naval Francaise. There are 19 plans and 88 pages in the “instruction booklet”. I believe these are still available from A.N.C.R.E. – check the internet.

Willie L. Bennett

The Willie L. Bennett model is based on a skipjack discovered at the bottom of Harris Creek, Maryland in 1954. The Skipjack is the last working sailboat to ply American waters. These vessels possessed a highly raked mast and a large amount of sail area, giving them the power necessary to haul the dredging

11 equipment used to collect oysters. The Skipjack evolved from traditional, generally flat‐bottomed bay crabbing skiffs, enlarged and given a V‐shaped wooden hull. Meeting the need for an easily and inexpensively‐constructed vessel, they often were built by house carpenters or by the waterman. There is a 56 page instruction book by Ben Lankford that gives a lot of detail with lots of photographs and drawings. Three sheets of plans are available which could allow you to build the real thing.

Mr. Tanaka’s model may have been built from a Model Shipways plank‐on‐frame kit or scratch built, I am not sure which. You can see the Japanese touch if you look closely at the model as the picture above indicates. Notice all the fishing gear.

Higaki Kaisen

Higaki Kaisen were a type of Edo period cargo ships which traveled regularly between Edo and Osaka, carrying cotton, oil, paper, and other basic goods. The name refers to the diamond shaped (hishi) pattern of lattices (gaki) on the side of the cargo ship (kaisen).

Mr. Tanaka exhibited his original scratch built model of Higakikaisen at 1:100 scale at the 33rd ROPE

Exhibition in 2008. He consulted the replica ship of Naniwamaru then on display at the Maritime Museum in Osaka for reference while construction his model. On the next page are a number of photos of the model of the Higaki Kaisen as built by Mr. Tanaka, which show some of the details of his progress while building, which he was kind enough to send to your editor while he was making the model. For me, it was very inspirational and, at the same time, educational to see the fine work that he was doing while building this model, which itself was very interesting, since I had no prior experience with this type of craft. At the time he was building it, I wished that there was an equivalent set of plans or a kit that I could purchase to build the model myself. As they say that pictures convey a thousand words, the following is self explanatory:

12

13

14

I hope I can be forgiven for all the photographs, but it is the best way of explaining the fine craftsmanship and the great effort it took to build this model from scratch. Mr. Tanaka then did a wonderful thing – he proposed to the Woody Joe kit manufacturing company to make a commercial kit of the Higakikaisen. He also made the kit distinctive and competitive by making a structure model to show the interior of the boat. Woody Joe then developed the kit at 1:72 scale by fully incorporating their laser cut technology. On the box, Mr. Tanaka’s name in shown as a collaborator. When several members of the SMA went to the ROPE in for their exhibition, several of us purchased the then new kit, which now is very popular. As I was one of the individuals from the SMA to purchase the kit, I first had to find a partner who could translate the plans and instructions, which were in Japanese. Fortunately, I had a good friend, who was a member of the SMA, Mr. Yasuhiko (Yas) Komorita, who translated all the instructions and plans for me, so that I would not make a mistake through not understanding the instructions. Also, the material supplied In the Woody Joe kit was first rate, with very fine materials and plenty of what was necessary. The Japanese cedar and other woods were a joy to work with. The wonderful “aroma” of the cedar wood made things very pleasant in

15 the workshop. The process of making the model was, to a westerner, very unique and interesting as well as a sort of challenge, as this type of vessel had never been constructed by me before. To put it simply, it was a lot of fun. Below is a picture of the original kit box. Also shown is a picture of the resulting model that was built by myself as she was first finished – in my workshop.

The final thoughts from Mr. Tanaka, president of the ROPE, are summarized as here. The purpose of the activities of The ROPE is: First, to exchange information and work hard together in a friendly manner, Second, to know and learn history, third, to mutually interchange knowledge and methods among the members, forth, to interchange with modeling friends both in Japan and abroad and fifth, to promote model ship construction in Japan. He believes that this makes life rich and exciting and I tend to agree completely with him.

I strongly recommend the wooden ship model kits and other wooden kits available from Woody Joe. I have built several of them with great satisfaction and hope to be able to build more. Some of the SMA members who participated in the excursions to Japan to visit the ROPE in the past have benefited in many ways and very much enjoyed the hospitality of the Japanese people.

The articles on members of the ROPE who are also honorary members of the SMA will continue, which I hope will inspire other members of the SMA to someday take a trip to visit the ROPE in Japan and be able to enjoy, in person, the fine ship mode exhibitions that the ROPE presents every year.

I want to thank Mr. Tanaka for taking the time to prepare and send me the information and the many photos that made this article possible.

16

SMA Auction month this year will be This MONTH

The SMA Officers decided that, since the NRG Conference this year is in the first part of October in San Diego, the SMA club auction will take place the third Wednesday of the month of October as was done in the past. Save all your ship modeling “stuff” and “stash” that you no longer require. There are usually lots of kits, tools and other related ship modeling items that go up for very GREAT prices at the Auction. A gentle reminder – you MUST be an SMA member to participate in the auction.

SMA Participation in the upcoming NRG Conference in San Diego

The members of the SMA participated in the NRG Conference in San Diego in October by showing their ship model or models in the Ship Model Exhibition along with other Southern California clubs. All SMA members who displayed their models are thanked very much for their efforts. There was no contest.

Treasurer’s Report

Larry Van Es reports that there is $4,513.26 in the SMA account for the end of August. Mike has become the advisor and helper for the new SMA Treasurer, Larry Van Es.

Web Manager’s Report

The Webmaster, Doug Tolbert, informed us that the SMA web site is back up and running fine. There will be additional details added to the web site as time goes by and members may wish to visit the web site occasionally to see what is new. The Planking demonstration given at the SMA meeting in January has been added to the web site.

San Diego Ship Modelers Guild

For those SMA members who may be interested, the San Diego Ship Modelers Guild now has their meetings on the BERKLEY on the second TUSEDAY of each month, instead of the second Wednesday. Your editor and reporter routinely attend the meeting which is usually very informative and enlightening.

Tony Devroude cast figure

There have been several requests about the Tony Devroude figure on my Halifax model. It is available from Tony Devroude for only $10.00 if you contact him and order the figure. He also does carvings and other figures if desired. Tony can be contacted at [email protected].

Computer for the SMA

There is a question to be answered by the members of the SMA – do we purchase a computer to show the presentations at the club meetings, making it simpler and more convenient to do so? You can respond to this inquiry by letting any of the club officers know your opinion. It is becoming extremely difficult to show presentations in a timely manner at this time.

17

Washington Galley – John Bakker

Donald C. Dressel 908 W. 22nd Street, Upland, CA. 91784-1229

Next meeting Wednesday, October 19, 7:30 PM, Hillcrest Park Red Cross Building

18