Shipbucket

This is PRINCETON (CVL-23) in October 1944 as lost at the Battle of Leyte Gulf. She is camouflaged in Measure 32/7A. This scheme used a pattern of Light Gray (5-L), Ocean Gray (5-O), Dull Black (BK), and White (5-U) on the vertical surfaces, with Deck Blue (20-B) on the horizontal surfaces. The flight deck was stained with the early formula of #21 Flight Deck Stain, which was almost identical to Ocean Gray when new and unweathered. Flight deck markings are in white. Interestingly, no photos of PRINCETON indicate the presence of the ship's hull number in large numerals on the flight deck.

PRINCETON was lost with only a few wartime modifications from her "as built" appearance. The ship retains its full 20mm Oerlikon fit, with mounts below the overhanging ends of the flight deck fore and aft. Only one catapult has been fitted (late-war mods would add a second catapult, offsetting the additional weight by removing the aforementioned Oerlikon mounts fore and aft). The ship shows the standard radar fit for the CVLs as commissioned: SK air search on a sponsoned mast between the funnels, with a backup SC-2 air search antenna on the tower above the island, and an SG surface search set on a small platform at the masthead. The main top mounts a YE homing beacon. The small cylindrical objects fore and aft of the island structure are high-power reproducers - large loudspeakers to allow flight deck crews to hear commands from the bridge over the roar of aircraft engines. A series of folding antenna masts on the port side of the flight deck carry long radio wire antennas for the TBM, TDE, TBK, and TAQ radios - these would be folded down 45 degrees outboard during flight operations.

Embarked aboard PRINCETON in late 1944 was Air Group 27 (CVLG 27), made up of Fighter Squadron 27 (VF-27) and Torpedo Squadron 27 (VT-27). VF-27 was notable for the "shark mouth" nose art of its F6F Hellcats, a scheme not usually in the US Navy. VF-27's aircraft complement was eighteen F6F-3 and seven F6F-5 Hellcats, while VT-27 was built around nine TBM-1C Avenger torpedo bombers. The aircraft show a mix of the mid-war "tricolor" scheme and the later overall Glossy Sea Blue.

PRINCETON was lost in this configuration at the Battle of Leyte Gulf, when a bomb hit ignited a fire below deck that was unable to be extinguished. With the carrier burning fiercely, several escorting ships came alongside to assist in firefighting, but a secondary explosion several hours later doomed the ship. The light cruiser BIRMINGHAM (CL-62) took heavy casualties to its firefighting crews during the second explosion, losing 233 killed and 426 wounded. Efforts to save the PRINCETON were abandoned shortly thereafter, with the destroyer IRWIN (DD-794) and the cruiser RENO (CL-96) both firing torpedoes into PRINCETON to scuttle the ship. Despite the intensity of the fires aboard PRINCETON, casualties aboard the ship were considered "light", with only 108 killed in action. 1,361 crewmen were rescued by nearby vessels.

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USN components, camouflage colors, & reference links (World War II only)

A delight to look at, like all your other works.

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My Worklist
Sources and documentations are the most welcome.

-Koko Kyouwakoku (Republic of Koko)
-Koko's carrier-based aircrafts of WWII
-Koko Kaiun Yuso Kaisha - KoKaYu Line (Koko AU spinoff)
-Koko - Civil Aviation

It took you so long. I figured you might could use some milk against the hottness of this eye burning beauty?

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Fryssian AU with Lt.Maverick 114
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=9802&p=193331#p193331

Embarked on: HNLMS Karel Doorman A833
To do list:
-Zeven Provincien class cruiser
-Joint support ship all sides
-F124 Sachsen class frigate
-F125 Baden-Württemberg class frigate
-Clemencau class aircraft carrier
-Zeven provincien class frigate
-Poolster class AOR
-Amsterdam class AOR
-Minas Gerais aircraft carrier

Beautiful work!

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MS State Guard - 08 March 2014 - 28 January 2023

The Official IJN Ships & Planes List

#FJB

Can only add the usual superlatives for this drawing, looks superb and we all know this has been meticulously researched.

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Hood's Worklist
English Electric Canberra FD
Interwar RN Capital Ships
Super-Darings
Never-Were British Aircraft

Fantastic work.

Great work!

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Worklist:
- Victorian Navy - LINK
- ROC/Taiwan - 中華民國空軍 / 陸軍航特部 / 海軍航空兵 - LINK
- RHKAAF / HKGFS - 皇家香港輔助空軍 / 政府飛行服務隊
- Gunbucket - LINK

天滅中共全黨死清光!

Gorgeous work Ian,
Hopefully to see severals others ships-versions

The sort of masterwork I've come to expect. As usual, I've learned a lot from the accompanying text.

At this scale, as far as I'm concerned it's a perfect drawing. There's nothing to add, and nothing to remove.

This is nothing short of spectacular! What an incredible effort. Well done, Ian. I can see the painstaking research that has gone into this...

I love the plan view, especially how you have included the yielding elements in the arresting set up. Also, the detailing of the catwalks catches the eye. What is the gold lining on the 40mm shields in the plan view? Stored ammo?

You've done the ship and her crew proud. I'll need to update my drawings accordingly.

The only remarks I have to make are the absence of deck landing lights (perhaps) and the way the squadrons are labeled looks a bit untidy.