Calling all King George V (WW1) Fans

[DougKn]

This thread is for the King George V class battleships that served in World War I. The class included the lead ship HMS King George V, along with sisters Ajax, Centurion, Audacious.

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Hi, All
I'm trying to model a KGV (WW1) into a CENTURION /ANSON as she spent a good deal of time during WW2. I've only been able to located a few fuzzy pictures, but am trying to find better details as to thr "conversion", such as the bridge, a/c hanger and port side camo. CENTURION/ANSON actually had an interesting career, intended to be a "blockship" in Tripoli, but ended up with a longer career.

AVAILABLE KITS:
1/700
Combrig King George V
Combrig Ajax
Combrig Centurion
Combrig Audacious

GALLERY ENTRIES:
1/700
Peter Fulgoney's Combrig Audacious: http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... /index.htm

REVIEWS:
Combrig 1/700 Ajax

[DougKn]

This is the CENTURION /ANSON, armed with "quaker" cannons and painted secondary's. She went to Gibraltar, rounded the horn to come back to Alexandria, where her original mission was cancelled. CENTURION/ ANSON actually escorted a convoy, but was called back when it was rumoured that the Italian fleet had sailed (pom-poms vs whatever the Italians could bring was not a healthy deal). Adm Sommerville decided that she was to much a "bomb magnet" in harbor (GEORGIC was bombed and beached for being too close in proximity), so she was sent to the Indian Ocean, and lost "A Turret" in a storm. She returned to Bombay, and spread rumours that she lost her turret in a fight with a raider.

Anyway, in the end, she fulfilled her original mission, leading a column of ships to form a breaker off Normandy. The Germans thought they had sunk a major ship with heavy loss of life when only the seventy sailors aboard abandoned ship.

[tjstoneman]

I don't think she ever carried a real hangar. The fake hangar appears to be a rectangular box.

There is a fairly poor quality image of the ship's port side at https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C237948. Another starboard side photo is at http://www.navyphotos.co.uk/Battleships ... ntrn1b.jpg.

Some photos of the ship after being scuttled, which may help, can be found at http://omaha-vierville.com/WebOmahaVier ... uerre.html and http://redirect.viglink.com/?format=go& ... %220%22%3E,

[DougKn]

Thanks, TJ, most helpful. The two sides look similar, as it was meant to deceive, not hide, I guess. The one that blows up well was helpful in better detailing. I guess there is not too many pictures around, as that would be defeating the process. All the added structures were made of wood & canvas, which is why "A turret" floated off in a storm. She did carry some real AAA, though

It looks like she was stripped back for Normandy, (as who would want floating turrets in the landing area)

Cheers

[Dan Banks]

This has perked my interest, and I�ve been re-reading �The Phantom Fleet� by A.Cecil Hampshire, which tells the story of Centurion/Anson. I wanted to try a model in 1/350 scale, and bought the ISW Orion, which is a member of the previous class, but similar enough to suffice. Also bought a 1/400 Heller KGV. The turrets and funnels can be used on the Orion to make a pretty close approximation of the dummy Anson. Have collected pictures and descriptions of the ship, but can�t quite get my head around some of the details, especially as viewed from above. We�re all the disguise structures strictly for the side view, or did they include fake decks as well? I�ve seen some pictures of how the Germans handled this on disguised merchant cruisers, but didn�t know if this applied here.