Norfolk and USS Wisconsin

A few weeks ago I managed to work in a short trip up to Norfolk. My primary goal was to tour the USS Wisconsin as well as see the Navy Base. I accomplished this!

 

 

First was a trip to the Nauticus Museum. Its a great little museum about US Navy history and you can pet a small shark and horseshoe crab.

 

 

The main even was of course walking the Wisconsin. I was amazed by how different she was the North Carolina. I know they are different classes but they are still battleships and should feel similar. They really didn't. Layout, lines, equipment and environment. All were different. One of the main differences is that the Wisconsin was modernized while the North Carolina was decommissioned in 1947. So the Wisconsin is missing all the machine guns and AA but did have the mounts for Tomahawk and Harpoon missiles. For all that she is a gorgeous ship. They really don't make them like that anymore. The sleek flowing lines of her superstructure and hull.

 

That being said, I was a little disappointed with the tour. There were huge chunks of the ship you couldn't get too. You could only get into the wardroom and some berths and compartments around it. The North Carolina basically let you roam the whole ship. Bridges, engine room, magazines, under the turrets etc. Still, overall, a worthwhile trip and makes 2 of 7 Battleships that I have now seen.

 

 

After the tour of the Wisconsin I took a harbor tour which took you right past the navy ship yard. I got to see a whole stack of modern ships.

Arleigh-Burke

Ticonderoga

688 Class Submarine

The mighty Ike

LPH

The Ike and George H Bush

USS North Carolina

I had the opportunity to visit the USS North Carolina down in Wilmington, NC just under 2 years ago on my 30th Birthday. It was a wonderful trip and I got to truly appreciate how big and powerful those ships were.

I have always loved battleships and its my goal to visit all 7 that are available to see in the USA. I also recently got to tour the USS Wisconsin which will be the topic of my next post.

Technical and operational history can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_North_Carolina_(BB-55)

Just to give you an idea of how big these shells are, I stand 6 foot 5 inches.

Re-Imaging.

I think its time for a new name and focus of this blog. It was originally meant to focus my Warhammer 40K hobby with the odd post about other stuff.

However since that time circumstances have changed. I have ended my love affair with 40K due to a few reasons. Mainly 6th edition if I have to be honest.

Over the last 2 years I have also been introduced to a whole range of new miniatures games which has really opened my eyes to what's out there. Great game systems and wonderful models.

My primary focus has now moved onto Flames of War which I find to be a wonderful game. With that, and the other games I play, I just don't think "Military of Ultramar" is appropriate any more. The focus now will be far more generic in scope with posts about any and everything that catches my fancy.

That being said I have no idea what to call it or what image to use as my banner so I am open to any suggestions. I am going to give myself a few days to think on it.

So this is notice to my few loyal followers.

Till next time.

Suddenly....Shermans: Part Deux

My South African armour is now painted. I haven't put on the decals as I don't have them yet but that should hopefully occur in the next month or two. I also added 2 M10C's to the tank park. While it isn't strictly historically accurate to have the C variant (The 6th Armoured Div only had the base M10's) I put them in so if I want to use other books to run the list I can. I am specifically thinking of the new Market Garden book where the 17pdr gun has been uprated to AT15.

The Company is out of the FOW Forces book, is Confident Trained and comes in at 1745 points. Should hopefully be able to use them in a game next weekend.

Group shot of the company.

4 Sherman's of the HQ Platoon

2 Platoons of Sherman's. 1 BF (front), 1 PSC (rear)

2 Platoons of Sherman's. 1 BF (front), 1 PSC (rear)

4 Stuarts

M10C's

Suddenly....Shermans

My latest brain fart (and what has been occupying my time and money for the last 2 months or so) is my Flames of War tank company based on the South African 6th Armoured Division which was stationed in Italy during 1944 and 1945.

Yes, I am South African :)

Now, given that there are no briefings to cover this I have decided to use a generic British Tank Company out of the Forces book. This allows me to take loads of Confident Trained tanks. It also allows me to take most of the vehicles that were in use by the Safa's

Having researched the division quite a bit I discovered that the South African's made use of pretty much every mark of Sherman (I-V) including the MkIV in at least one instance. I suspect that this is due to being attached to the US 5th Army during part of their time in Italy.

They also had access to 76mm armed Sherman's as well as 105mm armed versions. Sadly, no British Briefing allows me to take these variants as well Fireflies. Oh well. Normal 75mm and 17pdr versions will have to do.

They also had access to Stuarts as well as M10's though again, sadly, do not appear to have had access to the M10C's

In building up my actual army I decided that since they had such an eclectic variety of Sherman's I would try and get as many variants as possible in.

Using a combination of Plastic Soldier Company, Battlefront Open Fire and Achtung starter boxes as well as individual blisters I have Mk2, Mk3 and Mk5's mixed in. I also managed to acquire some M5A1 Stuarts for cheap off Ebay. I am now just waiting to build up my funds to get some M10's as well as some Commonwealth Infantry and some Sexton SPG's

Everything is built and is just waiting primer and paint.

20 Sherman's and 4 Stuarts. Enough to give the Hun and the Eyties a run for their money