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Letters
Information on HMAS Australia II for model 1 September 2008 I am a member of Taskforce 72 and I am planning to build a scale model of HMAS Australia to honour my uncle who served on her and died last year. I am looking for photos that show details on the deck. If you can help me, please contact me via email or on the numbers below Best regards,
At this URL: http://www.navyhistory.org.au/shopping/ship-plans/ you will find that the Naval Historical Society of Australia Inc. have plans of HMAS Australia 11 available for sale. Here is a 1941 photo of the cruiser.
I already have the plans from the Naval Historical society. The ladies there have been very helpful. I am having trouble with the deck detail. Can you remember where the torpedo launchers were. The doco states 2 x quadruple launchers (I am assuming one each side) However I have no idea what they look like apart from the attached photo. Any help you could give would be most appreciated. (sorry about getting your name the wrong way around) Cheers
Chris, In WW2 I served in all three County Class cruisers, Australia, Canberra ( sunk in her at Savo ) and her replacement Shropshire. In this photo from 1934
The quad torpedo tube mounting with 21 inch diameter torpedoes is located on the upper deck, one each port and starboard sides just aft of No. 3 funnel, and before the catapult. They were capable of being trained out to a right angle position for firing. Interestingly Canberra was the last ship within the Commonwealth navies to do away with enriched air driven torpedoes, it was a dangerous mix liable to ignite and blow up. The Japanese navy with no such qualms, retained that method of propultion to drive their Long Lance fish. Here is Canberra firing a torpedo, you can see the ends of the torpedo mounting. Hope that helps. Regards,
I found that the Historical Society plans were not detailed enough so I purchased the blueprints from the British Admiralty. If you ever find a photo that shows the blast shield on the torpedo launcher I would be grateful if you could send me a copy. I will start construction next year and let you know how I go if you wish. Warmest regards
I am not sure that there is a blast shield on the quad torpedo mounting, here is the only picture I can find of a mounting just after a fish has just left a tube.
Its taken from a Polish publication about HMAS Canberra. Regards, |
