USS Indianapolis (CA-35) c. 1945

USS Indianapolis (CA-35) c. 1945
(Tamiya USS Indianapolis in 1/700 scale, kit # 31804, © 2000).

From Wikipedia:
“Indianapolis was the second of two Portland-Class cruisers, launched in 1931and commissioned on 15 November 1932, she was the flagship of the commander of Scouting Force 1 for eight years, then flagship for Admiral Raymond Spruance from 1943 to 1945 while he commanded the Fifth Fleet in battles across the Central Pacific during World War II.

In July 1945, Indianapolis completed a top-secret high-speed trip to deliver uranium and other components for "Little Boy", the first nuclear weapon used in combat, to the Tinian Naval Base, and subsequently departed for the Philippines on training duty. At 0015 on 30 July, the ship was torpedoed by the Imperial Japanese Navy submarine I-58, and sank in 12 minutes.

Of 1,195 crewmen aboard, about 300 went down with the ship. The remaining 890 faced exposure, dehydration, saltwater poisoning, and shark attacks while stranded in the open ocean, with few lifeboats and almost no food or water. The Navy did not learn of the learned of the sinking until four days later, when survivors were spotted by the crew of a PV-1 Ventura on routine patrol. A U.S. Navy PBY flying boat crew landed to save those in the water. Only 316 survived…

“On 19 August 2017, a search team financed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen located the wreckage in the Philippine Sea lying at a depth of approximately 18,000 ft (5,500 m). …”

The kit received a hand-carved basswood hull with styrene strip keels and armor belt and scratched running gear. Screws were re-purposed from a couple of spare Dragon destroyer kits, and PE rails and details are from a variety of sources. Deck is by Blue Star, now Voyager (or something like that). Display tags printed at home. She is painted in ModelMaster and PollyS Acrylics (both defunct) with rattlecan spray for the boot and hull bottom.

She patiently waited a decade and a half on the shelf of doom before I got around to putting her in service!

May God bless those lost on Indianapolis and the families affected by war.