What a real hull looks like and a visit to the USS Midway

[Jim Nunn]

For Fathers day my wife took me on a surprise trip to San Diego with my kids and grand kids for a visit to the USS Midway. I have been on the ship before but this time the kids wanted to hear what like was like for me when I was serving on the USS Intrepid. Needless to say we had a wonderful day.

I can highly recommend that you visit the ship she’s in good condition and they have a very well thought out self guiding tour. The air museum has a good array of navel Aircraft dating from WWII up to a Tomcat. On our visit next to a restored SBD-3 Dauntless there were 2 WWII navel aviators who talked about what is like to fly the Dauntless. One was the retired Captain of the Lexington who had known my father and had flown with him. Now that was a treat for me.

Now for the paper model stuff the following photo is the stern of the Midway. It shows the extended stern that was added on when they rebuilt her to an angled flight deck. Obviously the low bidder did the work. When you build your next ship model and the hull has a few uneven lines just show them this photo and tell them it’s as per the prototype.

Jim Nunn

 

[BARX2]

I was wondering what happened to the Midway. I did temporary duty on the Midway in 1980 when she was stationed in Yokosuka, Japan. I have to say that serving on the Midway was not the high point of my career. It was hot, dirty and crowded. Well, I'll stop there. I'm glad you enjoyed your tour and thanks for the picture. I never noticed that before.

 

[DavidESP]

Nice shot and very real! After serving 27 years in the Navy on various classes of ships, the hulls are not smooth, even fresh out of the builders yard they have dings.

Have a one.

 

[RINGMASTER]

Digital Navy made the same point on their web site with similar pictures. That said, duplicating the effect in paper is going to look more like sloppy tecknique more than detailed modeling.

 

[reklein]

Coincidentaly, I served on the Intrepid as a Dental Tech, from Jan.'67' to Nov. 67. Cool ,that you got to visit the Midway. BILL

 

[Tim Crowe]

Jim

Any chance of you posting some more pictures?

Tim

 

[Bionic Modeler]

I live in San Diego and just recently visited the Midway with a retired Copmmander I served with at North Island in the 60's. He served on the Midway as a mail pilot once. He had a good time reminiscing. Serving on her was pretty nice if you were either a Chief Petty Officer or an Officer. They had it pretty good with private mess rooms which were pretty nice for a ship I must say.

When we were watching the video I said "You officers had it pretty good huh?" He sat back with a straight face "Yup"

 

[Jim Nunn]

Coincidentaly, I served on the Intrepid as a Dental Tech, from Jan.'67' to Nov. 67. Cool ,that you got to visit the Midway. BILL

Bill we were Shipmates! I left the ship in late July of 67

Jim Nunn

 

[reklein]

Jim Nunn,I'm sorry I musta had a brain f**t. I meant to say jan.66 to dec.66. Then I went to the USS,Yosemite AD-19 to finish out my enlistment in dec. 67. So Mr. Nunn we were almost shipmates. I met a guy here in Lewiston who was on the Intrepid at the same time I was. He was with an airwing. Seems like on ships that big you only know the guys in your division. I need to see if I can dig up some pics. I know I gotta couple of her moored in Hong Kong,probly some good pics of the Star Ferries too.
BTW, Those eye rings on the hull were used ,among other things, for the bosuns to rig scaffolds to so they could paint the hull. Often the suspended scaffold would be so far away from the hull that they had to catch another eyering to pull themselves in close enough to paint. These are memories from 40 years ago.

 

[Jim Nunn]

Bill,

I was stationed on the Intrepid in late 65, November if I remember correctly. So we were still shipmates. You’re correct you generally only know the people in your division and those who worked with you from other divisions.

Jim Nunn

 

[reklein]

Jim,do you remember when they played Yellow Submarine till we all got sick of it, So they raffled it off ,and the winner could do anything they wanted with it. The Country western guys got ahold of it and broke it and threw it overboard.So much for a carrier at war eh?:mrgreen:

 

[Bionic Modeler]

I have been trumpeting this case for some time. Real hulls look battered, buckled and pretty much like a paper model that has been well built. The ribs show on the paper model and in my opinion give a more realistic result than when some modelers go for the super smooth look. The smooth look is artificial, extra work and in my humble but experienced opinion, makes the model look plastic. Plastic ship model makers are "Missing the boat" pun intended.

 

[Jim Nunn]

Reklein,

I had completely forgot about that, And one of my shops responsibilities was to keep the ships "Radio" Station and the closed circuit TV station operating.

I remember seeing a very nice model of an A1H Spad built by someone in the Medical Department per chance was that your model?

Jim Nunn

 

[reklein]

I'd like to add more real hull shots. These are of the Intrepid in Hong Kong Harbor In 1966.

about as close as you can get to get that much ship.:mrgreen:

An A-4 comin aboard.

This was one of our planes, Note the classic Bee.