1/350 USS Vincennes CA-44 (Trumpeter)

Model kit manufacturers tend to focus their subjects on well-known and decorated warships with illustrious careers. This is the case with the kit used in this diorama, Trumpeter’s USS San Francisco. Earning 17 battle stars and fighting legendary battles, San Francisco no doubt deserves to be recreated by scale modelers for centuries to honor her legacy. Unfortunately, not all warships have such happy endings. Such is the case of San Francisco’s sister, USS Vincennes. Vincennes would only earn two battle stars in her short career. At Midway, Vincennes watched as Japanese planes mortally wounded the carrier she was supposed to protect. Two months later, she met her brutal end in the waters off Guadalcanal with her fellow sisters Astoria and Quincy at Savo Island. Her war was short and costly. Shouldn’t ships like Vincennes be remembered just the same? I certainly believe so, and this belief is what started me along this project. By the time I was done, I had created the only Vincennes/San Fran that I know of in 1/350 scale.

 The first phase was research. New Orleans Class cruisers varied significantly in design and appearance. Vincennes, the final ship of the class, was quite different than San Francisco in appearance. Some changes, like moving around AA guns were simple. Others, like moving turret barbettes were not. Below is a list of modifications I made to turn San Fran into Vincennes. All references were from nav.source photos or Shipcraft 13: New Orleans Class Cruisers by Lester Abbey.
 

• #1 Turret barbette moved aft 9ft in scale
• #1 Superstructure removed forward of #2 turret, exposing turret 2’s barbette
• Removing and recreating the 3rd level of the bridge superstructure. The wings were cut back and not enclosed on later ships in the class (Quincy and Vincennes)
• Making the uppermost superstructure platform flush with the bridge below it
• Not installing any quad 1.1 gun directors
• Adding appropriate radar
• Adding 20mm gun platform on the forward superstructure
• Moving location of aft 20mms.
• Scratch building a new boathouse for the hanger deck
• Adding supports for the forward superstructure (between superstructure and #1 funnel
• New funnels (Quincy and Vincennes had narrower funnels)
• Reshaping aft superstructure 20mm platform
• New paint scheme
• Redesign masts

The kit, as stated, is Trumpeters 1/350 San Fransisco with the follow addons

• Brass barrels
• Model monkey funnels
• Black cat 5/25, Quad 1.1, and 20mm, (HIGHLY RECOMMEND)
• PE from GMM
• Paint from AK interactive
• Figures 1/350 Fujumi IJN sailors (ironic, huh?)

The scene created is Vincennes preparing to depart Pearl Harbor for her final mission: supporting the invasion of Guadalcanal. The inspiration for the scene must be credited to Robert Stubbs, another modeler whose own superb display for San Francisco was found on this website. The yard barge is an ISW kit and the vehicles and cargo are from l’arsenal. The water was created using Chris Flodberg’s smooth water method which proved to be extremely easy and produced wonderful results.

I hope this project serves two purposes:

• To honor Vincennes and her brave sailors who made the ultimate sacrifice in their country’s time of need
• To inspire my fellow model makers to seek out and build less famous, less well-known subjects whose stories ought to be told just the same.

Gallery updated 10/13/2020

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