by Dave Johnson
1/700 Enlarged Arleigh Burke Cruiser (Dragon)
After building the Super Slava, I of course, had to build a USN counterpart. This project is an enlarged Burke DDG to cruiser size. Of course I had 'artistic rights' and may or may not be feasible from a naval architecture standpoint, but I like the way it came out.
The hull was lengthened by about 1 inch, which made the ship a few feet longer than a Ticonderoga class cruiser. I installed extensive defensive weaponry - several custom SEARAM launchers and Phalanx CIWS. I included armored box launchers for Tomahawk cruise missles as a land attack option would be more desirable considering the nature of current events. Apparently, the Tomahawk will be upgraded to an anti-ship version, so the box launchers would remain appropriate. An extra VLS was added aft (Harpoons only, the others would contain SM-3s) and the mine countermeasure package was added as in later Burkes. The hull is painted blue (as in Port Royal's case) to match the next generation anti-fouling coatings.
Again, this project is a custom build, so some accuracies may have suffered. I hope you enjoy the pictures - I've included a standard Flight II Burke kit for comparison.
