USS Hobart Bay (CVC-5)



As the US faced more and more regional conflicts it felt the need to be able to quickly send US Marines and their equipment to different places around the globe.
As the building of new fleet carriers or Assault Ships would take too long and be too costly they decided to use commercially available ships instead.
The Royal Navy had already taken this path during the Falkland War using the container ship Atlantic Conveyor as an emergency carrier vessel.



The US Navy acquired 7 Colombo Express class container vessels of over 330m long. A flat deck was fitted and containers were used to shelter the aircraft on board from the elements. The main flight deck held AV-8 Harrier II aircraft, later replaced by the Lockheed F-35B.
The aft deck was used for various helicopters.





TomZ

Really fantastic!  Love the airwing and shelters. 

The Revell 1/700 kit I presume? 

Ship is Revell 1/700
Aircraft are mainly Trumpeter, with the exception of the F-35s. Those are from Shapeways, 3D printed.

TomZ

An awesome device indeed! 

As soon as I saw the pics I thought 'It's a USN Atlantic Conveyor' a ship I have a great admiration for.

Excellent work Tom 

top model of a brilliant idea there 

Fantastic work

Very good.  Now build a 1/350 version...

Ah, another person has discovered the wallet-emptying wonders of Shapeways! 

Nice work! 

Quote from: JoeP on September 12, 2018, 04:06:43 AM
Ah, another person has discovered the wallet-emptying wonders of Shapeways! :

I've bought a few 1/700 scale aircraft from shapeways and have been impressed with the variety and quality...but yes the pricing is dangerous, and fitting a whole airwing for a proper aircraft carrier would be staggering.

Wow another beauty ! Love the idea and have always wanted to build somat similar to the Atlantic Conveyor.

PS-The Hobart needs a crane or two

Colombo class ships, eh? Will it hold just one more thing...? 

Quote from: Nick on January 26, 2019, 07:31:25 AM
Colombo class ships, eh? Will it hold just one more thing...? 

Quote from: Nick on January 26, 2019, 07:31:25 AM
Colombo class ships, eh? Will it hold just one more thing...? 

We're going to have to stop calling you "Young Nick" if you keep cracking comments like that 

I had to come back and look again, and save a few pics for future reference. I just love this thing ! The mix of a/c is superb. I love Harriers but the Sea Lightning just looks better and better every time I see it. Big, shapely, all those bells and whistles hanging off of it. The only thing that would make this thing better would be a Huey and a Sea King lol

Cheers !