By Vladimir Yakubov
1/700 USS Hartford SSN-768 (DML)
On March 19 2009 US submarine USS Hartford SSN-768 was transiting the straight of Hormuz to enter the Persian Gulf under periscope depth. Despite the well know dangers that come from the large number of ships in the area, the Captain was not present in the control room and the navigator was in his stateroom listening to his iPod. Other members of the crew were known to sleep on duty, yet were not disciplined for it. So it set the tone for what happened later. At 1am submarine hit a surface ship with its sail. That surface ship turned out to be a newest American amphibious assault ship USS New Orleans LPD-17. Fortunately, despite the fact that the sail was knocked off 15 degrees to the side, the submarine's hull integrity was not breached and there were only 15 minor injuries. The USS New Orleans suffered a rupture of it's fuel tank and spilled 95000 liters of diesel fuel into the ocean. Both ships were able to make it back to port under its own power. USS Hartford's sail was strengthened with side supports and it was sent home on a surface voyage that lasted 2 months. The repairs are estimated to cost 102 million for USS Hartford and 2.5 million for USS New Orleans.
I like building submarines, but they are usually boring (especially the modern subs), and I always look for something extra to spice it up. So when I saw the photos of the collision I immediately knew that I wanted to build it. To do that I took a DML USS Dallas kit and waterlined it. The sail was glued at about 15 degrees. The soundproofing covering on the real thing was removed from the sail, so to simulate it I glued the superglue impregnated paper to the sides of the sail with the cutouts for the supports and then sanded down to the scale thickness. The side sail supports were done from the superglue impregnated paper as well. The periscope and radar mast was done from the .015" stainless tube, while the temporary masts were done from the 0.01" rod. Various other supports were done from the stretched styrene and pieces of photoetch railings.
Sub was painted with various shades of black and grey PollyS acrylic paints and weathered with pastels. The water was done with acrylic gel medium and painted.
References:
Wiki page on the collision
Photos of the damage to the submarine
