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HMS Glory/Ocean Korean War AA Gun Fit Query


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Do any of BM's Maritime Massive have any details on the AA gun fit for HMS Glory or Ocean during the Korean War? From study of not-so-close-up photos, I know that each had an extensive collection of single 40mm Bofors, but I also think I see twin pom poms still fitted?  Does anyone have any close-ups to share, please? 

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Cheers, guys!

 

I found this photo, showing Ocean in transit through the Suez Canal, apparently en route to the war zone.  In this shot, it appears she has single pom-poms between her 40mm Bofors:

 

IMG_0006

 

I'm going to build the 1/400 Heller Colossus as either Glory or Ocean in Korean War fit. Which one I build will likely depend on the best references!

Edited by Paul Bradley
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British Carrier Aviation by Friedman shows that the AA fit on these types varied a lot: their initial fit with pom-poms and 20mm Oerlikons being replaced by 40mm single and twin Bofors.  BY 1950 the standard fit is said to have been 19 40mm, but several carriers had less, Glory having 18 (breakdown not specified).  This is a strong implication that the pom-poms were all gone by 1950.  Ocean was built with a small number of 2 pdrs.  Given the length of the barrel in the photo above I suggest that this is what is present, rather than the shorter barrel of a pom-pom? 

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The photo of OCEAN in the Canal appears to show only 40mm Bofors - I can't see a 2pdr gun anywhere.  The guns visible seem to be three single 40mm Mk III in the after sponson and two single Mk III in the midships one, with a twin 40mm Mk V mounting, which had replaced a quadruple 2pdr mounting, between these sponsons (she carried six of the latter mountings when completed).

Edited by Our Ned
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The barrel (or barrels) of the third gun is distinctly shorter than those in the other mountings.  Hence my comment, given the quote in Friedman about 2 pdrs on Ocean.  It would make sense that they were fairly rapidly replaced, and certainly by 1950.  The six pom-poms were the initial standard for the class.

 

The L'Arsenal kit of Colossus gives Oerlikons and pom-poms for the ship as completed, but by the following year the Oerlikons had been replaced by Bofors and the ship was transferred to the French as Arromanche.  I don't know whether the boxing as Glory is any different.

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4 hours ago, bootneck said:

HMS Glory had four quadruple 2pdr pom-pom and 16 single 40mm Bofors  -  Source:  HMS Glory by Neil McCart (ISBN 0-90777193-9)

I agree re the quad 2pdr still being on the ship during the Korean War. Here is a picture of her in Kure with quad pom pom clearlly in evidence in from of the bridge.

 

sm navy 077 HMS Glory and HMS Birmingham - Kure, Japan

 

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Thanks everyone for the comments. I'll have to search out an inter-library loan copy of the Glory book, as they seem to be quite expensive online! 

 

The Heller kit is labelled Arromanches, but provides instructions on how to build as Colossus - but that's of little help as Colossus became Arromanches in 1946... The guns included in the kit are very crude as you might expect. I already acquired 4 sets of  l'Arsenal single Bofors, each of which contains 4 guns. The White Ensign PE set includes 4-barrelled pom-poms, so that's covered as well - I'll just replace the barrels with something less flat. There are also single and twin 20mm Oerlikons. 

 

I also have some Sea Furies and Fireflies, which were acquired from Naval Models, a Dutch company that does a Karel Doorman in this scale and who kindly allowed me to buy just the air wing. 

 

 

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22 hours ago, Paul Bradley said:

Cheers, guys!

 

I found this photo, showing Ocean in transit through the Suez Canal, apparently en route to the war zone.  In this shot, it appears she has single pom-poms between her 40mm Bofors:

 

IMG_0006

 

I'm going to build the 1/400 Heller Colossus as either Glory or Ocean in Korean War fit. Which one I build will likely depend on the best references!

Sorry, I can't contribute to the topic but thanks for sharing this photo as my Dad is possibly standing somewhere on deck in this photo!

 

Duncan B

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23 hours ago, Paul Bradley said:

Cheers, guys!

 

I found this photo, showing Ocean in transit through the Suez Canal, apparently en route to the war zone.  In this shot, it appears she has single pom-poms between her 40mm Bofors:

 

IMG_0006

 

I'm going to build the 1/400 Heller Colossus as either Glory or Ocean in Korean War fit. Which one I build will likely depend on the best references!

Sure that's not a MKV twin 40mm Bofors with the angle hiding the 2nd barrel ?

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2 hours ago, Geoff_B said:

Sure that's not a MKV twin 40mm Bofors with the angle hiding the 2nd barrel ?

I'm with you and Our Ned: Mk.V twin Bofors.  I seem to see a cover over one of the magazines similar to those on the single Bofors in the foreground.  I'm also inclined to agree that that looks like a quad pompom forward of the bridge in the Kure shot.  Can't explain that: maybe one or other photo is incorrectly dated.

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3 hours ago, Duncan B said:

Sorry, I can't contribute to the topic but thanks for sharing this photo as my Dad is possibly standing somewhere on deck in this photo!

If your Dad served aboard HMS Ocean then that makes 3 of us on BM who's father served on it!

 

Mine was a yeoman of signals on board Ocean in its May - October '52 and May - November '53 deployments.

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9 minutes ago, Seahawk said:

I'm with you and Our Ned: Mk.V twin Bofors.  I seem to see a cover over one of the magazines similar to those on the single Bofors in the foreground.  I'm also inclined to agree that that looks like a quad pompom forward of the bridge in the Kure shot.  Can't explain that: maybe one or other photo is incorrectly dated.

Paul’s photo was of Ocean while my own was of Glory. Ocean lost her quad pom-poms for mkV twin Bofors sometime between 1946 and 1950.

Edited by EwenS
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2 hours ago, Whofan said:

If your Dad served aboard HMS Ocean then that makes 3 of us on BM who's father served on it!

 

Mine was a yeoman of signals on board Ocean in its May - October '52 and May - November '53 deployments.

Mine was onboard in 46-47 with 805 sqdn, then Triumph 47-49 with 800 sqdn on Seafire XVII and the Sea Otter

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2 hours ago, Whofan said:

If your Dad served aboard HMS Ocean then that makes 3 of us on BM who's father served on it!

 

Mine was a yeoman of signals on board Ocean in its May - October '52 and May - November '53 deployments.

 

16 minutes ago, Geoff_B said:

Mine was onboard in 46-47 with 805 sqdn, then Triumph 47-49 with 800 sqdn on Seafire XVII and the Sea Otter

I don't have his exact dates to hand but know he was onboard during the Korean war (so the likelihood of him being in the photo isn't high in reality but a possibility). He was an ERA and spent a lot of his seatime on carriers including Indefatigable, the Ark, Ocean, Albion, Centaur and Bulwark as well.

 

Sorry for the thread hijack.

 

Duncan B

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No worries, Duncan! Have at it! If the three of you who had fathers who served on Ocean have some photos, please post! If I can find the correct info on her Korea configuration, I'll build her in tribute to them. I'm not wedded to either ship at the moment, but that would definitely sway the decision! 

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