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A free model ship plan!

My wife and I went shopping in Dartford this afternoon, and whilst we were there I happened to walk into the local branch of WHSmith … and saw the latest issue of MODEL BOATS magazine was on sale. What particularly caught my attention was the free plan that was included. This is a 1:144th-scale plan of a World War II-era Royal Navy monitor, HMS Vulcan. (There was no real monitor called Vulcan but as the model is not intended to be an exact replica of a real ship, this name is certainly in keeping with the sort on name the Royal Navy would have used.)

The Royal Navy used monitors during the First World War as a means of bombarding enemy coastal defences. They were generally heavily armed for their size – often with second-hand armament from old pre-deadnought battleships and obsolete armoured cruisers – and were built quite quickly. They were not expected to have a long service life, but not all of them were scrapped after the War ended.

Two of the largest monitors, HMS Erebus ... ... and HMS Terror ... ... were retained in service and several others were used as training ships or converted into minelayers. One of the latter – HMS M33 (which was renamed HMS Minerva whilst she was a minelayer) – is still extant, and has recently been restored to her original condition at Portsmouth.

During the Second World War HMS Erebus and HMS Terror were very active. HMS Terror performed sterling service in the Mediterranean until she was sunk as a result of being bombed by German Junkers Ju88 bombers on 22nd February 1941 soon after leaving Benghazi, and HMS Erebus provided naval gunfire support for the invasion of Sicily, the Normandy landings, and the amphibious assault on Walcheren. They were so successful that two new monitors were built, HMS Roberts ... ... and HMS Abercrombie. Posted by Robert (Bob) Cordery at 1/18/2014 07:52:00 pm The First Rule of Wargaming and the Spirit of the Wargame Links to my websites Links to my favourite websites