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USS Merrill DD-976

"Carl Musselman shares one of his latest builds, Spruance Class destroyer USS Merrill (DD-976), in this MSW "On Display" feature!"

The vessel...

USS Merrill (DD-976), named for Rear Admiral Aaron Stanton Merrill USN (1890–1961), was a Spruance-class destroyer laid down 16 June 1975 by the Ingalls Shipbuilding Division of Litton Industries at Pascagoula, Mississippi.She was launched 1 September 1976 and commissioned 11 March 1978.

Namesake: Aaron Stanton Merrill
Ordered: 26 January 1972
Builder: Ingalls Shipbuilding
Laid down: 16 June 1975
Launched: 1 September 1976
Acquired: January 30 1978
Commissioned: 11 March 1978
Decommissioned: 26 March 1998
Struck: 26 March 1998
Fate: Sunk as target NE of Hawaii in 2003

General characteristics
Class and type: Spruance-class destroyer
Displacement: 8,040 (long) tons full load
Length: 529 ft (161 m) waterline; 563 ft (172 m) overall
Beam: 55 ft (16.8 m)
Draft: 29 ft (8.8 m)
Propulsion: 4 × General Electric LM2500 gas turbines, 2 shafts, 80,000 shp (60 MW)
Speed: 32.5 knots (60 km/h)
Range: 6,000 nautical miles (11,000 km) at 20 knots (37 km/h)
3,300 nautical miles (6000 km) at 30 knots (56 km/h)
Complement: 19 officers, 315 enlisted

Sensors and processing systems:
AN/SPS-40 air search radar
AN/SPG-60 fire control radar
AN/SPS-55 surface search radar
AN/SPQ-9 gun fire control radar
Mk 23 TAS automatic detection and tracking radar
AN/SPS-65 Missile fire control radar
AN/SQS-53 bow mounted Active sonar
AN/SQR-19 TACTAS towed arrayPassive sonar

Electronic warfare and decoys:
• AN/SLQ-32 Electronic Warfare System
• AN/SLQ-25 Nixie Torpedo Countermeasures
• Mark 36 SRBOC Decoy Launching System
• AN/SLQ-49 Inflatable Decoys

Armament: 2 x 5 in (127 mm) 54 calibre Mark 45 dual purpose guns
2 x 20 mm Phalanx CIWS Mark 15 guns
1 x 8 cell ASROC launcher (removed)
1 x 8 cell NATO Sea Sparrow Mark 29 missile launcher
2 x quadruple Harpoon missile canisters
2 x Mark 32 triple 12.75 in (324 mm) torpedo tubes (Mk 46 torpedoes)
2 x quadruple ABL Mark 43 Tomahawk missile launchers

Aircraft carried: 2 x Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk LAMPS III helicopters.
Motto: Spirit of '76

From Wiki

the model...

Base kit-1/700 scale, USS Merrill DD-976 by Skywave.

I had trouble with the fit between the helo pad and the hangar section. The port side of the hangar, down to the main deck, is anatomically incorrect. Since Skywave uses the same hull for the Aegis CGs and the Spruance DDs, the Spruance hangar doesn't come out right on the port side.

The Aegis CGs' hangars come down flush with the hull in this area so it assembles easily enough on those ships. I had to add some strip styrene to the helo pad piece just inside the hangar along the starboard hangar wall, otherwise there was a hole running along the inside starboard wall. The instructions show a walkway along the port side of the hangar above the main deck, but I've seen no Spruances with this feature.

Unless I missed something in how these pieces were to be assembled, in my opinion the Skywave Spruance kit is terribly flawed around the hangar area.

I add the four antennas amidships along with their associated red colored safety railings, and a whip antenna behind the forward stack, along with PE inclined ladders in various places. I added whip antennas port and starboard on the aft missile deck and mounted them in the folded-down position, as well as the antennas on the stern, to depict their positions for helo operations.

The cylindrical deck protrusion on the port side missile deck was cut off and replaced with styrene tubing and located farther aft along with a similar protrusion on the starboard side.

I added some fire hose racks and life rings in various places as well as life raft canisters from a Skywave Modern Equipment Set to the starboard side. I used brass rod for stanchions under the helo pad overhangs and the small boat decks. The water tight doors on the forward bulkhead on the fantail were all wrong for any Spruance, so I scraped them off and add PE doors and fire hose racks.

The SH-3 Sea King helo is from the Skywave Modern Equipment Set and I replaced the kit's CIWS with those from JAG. The warning circles are from JAG as well. Most of the PE railings are from GMM's Modern USN PE set.

Carl Musselman