Contre torpilleur Kersaint 1:200 WAK

[Michael Mash]

Nice work Andrew.
Your ship has a long sleek look.

The information from NimitzFan was excellent about the influence of the prop rotation on turning. Thanks for sharing it.
Mike

[De Ruyter]

Hello Mike,

It is indeed a long sleek destroyer. Sometimes I have the idea that I am building a light cruiser.

Well, back to the Kersaint. The last posts I complained a lot. Things didn't worked out and progress was slow. Probleby because of my unexperience . But today I had the spirit. More boxes were fitted at the back of the bridgestructure. some railing was fitted. Because the platform for the stairs was to small I couldn't use the Laser Cut ones I have. I tried to fix the stairs from the kit, but was not satisfied withe the result. The looked like the stairs from a wreck. So I made a mixture from lc ladders, stairs and handrailin. The funnel was fun to build. Fitting is oke. For the small pipes I used as usually styrene tubes.

That's for now foulks!

Ciao Andrew

[kentyler]

great work on the stairs
its always fun when you have to improvise a little

[Don Boose]

Beautiful work, Andrew.

I think the line between the big French destroyers and other nations' smaller light cruisers was not a very distinct one. The Italian Capitani Romani cruisers were 142m long and the Japanese Tatsuta/Tenryus were 143m long (Kersaint - 129m). The Capitani Romani mounted 8 135mm guns, Tatsuta/Tenryu 4 140mm guns (Kersaint - 5 138mm).

Don

[NimitzFan]

Don, in many cases, the major differences is armor. Cruisers usually have some armor and so are slightly slower, and destroyers (normally) don't and so may be faster.

Some countries, (Japan in particular), used light cruisers as flotilla leaders for destroyer squadrons. Those cruisers had to be small and light in order to keep up with the destroyers they were supposed to lead into the charge against the enemy fleet. Both the US and Britain built slightly larger destroyers for the same function.

In the end, I can only come up with one example in which the "Flotilla Leader" function produced a significant benefit in combat - HMS Hardy at the first naval battle of Narvik - and she was sunk. I'm sure that there were others, but in several of the night battles in the Solomon Islands, Japanese light cruisers paid a terrible price for their role, and never scored in return.

[Don Boose]

Good info, NimitzFan. Thanks. The Capitani Romani class seemed to barely qualify as cruisers: very little armor. Apparently they were intended to be replies to the French Fantasque and Mogador destroyers.

Good point about the role of HMS Hardy at Narvik and the Japanese light cruisers used as destroyer flagships during the Solomon Islands battles.

In any event, Kersaint and its sisters were beautiful and interesting ships, and Andrew's model is great to see.

Don

[NimitzFan]

I'm enjoying his skill too!

[didibuch]

Hi Andrew,

nice ladders, nothing to see about any problems with them. The Kersaint looks great.

Greetings
Dieter

[De Ruyter]

Hello guys,

Thanks for your kind replies. I also like the discussion about light cruisers or Flotilla leaders. Interesting is that the Hr.Ms. Tromp and Hr.Ms. Jacob van Heemskerck originally were designed as flotilla leaders and during WWII were classified as light cruisers. They were about 132 meters long and Tromp had 6 15 cm guns. Speed was about 32.5 knots.

Ciao Andrew

[Joe711]

Nice work, Andrew!
I have now joined the project, but I like it!
Best regards, Joe