WOW! This one came out of leftfield. I might have expected the Indianapolis, but not this one. However it is most welcome news

New Orleans Class:

Displacement: 9375-9973 tons (normal) / 12,411 tons (full load)
Length: 588'2"
Beam: 61'9"-61'10"
Draft: 24'4"
Speed: 32.5 knots
Armament: 3x3 8"/55, 8x1 5"/25, 8x1 .50-caliber MG; 3 planes
Complement: 1042-1121
Propulsion: Steam turbines, 8 boilers, 4 shafts, 107,000 hp



CA-34 Astoria 28 Apr 1934 9 Aug 1942; torpedo & gunfire at Battle of Savo Island
CA-36 Minneapolis 19 May 1934
CA-32 New Orleans 15 Feb 1934
CA-39 Quincy 9 Jun 1936 9 Aug 1942; torpedo & gunfire at Battle of Savo Island
CA-38 San Francisco 10 Feb 1934
CA-37 Tuscaloosa 17 Aug 1934
CA-44 Vincennes 24 Feb 1937 9 Aug 1942; torpedo & gunfire at Battle of Savo Island

Start of the forgotten sisters??????

oh-oh I didn't see earlier that Tuscaloosa was in this class. Might have to forego San Francisco for the T-town (this is home for U of Alabama) so she can sit next to the Bama

And for the more obscure, there is the Seal Models 1/700 double kit of the 2nd class protected cruisers Hashidate and Itsukushima. They saw service in the First Sino-Japanese War and were part of the 3rd Reserve Fleet during the Russo-Japanese War.

Be nice to see the German heavies and light cruisers.

Cruisers Rule!

Got to agree with ya, Halfyank. Cruisers did it all. I just wish someone would put out a kit of the USS Alaska or Guam in 1/350.

Do you recall from the History CHannel discussion boards a comment made by Henkster on the US CB's? It was several years ago and I don't suppose you do, it just stuck in my head.

His comment went something like. "Many navies built ships out of necessity. The US built the Alaska's just because we could."

Best looking cruiser I've ever seen.

Also kind of partial to the USS Worcester. And the Atlanta's. Then there's the Brooklyns, Cleveland's......

Steve

Its good to see some old threads never die.

I agree that Curisers are a very good all around ship. Thy can bring heavy hitting into battle, run down a sub, or knock down aircraft. They aren't called the greyhounds of the fleet for nothing.

The German heavies were some nice ships, as were the Alaska class.

I hope all of you guys are going to be building a cruiser for the up coming cruiser campaign.

Uh, Jim...I thought destroyers were called Greyhounds of the fleet?

Answers are found here...

Well, sometimes a person can get things so wrong they just don't where they went wrong. I knew that becasue a competing DERSON's was the Greyhounds of the Fleet., DESRON 2 actually.

But anyway, mistake aside, Cruisers are a hot ship. Too bad the new ones are just a destroyer with an attitude.

Interesting thread, but what about the British C class either as built or WW2 AA cruiser conversions. Or SMS Dresden or Emden (Swan of the East). I scratch built HMS Kent (1904) quite a few years ago, a very satisfying and handsome model. Cruisers are great

Is that the real ship or the kit that's almost as old as you Dave?

Good comment jim. When you said the new ones wre a Destroyer with an attitude. At first I was thnking about recently released kits, then I realized you ere talking about modern US Navy. I'm not sure what criteria separates a DDG from a modern day crusier. Back then it was easy. 8 or 9 8" guns vs 5 5" guns and a couple of hundred feet. It is interesting to lok back on that thread and see my predictin about a US crusier and the Akagi come to light. Sure wish I had insigt now. Trumpeter surprized us with the Reichlieu and Aoshima with the Kongo. I don't have a clue what is next. I am hapyto see Trumpeter going European though. Might mea a Littorio and German cruisers may be on the drawing boards. I hope Graf Spee comes up as well as the Littorio in the next year.

Does anyone make an injection kit of the Salt Lake City, CA25? I saw one resin kit online but it was a lot more than I can afford. I would like to start building ships and thought it would be a nice place to start as she was just about everywhere in the Pacific from beginning to end.

Hi All,

Noticed this thread and thought I would toss in my 2 cents worth.

Uh, yeah, I like cruisers! Alot, I have a few on hand that I have already built, mostly IJN. There is also the old Revell Prinz Eugen. Here are a few in one of my cases. I like stuffing the finished ones in these cases to keep the dust action to a minimum.



Yes, I know, there is that one battleship/aircraft carrier the Ise in the lot as well as a few little jobs and one destroyer, but the cruisers are one of my favorites to work on. The oldest one in the back was built around 20 years ago and has suffered the ravages of moving a couple of times as well as losing most of her rigging.



The Ise got a lot of attention, Hasegawa made a pretty fair kit but it needs a lot of help. The Nachi in the foreground is the new tooled version which I can highly recommend. I ususally replace things like the splinter shields with CA and paper but it was not needed for this one, nice and thin with very few changes to the basic kit.



The old one in the back is the Naka from Fujimi. it was a pretty fair kit and I do like the looks of the old four stack light cruisers. The Isuzu, another light job is also a Fujimi offering, I can't really recommend it, the Tamiya one is a much better kit. Fujimi just revamped one of her sisters and tossed in a few extra bits to come up with the Isuzu. The layout of the deck is incorrect as are the number of deckhouses and their positions. The Katori was a dog of a ship, slow and poor sea keeping qualities, but that wooden deck caught my eye so she had to be added to the collection. I replaced the molded decking with strips of styrene and did a number of other changes to come up with what you see here, so it isn't exactly what you get out of the box. I figured that they needed an escort so I put the Shimakaze in there to ride herd on such an unruly lot.

I also have the San Francisco, Juneau, Baltimore and Cleveland in the stash for whenever I get around to them so you all won't think I am too one sided in this cruiser thing. I am even considering adding a few things RN to the mix, resin ships mostly, as the selection of injected cruiser kits is somewhat limited. And I have even thought seriously about the Italian Navy, they did make some rather nice looking ones as well.

So yeah, I am right there with you all as far as cruisers go.

Jay, t hanks for the "tour"! Some great stuff there.... thanks for sharing and the detailed info about each CA... cheers!

Nice looking collection of ships.

Thanks Guys,

Yeah, I do like my Cruisers, they were some of the handiest craft around with most of them showing a good turn of speed for their size as well as pretty well armed. Some of the earliest US Navy experiments with aircraft operating at sea were done with cruisers and once established the long range eyes of the fleet were quite commonplace.

By the way Russ, the only kits of a Pensacola class cruiser that I know of are in resin, one from HP Models and the other from Midship Models. They are priced at $75 and $62 respectively from Pacific Front Hobbies. Both are of the USS Salt Lake City and I do know from experience that Midship Models makes a rather nicely done resin kit. The kit is 1/700 scale and should produce a pretty fair representation of the old "Swayback Maru" with her tripod mast. You should be able to source out PE parts from any of a number of places, Gold Medal Models, Toms' Model Works, or WEM. I don't know of any company that makes a specific set for the Pensacola Class Heavys though. Working with the resin ship kits isn't all that difficult, just have to use CA or two part epoxy in place of the usual liquid or tube glue we are all familiar with. Good luck with your search. Too bad they blew her up in the A Bomb tests at the end of the war.