D61 Churruca
by Luis Crespo

1/700 D61 Churruca (JAG)

The Real Thing:

The Churruca, named after Admiral Cosme de Churruca, hero of Trafalgar, was the first ship of her class of five vessels in Spanish Armada. She had been comissioned as USS Eugene A. Greene in 1945 and did not complete training in time to see action in WWII. She was deployed to the Atlantic and Mediterranean in the late forties and fities, and took an active role during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Shortly after that historic episode, "USS Eugene A. Green" underwent Mark I Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization (FRAM I) and, reborn as an up-to-date escort, was deployed to the Pacific. In 1966 carried Naval Gunfire Support missions in Vietnam. USS Greene was decommissioned on August 31, 1972, in Norfolk, Virginia, when she was trasnferred on loan to the Spanish Armada, receiving her new name and pennant number. Spain eventually purchased the ship six years later.

The Churruca and her sisters, Gravina/Furse, Méndez Nuñez/O´Hare, Lángara/Leary and Blas de Lezo/Noa meant a much needed improvement in Spanish Armada´s ASW capabilities, apropriately filling the huge gap between Lepanto/Fletcher class destroyers and Baleares class frigates.

They were the first spanish ships to be fitted with modern electronics and the first as well to operationally deploy an helicopter. The aircraft selected was the Hughes 500 ASW, the only helicopter small enough to be operated in place of the DASH drones first intended for FRAM destroyers.

In 1991, D 61 Churruca had served her useful life and was used for target practice and sunk 100 miles to the west of the Canary Islands. She had served well for forty-six years.

Her statistics were:

• Displacement: 3,480 tons full load
• Dimensions: 118 x 12,5 x 6,5 meters
• Propulsion: 4 B&W boilers, 2 GE turbines, 2 shafts, 60.000 shp, 32 knots
• Crew: 280
• Aviation: helicopter deck and hangar; 1 Hughes 500 ASW
• Radar: SPS-40 2-D air search;
• Sonar: SQS-23 hull
• Fire Control: Mk 68 weapons control, Mk 37 and Mk 56 directors; Mk 114 ASW
• EW: AN/WLR-1, ULQ-6, Mk 36 SRBOC launcher
• Armament: 2 Mk 38 Twin 5" DP mounts; 1 Mk 16 ASW RUR-5A ASROC; 2 Mk 32 triple torpedo launchers for Mk 46 ASW torps.

The model:

JAG collective´s 1/700 Gearing FRAM I resin kit is an almost exact representation of "USS Eugene A. Greene"/"Churruca". Though not for beginners, mainly due to its tricky photoetch fret and vague instructions sheet, it is an extremely nice model,and my very first resin kit. It is built out of box (well, out of the tube), with the addition of Eduard´s US Navy railing and some antennae here and there. The only true scratch build here is the tiny Hughes 500 which I made out of stretched sprue and brass bits.