H-39 Study.

The purpose of this series is to show how the Hindenburg's frame, skin and superstructure appear with all the frills removed. These photos were taken before the ship was battle ready, but just after it completed its first sea trials and stability tests. Items of particular interest are; 1/4" 5-ply aircraft plywood ribs at 2" spacing, solid bottom, fared propeller shafts molded into the hull, Atlantic flare at the bow, 1/8" plywood ribs at stern in a dense 1" spacing package...and more. Shuffle through them and see what interesting methods were used.

This ship is currently operational, yet living the life of the Tirpitz...battles here and there, causes concern on the waves when present, and has sunk only a freighter and a few target barges. The real thing was to be 62,000 tons approx. The model weighs in at 43 lbs.

[View 1] Starboard view of hull and superstructure assembled. The super appears light and hazy because it is 100% covered in 2 " aluminum tape. This allows for detail to be etched on, and helps hold damage together. It also makes a smooth finish almost instant, and easily repairable. NOTE: If you use aluminum tape, the wood below needs to be dense and sealed with several coats of lacquer. This allows for damaged tape to be removed without taking wood with it. Sealing all the wood in the ship is a good idea anyway, as it reduces warping caused by water.

[View 2] A shot from the starboard bow, showing the graceful lines of this class of ship.

[View 3] The stern, from slightly above and far back to the port. There is a lot of deck on this ship! The main gun barbettes are ABS plastic stock.

[View 4] The bow from head-on. See how thin the stem is? It extends back several inches in this fashion. It’s base is ¼" plywood. Later shots will show you how the inner bracing was built.

[View 5] The bow from below...here the thin sectioning is easily seen. The bow is keel-built, all the way back to barbette A. With cross bracing and solid plywood keel, this is the strongest part of the ship...yet the thinnest. As you look at the waterline, you can see how wide the flare is. It bends inward, and is both concave and convex lengthwise. This made the skinning a very difficult task. Fortunately, it also appears that this "tension" in the wood adds strength.

[View 6] The first shot of the drive section of the hull. All 3 shafts are internal to the hull right up to the screws, unlike other German designs which place the outboard shafts exterior to the hull. The outboard shafts pass through 4 ribs. The skin on those ribs is made of 2 layers of 1/16" sheet, laid down in lamination. Some strips were used where sharp bends were not needed. You can also see the triple rudder arrangement, accurate to the builder’s designs, which give this 6' 4" battleship its phenomenal turning diameter of just 13' from a dead stop.

[View 7] Another view of the shaft housings. The highlighting shows off the shape beautifully.

[View 8] The ship from above. The aluminum shines brightly in this shot. It is now covered with the same light gray paint as the freeboard. The paint used is FS-36440 "Light Gull Gray". It is the closest match to the two color photos of Bismarck and Prinz Eugen that I could find. Notice also the difference in color of the deck forward of Anton's barbette, and then aft. The deck from just ahead of A barbette to just aft of D barbette is of 1/16" ply. The extreme ends of the ship sport 1/8" ply. Originally, the 1/16" section was 1 piece! It was cut into three to allow for the middle of the deck to be removed for re-gassing, thus leaving the turrets undisturbed. (If a perfectly running ship, the only things that should ever need servicing in battle are the magazines and the gas bottle.) The black border around the superstructure is actually the wall of the first level above the upper deck. The wall is made of 1/16" basswood covered with a thin layer of black plastic from a notebook binder. This is done to reduce repair time. The German capital ships didn't use straight plate design on this deck...the areas behind the secondary turrets are curved. There needed to be a way to build this accurately, able to register hits, and yet strong enough to survive heavy hits. NOTE: Superstructure hits are no longer scored. The plastic /basswood lamination provides this answer. It is the only area of the ship that uses this technique.

[View 9] The ship from above, with all but the lowest layer of superstructure removed.

[View 10] This is that one-piece deck (now 3). You may be able to see the shadows demarking the location of the laminated walls. These walls are bonded to the deck. This bonding increases the strength of both (the 1/16" deck is flimsy), while keeping weight down. The holes you see are to allow passage for 6 secondaries, 8 tertiaries, one of the stacks, retrieval cable and future radio equipment to possibly be mounted in the armored battle bridge.

[View 11] Here you can see the modular construction of the superstructure. Stacks, conning tower, battle bridge, open bridge and 2 intermediary platforms.

[View 12] Side view of the armored superstructure, which shows how it can be removed as a single assembly! The deck and superstructure weigh under 2 lbs. This is light even for smaller ships. The lack of excessive top weight makes this ship very stable, even in flooding events. On one particular trip back to port, the hull was down by over 1". The ship was required to make a full speed turn into the harbor. This it did..a bit more labored than normal, but with no noticeable list. It confirms this ship will fight till the end if need be.

[View 13] Top view of hull only, with some internals. The bottle now sits where you see it, but a tad forward. The engines are mounted longitudinally in the same position, but 1 and 3 are more to the outside, and all 3 are boxed in with 2" high walls. There is a pair of small batteries lying flat on either side of the bottle. These show where the current battery arrangement sits. They start at the motors and run forward where they meet two more that sit sideways. All of them are flat to aid in stability. The large 12v 7AH battery is not used. In all, the ship carries 6AH of 12v, 3AH of 6v and 4 D-cell batteries for the pumps. Up front you can see the mock-up position of the forward cannons. Also, the interlocking keel and rib structure is visible. Of those 6 pockets, the forward 4 are resin-filled, and the aft 2 are lead shot bunkers used for adjustable ballast. The hull has 4 other bunkers. They are capped by plates held in place by silicone. This prevents hazardous leakage in a sinking event, yet allows for semi-permanent ballast tuning. These will need to be adjusted when the secondaries are installed.

[View 14] This shows you better the arrangement of the motors. Imagine the outer two 1/2" further apart from the center motor, the connecting wall between the 3 cut away, and you can see the current layout. The 3 prop shafts enter the hull level. The center shaft has a square housing, which made it easy to fit into the split keel. The keel had a 1/4 " cutout through it to allow for the prop housing. It's much easier to line up 3 square pieces than 2 and a round. Round bearings are used at each end, and the gaps filled with thick CA. The cap deck rails are attached with 5 spans. This increases the frame's strength. When construction was complete, the forward span was cut to ease removal of the integrated gun platform (it should have been positioned just 1 rib forward), and the center span was removed almost entirely to allows servicing of the gas bottle.

[View 15] Another shot of the rib structure, with all internals removed. Notice the ample room inside, and the wide (10 1/2") beam.

[View 16] A shot from dead above. The ribs were constructed as described in the Naval War college in this site. When they were finished and installed, the lower middle sections were cut out. You can see the nubs at the inner bottom of each rib where they were cut. The lowest part of each rib fits into a slot cut into the baseboard. All joints were epoxied and sealed. Where the capdeck meets each 1/4" rib, there is a countersunk screw, glued in place. Obviously, this frame was built for extreme duty and long life. The caprail is in 3 layers. 1/8" to join the ribs (this is the section that is screwed in place. Then there are 2 layers of 1/16" ply...the first to cover the sealed screw heads, and the second to locate the 1/16" deck.

[View 17] This is the last photo. It shows many important elements of the stern. You can see the square center propshaft housing; one outboard shaft as it runs through the ribs (sealed permanently in place with heavy epoxy); the epoxy "floor " that guides water forward to the pumps and water channels (installed later); the fill-tubes for the propshaft housing (where oil is injected into the free spaces); and just aft of the last caprail span, you can see the last 2 1/4" ribs and a portion of the screws that attach the caprails. On the right of the picture (the port side of the ship) there is a broad section of light colored wood...this is the penetrable "armor ". Below that is a strip of darker wood. This is the real armor belt...the part of the hull 1" below waterline that can be any material, and solid. On this ship, it is 1/8" thick basswood. Basswood bends nicely when soaked in ammonia solution, and contours to the shape of the hull. It works easy, and does not break when shot at. Below the basswood, even thinner strips of wood are visible. These are 1/8" thick balsa strips, glued and epoxied into one solid chunk of material. The last 5 ribs of this hull are 1/8" 5-ply aircraft plywood - expensive, but strong. The tighter rib spacing is necessary to get the proper hull shape. It also works well with the curved wood to make a strong structure. Beyond that, it limits the length of any possible tearing shot from an angle. The maximum length of any torn hole created by a shot from behind the hull is 1".

Every effort was made to build the hull as close to the plans as possible. When I encountered difficulties, the temptation was there to cut corners. But I kept in the back of my mind that the builders knew more than I, and that my only room for creativity was in what materials to use and how to join then. In the end, sticking to the builder’s vision paid off. The ship accelerates, stops and turns beautifully. On the water, the near-correct paint and low profile helps the ship to vanish in the right light at distances of only 50 feet. I, and those with me, have "lost" the ship several times when we took our eyes off it.

With its ability to swing 90 degrees at full speed in just a couple seconds, the ship can reduce its 6‘ 4" profile to less that 11" almost magically. Far out to sea, she can turn inward towards port and hammer any target before the target knows it has been acquired. For one of the biggest ships ever to play the game, the H-39 has great potential. For those that might wonder why I didn't build a Bismarck instead (same firepower and speed, same armament..), here is why. The H-39 has a much better rudder arrangement, and turns better. Also, its greater width and displacement will allow for more secondary armament when the time comes, without having to sacrifice battery space. Displacement is important in flooding events. The more you have, the longer it takes to fill up and sink. When you combine that with pump ratings, you get a very good combination.

A study I did gauges the effects of target area (length) and stamina (displacement). It works by dividing the displacement by the length. The higher the number, the better off you are. The Yamato, world's largest BB rated a 78 with the H-39 following at 64. The next closest ships are the Iowa and South Dakotas at 56. I feel H-39’s target to displacement ratio is one of the best....and it better be, with such a big billboard of a side to hit.