“They saved the best for last.” The USS Richard B. Russell (SSN-687), named for the Georgia senator who served his state from 1933 to 1971, was the 37th and final boat of the Sturgeon class, and was the ninth long-hull version of the class. Built in the Newport News Shipyard, her keel was laid 19 October 1971; she was launched 12 January 1974, and was commissioned 16 August 1975. She was decommissioned 24 June 1994, and was scrapped through the Ship and Submarine Recycling Program between 1 October 2001 and 3 January 2003. Powered by an S5W reactor, the boat could travel at speeds of 15 knots surfaced, and 25 knots while submerged. The crew complement was 126, and she was armed with four 21-inch torpedo tubes.

I have always had an interest in submarines after visiting the USS Cod in Cleveland. When the USS Thresher came up for review from MikroMir, I jumped at the change. The USS Thresher was the first of the new (in 1961) Permit class subs and had all the modern equipment for the time. She was 279 feet long and nuclear powered. Sadly, she was the first of the nuclear subs to be lost at sea during driving trials when she imploded about 350km east of Cape Cod on April 10, 1963.

MikroMir’s kit of the Thresher consists of two hull halves split upper and lower, a small PE fret with the propeller and other parts, decals for all subs in this class, two base parts and lastly, a small gray sprue containing the scopes, diving planes and the rest of the parts. Parts are nicely engraved and flash free. I have attached a copy of the instructions also.

Overall Summary

I recommend this kit for any collection of USN submarine models. This kit is for intermediate-skill modelers, and will result in very nice representation of any of the short-hull Sturgeon class attack submarines that served in the U. S. Navy. Assembly was straight forward, with no major problems. No alignment pins or sockets are present in the kit design, and many parts may require addition of pins or wire for positive location. This is not a detraction from the kit, but something to think about when you start assembly. The resulting model looks proper in comparison to photographs and references.

Kit

The kit is produced by Academy, a well-known company who is known for producing quality mid range priced model kits. The box art work in outstanding and shows the USS Missouri at sea. The kit can be built in her WW2 and Korean War configuration. There are no modern weapons provided with this kit for the Desert Storm configuration. This kit belongs to Academy’s 1/700 “Modelers Edition”.

“Underway on nuclear power.” With those words uttered by Commander Eugene P. Wilkinson on the morning of 17 January 1955, the United States Navy had begun a new era in how submarines (later aircraft carriers, and for a time guided missile cruisers) would be propelled through the waters of the world. The USS Nautilus, SSN-571 was built using a Tang-class hull design, with a revolutionary Westinghouse nuclear reactor providing the steam used to power and propel the boat. SSN 571 was the sixth U.S. Navy vessel to carry the name Nautilus; she was authorized for construction in July 1951, her keel was laid in June 1952, and was launched in January 1954. She was decommissioned in March 1980 after steaming over 500,000 miles, and is currently on display at the Submarine Force Museum.