Trumpeter 1/350 USS Saratoga CV-3
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History
 The
USS Saratoga (CV-3) is the second of the two Lexington class carriers.
Originally proposed as one of eight post World War I battle cruisers,
the rising need for naval airpower made it apparent to navy planners that
her usage as a carrier was more critical. This decision was further strengthened
by the multinational terms of the Washington Naval Treaty which would
have eliminated all of these battle cruisers anyway. Having already had
construction started as battle cruisers (which interestingly had been borrowed
in large part from the British design of the HMS Hood), both the Lexington
and Saratoga were redesigned as carriers. Although Saratoga’s keels
had been laid down in September of 1920 she wasn’t launched until
almost five years later in April of 1925.
 Actually
the Saratoga probably should have been the name ship for the class in
that she was the first to have her keel laid down which happened on Sept.1920
vs. Jan. 1921 for the Lexington; she was the first to be launched which
was in Apr.1925 vs. the Lexington which didn’t hit the water until
Oct of 25, and the first to be commissioned Nov. 1927 vs. the Lexington’s
commissioning the following month.
 Another
interesting fact related to both these ships is that they were technically
in violation of the Washington Naval Treaty provision that carriers be
restricted to no more than 33,000 tons. Both the Saratoga and her sister
were in fact 36,000 tons, but because of a technical loophole that allowed
for an additional 3,000 ton of weight for antiaircraft protection purposes
the carrier were able to squeak by as built. One of the major reasons
for their greater weight, when compared to other aircraft carriers of
the time, was that the original armor protection design for the battle
cruisers was retained and it ran all the way up the sides of the ship
to what was now the flight deck. All other carriers only had armor protection
up to their hanger deck.
 The
Saratoga served with distinction in both the pre WWII years and through
out the war itself. Torpedoed by a Japanese sub in early 1942 she was
returned to the West Coast for repairs and refit. From then on she contributed
to or directly participated in many of the great Pacific battles including
Guadalcanal, Rabaul, Tarawa, the Marshall Islands, Iwo Jima, and raids
on the Japanese Home Islands just to name a few. Unlike her sister, the
Saratoga survived the war despite suffering bomb damage off Iwo Jima.
In the end she gave up her service life for the purpose of military science
when, in 1946, she became a target ship for the atomic bomb test at Bikini
atoll. Although she did survive the blast she was eventually sunk by naval
gun fire because of extreme radioactive contamination.
 The
Kit
New from Trumpeter is their second release of a Lexington Class Aircraft
Carrier, the USS Saratoga (CV-3). Only this time the kit is of this class
of carrier as it was originally built and appeared, in all its glory,
in the mid 1930s.
 Make
no mistake, this is not a reissue of the previous Lexington kit with just
a few minor changes thrown in. It is for all practical purpose a new kit
with many new parts including a great selection of pre-war navy biplanes,
but I’ll get to them later. I have heard from more than one model
builder that backdating the previously released Trumpeter Lexington kit,
which is as she appeared at the time of her loss in May of 1942, is no
small task. There are a number of significant modifications required to
bring this model back to its pre-war configuration.
 Obviously
Trumpeter was aware of this fact because their new kit of the Saratoga
(CV-3) has a lot of new parts. These new parts include a totally new flight
deck consisting of three sections, along with the correctly configured
bow and stern areas that supported this original flight deck shape. The
island superstructure and funnel sections, the four twin eight inch gun
mounts as well as other smaller equipment such as search lights, optical
range finders etc. are also new.
 Now
for the aircraft which include six each of a Grumman F-3F fighter, a Vought
SBU dive bomber, a Curtiss BFC fighter, and a Martin/Great Lakes TG-2
torpedo bomber. These aircraft are all cast in clear plastic including
the various struts for each aircraft. The struts are molded as a single
piece of flat clear plastic with only the vertical edges being painted.
This unique Trumpeter technique has the dual result of providing the upper
wing with need support while giving the visual impression that the forward
and rear struts have open space between them.
Markings
 Not
surprisingly the kit contains markings for both the ship and her aircraft.
Typically Trumpeter decals are of good quality and registration, and with
a little care in application have little if any tendency to silver.
Conclusion
My hat is off to Trumpeter for not only going the extra distance to
do the pre-World War Two USS Saratoga (CV-3) correctly, but also for doing
it in the first place. Needless to say I highly recommend this kit to
anyone interested.
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