Subject: Re: ABL DD's Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 22:05:04 -0500 From: "Hughes Family" To: "Cadman" Tim, Don't just cut and paste this please, I have added some comments here and there about my beautiful almost completed then ruined Spruance - I was thinking of painting the whole thing white and making it a Coast Guard Cutter???? Of course if I added anymore paint to the railing they will be solid railing. Another modeler told me I should just leave some of the white residue and say it is salt residue - sort of that natural look. Ugh Ok here goes: There where only 7 Spruance Class Destroyers fitted with two 4 cell armor box launchers (ABL) for the Tomahawk cruise-missile. More ships had been anticipated to receive ABL's but the reactivated Iowa Class battleships took precedence in receiving the launchers. The remainder of the Spruance Class was then scheduled to receive the higher capacity vertical launch system. The test ship for the ABL was the USS Merrill (DD 976) in 1979. The Spruance Class was the largest post-WWII US destroyer program with 31 units constructed. The Spruance hull also is used on the Ticonderoga Class Guided Missile Cruisers and the Kidd Class DDG. The Spruances where the first US warship to use the gas turbine as a source of propulsion. It can reach top speed in 53 seconds from 12 knots. They where designed to hunt submarines during the cold war and as such incorporated numerous silencing innovations that where utilized for future USN warships. The Spruance Class has always been criticized as not enough weapons for there displacement. The addition of the ABL's and the Mk. 61 vertical launch system changed the role of the Spruance Class by enabling it to participate in forward strikes instead of providing just area ASW protection and intelligence gathering. The Skywave/Dragon kit depicts the class before the aft hangers where enlarged. The enlargement enabled the class to carry two SH-60B Seahawks. Originally the class carried either two SH-2F Seasprite or one Sea King, occasionally the class has carried Marine CH-46 for commando raids and AH-1W SeaCobras for support. The class is a very stable helicopter platform due to the location of the helicopter pad. In the early 1990's the ASROC launchers where removed from most all of the class as was the Tomahawks from the ABL even though the ABL's remained on the ships. The following ships are the ones that received the ABL's DD 974 Comte De Grasse DD 976 Merrill DD 979 Conolly DD 983 John Rodgers DD 984 Leftwich DD 989 Deyo DD 990 Ingersoll DD 986 Harry W. Hill is the only ship of the class not to receive either the ABL or the Mk. 41 VLS. The decals provided really only can be used for the USS Conolly, DD 979. DD 980, 981, & 983 can only be used if you choose to leave the ABL off and depict the ship before the VLS was installed. The hull has some sink marks that will need fixing. The fit of the superstructure is not the best but not hard to correct with a good file and some of your favorite putty. The instructions are very easy to follow, I had no trouble - I just can't paint. Flagship Models makes a PE set dedicated to this class. If fits very nicely, doesn't look very good white on the ship or with 5 layers of paint. GMM has a generic kit that includes items specific for this kit. I don't exactly remember how close it scales out but I do remember it was very close. This kit can also be used to build the Kidd Class DDG's with lots of scratch building. The Standard missile launchers are supplied as the sprue with the hull is the same as in the Ticonderoga Class kit. References; The Naval Institutes Guide to Combat Fleets of the World 1995, compiled by A.D. Baker III Naval Institute Press: Electronic Greyhounds, The Spruance-Class Destroyers, Capt. Michael C. Potter Hope this helps, I don't have much time tonight but if you want I can arrange or rearrange the words into more of a review than what pops into my head. Let me know. I used to have a great link on the web for Spruances that was put up by the author of the Electronic Greyhounds, it is no longer around. He is a member of SMML I'll email him tomorrow and ask him what happened to the site it was great. Jeff ----- Original Message ----- From: "Cadman" To: Sent: Sunday, February 24, 2002 9:48 PM Subject: ABL DD's > Hi Jeff, > > I will be running your review in the March issue. I would also like to > run a review on a Dragon USS Conolly DD, but I can't find much info on > the ABL Destroyers. I've only found a few pictures with the Cruise > Missile launchers on the front. Do you have any info on these DD's? > > Here's the link to the draft review in progress: > http://modelwarships.com/reviews/ships/dd/dd-979/conolly.html > > Please take a look and comment if you can add anything to it. I'm just > drawing a big blank. > > TIA > -- > Timothy Dike > Webmaster and Editor > ModelWarships.com > > http://www.modelwarships.com/index1.html >