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DD-758 USS STRONG
Sumner Class Destroyer

For this destroyer, the second ship that Don Wilson served on, we decided to try something different: A real rough sea. Needless to say he was delighted with the result. “You’ve done it again!” was his exultant e-mail when she finally sailed into port.

Working to a photo that I’d discovered on the web of a Gearing class destroyer in heavy weather (one has to wonder how the photographer managed to snap that one!) I laid the sea with a giant wave halfway down the bottle, then the hull was carved so that the bow was complete - instead of ending as usual at the water line. The ship was then finished as normal - complete down to the signal flag and the 20 mm AA. Flying spray was then added around the bow and this is the effect: A ship, in a storm, rising out of the sea with spray flying - all a mere 6 5/8 inches (168mm )long. The effect was so spectacular that a second crew member contacted me within months to ask if I could build him one, too. Fortunately, this ship turned out just as good as Don’s which pleased me greatly as it is always difficult building an exact copy.

Following the loss of the first U.S.S. STRONG, the Fletcher Class destroyer DD-467, July 1943 off Rice Anchorage in the South Pacific, the name was quickly transferred to one of the new Sumner class ships being laid down at the Bethlehem Steel Co., Yard in San Francisco. The new USS STRONG, DD- 758 was commissioned on 8 March 1945 and on 31 May she stood out of port en route to Pearl Harbor. Training exercises were held off Oahu from 6 to 20 June when she departed to begin escort duty for convoys between the Marshall and Caroline Islands. From 27 July to 31 August, she served as convoy escort and antisubmarine screen in the Ryukyu Islands. She entered Japanese home waters to patrol air-sea rescue stations on September 1 st 1945.

Following the end of the war in the Pacific the ship transferred to the Atlantic Fleet where she saw service in the Arctic and later in the Med. The outbreak of the Korean war in 1950 saw the ship again in Far Eastern waters where it was used for shore bombardment until return to Norfolk, Va. in 1952.

In 1959, the ship participated in "Project Mercury" and recovered the "Big Joe" capsule off Puerto Rico. Finally, in October 1973, she was transferred to Brazil and re-named the Rio Grande De Norte (D-37) serving with Brazil’s navy until 1995 when the ship was sold for scrap. In June 1997, while under tow for the Far East to be broken up, the ship foundered and sank off the African coast, near Durban, South Africa.

DD- 758 STRONG was the second U.S. warship to bear the name of Admiral James H. Strong (1814-1882), Commander-in-Chief of the South Atlantic Squadron 1873-1875. Admiral Strong was best known for his actions during the Battle of Mobile Bay, in the Americcan Civil War, where he was the first to ram the Confederate battleship Tennessee and subsequently received commendation for his initiative and valor.

Displacement: 3,320 tons Full Load Length: 376 ft. 6 in. (m) Beam: 40 ft 10 in (12.45 m)
Speed: 36.8 knots Crew: 345 Armament : 6, 5 inch; 12, 40mm; 210, 20mm A.A.; 5, 21 inch torpedo tubes. Range: 3,300 nautical miles (km) at 20 knots
Scale: 1 in 740 Length of Model: 6.375"(160mm)