I started building my first ship, the USS Salt Lake City in 1983, with a set of Jeff Poindexter's plans, and a sheet of cheap lumberyard plywood. After several travails, I managed to visit Decatur, Alabama and Dan Hamilton's Fall 1984 regionals, where I actually got to see ships, and see them battling, and where I received lots of great advice from Dan Hamilton, Tom Jass, Jim Lisher, and others. Armed with this advice, I returned home and finished her in July of 1985, just in time for the 1985 Nats. She was a typical rookie cruiser, in that she featured a bow gun and a stern gun, a single pump, and systems that were generally ineffective. At one point, I launched her (in June, I think) with 4 RE-260 motors for propulsion, driving all four props with Dumas plastic props. Oops. I had plenty of advice (via tape) from Tom Jass, but good advice can only get you so far, especially when you're a 16 year old kid who has no clue how to apply it..
Travails of construction aside, she (and I) made our rookie appearance at the 1985 Nats, and what a Nats it was. Being a wee lad, I was overwhelmed to meet the likes of Terry Darby, Steve Milholland, Stan Watkins, the inimitable Fluegel, and all the other legends of the hobby. I was also quite relieved to find out that we were going to have a separate rookie fleet to help reduce frequency problems, and give us new guys a chance to get our feet wet in slightly less hostile waters. So it was that on Sunday night, I prepared my ship for what was going to be a very interesting and informative week.
Monday began with the first fleet battle. That is, the one with the veterans... It was very exciting to see the vets slugging it out, as the Allies, who had some practice that Spring with the new singleshot guns whupped up on the Axis. Then, it was time for our battle. The only rookies prepared for Monday's battle were myself, and Brian Schneider whose father graciously provided him with a working ship, the DKM Admiral Scheer. We were joined by Jeff West's Wisconsin, and Gerald Roberts' IJN Nagato, both of which missed the main fleet battle due to technical difficulties. The battle began with both - yes, both - battleships going dead in the water in the middle of the lake. A rookies' paradise! Brian busily set to pecking away at the Wisconsin, with mild results, while I attempted to get my guns to fire on the Nagato. I started with my bow gun, lining it up, firing, and hoping to hear the crack of balsa on hull skin, or at least some penetrable superstructure. But what's that? The gun fires, but I don't hear anything. Some expert analysis and coaching at lakeside revealed that my rounds were landing somewhere near the opposite shore - about fifty feet away. Thus, the bow gun was emptied, without result. Then, it was time to sail around the Nagato, and try lining up the stern gun. What's that again? Seems that the stern gun was spurting, and landing about a foot from the stern. One nice looking spurt landed about 6" from the Nagato's stern, but what with rookie reflexes and a balky gun, about the time I actually got lined up, it was empty. Thus, my very first combat sortie ended with no damage given, and (I think) no damage received. Bummer! (And you rookies these days think you have humble beginnings!)
The Closest I Got to Hitting Nagato
First lesson learned: Guns should be mounted very, very securely so that they don't wiggle around during battle and end up shooting your bow deck, or landing 6" from the stern. And enough clearance should be given around the stern gun, so that the hose doesn't get pinched when you put the deck on. Oops...
After the Veterans got another sortie in, the second sortie began with both battleships absent, and the two cruisers alone on the lake. Uh-oh - and the Schneiderlet had working guns. Needless to say, I was feeling a bit nervous. Luckily, Brian's seamanship was about as poor as mine, especially since I ran out of gas and had to call five and run for it. Needless to say, my first battle did not result in an Allied victory. However, I did survive, and I considered that a good start. I also learned another lesson: be aware of how much gas you have, and be sure you have enough before putting the ship on the water. Beware of leaks, too!
Tuesday's battle was a three-way affair, with myself and Brian being joined by Jeff Lide, who was borrowing Tom Jass's spare HMS Shropshire, as his Yamato was looking like a maintenance nightmare (it didn't work). This battle also went two sorties, and was fairly exciting, as Brian and I were both getting the hang of maneuvering, and firing, and our ships were both working a little better. We were both also getting a kick out of shooting at the large target area offered by the Shropshire. However, our pleasure was interrupted slightly, as Brian gave me my first damaging ram. Luckily, it was only a small crease, and Martin Schneider was gracious enough to show me how to patch it at lakeside with a little silkspan and Ambroid. It was with great thanks that the battle continued, and we pursued a little more (mostly) harmless rookie fun. Surprisingly, once the scores were totalled and split up, Brian's ram penalty left me the winner of my second R/C Combat battle. Not exactly the preferred method of winning, but I was happy nonetheless.
Wednesday was a different matter, however. I had brought two different battery packs with me to Nats, and I elected to use the other one on Wednesday. Unfortunately, one of the cells in the pack had been shorted briefly, and was no longer charging properly. This battle also saw Chris Anders join us with his DKM Lutzow, and Eric Noble with his HMS Exeter. However, this was meaningless to me as my Salt Lake City got slower and slower, while Brian put several holes into (and through) my ship. Another lesson learned: internal armor is a very good thing! As the second sortie began, I discovered that I had a choice available to me: I could move, or I could pump. Hmm... Well, in the end, neither option did me any good, as my Salt Lake City found the bottom for the first time. The Axis won this battle, of course, and I resolved not to use the bad batteries in the future. As another interesting note, Wednesday night, I was more formally introduced to Carl Camurati, who sold me a most excellent singleshot interrupter to put on my stern gun and eliminate my spurting problems. I was up rather late installing this goodie, but I looked forward to having a good stern gun on Thursday...
Thursday's battle saw the introduction of yet another new battler, Scott Uttech, with his USS Salt Lake City (Another one?). This battle saw the three of us Allies pitted against the two Axis, and it was a much more interesting affair (for me) than the previous battles. I had guns! Yay! And so, in the second sortie, when Chris Ander's Lutzow ran aground on an island, I was able to back in with my new and improved stern gun and pepper him with hits, including a couple of belows which sealed his fate as his pump didn't work, and he slid off the shelf and into a watery grave. Needless to say, I was ecstatic, and if I wasn't hooked before, I was now! The Shropshire also sank, but excess damage on the Lutzow, and ram penalties against the Axis resulted in an Allied victory.
Thus, we rookies approached Friday's battle with the war in the balance. The Allies and Axis were very close, much like the Allied and Axis veterans were also close, as the Axis veterans had been chipping away at the lead the Allies had amassed on Monday. We went into battle, and in the first sortie, Chris Anders' Lutzow went dead in the water next to shore, and the three of us Allies approached in a line and each made strafing runs on his helpless ship with our bow guns. I saw a splash and thought I got a good hit on him, but no doubt the other two Allies also believe it was their shot that did the deed, but either way, the Lutzow again settled to the bottom, this time with one below the waterline hit. I lubed my ship up for the second sortie, and as we continued the battle, it was my turn to become the cripple as my cheesy model railroad universals (!) began to slip on my prop shafts, and I lost a lot of thrust. I ended up dead in the water in nearly the same location that the Lutzow was in the first sortie, as Brian's Scheer exacted revenge. Luckily for me, though, his shots were high, and mostly in the superstructure, and I survived the sortie, as the Allied rookies won their little Nats war. Unfortunately, the Allied veterans didn't fare so well, losing the 1985 Nats, by 975 points. However, that was of no moment to us Allied rookies, as we'd won our battle. And I learned another valuable lesson: Use quality components in the drive system!
So it was that on Friday night, I was rather surprised and very, very pleased to be awarded the Rookie of the Year trophy for 1985. While my ship wasn't always as effective as the Scheer, the fact that I had built it myself, and done a very nice job of it accrued in my favor. And so it was that thanks to a lot of good tape talking with Tom Jass, and some good advice from Dan Hamilton and others at a regionals in Decatur, I finished my first ship and won Rookie of the Year.
But the story doesn't finish there - Back in those days, the true maniacs went back to the lake on Saturday, and got in some more battling. So it was that I found myself battling one-on-one against Eric Noble's Exeter, and learning yet another valuable lesson: don't tweak your guns too hard! This I did, and as a result, when my propellant cooled down, they stopped firing, and Eric beat me by about 45 to 20, or something awful like that. Ah, the good old days!
I spent my first winter in college at Michigan Tech University, with my trusty ship there to keep me busy during the dark and cold winter. I replaced the guns with new ones which were mounted more securely, and built better, built a new pump, a new watertight box, completely rewired the boat, and installed a new turning system. 1986 was going to be the first year with the new speeed rules, and rumor was that turning systems were going to be the rage. I also heard that the new "secret" rubber hull technology was going to be big, so I applied some silicone goop to the inside of my hull, so that I could keep up with the Camurati's... And I'm sure I also did a lot of other silly stuff that I don't remember, but what do you expect of a college kid?
I arrived at the 1986 Nats with my Salt Lake City thoroughly reworked with new (and much more effective) systems. And with rotten batteries. Oops. Luckily, James Foster had some spares that he loaned me for the week - what a guy! This year, we only had one rookie, Curly Barrett, but due to continuing frequency problems we decided to go with an "A/B" fleet system with the "B" fleet being the "less experienced" battlers. Again, I had no real complaints...
This time, we actually got in two fleet battles per day, and so it was that in Monday's first battle, Jeff Lide's Yamato sailed with Curly's Lutzow and Brian Schneider's Scheer, against Jeff West's Wisconsin, Danny Schultz's Colorado, and my Salt Lake City. Most attention was paid to the large ships, and I got a kick out of shooting at the large and hard to miss (?) Yamato with my faster and much more maneuverable little cruiser. Damage was light, as our gunnery was poor, but we Allies won the first sortie by about three hundred points. However, the second sortie featured a ram by Danny's Colorado in the Yamato's side, and there went the lead. I sailed in front of the Yamato's triple bow guns and got a funnel blown over the side. It was attached by a string to act as a float, and promptly stood up behind the ship like a water skier. By this time, I was really enjoying shooting at the Yamato, and continued to chase her to the far end of the lake, where it appeared that a shot from my bow gun caused her to go dead in the water. Unfortunately, as I pulled around the other side and backed in for stern shots, the string got caught in my props, and I was dead in the water and unable to take advantage of the crippled Jap ship. However, the Wisconsin got a few shots in, and somehow the Allies pulled out a small victory.
USS Salt Lake City fires at Curly's Lutzow
Monday's second fleet battle saw less damage, and less excitement, as the Allies won by 200 points, but with about half the damage of the previous battle. I suspect that I was still busy pecking away at the Yamato, with (obviously) marginal effect...
Tuesday's first battle saw Gerald's Nagato added to the Axis fleet, and the two Pensacola class cruisers of Wayne Stevenson and Scott Uttech added to the Allied B fleet. This battle featured several rams (fortunately not involving me), one of which resulted in the Yamato being out for a while patching, as I wasted my ammunition on Gerald's Nagato, shooting superstructure and casements, no doubt. The second sortie began with the Allies having a ram penalty deficit, and while I was busy having fun with my favorite Yamato again, Brian got some good shots into the Wisconsin, and the Nagato got a good sidemount into the big ship, sealing her fate as she sank shortly thereafter. Oh, well, so much for that 350 point lead...
Tuesday's second battle was Wisconsin-less, and Curly's Lutzow was designated Allied for some odd reason, like lack of Allied ships. Either way, the pursuit of the Yamato continued, and the Allies (ahem) won a small victory, but it was small taters compared to the earlier sink of the Wisconsin. And as an added bonus, it was decided that for the rest of the week, we would be mixed in with the veteran battlers. Lions and tigers and bears, oh, my!
Thursday dawned late after night battle, and battling started in the afternoon with the very first Campaign battle. I had been pestering Tom about the idea over the winter, and together we had cooked up some rules, and here we were about to try them. If I had realized then what a monster this little wargame was to become, I would have tried to kill it immediately, but, well, it seemed like a good idea at the time!
Anyways... Campaign began, and the Axis launched a small "convoy" ship, and I, being the industrious Ally that I was, ventured over to attack it. Thus began a little game where I would take a couple of potshots at the convoy ship, and when the Axis battleships descended on me, I would sail in a fairly large circle, and come back to the convoy ship and take another few potshots at it. One pass was especially nice, as I got the stern gun lined up and fired three shots and saw three splashes, right at the bow of the little ship. Howver, it was to no avail as the convoy ship survived. I, on the other hand, was merrily doing yet another circle when Brian's Scheer wandered in front of my cruiser and got ram sunk. Oops. I was pleased when I pulled my ship out that I had no bb damage, but I think the veterans were probably just taking it easy on me. The convoy ship, on the other hand, had three very nice belows in its bow. Yay! Now, if I could only do that in fleet battle! After a while, I got to go back out, and actually took some damage from some of the nasty Axis battleships, and managed to frighten one of the vets when I turned my pump on. Seems they weren't used to seeing a cruiser throw that much water through the air. Anyways, I survived the battle, and had a good time, while the Axis swept on to victory in the first Campaign battle ever.
That left Friday as the last day of Nats, and one more fleet battle to get my little cruiser in with the big boys. In this case, the big boys included James Foster with his mean and nasty Vittorio Veneto... James paid me back for the loan of the batteries by putting several holes in the Salt Lake City, and also paid me a lesson as I shot at him with my stern gun, and he commented, "Superstructure." It was then that I realized that X turret was definitely not a good place for a stern gun, as it was so high that it was easy to miss and shoot too high. Oh, well. I was also revisited by the plague of the model train universals which I had foolishly tried to use again. Fortunately, the SLC survived the battle, and that night, I made a set of homemade universals out of brass tubing and piano wire, for the expected Saturday insanity.
Saturday was more enjoyable than usual, as the new universals meant that my ship was working better than it ever had before.
My first battle on Saturday was a small fleet battle with myself, Steve Milholland, and Terry Darby against Gerald Roberts, Fluegel, and Dirty, I think. Both fleets had a battleship and two cruisers - Alabama, Portland and Salt Lake City vs. Nagato, Lutzow, and Myoko. I was giddy with the newfound performance of my ship, and I zipped around and turned circles that were nearly as tight as the Alabama's. I even managed to shoot the enemy somewhat. I have no idea anymore who won, but it was a good, fun battle with plenty of amusement for all. I even got to use my cruiser's powerful turning motors to out-muscle Fluegel's Lutzow in a tugboat contest. What fun!
My final battle of 1986 was rather interesting in that Steve Milholland and I swapped ships and had a one-on-one battle. I got a taste of big ship battling, as I enjoyed sidemounting my cruiser, and I think Steve enjoyed his taste of cruiser battling (He hadn't built a cruiser yet.) Either way, sidemounts and inexperience prevailed over experience with a semi-reliable cruiser, and I left Nats with the resolve (but not the resources) to build a battleship.
The next two years, 1987 and 1988 found me busy with college, and co-op jobs, as I attempted (successfully) to pay for my education. However, in 1988, my co-op job left me in Owego, NY, with the possibility of heading down to Maryland for their Fall regionals. Since my USS Michigan was experiencing construction difficulties, I got busy on a refit of the ol' Salt Lake City. She was in pretty rough shape, as the cheap plywood was showing its age, and the systems were the same junk that was in it in 1986.
I started work by installing a new and improved propellant tank, and remotoring with Dumas 4.8V motors and new and spiffy Exact Miniatures props. No more cheesy plastic props and universals for me! I also built new and improved guns, and located the new stern gun in Y turret. Unfortunately, I hadn't finished rebuilding the superstructure before the battle, but the folks in Maryland were kind enough to let me battle with what I had.
So it was that I showed up for the Fall 1988 Northeast regionals.
Due to the curious (at the time) lack of Axis at the battle, the sides were US vs. the World, with Bob Amend's QE, Marty's Invincible, and Rick Schultz's Capitani Romani as the World, and the US consisting of myself, Will Montgomery with his USS Salt Lake City (another one?), and John French's USS Northampton. Other US battleships were around, but unable to battle.
The first sortie began with some excitement as after a few minutes, my cruiser went out of control and proceeded to beach itself on an island with most of it's hull showing. Seems it was a little quick, too... Anyways, Bob showed up and proceeded to sidemount, and soon my cruiser was sunk. However, while this was going on, Will was busy peppering the QE with dual stern guns, and Marty also had control problems. Thus, after being allowed to patch and rejoin the battle for the second sortie (and doing a little impromptu rewiring), the second sortie began with my ship working much better. During the second sortie, Bob sank from all his damage, and we cruisers spent the rest of the sortie chasing Rick's cruiser around. Somehow, the US fleet won the battle...
The second fleet battle started with yet another mishap - my newly wired in receiver pack immediately went dead, and my ship beached itself at my feet. Not feeling quite so foolish this time, I heard Rick muttering about "paybacks", and Bob was coming in to attack, so I declared it sunk. And began removing the wiring I'd added to isolate the receiver from the main power circuit. The other two Allies were having trouble, as Marty's ship was working better, and three on two is tough when the two are cruisers and are facing two battleships and a cruiser... Again, I was allowed into the second sortie, much like a moth to a candle. Steve Andrews with his new California joined in this sortie, too, and John French withdrew because of rudder difficulties. This time, my ship ran well, up until Marty (who launched late) put his ship in the water. Then, my cruiser immediately went out of control and beached, and sank again. Hmm... Maybe the problem wasn't my wiring after all... Steve also had problems and declared sunk, and so the World fleet had gained a significant lead.
Fortunately, Will had a spare radio and let me borrow it for Sunday, and life was so, so much better! Sunday's battle began with a bang as I put several rounds into Marty's Invincible, and after battling a bit, managed to get mossed. After taking some damage (and being able to finally turn the pump on - yay!), the battle continued, and Marty's Invincible manged to take a lot of damage too. The second sortie began with Bob forgetting to turn his pump on and nearly sinking. Marty, on the other hand, actually did sink. Bob's turn came soon, as the US cruiser fired round after round into his hull until the QE joined the Invincible at the bottom of the pond. This battle, the US fleet had turned its fortunes around and won a victory.
My last battle for the weekend was a three way "Texas Death Match" between myself, Rick Schultz, and Danny Schultz, with his Maryland. We would battle until only one ship was left afloat, and (generously) battery changes were allowed for the cruisers. The battle began with all three ships jockeying for position and shooting each other up. Danny was the target of choice, as he was the hardest to miss. We soon ran out of ammo, and after a brief refit began the second, and third sorties... The madness continued, as Danny's ship went out of control and began circling. It was cruiser heaven, and I tried to make the most of my ammo, as Rick tormented both of us. However, Rick was the first victim as he decided to drop out due to an inoperative gun. That left Danny and I alone for the fourth sortie. The sortie started out with me really worried, as my unscreened pump sucked in a bit of silicone which partially blocked the outlet. However, Iwas game, and the battle continued. Danny and I fought it out, and my guns were working better than they had yet that weekend, as the Maryland began to lose its battle with the incoming water. It wasn't too long later that the Maryland slipped under the waves, and I was the rather surprised victor.
I had a good time at this, my first regionals, and resolved to return in 1989, hopefully with the Salt Lake City's refit completed, and a spiffy new superstructure. Unfortunately, this was not to be, as the soaking of the weekend conspired with the lousy plywood to result in a rotted, ruined hull. Over the winter, the systems were salvaged from the Salt Lake City, and her tired hull was laid to rest in the local landfill. Her combat career was over, and in 1989, I would have to put another ship on the water, if I wanted to battle.
My final verdict on the Salt Lake City was that it was a great ship to learn with, and despite its problems, it gave me more years of good service than I really deserved. Indeed, when I finally got her working well, she turned out to be quite a formidable ship. I sometimes wish that I hadn't trashed her hull, as with today's Zombie Elixir, the poor old ship could probably have been resurrected. Unfortunately, that's not the case, though, and if I want to relive the nostalgic experience, I'll have to build a new hull. Fortunately for me, I still have her old turrets, and many other pieces, so that when I finally do build another one, I'll always have a bit of the ol' SLC with me...
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