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Old 04-17-21, 04:03 PM   #53
iambecomelife
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Join Date: Apr 2005
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I've always been concerned about the QSS small merchant/small Q-Ship model - it looks like someone scaled it differently from other ships. There were certain optimal measurements for cargo ships of all sizes, and it just looks skinny and oddly-proportioned, with a strange shape to its decks.

In my opinion it should be easy to replace this model with a real Q-Ship, like HMS "Cape Howe" (AKA "Prunella") or HMS "Willamette Valley" (AKA "Edgehill").

https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ship/394.html

https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ship/373.html

"Willamette Valley"/ Edgehill was a good choice as a Q-Ship because she looked like many other merchants. The "Reardon Smith" company had a large fleet of freighters that looked like sisters or near-sisters to her - flush deck, low funnel, and panels enclosing the bridge wings.

"Cape Howe" / Prunella was also a pretty good choice with similar, generic looks - midships deckhouse, two masts, and 4000 - 5000 tons.

Unfortunately for the British, the Q-Ship concept was a total failure in WWII! Unlike WWI, many WWII U-Boats carried over 10 torpedoes, and submerged attacks without warning were more common....both these ships were sunk with many casualties. The US, as you may know, had an even worse Q-Ship disaster, when the "Atik" was sunk with no survivors.
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