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Trumpeter 1/350 USS Saratoga CV-3
 

Trumpeter 1/350 USS Saratoga CV-3

By Gerry Nilles

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.