Shipbucket

Ah, oops - linking those originally from Discord. Fixed.

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

Updating an old favorite:



This is HELENA (CL-50) as lost at the Battle of Kula Gulf on 6 July 1943. HELENA is camouflaged in the overall Navy Blue (5-N) of Measure 21.

CL-50 shows a typical mid-war electronics fit for a USN cruiser, with Mark 4 "FD" radars on the ship's Mark 33 directors, and Mark 3 Mod.1 "FC" antennas on the Mark 34 directors. HELENA's foremast mounts an SC air search antenna and an SG surface search radar below it. Waveguide losses with the early SG installations meant that they had to be placed close to the radar plot room, hence the SG's less than advantageous position. Once these issues were solved, the radar antenna could be relocated to the top mast as on almost all later combatants.

Two Curtiss SOC-3 Seagull floatplanes of Cruiser Scouting Squadron NINE (VCS-9) are spotted on the stern catapults. These aircraft are camouflaged in the early wartime two-tone scheme of NS Blue Gray on the wings and upper fuselage with NS Light Gray on the undersides.

HELENA was lost in this configuration after the ship was hit by three Japanese torpedoes during the Battle of Kula Gulf, with 186 men killed in action.

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

Awesome job, as always, Colo!

Additional info: The main portion of HELENA's wreck was located on 11 April 2018 by the research vessel PETREL. She sits upright in 2,820 feet of water, with her hull number '50' still visible on her stern.

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MS State Guard - 08 March 2014 - 28 January 2023

The Official IJN Ships & Planes List

#FJB

Perfecting Perfection.

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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

I surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.

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I wish I had the time, skill, and patience to craft drawings like this. You regularly set a new standard.

Two thoughts:

• It's sort of odd to me that the 20mm tubs abeam the pilothouse and the after superfiring turret (64?) have no cutout for easy crew access, as do the tubs amidships. If this reflects the real installations, do you know the reason for this difference?
• The "box of crayons" for the flag bags in the top view gave me a good chuckle.

Thx all!
The tubs abeam the pilothouse and turret 64 are elevated positions a few feet above the main deck -- the amidships gun positions are at deck level. This is where the small scale becomes difficult, as bulwarks/splinter shielding for the elevated tubs blends in with the raised platform when seen from above...

edit: I've updated the tubs abeam the PH to make this a little more obvious.

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

Ah, that makes sense. I noticed that they're elevated, but I didn't consider that the line instead represented the elevated deck on which the gunner stood.

I don't think it detracted from the drawing, it was just a question for my own edification. I do like the clarification on the pilothouse tubs, even if there technically weren't little 6x6" blocks of steel on either side of the cutout