IJN Akagi equipment question

**VinceM** · #1 07-08-2017, 08:09 PM

Researching my next ship IJN Akagi, got a question for you naval buffs out there: What are these? Two on each side near the bow. Torpedoes? Buoys?

**herky** · #2 07-08-2017, 08:28 PM

i thought they were buoys that were trailed on cables to cut mines loose but thats just a guess

**John Dell** · #3 07-08-2017, 08:30 PM

I believe they are paravanes used for mine sweeping.

**herky** · #4 07-08-2017, 08:35 PM

like these

**VinceM** · #5 07-08-2017, 09:08 PM

Thanks. I wouldn't have thought an aircraft carrier would be used for mine sweeping. Guess I learned my new thing for the day.

**goodduck** · #6 07-08-2017, 10:31 PM

That's paravane, just about every warships in WW2 carry them.

**Rubenandres77** · #7 07-08-2017, 10:47 PM

That's a word and a ship equipment I didn't know.
Today I've learned something new

**IJN Lukas** · #8 07-09-2017, 01:07 AM

@VinceM - scratch build or published paper model?

**Don Boose** · #9 07-09-2017, 05:57 AM

As John and Herky point out, those are indeed paravanes. They are part of minesweeping gear called the Oropesa system. As Allen says, most ships carried that kind of gear in WWII. I first learned about Oropesa minesweeping gear as a Navy ROTC midshipman in the 1950s, and discovered that even aircraft carriers carried that gear when CMDRTED built his version of the JSC model of the escort carrier USS Card: http://www.papermodelers.com/forum/88601-post49.html

Here is a good article on British WWII minesweeping (all countries used essentially the same techniques). The Oropesa gear is covered on page 7: http://www.edinburghmodelboatclub.or...ginfofinal.pdf

According to the article, the name comes from HMS Oropesa, the trawler on which the gear was first tested in 1917.

And Ruben: you can add the words "otter," "pendant," and "depressor wire"to your vocabulary.

Since I ended up being commissioned into the Army, in which I spent 30 years, I never had the chance to actually see this gear in action.

I look forward to your model of Akagi, Vince, paravanes and all.

Don

**VinceM** · #10 07-09-2017, 09:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IJN Lukas

@VinceM - scratch build or published paper model?

Paper model. Right now I have the Paper Model Studio 1/350 free version. The paravanes aren't on the model. The screen shot is from youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biPCDsPP1fw

I want to get the Angraf 1/200 version someday, but right now not enough $.