Posted on 09/25/2007 7:06:58 PM PDT by Stoat
This scale model of World War II German battleship Admiral Graf Spee is 9m (30ft) long and weighs 320kg (700lb).
It took creator William Terra six years to build and cost £5,000. Made from wood strips and fibreglass, the Spee can reach speeds of 15mph, thanks to its 11.2Kw engine.
It also plays music by German composer Richard Wagner through an in-built stereo, said former fire officer Mr Terra, 65, from Maine, US.
Ship Models - German Ships - Admiral Graf Spee - William Terra
| Model build by | William Terra, Maine, USA |
| Kit Manufacturer | Scratch build |
| Scale | 1:20 |
| Additional Information | The model is scratch build like a canoe using 2,54 - 10,16 cm (1 - 4 in) bass wood strips and then covered with fiberglass. Estimated weight 318 kg (700 lbs). The beam is 1,32 meter (52 in). The length is about 9,1 meter (30 foot). It can carry 2 persons. The model is powered by a 15 hp (11,2 kw) outboard engine under rear gun turret. It can sail 24 kilometer per hour (15 mph). Furthermore the model has a music system build in. While William Terra cruise the lakes of Maine he enjoy listen to Wagner. The Commander-in-Chief in the photographs below is William Terra. William Terra would like to see more models build in this scale. |
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| The Model - Status 2002 | |
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| Photographs: © John Hubbard | |
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| Photographs: © William Terra | |
| The Model - Status 2003 | |
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| Photographs: © William Terra | |
I once saw a similar model of the USS Arizona at Penns Landing in Phildelphia, except his position was more concealed than on this one.
Military History Ping :-)
Nice touch.
FUTURE HEADLINE: Jet Ski Sinks Battleship
Sure this guy's name isn't Otto?
Ach so, dat's vin ve find out dat de guns on dis boat actually shoot! Dan ist de Jet Ski kaput.
Divers recover large piece of Graf Spee (+ lots of unique Graff Spee photos)
Floating crane maneuvered near sunken World War II era German warship off Uruguay
Effort to raise battleship GRAF SPEE at mouth of Plate R. in Uruguay postponed b-c high winds.
Wow!! Stoat - this thread is superb.
El Pingo going out to the list right away.
I figured this thread was going to be about Seal and Heidi Klum.
Immediately after the scuttling in shallow water much of the ship's superstructure remained above water level, but then over the years the wreck subsided into the muddy bottom and today only the tip of the mast remains above the surface.
The first salvage from the ship was most likely carried out by Royal Navy intelligence teams which recovered the highly advanced Seetakt radar not destroyed in the scuttling. In February, 1940 the wreck was boarded by US Navy sailors from the light cruiser USS Helena.
Seems like a pretty glaring oversight on the Captain's part.
From what I read, the captain was Old School. In all seriousness, he may have thought that after scuttling his ship in neutral territory, stealing the radar was an ungentlemanly thing to do.
Seems to me if he could scuttle the ship he could set charges on the Seetakt gear. But then again, I’m not an old-school Prussian Kriegsmariner.
read later
That must have been quite impressive! If you happen to have any pictures of it, they would certainly be a welcome addition to this thread.
Nice touch.
Indeed :-)
His neighbors on the lake are probably well-versed in all of Wagner's works by now :-)
LMAO!
Or, "Battleship Sinks Jet Ski"
Those look awfully close to 30.06 rounds to me....they'd go through a belligerent, drunk punk on a Jet Ski faster than the Wehrmacht went through France.......
LOL
Actually I was thinking it could probably sink half the French fleet.
Sure this guy's name isn't Otto?
hehe! Unfortunately, none of the included photos of Mr. Terra are good enough for me to get a sense of whether there is a family resemblance or not :-)
heh heh heh
That’s a great book.
El Pingo going out to the list right away.
awwww....thank you so much for your very kind words....I'm delighted that you're liking it, and I hope that everyone else will also :-)
And thank you for pinging your list as well :-)
MANY moons ago I saw this film on late-night television.
As best I can recall, it was a pretty good flick, with Peter Finch
playing Capt. Langsdorff.
Too bad it’s only available in Region 2 format DVD (at least at amazon)
The Battle of the River Plate
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048990/
Holy Cow!
I'm sorry to disappoint :-)
It does indeed seem strange that he didn't destroy such a valuable and secret piece of equipment....perhaps there was no time to do it?
Perhaps he thought that the scuttling of the vessel would destroy it as well?
Lots of pictures of the real version here:
http://www.deutschland-class.dk/admiral_graf_spee/gallery/gallgrafspeemontevideo.html
I would imagine that Mr. Terra is the most popular man in the county on hot summer days when he is out puttering around in his battleship; both among kids as well as many adults.
LMAO!
I'm guessing that Mr. Terra's neighbors are particularly nice to him when he is out cruising in his battleship, as they have no desire to appear in his gunsights :-)
((((snicker))))
Thank you for the link. Too bad, though, that the one photo of the model doesn't provide much detail. It's rather strange, considering that the model is described as being 'the centerpiece' of the museum.
Seriously, though. The Admiral Graf Spee was not a battleship. It was a large cruiser given 11-inch guns. Basically, it was an redo of a concept used in pre-dreadnought armored cruisers.
The "pocket battleships" were useless accept as commerce raider. Facing real british cruisers, the Graf Spee was forced to retreat after a hard battle and the captain then had the ship scuttled.
WOW! Thank you so much for the links. Much better photos, and a much better perspective of scale as well....immense!
Very impressive.
I know that the Admirals and the strategists who know far more about war than I do feel that the days of the great battleship are over, but I can’t help missing the graceful lines, the massive firepower, and the decisive results they can have in certain kinds of warfare.
Even in
Interesting that they would equip the ISS Yamato as it was on her suicide run, rather than at her prime. Originally, she had 12 (4x3) 6.1” guns and 12 (6x2) 5” dual purpose guns. However in 1945, she had been upgraded for air defense with 2 tripple 6” mounts removed to make room for an additional 3 5” dual turrets. (Of course against 386 aircraft, she was doomed.)
That’s very interestng, thank you very much. I regret that I’m no authority on this sort of thing, and I apologize for using incorrect terminology.
I’ve seen bigger ones.
http://www.deutschland-class.dk/admiral_graf_spee/gallery/gallgrafspeemontevideo.html
Great pictures, thank you very much!
According to the accompanying text, the scuttling charges were placed in the engine rooms and in the belowdeck areas, and since they sunk her in only 23 feet of water it's easy to see how the British forces were able to collect some valuable gear.
Kewl Thread BUMP
Kewl Thread BUMP
Great site! Thank you very much. Even with the language barrier it's still quite useful for lots of great diagrams, photos and links to English-language sites.
Among the links there, I found one for the Bismarck
KBismarck.com - The Battleship Bismarck
and down at the bottom of that site's homepage is a GREAT video of the ship, from christening, battle footage and to the end
Thank you.....it's all of the great people who have come here that have made it great :-)
Cool!
Perhaps he could play Wagner’s Ride of the Valkries, and fire off a few rounds.
Some years ago a 12’ Missouri visited in our city marina. It was every bit as detailed as a fine purchased plastic model.
Another bump for cool thread, cool models and naval history!
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