January Newsletter of the
Quad-City Scale Modeler Society
Meeting Minutes:
I hope everyone had a nice holiday season. We had a great Christmas meeting, thanks to
everyone who brought goodies this year.
We also had our annual Christmas raffle, gift exchange and “What if?”
contest. On to the
meeting minutes. Hobby Lobby in
The Dates:
January 13: Chapter meeting. Shawn Drovesky will give a figure painting and converting How To presentation. Chapter officer elections.
February 10: Chapter meeting
March 10: Chapter meeting
March 31: Quad
Cities Show. Clarion
Hotel,
April 14: Chapter
meeting. Road trip to
April 14: IPMS Plastic Surgeons 14th Annual Plastic Surgeons Model Contest. Contact: Greg Metge gmgha@mchsi.com
May 12: Chapter meeting
June 9: No chapter meeting! We will be at the Regional!
June 8-9: Region V
Regional, Knights of Columbus Hall 401 West Main Street, Ottawa, IL 61350 Contact:
Steve Stohr: 815-434-7279,
Regional; Coordinator Notes:
Hello fellow IPMS Chapters.......
I have been given the honor of being named the Region 5
Coordinator. Well, mom always said
"be careful what you wish for, you might just get
it". I'd like to think it was a
good wish. Time will tell I
suppose. I know a number of members
& chapters in the Region have met and or dealt with me at one time or
another. For those who have not, I
probably ought to give you some idea of who I am and what I have been involved
with in IPMS. I have been a member of
IPMS Gateway, in
IPMS USA informed of our issues, I need you to make sure
that your chapter is keeping in touch with me regularly. Don't be shy, speak right up. So one thing you can expect is to see me at
various shows around the region. I
rarely miss a regional in our region and usually hit a show or two each year
that is not in
Well, the New Year is upon us. What does it have in store for us as modelers, chapters and a society? Only the days, weeks and months will tell. As I like to say, good communication is the cornerstone of success. I know some of you are going huh? This guy sounds like a CEO here, what is he trying to sell?! Well actually nothing. I am trying to be sure that, at the minimum, I am communicating with you the chapters. Hopefully most of you, the chapters, will communicate back. So here are a few items to be pondered and responded to. First, I recently requested information about your chapter. Not the basics that I can get from the charter renewal sheets, but what makes your chapter your chapter. I don't have a timetable but I really do want to get to know all of the chapters. I cannot attend regular club meetings for most of you, so I will have to learn this from your chapter’s representatives. For those who have already begun sending this to me, I thank you. You folks, as the phrase goes, "got it going on". Keep up the good work. A shameless plug for the IPMS Zumbro Chapter. They are hosting their “Hope it Don’t Snow Show” on February 3rd. I will not make that one this year. I hope that some of you all can. Good luck to those guys. I “hope it don’t snow”. Hmmm, where to go next? Region 5 has a Regional in June in case you forgot. The guys at IPMS S.P.A.S.A.M. are going to be our host on June 8-9. I know those folks are busily preparing to have us all come in for a visit, have some fun, buy some kits, and maybe take home some hardware. I'll be there and look forward to meeting some of you. Along the thoughts of a Regional, I would like to open the process for taking bids for the 2008 Region 5 Regional Convention. Since I am new to the RC thing, I am getting some input from other RCs on how to do the process of taking bids from a few of them. My chapter has bid on a few (with me as a Coordinator) so I know what we have submitted in the past. So to get the ball rolling I will ask the following. I would like to have a written proposal submitted a month prior to this year’s Regional. So…..I would like a copy of the written proposal by May 1st. You can email it or snail mail it to me. This is so that I can look them over and prepare any questions I may have. I would also be able to spot something you folks may have overlooked and need to get taken care of. This way, no one is horribly rushed in the eleventh hour. Another project of interest to the DLC and to myself, is to continue to add to our list of IPMS USA qualified judges. I have a short list which Jack Bruno sent me (Thanks Jack!). I know that there are a lot of members who are certified national judges who are not on that list. I have contacted my chapter, IPMS Gateway, to get our judges added to that list (we have over a dozen alone). This list is not one who will be attending the Regional. It is to be a list of judges who are qualified to judge and can be contacted by a chapter holding a show within the Region to solicit their help. For this list we will need name, email address and/or phone number, and their chapter affiliation. My home chapter, IPMS Gateway, has offered me a web page through their host. Details are a bit vague so far, but look for it in the near future. I thank them for the offer and the work. I know nothing of websites so their webmaster will be posting whatever I give him and probably make me look smarter than I actually am. Along this thought, since it is your region, I am asking what you think I should use that space for. I don’t think it will be terribly large, but I am told I can put text, pictures and links on it. My initial idea is to change it monthly. You know that idea of getting to know your chapters and that info, I am considering making a chapter and member of the month sections in it. I would use that info you provide, a picture or two, of your meeting and so on. I hope to do that with an individual member from somewhere in the Region also. I figure it is not my Region, but all of the chapters. With that in mind, I want to make the best use of my resources. As getting the website updated would be slower than emails and phone calls, those will be my primary ways of keeping you guys informed. I would like to use the website for things less time critical and give more exposure to (like helping others to get to know your chapter). I welcome your suggestions. A parting reminder, there are a bunch of chapters who have not provided a name for the Meteor Gift Certificate recipient. I can’t believe we would not want a freebee of anything! The only catch is the person must be an IPMS USA member. It is pretty simple. Please get those names to me.
Mike George
R5 RC
314-837-8358
A note from Bob Horton:
On
extraordinary emotional and intellectual experience. Envisioned by the people
of
www.nww1.org
http://www.libertymemorialmuseum.org/
Christmas and New Year Greetings just for you:
I wanted to send some sort of Christmas and New Year greeting to my friends, but it is so difficult in today's world to know exactly what to say without offending someone. So I met with my lawyer yesterday, and on his advice I wish to say the following:
Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced with the most enjoyable traditions of religious persuasion or secular practices of your choice with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2007, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make our country great (not to imply that the Republic of Ireland or the United Kingdom of Great Britain are necessarily greater than any other country) and without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee. By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms:
This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others and is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher. Disclaimer: No trees were harmed in the sending of this message; however, a significant number of electrons were slightly inconvenienced.
Kit Review: Emhar 1/35th scale WWI British 18 Pdr field gun, Kit #3502; German 77mm C96n/A, Kit #3504; and the RPM, WWI French/U.S. 75mm, M 1897 field gun, Kit#35007.
Reviewed by Bob Horton, IPMS Quad Cities
I would like to approach this review with less then an in depth overall review and more of a detailed article about how you can work with these three kits to improve what initially contain rather heavy handed parts. All three of these kits are about the best buy for the buck that is on the market today…each of them is available for about $7.00. You can’t find much out there for that kind of money anymore. There is a “bad news” side to this though. You can build them, very easily, out of the box (OOB), but to make them approach the realistic look of a World War I Field Gun, there is some work to be done…a bit of kit bashing as it were. One additional comment at this point, there are two other kits in this series, Kit #3501 and Kit # 3503. These are a set of British Infantry and German Infantry. If you know any five year olds with a sand box, buy them. Let’s begin with a quick look at each kit; what is good and what is not so good: The Emhar, British 18 Pdr. A bit of quick history before we begin the project. The British 18 Pdr development was initiated early in the century. The British artillery was issued with the 13 Pdr., and soon found it just didn’t have the punch needed. Although the 18 Pdr. was only .3” larger in bore, the shell produced results that the 13 couldn’t. Over time the 18 Pdr. evolved from the Mk I and Mk II which the kit represents to a Mk III and Mk IV which are completely different and are actually almost a completely different gun. The kit consists of 13 or 14 rather simple parts in grey plastic and 3 one-piece figures cast in a greenish soft plastic. The figures are not good, simply put. The gun parts are cast rather nicely but even the parts that are not going to be replaced will need a bit of work. The main gun shield is overly thick for a scale shield but I would use it as it is. You do need to carefully sand down the bundle of rope that is cast into the front face. The stiffener straps and hinges are nicely cast. Be careful to save the two little nubbins that are part # 6. These are the wheel axle retainer caps. The balance of the parts are quite useable except for the wheels. On my first look, I thought that I can’t imagine what they were thinking when they made the patterns for the wheels…I had never seen the hub end of the spokes shaped like this. The inner surface of every other spoke, where it went in under the hub face was indented severely. I couldn’t imagine that being the way the hubs looked. This was resolved with a trip thru Ian Hoggs book, “Allied Artillery of World War One.” He doesn’t cover the 18 Pdr. very well but sure enough the spokes were indented as shown in the kit. My problem was that the full size examples were not nearly as severely indented as the kit pieces show. And for the life of me, I can’t understand the reason that the full sized wheels were constructed this way. It would seem that this would only weaken the hub area connections. I solved this problem by simply turning the wheels around inside-out as it were, and placing a small plastic disc at the hub location and adding some small dots for rivets. The wheels are useable and of the three kits, the spokes have a more nearly realistic shape then the other two kits. The other alternative is that new wheels can be made and I am going to cover that in another article. The Emhar, German 77mm, C 96 n/A. The kit consists of 11 or 12 rather simple parts in grey plastic and 3 cast one-piece figures cast in a greenish plastic. These 3 can join the British figures in the sandbox. The gun parts are going to be more of a challenge than we found with the 18 Pdr. The shield in this case, again, is about twice as thick as the scale shield should be. It has some interesting features cast into it, two head protection pads on the inner surface of the shield as well as some hinges, some shaped angle iron stiffeners and small eye ports. These, other then some little representations for shield retainer chains are well done. Again, there are two very small caps which are axle wheel caps that need to be carefully saved. At this point we get into what needs fixin’. The trail unit is basically not bad but two things need correcting here. The two seats should be trimmed to a circular shape at the inner end. On the right hand seat, shorten up and round off the outer loop of the figure “8”. On the left hand seat, sand the outer loop off into a round shape. In front of this is two extended “T” shaped beams that hold the brake shoes. Sand off about half of the flat rearward part of the “T”. The horizontal leg of that web isn’t nearly that wide. The gun tube basically is not bad and is useable but you need to either add a small piece under the muzzle end to reshape the end round, and bore out a hole. Or cut that muzzle end off, and replace with a piece of bored out tubing the same size. I have never seen a “D” shaped gun muzzle but maybe the Germans were shooting some “D” shaped ammo that the Allies didn’t know about. The next issue is to thin down the trail spade thickness. It ought to be slightly less then a half inch thick material. Next for our attention is the seat/footrest/ plate handhold pieces that mount to the front of the shield. The supports for the foot rests need to be about half as thick as they are. In addition, the almost square upright slabs need to be a lot thinner. In the real item, these slabs are very thin sheet steel attached inside a bent metal rod that acts as a guard against crew members riding on these seats hitting the gun tube while riding at break neck speed down rough roads. The last item is probably the most complex part to fix yet not difficult, only a little time consuming. I am speaking about the terrible representations that pass for wheels. These things are pathetic and can be replaced fairly easily and will look 1000% better. As mentioned above, I am going to cover the scratch built construction of WWI ordnance wheels in a later article. The RPM kit of the 75mm, M 1897 Field Gun. This kit contains about 35 parts with an additional packet that contains two other versions of later style rubber tired wheels. Since this gun saw service into the beginning of World War II, with various countries these wheels would serve to be fitted on the later versions which can be built. If you are intending to build the WW I version, you may find other uses for those additional wheels for other armor projects. Of the three model kits reviewed, this kit is far and away the best kit right out of the gate. Only one major replacement needs to be done to build up a nice model. As with the other two kits, the shield is an area that needs the same attention…that of thinning it down to about half it’s thickness. I would suggest doing this thinning to what is the front surface of the shield. There are several square-ish lugs there but these are locaters for several equipment boxes and these can be placed without those locaters, very easily. One thing you might note is the dished in appearance of the top surface piece that is the plate that joins the two sides of the trail. This is completely accurate although I have never understood why it was built that way. It may have been clearance for the tube recoil when at maximum elevation which was very little. You will find when assembling the two halves of the gun tube that there is a fairly significant bit of sink mark damage that will have to be filled. The last issue for correction, though, is a big one. Those horrible representations of wheels. They can go join the two sets of soldier figures and the wheels from the 77mm German gun in the sandbox. These wheels are easy to construct and replace in the next article about building wheels. We can then finish up a very important and significant player in the winning of World War I for the Allies. It might be of interest to add an additional sidelight to building the French/U.S. 75mm gun. This gun was used in several ways besides the designed use as originally intended as a field gun as represented in the kit. One application is described in some books on guns of the World War I period. This version was employed after some modifications when captured by the Germans. The gun found favor with them in Anti-Aircraft service. It was rebored out to 77mm and mounted, sometimes minus the wheels, in a large wooden timber tripod frame. It would be pointed up in about a 75 to 80 degree angle and could be rotated around a central axis much like we see in the American .50 cal. heavy machine gun AA mount. All three of these field pieces were work horses of Allied or Central Powers artillery. They deserve a place in any collection of artillery models of that period. Next time around I’ll describe some methods of fabricating wooden or steel wheels of that period.
News from Squadron/Signal:
Squadron/Signal Publications is pleased to announce the
first of what we hope will become a new series of books on airliners. In 2007
we will launch our "At the Gate" series, These
will be 80-page works in landscape format, similar to our Walk Around/On Deck
series in that they will be half color, but unlike the Walk Arounds,
they will focus more on different airline color schemes rather than technical
details of a specific subject. In addition to many color photos, they will also
include color profile drawings of various airline liveries. The first of these,
to be released on
DC-9/MD-80 at the Gate," by our own Jodie Peeler. It will also include
coverage of the military C-9 transports, so it should appeal to a broad range
of readers and aviation enthusiasts. Jodie
has produced an excellent work, and I know each of you in this group will want
to add this book to your library. We hope will be the first of many such books
on airliners and other civil aircraft. The new owner of Squadron/MMD has
expressed an interest in further such books, but these depend on whether or not
this first book is a commercial success. Therefore I encourage each of you to
purchase several copies of
Jodie's book! We are also looking for
knowledgeable authors on other airliner types to
author additional books in this series, so if you have ever wanted to be a
writer, this may be your chance. Contact me at michael.mcmurtrey@squadron.com
if you are interested. I know Jodie has
waited for this announcement for a long time, and I thank her for her patience.
Michael McMurtrey
IPMS-USA #1746
Editor, Squadron/Signal Publications
A little post Christmas humor from Paddy McGannon:
This is an actual job application that a 75-year-old pensioner submitted to B&Q in Tunbridge Wells. They hired him because he was so funny.....
NAME:
SEX: Not lately, but
I am looking for the right woman (or at least one who will cooperate)
DESIRED POSITION: Company's Chief
Executive or Managing Director. But seriously, whatever's available. If I was
in a position to be picky, I wouldn't be applying in the first place - would I?
DESIRED SALARY: £150,000 a year plus share options and a Tony Blair style redundancy package. If that's not possible, make an offer and we can haggle.
EDUCATION: Yes.
LAST POSITION HELD: Target for middle management hostility.
PREVIOUS SALARY: A lot less than I'm worth.
MOST NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENT: My incredible collection of stolen
pens and post-it notes.
REASON FOR LEAVING: It was a crap job.
HOURS AVAILABLE TO WORK: Any.
PREFERRED HOURS:
DO YOU HAVE ANY SPECIAL SKILLS?: es, but they're
better suited to a more intimate environment.
MAY WE CONTACT YOUR CURRENT EMPLOYER?: If I had one, would I be here?
DO YOU HAVE ANY PHYSICAL CONDITIONS THAT WOULD PROHIBIT YOU FROM LIFTING UP TO 50 lbs.?: Of what?
DO YOU HAVE A CAR?: I think the more appropriate question here would be "Do you have a car that runs?"
HAVE YOU RECEIVED ANY SPECIAL AWARDS OR RECOGNITION?: I may already be a winner of the Reader's Digest Timeshare Free Holiday Offer, so they tell me.
DO YOU SMOKE?: On the job - no! On my breaks - yes!
WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE DOING IN FIVE YEARS?: Living in the
NEAREST RELATIVE?: 7 miles
DO YOU CERTIFY THAT THE ABOVE IS TRUE AND COMPLETE TO THE BEST OF YOUR KNOWLEDGE?: Oh yes, absolutely.
Kit Review: Armoured Brigade
Models 1/35 Scale Update Set No. ABM012;
Early M3 Lee Basic Update Set; 14 parts in grey resin; price US $17.00
Reviewed by Cookie Sewell
Advantages: fixes the most egregious faults with the upper components of the Academy M3 Lee kit; provides for maximum use of the kit parts where applicable.
Disadvantages: sources of supply for ABM kits have been erratic in the past.
Rating: Highly Recommended.
Recommendation: for anyone with an Academy Lee kit who wants
to correct
the turret and upper hull components.
Back during the AMPS 2000 International Show well-known
Canadian modelers Sid Arnold and Dave Dean brought down their first samples of
a new line of kits which were dubbed Armoured Brigade
Models. These were focused on correcting the rather elderly and quite awful
Tamiya M3 Grant and M3 Lee kits, and were either modularized for use by
modelers to fix specific parts of the kit or combined into a complete kit of
the M3 Lee which made its debut at AMPS 2001. Their one drawback was
availability, for at both shows ABM could have sold far more items than they
brought. Fast forward six years, and the new Academy M3 Lee was released in May
2006. But while it corrected many of the massive failings of the 30 year old
Tamiya kits, unfortunately it added some new ones of its own, primarily a bad
suspension set and an exaggerated cast turret. ABM has now modified its older
moldings, which were first rate when released, reorganized them, modified them to
fit the Academy kit, and re-released them. This is the turret set, which now
provides 14 parts to fix the turret and cupola from the Academy kit. It
provides a new, accurate turret shell with casting numbers and a nicely done
mantlet in place, a new
rotor with optional counterweight (not provided by Academy), a counterweight
for the stabilized M2 (short barrel) 75mm gun, and two new rear stowage bins.
The directions are excellent, as they show where most of the kit's failings are
found and also provide very good descriptions of how to correct them. Most of
the first two pages cover how to fix the problems with rivets and the missing
brackets and fasteners on the upper hull.
Modelers will be happy as "before" and "after" photos are
provided, so since the rivets and bolts used are in light colored plastic it is
quite obvious as to what changed. Assembly of the turret is integrated into the
assembly instructions for the M3 kit itself, and photos show how the update
kit's parts differ from the base kit’s parts. Other than some very quick
cleanup, little is different than just the kit assembly and it should
be a snap for any modeler to carry out this update with few problems. Note that
this set also includes correct size and shape stowage bins for the rear deck.
Overall, this fixes one of the most annoying problems in the kit and one many
modelers are reluctant to do on their own. Thanks to Sid Arnold of ABM for the
review sample. For further info on
distributors contact Sid at sidn@sympatico.ca
SEA STORY - A true one experienced by Frenchy Corbeille USN(Ret)
It was Sunday afternoon, early in the month of August, 1968 when USS Forrestal (CVA-59) was making her way through the Western Mediterranean
during the first days of a 7-month cruise. I was Officer of the Deck (OOD) on
the 1200 - 1600 bridge watch, there were no ship’s evolutions ongoing, and
things looked like a ho-hum Sunday afternoon at sea. We were hosting the Prospective Commanding
Officer (PCO) of USS Independence and our CO had gone with him to the Captain’s
In-Port Cabin. Prior to departing the bridge, the CO and I had conversed briefly
and one of the subjects breeched was that we had been in the
those pesky Russian trawlers. Our Navy had come to hope not to see one because
they had a way of getting in the way whenever we had things to do, such as
flight operations, or underway replenishment. This lack of encounter was about
to change. At about 1500 I called the CO
to advise him that we had picked up an unidentified surface contact on radar,
range 22,000 yards (11 nautical miles). It appeared to be on our reciprocal
course at a speed of 8 knots and in the absence of any changes, the closest
point of approach (CPA) would be 6,000 yards on our port beam. "Very
Well" and the customary "Thanks, Frenchy"
constituted the CO’s response. I had no
more than hung up the phone when the contact changed course. I could identify 2 sticks (masts) over the
horizon, looking through the 7X50 OOD standard equipment Bausch & Lomb’s,
but could make out nothing of the vessel. However, the two sticks bore a strong
resemblance to the pictures we had on the bridge of known trawlers that had
frequented these waters. I called the
Captain back to advise him that the unidentified contact had indeed made a
90-degree course change, was still doing 8 knots, and his present course/speed
would take him across our bow at 6,000 yards
(3 miles). We were doing 20 knots, on some kind of a sustained speed exercise for
the engineers, and preferred to alter neither
course nor speed unless absolutely necessary. I advised the
Captain of my suspicions concerning the vessel’s identity and advised him that I
had ordered the Intelligence Sighting Team to the bridge. It being a Sunday
stand down with little to occupy the idle time, we soon had the entire
Intelligence staff scattered about on the bridge and the signal bridge, with a
few photo types thrown in. The contact was still hull-down over the horizon but
the visible masts more and more took on the resemblance of our Russian trawler
pictures. I also
advised the Captain that, in accordance with the International Rules of the
Road, Forrestal was the privileged vessel; the vessel
crossing our bow was coming from our port side and was therefore the burdened vessel.
In accordance with the Rules, the privileged vessel is REQUIRED to maintain
course and speed. The burdened vessel is
responsible for maneuvering as necessary to avoid collision. The Captain said
"Very Well, call me back if he does anything funny, and let me know what
the intelligence folks come up with." Only moments later I was back on the
phone, advising the Captain that
we had positive ID on a Russian ELINT (Electronics Intelligence) trawler, and
he had indeed done something funny. He had reached our intended track at
a range of 6,000 yards, and had then executed another 90-degree turn to port;
he was now on the same course as Forrestal, dead
ahead, at speed 8 knots. So we had a 12-kt speed advantage, and 3 miles
to contact. That meant that in 15 minutes one or the other of us must
turn or he, the Russian trawler, would get run over. I advised the Captain that in accordance with
the International Rules, he was burdened when he came in from our port
bow. Now that we are on a course to overtake him, he would like us to
believe that Forrestal, as the overtaking vessel, is
the newly ordained BURDENED vessel. I reminded the Captain of another clause in
the rules that says once a vessel is burdened; it may not maneuver to shift the
burden to the other vessel. He stays burdened until danger of collision
is past.
The Captain agreed with my assessment and asked what I recommended we do.
I recommended we hold course and speed until In Extremis that sketchy point at which
somebody has to do something or there’s going to be a crunch, then order up All
Back Emergency Full, Right Full Rudder, and we would miss him. I
had identified that point as 400 yards astern but threw in 100 yards for
cushion. The Captain once more came back
with his cheerful "Very Well" and added, "If he’s still there at
1,000 yards, give me a call back" "AYE AYE,
Sir!" Now we’ve eaten up about 1/3
of our cushion and the squawk box came to life.
"Bridge,
commander and I was a lieutenant, I explained as tactfully as I could that we
were not going to turn, leastways not to a pre-planned course. We were the
privileged vessel, and as such, were REQUIRED to hold course and speed. Next thing I heard from him was, Mr. Corbeille, I’m ordering you to turn this ship. With no attempt at tact, I advised him,
Commander, you cannot order me to turn this ship. If you believe the ship
to be sufficiently endangered, you, as Navigator, can summarily relieve me as
OOD. Then you can turn left, turn right, or come dead in the water. But
you cannot order me to turn. Do you want to relieve me? Rather truculently, he
then asked if the Captain knew about all this.
I told him yes indeed, and at contact range of 1,000 yards, I was to notify
the Captain again. You better call him again right now! No Sir, we still have a few hundred yards to
go. At this stage, I don’t recall the exact time, the bridge relief crew was
coming on deck, but no one was ready to be relieved. I spied my relief OOD
waiting in the wings and he wanted nothing more than to stay out of the way. Admittedly, I got a bit nervous, and I called
the Captain back when the trawler was 1,100 yards ahead. His only response was, I’m on my way up. He arrived momentarily with the PCO of
Independence following in his wake. He hopped up in his chair and said, Boy, he
is pretty close, isn’t he? Then he asked, and when do you plan to make
your big move? I told him that if it closes to 500 yards, we can order up
All Back Emergency Full, Right Full Rudder, and we will miss him. He asked:
"Is that what the book says?" I
told him, ”No Sir, The book says 400 yards, but
I was leaving in a little cushion."
He said, "We need only to maneuver in extremis to MINIMIZE
DAMAGE." That is a slight departure
from international rules, but was our standing order, arrived at specifically
to contend with harassment vessels. This is kind of a delicate point here
because International Rules of the Road says the privileged vessel must
maneuver when in extremis to avoid collision. The
30 knots! I heard the same refrain from several other people and I believe
it to be what happened. For our part, we spent the remainder of our cruise
unhampered in any way by any Russian flagged ship. We continued to see an
occasional trawler, but when we came into the wind to launch and recover aircraft,
they vanished as if by magic. The word seemed to have leaked out that this
carrier has an attitude problem he’ll run right over
you! And the Chief Engineer was happy because he got his uninterrupted
4-hour sustained speed run at 20 knots. Our
great Captain, nameless up to now, was Robert Bemus Baldwin, born in
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