|
|
|
Click on this image to download a full page of more detailed photos
The e-mail asked for a quote for the guided missile cruiser RICHMOND K. TURNER . It also specified thatit should be built in a bottle larger than 40 ounce...
Well, the e-mail was from Texas and they do tend to think big in Texas... So, I sent the quote off and promptly forgot all about it. Most “big” ships never get their keels laid... Anyhow, this one did and for awhile the e-mails fairly flew back and forth. Photos showing a Leahy Class cruiser in various sea states were consulted and the sea state selected. Then I asked if he wanted it launching a missile (always wanted to try that.)...
However, just after this ship was commissioned and the sea laid a whole lot happened... Suddenly, the officer who commissioned it was 
posted off to Afghanistan. So, bit by bit, slowly over the months, he watched her take shape halfway around the world via his ship-board computer. Step by step, on the web: As the sea was laid; the hull carved; the macks fitted up with all their myriad of antennas; the CIWS Phalanx gatlings and the boats added; the smoke tinted and applied to the launching missile... Then one fine, early spring day when the sun was shining brightly, the RICHMOND K. TURNER, set sail for Texas... - and arrived on the very day he came home on unannounced leave! (He wasn't expected to be home for a year!) Four days later, when his wife advised me of the ship’s safe arrival, she reported: “He has not stopped gazing at it..." Which was really quite a compliment...
The RICHMOND K. TURNER was named for Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner (1885-1961) architect of American amphibious warfare doctrine in the Pacific during the Second World War. Nicknamed "the alligator" by the Japanese, Kelly Turner rose to command all US Amphibious forces in the Pacific by the end of the war. Promoted to Admiral in May, 1945, Turner was relieved by Admiral Nimitz in 1945 in order to plan for the expected landing on Kyushu, Japan. He latr served a the U.S. Naval Representative on the United Nations Military Staff Committee at New York and London, England, a post he occupied until his retirement in 1952.
Launched on 6 April 1963, the RICHMOND K. TURNER was the sixth of the ship of the Leahey Class to be sent down the ways. Described as a " "double ender" guided-missile frigate, the ship was especially designed to screen fast carrier task forces.TURNER ; 
The RICHMOND K. TURNER underwent four Southeast Asian deployments during the Vietnam war serving first as screen for the attack carriers CORAL SEA , INDEPENDENCE, and ORISKANY and later as an aviator search and rescure ship. Following the war, extensive modifications were made to AA defenses. The 3” AA mountings were removed and replaced with two CIWS Phalanx mounts. The ship was re-classified as a guided missile cruiser, in 1975, and finally decommissioned and stricken in March of 1995. It now lies in 18,000 of water near Puerto Rico where the USS Enterprise (CVN 65) Battle Group sank the ship during a Sink Exercise (SINKEX) on August 9th, 1998.
Building the RICHMOND K. TURNER in a large bottle is no more difficult than building a small destroyer in a smaller bottle - just more complicated, time-consuming, and certainly more nerve wracking. :) In fact, there are many days when you wonder if you are ever going to finish it. And some days, when things don't go right, all you can stand of such fine work is an hour or two before you have to quit in pure frustration.
Displacement: 8,203 tons, full load Length:533 ft. 6 in. (162m) Beam: 54.9ft (16.6 m)
Propulsion: 8 boilers, steam turbines, 4 shafts, 280,000 shp Speed: 32.7 knots, Range: 8,000 miles at 20 knots, Crew: 413. Missiles: 8 Harpoon SSM in two quad mounts, 80 Standard SM-2 missiles in two mark10 twin mount launchers. Guns: 2, 20mm Phalanx CIWS; 2, 40m saluting. ASW: 1 eight-cell ASROC launcher, 2 triple torpedo tubes.
Scale: 1 in 590 Length of model in bottle: 107/8 " (275 mm) Total Length of bottle: 24 " (600 mm)
Model ship photos & text © D.S. Smith 2003
Visit the U.S.S. Richmond K. Turner - home page of CG-20, the Leahy Class Guided Missile Cruiser U.S.S. Richmond K. Turner. Thanks Rick for the Turner patch!
Previous Navy Ship Next Navy Ship
Go to Gallery Indexes: The Navy Page * In A Light Bulb * The Yachtsman's Page * Sailing Ships * Motor Ships
Return to Scale Reproductions Home Index
