Jump to content

HMS Harvester 1943 British H Class Destroyer 1:700 IBG


Julien

Recommended Posts

HMS Harvester 1943 British H Class Destroyer

1:700 IBG

 

spacer.png

 

The H Class destroyers were built for the Royal Navy in the 1930s. They were a traditional bridge/wheel house layout with two turrets forward and two aft all containing a single 4.7" QF gun. Torpedo tubes were placed amidships.  In addition to the 18 ships being built for the RN 6 were ordered by the Brazilian Navy as the Jura Class, however at the start of WWII these were purchased by the British Government. 

 

HMS Harvester was one of these 6 ships, and by the time of her commissioning was on her third name!  Originally the Brazilians called her the Jura, in RN service she was going to be HMS Handy , but was renamed Harvester is case she was confused with the old HMS Hardy which capsized after sustaining damage in the Norwegian Campaign.  Harvester was one of the ships which lifted troops from the beaches at Dunkirk  She made 4 trips rescuing 2189 men. As a result of this operation her rear torpedo tubes were replaced by a 12 pounder AA gun. Additional 20mm Oerlikon guns were added to the bridge wings.  As a result of being assigned convoy escort duty the front A turret was removed and replaced by a Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar.  Convoy duty followed and she helped sink U-32 in October 1940. A refit followed in early 1941 at Barrow where she was built before returning to convoy duty.  A lengthy refit in Dundee would then occur in 1942 converting her to an Escort Destroyer.  The original single depth charge rail and two throwers were increased to three rails and eight throwers.  The total number of charges carried rose from 20 to 110.  To accommodate this Y turret at the rear was also removed.  The original director and rangefinder were replaced by Type 271 radar. On 3rd March 1943 while defending convoy HX228 she forced U-444 to the surface and rammed it. Although badly damaged she rescued 5 survivors from the submarine. Luck was not on he side though as the next day she was sunk by U-432.  Only a handful of her crew (and survivors from the William C Gorgas) survived to be rescued by the French Corvette Aconit which had rammed and sunk U-432 during this action. Aconit would rescue 4 survivors from U-444, 60 crew from the Harvester and 12 survivors from the Gorgas.  The men who died on the Harvester are remembered on the Chatham Naval Memorial. Soon after this the Admiralty made it forbidden to carry out ramming attacks due to the damage vessels would sustain, and the danger it put assisting vessels in. 

 

 

The Kit

This is a re-boxing of IBG's HMS Hotspur kit. This kit contains new parts for HMS Harvester in her 1943 Escort Destroyer 1943 fit.  The kit is waterline and there are 3 sprues of parts, a small PE fret and a sheet of decals.  Construction starts with the guns. The two 4.7" turrets are assembled and the four 20m are made up, these are each one piece of PE which needs folding to make the guns up, The 20mms then go into their enclosures which are made up from a plastic base with PE sides,  Various deck housing and structures are built up next including the main searchlight projector housing, main mast, and 12 pounder AA gun + mount.  The aft gun mount is made up and the turret added, these  are added to the after deck as this is fixed into hull with the rest of the decks.  The reload racks for the depth charges are also added to the aft deck and the torpedo tubes amidships. 

 

spacer.png

 

The forward deck housing for B gun are added and then the bridge structure behind it is built up. The funnels are added and then the radar housing. In PE the jackstaff and railings are made up and added along with the ladders and Carley float  launchers. The ships boats and their davits can be added next. Moving aft with the construction the rest of the railings are added, then all the depth charge throwing stations can go on. At the very rear the three depth charge rails are made up. To finish off a full rigging diagram is provided. 

 

spacer.png

 

Decals

The decal sheet provides pennant numbers for HMS Harvester (H19),  as well as the ships ensigns. Other markings are provided though not for use with this boxing. 

 

spacer.png

 

Conclusion

If you like your ships 1/700 and waterline then this is for you. The quality of the very small plastic parts is very good though care will be need to remove them. The addition of the nice PE makes this a well rounded kit of this relatively unknown ship. Highly recommended. 

 

bin.jpg

 

Review sample courtesy of 


logo.gif
  • Like 4
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...