Panlos Fletcher Class Destroyer P637006

This set is DD-445, the USS Fletcher.   Along with her sister ships, these destroyers held the Japanese at bay at Guadalcanal, allowing the Marines to gain a foothold to eventually take the Pacific.   After their fleet being decimated at Pearl Harbour, the destroyers gave the US time to rebuild their own fleet.   I highly recommend the book Tin Can Navy for the heroic stories behind these ships.   They were given the honour of being the first American ships to sail into Tokyo Bay for the surrender ceremonies.

This is a fun build, suitable for younger ages as it is not overly complex and the building steps are broken down into straightforward phases.  The set even has wheels underneath should you want to play.

Pieces: 1338pcs

Size：63 × 9 × 18.5 cm

Scale 1:180

The Fletcher class was a class of destroyers built by the United States during World War II. The class was designed in 1939, as a result of dissatisfaction with the earlier destroyer leader types of the Porter and Somers classes. Some went on to serve during the Korean War and into the Vietnam War.

The United States Navy commissioned 175 Fletcher-class destroyers between 1942 and 1944, more than any other destroyer class, and the design was generally regarded as highly successful. The Fletchers had a design speed of 38 knots and a principal armament of five 5-inch (127 mm) guns in single mounts with ten 21-inch (530 mm) torpedo tubes in two quintuple centerline mounts.

The long-range Fletcher-class ships performed every task asked of a destroyer, from anti-submarine warfare and anti-aircraft warfare to surface action. They could cover the vast distances required by fleet actions in the Pacific and served almost exclusively in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II, during which they accounted for 29 Imperial Japanese Navy submarines sunk.  In a massive effort, the Fletchers were built by shipyards across the United States, and, after World War II ended, 11 were sold to countries that they had been built to fight against: Italy, Germany, and Japan, as well as other countries, where they had even longer, distinguished careers. Three have been preserved as museum ships in the U.S. and one in Greece.