¹⁄350

Trumpeter have announced the released of their1/350 USS Arleigh Burke DDG-51 Missile Destroyer New Variant. This kitset is to contain 397 parts on 8 sprues and the final model will be over 17 inches in length. The expected release date is April 2009 with a suggested retail price at this stage of US$89.95.



Kit features:

• Upper and lower hulls;
  
• Waterline plate;
  
• Main deck;
  
• photo etched handrails;
  
• Decals for the US Navy.
  

Ship History
The USS Arleigh Burke (DDG-51), named after Admiral Arleigh Albert Burke is the lead ship of Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers. She was laid down by the Bath Iron Works company at Bath, Maine, on 6 December 1988, and launched on 16 September 1989 by Mrs. Arleigh Burke. The Admiral himself was present at her commissioning ceremony on 4 July 1991, held on the waterfront in downtown Norfolk, Virginia.
The Arleigh Burke's designers incorporated many lessons learned by the Royal Navy during the Falklands campaign and from the USN Ticonderoga class cruisers, the Ticonderoga class guided-missile cruisers were supposedly becoming too expensive to continue building, and supposedly too difficult to upgrade. The Arleigh Burke design includes what are now better known as "stealth" technologies, which improve the ship's ability to evade and/or destroy anti-ship cruise missiles. Furthermore, her all-steel construction provides good protection for her superstructure, while her Collective Protection System allows her to operate in environments contaminated by chemical, biological, or radiological materials.
History courtesy of Wikipedia.
Image courtesy of Trumpeter