HMS Ledbury, mid 1942

[ArnoldAmbrose]

       G'day All, the Hunt class type II destroyer HMS Ledbury is a ship that I've wanted to model for some time. She was laid down on 24th January 1940, launched on 27th September 1941 and commissioned 27th January 1942, her Commanding Officer being LCdr Roger Hill. After a work up she was assigned to patrol, screening and escort duties between Scapa Flow and Iceland.

       In June/July 1942 HMS Ledbury took part in the ill-fated Russian convoy PQ-17, as close escort. She initially distinguished herself there but on the 4th July was ordered to leave the convoy, as were the rest of the escort ships. At the time all thought they were going up against the Tirpitz and her battle group. Although Ledbury only carried 4-inch guns and no torpedoes her CO intended to make a fake torpedo attack to draw the enemy's fire off other ships, and if possible to ram the Tirpitz. But it wasn't to be.

       In August five weeks later HMS Ledbury was assigned to the close escort of the vital Malta convoy, Operation Pedestal. Over the next week of the operation she and her crew again distinguished themselves by shooting down enemy aircraft, rescuing survivors of sunken ships (at one point entering an inferno to do so), and was one of the ships that got the badly damaged tanker SS Ohio into Grand Harbour at Malta. Had the tanker and her cargo not made it Malta would have had to surrender sixteen days later, with enormous ramifications to the war in North Africa and the Mediterranean.

 

       Operation Pedestal was the pinnacle of HMS Ledbury's career and I've modeled the ship as at that time, or as near as I could anyway. I started this as an Airfix Hotspur conversion in 1/600 scale but the majority of the model turned out to be scratch built. I used the hull shell and decks of the Hotspur, plus the boat davits. The gun mounts and searchlight came from a Belfast kit, the launch was possibly Hotspur or Belfast, and all of these were modified to some degree. The anchors came from a different kit, and everything else was scratch built.

 

       Here she is, HMS Ledbury in mid 1942.

 

       In his book "Destroyer Captain" Roger Hill mentions his high chair on the bridge a couple of times. I included it in the model. The chair is not very big, the seat being 1mm square, is painted darkish brown and is on the port side of the bridge, as ascertained from a photo of the actual bridge. It's a little blurred, the camera insisted on focusing on the foreground.

 

       Also in his book, and available on the net is a rather dramatic photo of HMS Ledbury at full speed off Iceland. Naturally I can't find it again right now. 😠 It might be here at https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205016238 . I've tried to take this final photo from the same perspective.

 

For those wishing to see the build process:-

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235142452-hms-ledbury-hunt-class-type-ii/

 

       No doubt I've made some errors but I think I've come close, within my limited skill level anyway. Roger Hill is deceased now, but I hope he would have approved. Thank you all for your interest. Regards to all, Jeff.

 

 

[stevehnz]

Nice build, it looks the part to my eye. If I might share a little history, I'd read Malta Convoy in my youth & marvelled at the courage of men like Roger Hill, imagine a year or two later, at a local ski week which I attended as early teen, there was Captain Hill as I then knew him, as one of the hut parents, with his second wife & their two daughters. I don't know who left me the most tongue tied (bloody unusual for me. ) the Captain or his elder daughter, but I have great memories of a very happy week with a man who put his heart & sole into ensuring we all had a good time. When Destroyer Captain came out & I realised the whole of what he'd gone through, I was awe struck & humbled. He served for some years on the local harbour board & made a strong contribution with practical solutions to the issues that confronted the board.  I believe he did have the ability to ruffle some feathers on occasion, something that comes out toward the end of Destroyer Captain.

Steve.

[ArnoldAmbrose]

56 minutes ago, stevehnz said:

I believe he did have the ability to ruffle some feathers on occasion, something that comes out toward the end of Destroyer Captain.

       G'day, yeah he's completely honest about that in the book, that at times he would be difficult to serve under. But he'd been serving under war conditions for several years BEFORE WW2 started so it must have taken it's toll. And I can only imagine how he and the crew felt after they'd learned what had happened to PQ-17 after they left toe convoy. If there is a positive to that it is that it made him and the crew determined to see the Ohio into Malta.

       It must have been very interesting to personally meet men like that (and their eldest daughters 🙂). Thank you for the comments and memories.

Regards, Jeff.

[robgizlu]

Jeff - that is a great turnout and you've packed a lot of detail into a small space.

A great tribute to a distinguished destroyer - Nice one!

I didn't manage to get a Captain's chair in mine 

Rob

[Dancona]

Lovely job there Jeff, its hard to believe that it is 1/600, the cleanliness of your build at that scale is remarkable, plus the captains chair !!!!!

 

Cheers

 

David

[beefy66]

Great finish there Jeff another fine model to add to your ever growing collection.  

 

Stay Safe

beefy

[ColonelKrypton]

Well done Jeff.

 

cheers, Graham

[Andy H]

Nice one! Some great little touches in the build thread that I'll be ripping-off in the future.

[dnl42]

Very nicely done! 

 

And I struggle with 1/350 and 1/400...

[Ngantek]

A lovely build Jeff. I'm always astonished by how you can build such small detail entirely from scratch. It's always hard to really force the brain to realise quite how small it is from these photos, without having something of a similar size in front of you; absolutely miniscule! most of the components would struggle to fit in a pair of sharp tipped tweezers.

 

Re: Roger Hill's memoirs, I agree they're very much worth a read for those with any interest in the realities of operating on Destroyers during the war. I think Hill deserves a lot of credit for his honesty about the mental toll of wartime, and the events regardless to whether it paints himself in a bad light. Very interesting to hear @stevehnz's recollections.

 

It's a great tribute to the Ledbury and those who served on her. This is a build which as you know, I've been looking forward to for a good while, and it certainly doesn't disappoint! Thanks so much for posting, and for covering the build so thoroughly in the WiP. It'll be an invaluable resource for the rest of us to steal learn from!

 

Andy

[GourmetPigeon]

She's beautiful Jeff, a super build, well done!

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Thank you very much everyone for your very kind words. They're greatly appreciated.

 

2 hours ago, Ngantek said:

invaluable resource for the rest of us to steal learn from!

I consider it the sharing of ideas and knowledge - one of the great benefits of modeling forums such as this. 🙂

 

Regards to all, Jeff.

[Faraway]

That really does look very good.

I do like the chair, something I think I might include, with your permission ?

Jon

[ArnoldAmbrose]

41 minutes ago, Faraway said:

I do like the chair, something I think I might include, with your permission ?

Thanks, permission granted, but errr haven't you already done that? I seem to recall some park benches on a recent cruiser build. 🙂

Regards, Jeff.

[Faraway]

1 hour ago, ArnoldAmbrose said:

Thanks, permission granted, but errr haven't you already done that? I seem to recall some park benches on a recent cruiser build. 🙂

Regards, Jeff.

Park benches are so ‘yesterday’.

A Captains chair ?

Now that is so much more ‘today’.

It’s these little details that add that certain something.

Jon

[Donald]

I haven't seen a Hunt in 1/600 before - good use of parts from other kits, too. A lot more bridge detail than found on the IBG Hunts as well.