Wartime model ship

[Friedrich-Berthold]

They have always been a sort of touch stone of the second world war for me in the decades since.

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I collect these, in fact.

[douglas2496]

Superb pieces FB !

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Superb pieces FB, thanks very much for showing!

Dear Sir, you are very welcome. I should photograph what I have in ships, but I am not a good photographer. The British made ship is better in detail than the USN ones.
The legend is that German emigres convinced the US Navy to imitate such water line models as found in the Reich as training aids. After all the war led to the need to train thousands and thousands who might shoot at such things.
I have no idea if this statement is true.
I have something to do with navies in a certain professional sense, and was also raised with Jane's Fighting Ships and Weyer's Taschenbuch der Kriegsflotten.
I was born in one of the world's great ports and home to many naval bases.

[Panzersaurus]

Very interesting guys. I had never seen that video before so thanks for posting (although the accuracy of the statement that it was the first time a German submarine broke a British destroyer screen could be challenged). I have been trying to keep of an eye out for these models as of late as I think they are very cool.

[Wagriff]

I, too, remember seeing these little ship models and some still in their wooden carrying cases-when I was younger. In the early 60's they were all over the place-you could find them in school storerooms, city buildings, etc. It wasn't too long until they began showing up in garage sales, second hand shops and, sadly, landfill sites. They've all but dried up these days and you very seldom run into them at all now. They've gone the way of the black and yellow fallout shelter signs. Fascinating bits from days long gone past.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Here is the story of these U.S. ships, and, indeed, they are more or less the product of European migrants to the U.S.

Ship Models for the Military by Fred Dorris

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Further data from the USN itself, and things I never knew...!

Local History, World Events: USS Midway (CV-41) Recognition Model

[Wagriff]

Odd, that the model is designated the Midway CV-41, when it did not actually have this hull number until June 1975. The original 1945 launched Midway had the hull number CVB-41. In October of 1952, it was reclassified and became the CVA-41. John Reeder should have made note of this.
The Midway looks so pitifully small today in San Diego, when it was, for 10 years time, the largest ship in the World. Sailors who once manned it cannot believe that it seems so small today. It is dwarfed by the modern gigantic carriers of today's fleets, but at one time, it's generators once powered the entire city of Norfolk, Virginia during a black out. At 972 feet, it is 120 feet shorter than today's George H.W. Bush Supercarrier. And larger carriers are in the works even today.

[lithgow]

I went on board USS Midway in 1980 when she visited Fremantle -was a guest of some Marines from VMAQ-2 the electronic warfare flight, so I went into the living and work spaces you didn't normally see on a ship tour-very cramped-she was the last carrier to carry F4 Phantoms as she was too small to operate F14 Tomcats.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Here are some clear images of this kind of thing, made by the firm of Framburg, a lighting company, as described above.