I have a question for you super knowledgeable ship guys.
I have noticed and want to install the spars on the side of my Prinz Eugen dio. I notice that they are used to tie up the small boats, but when I try to Google them I get info for torpedo nets.
Is that what they are, torpedo net spars, or do the serve to tie up the small boats, or both? What is their proper name?
The 2 pictures here are of the USS Prinz Eugen hull number IX-300 just prior to Operation Crossroads, which I want to model, but need to get a better look at those spars. If they are torpedo nets why are they deployed here at Bikini just prior to the atomic bomb test?
Thanks GM! I was hoping you would jump in here [:D]. I knew you would know the answer.
My dio will be waterline, and I agree, stupid move. I guess the Navy was having a hard time keeping the engines running which, at least what I was reading, may have been a contributing factor in the decision to tow her to Bikini
And including Sara and Nevada in the bunch…But with the war over, they figured no need for all the hardware, and were cutting everything back.
But Sara was always kind of a hard luck kind of gal, catching fish twice before she ever lanched a strike, and Nevada, the only BB to get underway at Pearl, but both were at “life’s end” for ships in those days.
Boat booms, to moor the ship’s small boats to when the ship is at anchor or in port. They usually have ladders extending from them, as shown in your photos, for the crew to climb up from the boat onto the ship. I have modeled them using plastic rod, stretched sprue or thin wire for the ropes to hold the booms out from the hull, and scrap PE ladder sections.
Adding the booms, some boats and the people using them can add a little life to a waterline model, as another point of interest. That’s one reason I included one in my diorama of a Haskell-class attack transport:
Thanks guys, I’ll do a serch to get a good look at them. My dio will be of the Eugen as it is shown in the pictures I posted. It will have small boats and some crew. This will display the Eugen a day before test Able.
I’ll start a WIP of it when I start.
Well, I am a real advocate for working from pictures. Seeing USN units around her is very interesting. It looks like she wasn’t too highly modified from wartime fit.
Having your question answered and quite well I only have to add that in the Navy of the late fifties they were indeed referred to as " Boat Booms " .
All ships had them and the bigger ships more of them . I felt sorry for the " Deck Apes " when it was really nasty weather and I could see them from my engineering office Porthole , scuttling out to get the Captains Gig and bring it around so the Occifers could stay mostly dry when it was raining Goats and Dogs . T.B.
K & S brass rod is nice for booms. It is stiff enough that it will not dip or bend. Just be sure to prime it with a proper metal primer before painting. Depending on the scale and diameter, the 1/16 tube may work too.
GM, after looking at any available pictures of hull #IX-300 the only mods I can see, barley, appears to be missing fore and aft deck AA guns and missing AA guns and tubs on the Bruno and Cesar turrets. I am sure the torpedoes were also removed as well as the Arado. On some pictures I can vaguely see the AA guns on the 02 and 03 deck?
Edit: From the areal phots, it also looks like the Anton turret barrels are missing, but they were installed at Bikini… or were they [*-)]
The US Naval Historical Center’s caption for your first picture in the original post identifies a ‘radar van’ parked atop of the bridge. There is a detail you need to catch.
The USNHC’s photos are all waterline views and will not answer the question about the barrels.
