Reviewed by Timothy Dike
| The USS Artemis (AKA-21) was laid down
under a Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 1882) on 23 November at Providence,
R.I., by the Walsh-Kaiser Co., Inc. She was the class leader for
She was acquired by the Navy from the Maritime Commission on 28 August 1944 and placed in service that day. After fitting out and shakedown she immediately sailed for the Pearl Harbor in the Pacific. She took part in the landings at Iwo Jima and supported the operations in the Philippines. She carried occupation troops to Japan and brought troops home. She later was assigned to Joint Task Force 1 to support Operation "Crossroads, tests conducted at Bikini Atoll to learn of the effects of atomic bomb explosions upon warships. She was transferred to the Maritime Administration on 1 April 1948 and was laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet in the James River. She was later sold during the 1960's to the Union Minerals & Alloys Corp., of New York City, and was subsequently scrapped. |
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SPECIFICATIONS:
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| HULL | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Yet another Amphibious support ship from Loose Cannon is this long awaited Artemis Class Attack cargo ship. Hugh Letterly has been busy mastering all kinds of unique ships. This one faithfully captures the look and feel of this late war AKA. The hull is pretty well cast with only a few areas needing attention. There is a bit of flash along the waterline and some along the some of the deck. All of it is easy to fix with a sharp knife and a little scraping. Much of the deck machinery is cast onto the hull. |
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| SUPERSTRUCTURE AND DETAILS | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The superstructure parts are cast on a thin resin wafer.
Excess resin is minimal and cleanup is easy by flat sanding. The various
fittings are cast on resin sprues and have a bit of light flash to deal
with.
Included are several landing craft to be loaded aboard or waiting alongside. |
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| PHOTO ETCH | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| There are two photo etch frets included. One for the masts
and railings, as well as the side frames for the superstructure. One of
the nicest additions is the nets that are designed to be hung over the
sides for the troops to climb down into their boats. I might add that the
troops are also included in climbing positions with complete with backpacks
and gear.
A second fret contains some of the weapons mounts including some tripod framed 20 mm mounts. |
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| INSTRUCTIONS | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The instructions are several pages of historical text and
drawings showing some of the ships assembly. These are better than previous
instruction sheets but still fall short of showing where everything goes.
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| ADDITIONAL REFERENCE | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CONCLUSIONS | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 This
is kit #46 USS Artemis retailing for $60.00. A pretty good price for this
unique ship. Just what you need to handle those cargo loads to keep get
your troops ashore. |
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