USS Arizona - secondary armament

[Frank Schneider]

Hi all,

never posted in this forum before, and don't know if it's the right one. Looks most suited to me for my question.

I am building the 1/350 USS Arizona, as she would have been Dec. 7th 1941. But I am not clear on the secondary armament. Was it in turrets, in between the decks, or was it in open mounts, coverd by a curtain of some sort (canvas?). And if it were turrets, where there port holes in there or not? I have seen a lot of pics on numerous web pages, but cannot see clearly what these guns are covered by.

Thanks for your help on this.

Frank.

[Mark McShane]

Frank,

Are these the guns you are talking about, this photo show very well what secondary guns were in turrets and those on deck with no armoured protection.

Although this photo is dated 1931, so there could well have been alterations in the 10 years since.

Mark

[Frank Schneider]

Mark,

thanks for that beautiful picture! I saw a similar, but taken more from the front. Hence I could not really see the side armament.
Really helpfull!! It shows that, when there were turrets, that these did have port holes. Yes, could be possible that in the next 10 years, the turrets were replaced by canvas. Maybe when she was transferred from Atlantic to Pacific, because of the heat? The deck guns never were in turrets, they had blast shields installed around them on the deck, somewhere between this picture and 1941).

Frank.

[George S.H.]

Frank,
I checked my book on the Arizona by the Naval Institute. The 5inch secondary guns had a canvas covering for normal weather and a metal curtain for bad weather that had to be bolted down. They still showed pictures of the Arizona with canvas covers on the 5 inch guns as of 1939. In a January 16th 1941 photo the guns have a metal shield installed.
What a great ship.
George

[Frank Schneider]

Frank,
I checked my book on the Arizona by the Naval Institute. The 5inch secondary guns had a canvas covering for normal weather and a metal curtain for bad weather that had to be bolted down. They still showed pictures of the Arizona with canvas covers on the 5 inch guns as of 1939. In a January 16th 1941 photo the guns have a metal shield installed.
What a great ship.
George

Oh Brother! - Even more headaches. If both are possible, what would she have had on the 7th? In a picture taken after the attack I can clearly see one of these guns protruding from an opening (kinda black hole), without being in a turret. But the turret could have been blown by the explosion.

yes, George, lovely ship - I like those wide-body BBs. So sad it ended in horror for most crew......

Frank.

[Douglas Jr.]

Frank,

There are a lot of pictures of the USS Arizona at this site:

http://www.maritimequest.com/warship...izona_bb39.htm

Good luck on your project!

Douglas

[DonC]

Hi Frank -

In port, she would have had the canvas covers, with the metal shields rolled back to help with the heat factor. If you are doing the Trumpeter kit, the secondary guns leave something to be desired - I built it a few years ago before Trumpeter bought out the company that first put it out. They are not true turrets in the sense that the guns were mounted on the deck and not in a rotating self-contained "package" like th emain armament. Hope this helps!

Don

[Frank Schneider]

Douglas,

what a terrific site! It's a new one to me. Great pics from birth to grave.

Don,

That's the info I need! So canvas it should be! On the site Douglas gave me there is one pic in particular that makes me believe that indeed canvas was used, as there is virtually no sign whatsoever of 'turrets'.
I am doing the Trumpeter kit, and I need a lot of rework to do. Photo-etch sets are underway, and styrene plastic has been bought.

Do you have a suggestion how to make the single 5" guns and mounts? Can they be bought seperately? I have not seen aftermarket guns. I will take this to the Modelbuilding forum, as that is where this is heading now.

Thanks again all for your input!

Frank.