USS Iwo Jima, LHD-7, Gallery 1/350 Kit# 64002, OOB Review and Build

Modeling Subjects Ships
41

Hi Jeff !

I seem to remember a U.S.S. IWO JIMA that was launched in Bremerton Washington in the 60s . I do believe that is the former Iwo Jima class you refer to .

I thought at the time , " What a weird looking ship " .The flight deck was round at the bow and the Hull looked like something from the past .

At that time I hadn’t embarked on my Ship Design and Engineering Courses at college . As a matter of fact , that was four years in the future .

I based my comments on the knowledge I had gathered up to that time as a Neophyte Ship Designer as a hobby . I do seem to also remember some difficulty in the inclination tests in drydock .The same dock where the name ship was launched .

The fact is the ship had at that time a 12 degree list when she finally floated free of the blocks and carried her own weight . I was told , Maybe not true , that the Navy , In a cost concious move , compensated for the list to the island side with an application of concrete on the opposite side to correct this problem .

I know , stupid idea right ? I could , now , say that I saw some incredibly stupid things done at the yard during that time . Can you say no separators between the Steel of the hull on a ship and it’s new Aluminum superstructure ?

Talk about a metal interaction . At least they didn’t do that to our ship . By the way , while there , I got to stand on the deck of the Missouri , sitting in mud , in the yard . The spot where I stood was the famous deck where the war officially ended ! She was ignored and filthy .

Across from her was a compact ship also in Mothballs , that took my breath away . I know , I was on the Missouri ! Single stacked , but as beautiful in line and purpose as the " MO " . I learned the the ship was the U.S.S. Rochester . a class of heavy cruiser I knew nothing about . What a beauty !

Her guns and armaments under wraps were awesome to behold . She looked , although she was a cruiser , like she could’ve been classed as a " Pocket " Battleship .

I don’t know what class they were , But I would like to see a model of the Rochester or her sisters done by Trumpeter or Dragon in 1/350 .What a gorgeous cruiser ! T.B.

42

TB, that first ship was the USS Iwo Jima (LPD-2) and she was the lead ship of her class and type. They were the first ships designed and built from the keel up as an amphibious assault ship. she was commissione din 1961 and decommissioned in 1993.

Seven were built, and the last, USS INchon, was decommissioned in 2004 I believe.\

Here’s a pic of the USS Inchon before being decommissioned:

Basically, that class led to the Tarawa class LHA, then the class Wasp LHD (of which this model, Iwo Jima LHD-7 is a member) and now the America class LHA.

The cruiser class you were talking about is the Oregon Class Heavy Cruiser built near the end of WW II. They planned on then, but with the end of the war, they stopped at four. Rochester was the third one built.

With those nine 8-inch guns and all the other firepower, they were really nice vessels. and displaced 13-14,000 tons I believe.

Here’s the USS Rochester:

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See!

What I said ! That all gun Cruiser is awesome . With the single stack and that Gorgeous hull she could’ve been what some called a " Pocket battleship ."

I always did like smaller ships with lots of guns . Formidible and small . Oh , and capable too . T.B.

44

Yep, although classed as a heavy cruiser, IMHO, the Alsaka and her sister was really the US example of a Battle Cruiser.

And with nine 12" guns and twelve 5" guns she was every bit that.

Only two were built. They simply came when the war efort was beginning to steam roll the Japanese and we were not going to need a clas of six of them.

They were designed to hunt down and kill German cruisers and Japanese cruisers, but when they finally got into the war, they were mainly used to escort carriers and provide more air defense for them.

But a GREAT ship, and those two that were built were comissioned in June 1944 and Spetember 1944. The first saw quite a bt of action and earned three battle stars.

Here’s a GREAT pic of the USS Alsaksa next to one iof he Ioa class battleships, the Missouri I believe. Shows the comparison between the two very well.

45

Dahjval Dadhania…here’s the build thread for the 1/350 scale USS Iwo Jima, LD-7…next to the USS Enterprise CVN-80 and USS ROnald Reagan, CVN-76, probably my favorite bild, kit by Gallery.

This response shows all of the complete ARG I have built in 1/350 scale.

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Here’s the Iwo Jima with a new air wing…Escort carrier sporting lots of F-35Bs:


USS Iwo Lima LHD-7 with an Ecort Carrier air wing of F-35Bs

The Japanese are doing the same with their two Izumo class carriers:


Two Carrier JMSDF Force with Izumo Carrier and F-35Bs

47

June, 5th, 2023, 9:06 pm CST

Hello Mr. Jeff,

Rascal’s dad here / former ABH-1 USN retired------ I just found your review and build on the U.S.S. Iwo Jima, LHD-7 and just had to print it out. You see, I was stationed on her sister & lead ship of the class— U.S.S. Wasp , LHD-1 { March 97 till retirement in Jan. 2001} My duty assignment was Air Dept. / V-3 Division { hangar bay} Asst. LPO & 3m Maintenace . I also was TAD to the Safety Office during both Med cruises while aboard . While in Saftey, I was 1 of 2 Flight Deck Safety Petty Officers – the other being an AO1 that happened to be my LPO’s brother.

May I say---- that the pictures of your build that I saw are amazing. Very nice job on the overall build. I don’t know if someone brought this to your attention or not back in 2015---- but I did find a small error in your aircraft build of the CH-46’s.

You placed 1 or 2 CH46’s with folded rotor blades in the hangar bay, The error I saw, was that the rear rotors were mounted wrong----- you had them facing to the rear when they should have been facing the forward rotor blade set. The CH-46’s rotors folded to the middle of the aircraft , over lapping the forward set of blades.

As I said, this is an amazing build of the LHD Class ship models. I hope that when I get started on my kit, that I can come up with the same overall amazing build. I have the full PE upgrade set, and enough extra aircraft sets for a full Air Wing and all 3 LCAC’s carried by the Wasp.