War Shots: 2001 IR/CWCC Nationals - My Photos | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Again, a bad year for me taking action photos, but here are some photos of boats in the pitts. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | Two large tents provided plenty of shade from the 90+ degree heat.
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 | Two of the four-strong contingent of Viribus Unitis-class dreadnoughts,
on the left is Steve Andrews' ship prior to completion of it's "Allied" paint scheme, the boat on the right belongs to Marty "the Legend" Hayes.
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 |  | Carl Camurati was one of several captains who brough multiple boats. Here are his Italian battleship Andrea Doria and Japanese battleship Yamato.
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 | Site Host Don Fisher ran the Valiant for the Axis-Allied battle, then switched to the more maneuverable Espana for the rest of the week.
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 |  | Larry and David Ricci brought the North Carolina and destroyer Gearing, though the Gearing saw little action.
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 | Capt. Ed Shepard brought the DKM Lützow but left after suffering an engineering casualty.
Will Montgomery and his Bacon Maker are in the background.
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Warning: If you want to see something other than photos of Derfflinger-class battlecruisers, go elsewhere now. If you do want to see photos of one of the best looking warship classes ever built, continue on. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Here are several photos of Ken Kelly's Best of Scale winning SMS Derfflinger on Sunday. With it's lined decks and crisp paint job, the Derfflinger started out looking good and just got better as the week went on.
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On Monday my SMS Hindenburg (foreground) and Ken's SMS Derfflinger (The Derfflinger Duo) line up for photos before the sortie against the Allied Fleet. Told to
hold back and wait for the Allies to go "On Five" and run, Ken and I had this little photo session then were talking about the detail work we wanted
to complete when our revelry was interupted by an un-expected visit by Chris Decker's USS Kentucky. After letting him know we weren't going to run he left and we then waited until released by the Axis High Command to chase stragglers.
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|     Bill Garthaffner took these photos of the Hindenburg and Ken's Derfflinger chasing down and sinking Don Fisher's Valiant.
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|    By Wednesday most of the detail work was done (except for the foc'sle and main mast rigging), but repairs also took time to do. Here Hindenburg "passes in review" and displays some rail repairs that were needed. The third photo shows Ken's finely detailed boat deck.
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|   Wednesday also saw the arrival of Tim Filmyer and his SMS Derfflinger, shown here later in the week with some damage and on Wednesday with Hindenburg. Tim's Derfflinger and my Hindenburg were the original "Derfflinger Duo."
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|   The Derfflinger and Hindenburg were looking good Friday morning with all details complete. Here are some photos of both boats together.
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|   Tim's Derfflinger join the Derfflinger and Hindenburg for a photo shoot. Together they were called "Tri-Pact Lite" in honor of the original Tri-Pac which had also used Derfflinger-class ships back in the early 90's.
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|     Here are some photos of SMS Hindenburg Friday morning.
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The photos at left shows the damage after one of the freakest incidents I've ever seen in four years of battling. The three Derfflingers were chasing Kurt Lewis' IJN Aoba when she went under a bridge. The Derff's followed and emerged from the other side to find that the Aoba had doubled back. Rapidly turning around to resume the chase, Tim's Derfflinger somehow drove itself between two concrete bridge supports where it wedged tight. Only by sending Cameron "5 Dollars" Moury of Cameron's Boat Recovery Service into the water was the Derfflinger dislodged.
That was minor compared to what happened to Ken's boat. Witnesses state that as the Derfflinger went back under the bridge it veered under the low-hanging center column, was pushed underwater, and sank! I had moved back to the other side of the bridge when I heard the sickening "crunch" of one of these events. All I could think was "I hope that wasn't me!" because the Hindenburg had not yet emerged. What a relief it was when she emerged, the sole survivor of a chase that should have resulted in Kurt's sinking. Instead the encounter with an "On Five" 3 unit cruiser left one 4 unit battlecruiser sunk and another disabled.
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