The Ship Model Forum

Thanks Tom. I have enough, I think. My plan is to eventually build all the ships he was on.

Chris, I have a fair amount of research materials on the S-class. Happy to pass it along if it will help you.

About to start the Yankee Modelworks S class kindly donated to me by another modeler. I'm building her as S-41, which was my grandfather's first command.

[url]https://uboat.net/allies/commanders/3563.html[/url]

I'm going to build her on her fourth war patrol, which my grandfather was awarded the Navy Cross for.

From Wiki.
"Fourth war patrol, July 1942

On 22 July, she headed out of Moreton Bay, returned for emergency repairs; and, on 7 August, got underway for the New Britain-New Ireland area. She fired on several enemy ships, including a submarine with probable damage, and her patrol was noted for its "absence of serious material failures" — an achievement unique in boats of her class at that time.

Moving to the Guadalcanal area later in the patrol, S-41 was operating 5 nautical miles (9.3 km; 5.8 mi) from Savo Island when a ship moving at high speed — which her commanding officer identified as a possible cruiser — passed her in the predawn darkness of 24 August 1942 after she submerged and three depth charges exploded close enough to her to shatter light bulbs. On 25 August in the same general area, she observed a destroyer passing her and heard eight depth charges explode no closer than 400 yards (370 m) from her. As the night wore on, a destroyer began searching for her with active sonar, so she cleared the area. On the evening of 25 August. she received a message ordering her to return to her patrol station, a surprise to her commanding officer, who wondered how his superiors could have known she was off station. Her crew then discovered that S-41 had missed an earlier message ordering her to a new station, leading her commanding officer to wonder if S-41 had been the subject of friendly fire attacks by Allied ships who had not expected a U.S. submarine at S-41′s location on 24–25 August 1942.[1]"

[quote="MartinJQuinn"]looks like there's a pair of numbers, either "6" or "9" on the deck of the Bass in this picture. Anyone know what those are for?[/quote]

Could that image not be 1935? We see her in Drydock in August of 1940 still with the large "B-2" marking on her sail and in September she was reactivated and assigned to Submarine Division 9, so maybe this image is late 1940? She operated in the Alantic, so maybe some form of aerial recognition to show she wasn't a U-boat? Could be totally off, but a guess :huh:

Matt

Found the answer to my first question over on [url=http://www.navsource.org/archives/08/08492.htm][b][u]Navsource[/u][/b][/url].

"[i]As a result of these trials the US Navy concluded that a simple overall light gray hull and black decks provided as good visual protection as any other method. Consequently, U S submarines were painted overall light gray with black paint on the decks and on the outer surface of the ballast tanks[/i]". - Aryeh Wetherhorn.

Two questions.

First - is the lighter color on these S-class subs standard grey? What color is the lower hull?
[attachment=1]0814312 SS-36.jpg[/attachment]
Second - looks like there's a pair of numbers, either "6" or "9" on the deck of the [i]Bass [/i]in this picture. Anyone know what those are for?
[attachment=0]0816401ussbass.jpg[/attachment]

[quote="Tom Dougherty"]All of your S-boat photos, modifications, etc. are all in one place. Right here: [url]http://pigboats.com/subs/s-boats.html[/url]

Just insert the boat you are looking for, and hit “find a boat” on the page. Best S-boat information source available.[/quote]
Thanks, Tom.
Between this, the war patrol report, and Friedman's US Subs Through 1945, it appears S-41 didn't receive her modernization refit until after her 4th War patrol, which is perfect, since that's when I want to portray her, so as far as I can tell, the YKM S boat should be good OOB.

All of your S-boat photos, modifications, etc. are all in one place. Right here: [url]http://pigboats.com/subs/s-boats.html[/url]

Just insert the boat you are looking for, and hit “find a boat” on the page. Best S-boat information source available.

Egilman shared [url=https://www.dropbox.com/sh/4cn7x3t0pgpm7tu/AAC_zqxuHNlo4bGejQEosdBMa?dl=0]heaps of BOGPs[/url] incl. one of S-21 from Oct 1941 if that helps. Not exactly what you´re after but a great help anyway.

I spent quite some time on finding resources for my S-44 build in the same timeframe but I had to widen it to the whole Group III (S-42 through S-47) and still there were number of uncertain spots left...

Good luck :thumbs_up_1:

Does anyone have pics or drawings of S-41 in or around August of 1942?

[quote="Tom Dougherty"]Just curious, what are you modifying? The conning tower fairwater? There was a very slight difference in lengths between the classes, not enough to worry about at 1/350 scale.[/quote]
Slight mods to the fairwater, new periscope shears, filling in all the limber holes.

Just curious, what are you modifying? The conning tower fairwater? There was a very slight difference in lengths between the classes, not enough to worry about at 1/350 scale.

BRM Sargo just arrived. Such a beautiful kit, it's almost a shame to have to modify it.

[quote="maccrage"]Does anyone make a 1/350 Salmon? I'd like to build her. My grandfather was XO from 1938-1942.[/quote]
In my effort to model the ships my grandfather was on in 1/350, I ordered the Blue Ridge Models Sargo. They were close enough for me.

This is more specifically what I am after - photos show clear differences between the pre-war fit of the bridge and the one in Feb 43 (i.e. after installation of the SG radar but before the wartime refit of the bridge):
- railings around the front part
- antennae supports relocated (and dual antenna changed to a single lead on each side)
- railings around the periscope part
- signal light/searchlight
The fact is that S-44 underwent a major overhaul at the beginning of 1942, so some of the visible changes might have appeared before SG installation.

Also a photo of the inside of the open navigation bridge would be nice (any of the class).
Thanks!

Hi Jacob, thank you. I know this photo but I guess you noticed the SG radar on this 1943 shot. I am quite certain she did not have it in August 42 which is my target time frame. I also believe her antenna arrangement was likely changed while the SG was installed. Other than than her bridge corresponds to prewar photos.

[quote="Vladi"]Hello everyone! Would anyone have any 1942 photo of USS S-44 (SS-155) or any of her batch of the S-class (i.e. S-42 to S-47) showing side-view of the tower/bridge?
Please no pre-1941 and no later (1943 onwards) photos.
Thank you so much![/quote]

What is the motivation behind this specific time range? Are you modeling the S-44 before she had a gun platform added to her bridge fairwater? If so, this photo from February 1943 is probably the best view, as I believe she looks the same here as she did in 1942:

[url]http://navsource.org/archives/08/sboats/0815522.jpg[/url]

Jacob

Hello everyone! Would anyone have any 1942 photo of USS S-44 (SS-155) or any of her batch of the S-class (i.e. S-42 to S-47) showing side-view of the tower/bridge?
Please no pre-1941 and no later (1943 onwards) photos.
Thank you so much!

Does anyone make a 1/350 Salmon? I'd like to build her. My grandfather was XO from 1938-1942.

Sorry to bump an old thread but figured it best to consolidate questions about SARGO's sonar fit here. I came across [url=http://navsource.org/archives/08/183/0818815.jpg]this photo[/url] on Navsource of SARGO today - this is a great photo and very helpful for working out underwater details. Of particular interest is the fairing in the lower hull just aft of (what I presume to be) Kingston valves for the no.1 main ballast tank. Does anyone have any idea what this fairing is for? I've seen retractable QB/JK sonar domes in this same position, so wondering if it's related. It looks similar to the fairings on some of the FLETCHER DDs that housed a sounding device (depthfinder) too.

[attachment=0]fairing.png[/attachment] here's the area of the photo in question. Any assistance would be appreciated. Thx!