Which early Gatos had long fairwaters? Help needed.

[Guest]

Okay, the first production bloc of EB Gatos came in two distinct flavors, those whose fairwaters began at frame 47, and laters ones whose fairwaters began at frame 48. This later group was from Grouper (214)onward, and featured a shorter forward steering station and fewer portholes, only four, or so, from around Amberjack (219) through Blackfish (221). Their fairwaters' leading edges were not really vertical, and had a two curve cross section, with a "bulge" when viewed up close and from the side, to they're easy to pick out. This, according to the Floating Drydock's Plan Book, mostly.

I have my doubts.

I've been placing as commissioned broadside photos of these boats side by side and aligning them to a common vertical reference. This way, the relative lengths of each boat's fairwater is easily visible and comparable. Assuming each image is corrected to the same relative size, they should compare fairly easily. Here's what I've found: Guardfish (217) was apparently the first short fairwater EB Gato. Grunion (216) may have been but the broadside image I have is grainy so I can't commit to her configuration, but the large number of portholes is a strong indication that she also featured a long forward steering station cabin. Growler (215) certainly had the longer fairwater/cabin combination. I have no good photo of Grouper, yet, to work with but a photo of Grouper entering port in Brisbane in "US Subs Down Under" strongly indicates that she, too, had the long fairwater/cabin combination based upon the number of portholes which is very different from what the Plan Book posits. Shorter fairwater boats like Guardfish and later couldn't have as many portholes in their steering stations because there simply wasn't enough room physically for them.

The boats after Guardfish are clearly short fairwater units. Photos of Barb and Blackfish in the Squadron Gato book have closeups of their fairwaters under construction, to there can be no doubt about them.

I'm using photos from Navsource. If anyone has other clear broadside images they can point me towards I'd be most appreciative, or if they can confirm or deny my suspicions I would be most appreciative. In the end, I want to get my Gato models built correctly with the right length fairwaters. If I'm wrong, then I'm wrong. I would just like to know for sure if I'm seeing things, and if the plans are labelled incorrectly.

Thank you for any help and suggestions.

Robert

[Guest]

Here's what I mean:
http://www.postimage.org/aV3gRkA.jpg

Follow the

Here's what I mean:


Follow the red reference line. It will show (I think) that SS-216 and earlier had long fairwaters as opposed to what the Plan Book says. It wouldn't be the first time plans were wrong, and I don't hold the Floating Drydock responsible, if I'm right. In the general rush to wartime, I suspect that Electric Boat simply got "close enough for government work," even if their basic profile plans were ever so slightly off. I have a copy of Guardfish's Electric Boat plans corrected to December, 1942, and they clearly show a different porthole arangment than her photos do. I'll trust the photos in the final analysis.

Also, note that the forward "leading edge" of Growler's fairwater is straight vertically, as opposed to Guardfish's, which has a kink, another recognition feature of the short fairwater subtype.

Can anyone doublecheck my work? I suspect that with a fair number of people interested in building early war Gatos from the Revell and Trumpeter kits this may be of some importance to others. As always, I am more than ready to be proven wrong - my motive is to build some accurate models.

Robert