by Bob Nandell
1/700 USS Canisteo AO-99 (Scratchbuilt)
The old 'jumboized' T3-S2-A3 type fleet oiler USS Canisteo AO-99 was first commissioned in 1945 and served the fleet into the early 1970's before going into the reserve fleet. It was decommissioned in Oct. 1989 and towed to Great Britian in 2003 to be scrapped. As late as 2006 the scrapping had still not been accomplished because of British environmental concerns. The Canisteo underwent numerous re-fits and re-builds during its long career. My scratch-build, made of sheet plastic around a balsa plug with sheet plastic, balsa, note-card paper, and broom-stick bristle making up the upper works, is a rough approximation of what Canisteo looked like circa 1968. The photos portray her alongside the Kitty Hawk in the Pacific in the '60's.
