USS WINSTON S. CHURCHILL - DDG-81

The Building of USS WINSTON S. CHURCHILL

A “Plug” was commenced in 1998, by Allan Pew of APS Models, a long time friend. Allan cast a beautiful fibre-glass hull, some 2.19 meters (86.25 inches) with a beam of .315 Meters (12.5 inches).

It was decided from the outset to name the model USS WINSTON S. CHURCHILL, DDG-81, in honour of the United States Navies 31st ARLEIGH BURKE Class Guided Missile Destroyer. President William Jefferson Clinton had previously announced the naming of this vessel to a joint session of the British Parliament on the 29th of November 1995.

Following this initial success, she went back to the dockyard to carry out more construction work. By January 2000, most of the superstructure was in place including the large complex mast. She was still red, yellow and grey, but at least she started to resemble a man-o-war. All her upper works, from the main deck, including the mast up are built of Evergreen Styrene. I build all my models from this plastic and probably have bought enough of it to have shares in the company by now. A small amount of Aluminium tube runs through the yard-arms to give them support and guardrails are square brass stock.

In May and June 2000, she was finally ready for painting. At last she started looking like she was supposed to. She was painted in US Navy Haze Grey, of which a sample was gathered from a visiting US Navy Destroyer. “Would ya mind just dabbin’ a bit of that paint on this? Handing out the back of a club name tag. “Thanks mate”. They look at you a little funny to start with, but you get used to it.

Over the coming months she was fitted with all her upper-deck lighting and red spot lighting, Flight Deck lights and Navigation Lights. As an association rule, we must show navigation lights when we sail at night, but the guys thought I was a little mad when she showed up for the first night run and turned on over 80 lights.

Another system fitted, was the first (at least in our club) operational and scale VLS (Mk 41 Vertical Launcher System). The model initially could fire 4 scale SM-2 ER Anti-Aircraft Missiles from scale sized tubes in the forward launcher. Using a selector switch and then firing a by servo activated micro-switch, she could fire one missile at a time through one of the four open hatches.

This system has been a little more refined and I can now fire eight missiles using one electronic switch, which resets after each firing. They can be fired in quick succession with two or three in flight at the same time. So far over 80 missiles have been fired and she has a pretty good kill record of two other models, a sixteen foot dingy and crew, a spectator's car and a small child (No significant damage to the small child!)

I am extremely proud of my model of CHURCHILL, and she continues to perform outstandingly. A small joke with this model has been running around since I decided to build her. One of our members, Jonathan Evans, living in Ontario, Canada, managed to get his hands on a USS WINSTON S. CHURCHILL ball cap, which he kindly sent to me as a gift to wear when sailing my new command. Little did he tell me that he had also bought another one with scrambled eggs on it (Commanding Officers Cap) which he had given our association VP, Peter Cole, on a visit to Canada. On the commissioning day, Peter wades up to me, and then waits for my reaction to him wearing the senior officers ball cap. He then swaps caps with me, telling me that he and Jonathan had been waiting to do this for months. To add further insult, on Teresa's and my recent visit to the US and Canada (honeymoon coinciding with an invitation to attend the launch of the latest Arliegh Burke Class DDG, USS MASON at Bath Iron Works), Jonathan comes out wearing another USS WINSTON S. CHURCHILL ball cap with more scrambled eggs on it (Admiral's Cap) and promptly hands it to Teresa to wear. I can see who is going to run this household! They always say that behind every Admiral there is always going to be someone outranking him, and it’s usually his wife.

The Admiral was also a special guest at the commissioning of the CHURCHILL on the 10th of March 2001 in Norfolk, Virginia, USA.

THE MODEL

The model can rotate and elevate her FMC Mk 45 5” Mod 4 gun, turn on some 80 lights in three independent lighting systems (Navigational, Flight Deck and all Upper-Deck), and start and shut down a Sikorsky SH-3D Seaking helicopter (to be replaced by a SH-60R Seahawk), also with rotating main and tail rotors, all navigation lights and sound effects.

The Model also has the ability to fire up to eight scale SM-2 AAW Missiles fired from the forward Mk41 VLS. General Quarters Alarm, Missile Firing Alarm and ships siren are also driven by remote control.

The model was constructed from Evergreen Styrene Plastics and has taken some two years to complete. She now sails the waters of Australia, showing the flag of TASK FORCE 72 Scale Model Ship Association Incorporated, where she serves as my “Flagship”.