The Ship Model Forum

Yeah that's why I'm asking I'd be inclined to trust them but it is just one source that may be out of date, was hoping for some more evidence.

And as a follow-up, what was her appearance like in 1941 as compared to the more well known look for the major 1942 battles? Bird bath and no 20mm yet?

Hi Vlad,
USS New Orleans was wearing MS-1 camouflage during the 2nd half of 1941. She was still wearing MS-1 on December 7th, 1941. She was in the Navy Yard for an overhaul which included installation of wiring and the foundation for an SC radar on top of her forward mast.



Here is a cropped pic of her on 12/7/41. Note that you can see that both her forward mast and main mast are painted 5-L (light gray).


This is an overhead shot a few days later. Note that there are no turret top markings on her and her teak decks are still unpainted.


Whether or not she was painted into MS-11 prior to leaving Pearl on 12/23 is anyone's guess at this point.

Hope this helps!

Thanks, Jeff, for the Ms-1 evidence.

It´s the usual problem of distinguishing Ms-11 (5-S) from Ms-21 (5-N) if there´s no written evidence. Check how light she appears on the in-refit photos from February 1942 shared by Rick on page 33 of this thread, but that all can be just the lighting conditions, photo material etc. etc.

_________________
Battle of Savo Island Collection (all 1/700)
Recently completed: USS Wilson DD-408
At works: USS Astoria CA-34 | USS Patterson DD-392 & USS Bagley DD-386 | HMAS Australia
Prep stage: USS Vincennes CA-44 | Yubari | Kako

Indeed, thank you very much Jeff!

And yes, that was going to be my next line of inquiry. Was she painted in Ms.11 in Feb 1942 and repainted into Ms.21 later, or Ms.21 immediately?

There's also the famous colour photo of Minneapolis and Astoria side by side, where in my opinion Astoria looks notably darker, but that's not enough evidence that Minnie (or any other class member) was still in Ms.11 while Astoria was already in Ms.21.

Totally off topic, what battleship do those turrets belong to?

_________________
Martin

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." John Wayne

Ship Model Gallery

West Virginia

what time period?

June 1942

Cruiser in the first photo is CA-36. Second is CA-38. Third photo is CA-36 then CA-32 and CA-38 behind. Next cluster is CA-35 and CA-68.

Hello gentlemen, would anybode have either a drawing or more good photos showing detail of the 12ft main battery rangefinder used on the NO class cruisers?

_________________
Battle of Savo Island Collection (all 1/700)
Recently completed: USS Wilson DD-408
At works: USS Astoria CA-34 | USS Patterson DD-392 & USS Bagley DD-386 | HMAS Australia
Prep stage: USS Vincennes CA-44 | Yubari | Kako

Hey all. I'm currently planning on what to buy for my 1.700 Astoria and New Orleans from Trumpeter, and one of the things on the list are the cranes. Now I've noticed through this forum, specifically page 33 and images on Navsource (Astoria here) that the boat/plane cranes have backs that could be open. As these images are 1942, does anyone have a time table or series of pictures that document whether these were open or closed with blanks through 1942?

Hello Koto, quick check of my photo collection shows Astoria always with crane backs closed with metal sheets in 1942. New Orleans photos during her Feb 42 docking at MINY show them open but e.g. July 8th photo 80-G-10115 shows them blanked. My guess is they kept them closed while on sea to prevent spray and rain outside of the machinery. Style and material of the covers differed depending on the ship and timeframe.

Hi-res photos can be found on the NHHC website.

_________________
Battle of Savo Island Collection (all 1/700)
Recently completed: USS Wilson DD-408
At works: USS Astoria CA-34 | USS Patterson DD-392 & USS Bagley DD-386 | HMAS Australia
Prep stage: USS Vincennes CA-44 | Yubari | Kako

Thank you. Looks like I'll give Astoria the closed backs and NO the open backs.