HMS "Vanity" - the British escort destroyer and U 505 -the German submarine

The destroyer HMS “Vanity” was ordered in June 1916; construction began on 28 July 1917 at “William Beardmore and Co” shipyard in Dailmuir. It was launched on May 3, 1918 and entered service on June 21 of the same year. It was included in the Grand Fleet 11 Destroyer flotilla and received the number G.19, which was changed to D.28 in 1919. In 1921 "Vanity" was included in the 5th Destroyer Flotilla, which was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet and was based in Port Edgar. In 1925 the flotilla moved to the Mediterranean, where it became the 1st flotilla. The destroyer subsequently served in different waters, and the outbreak of World War II caught up with it at Rosythe, where it served in the 15th Destroyer Flotilla. In October 1939 it was sent for rearmament and its purpose was changed to an anti-aircraft escort destroyer. Refits lasted until 12 August 1940. After that, “Vanity” mainly patrolled the waters around the British Isles, covering convoys along the east coast of England. On February 7, 1941 he shot down a German "Dornier" type airplane. At the end of March, together with 5 other destroyers, she accompanied a convoy of 10 Norwegian merchant ships, that tried to break through to England from Gothenburg. The escort failed and only two tankers reached their destination, 5 ships were sunk by German ships and planes, one exploded on a mine, two returned to Gothenburg. 19 April 1942 “Vanity” sent to hunt Danish trawlers, fishing in Dogger Bank: 14 vessels arrested and another sunk. In July 1945 “V/W” type destroyers were assembled at Grangemouth harbor, where they were disarmed, “Vanity” was sold for scrapping on 4th March 1947, where she was scrapped in June 1949.

On June 12, 1940 the keel was laid for the IXC submarine, numbered 505, at the “Deutsche Werft” shipyard in Hamburg. On April 25, 1941 the ship was launched, on August 26 it was completed and put into service. The ship was sent for almost 4 months of crew training in the Baltic Sea. After the training, he was included in the 2nd U-boat flotilla in Lorient, where he arrived in January 1942 and on February 11 he sailed on his first combat campaign in the middle Atlantic. The first ship (the British "Benmohr") was sunk on March 5, and the next day was torpedoed the Norwegian "Sydhav". Later, the patrol was uneventful, except for the failed attacks of two local patrol boats on March 28 and 29, but two more ships were sunk on April 3 and 4, the American "West Irmo" and the Dutch "Alphacca". On April 18 the submarine was attacked by an Allied flying boat, which dropped 3 depth bombs, that only slightly damaged the ship. “U 505” returned to Lorient on 7 May. The second patrol began on June 7, 1942 and the ship headed to the Caribbean Sea. The US cargo ship “Sea Thrush” is sunk there on June 28, and the American ship “Thomas Mc. Kean" in the next day. Almost a month later, the Colombian sailing ship “Roamar” is sunk by artillery fire. The patrol ended early due to the captain's illness and “U 505” revisited Lorient on 25 August. The third patrol with a new captain began on October 4, 1942 and the ship again sailed to the Caribbean. Already on October 7 the British cargo ship "Ocean Justice" is sunk, but on November 10, the submarine was attacked by a British patrol plane "Hudson" from the 53 RAF Division, which dropped 4 depth bombs, but this attack ended sadly for the attacking plane itself. Due to the explosion of the bomb, the plane crashed, the crew was killed. But “U 505” also got in the way - it was badly damaged, but tried to continue its patrol. However, December 12 returns to Lorient. After a long repair, that lasted almost a year, the ship again went on patrol, but “U 505” began to be haunted by misfortune: after a long attack by escort destroyers, the captain of the ship could not stand the tension and shot himself, the subsequent trips of the submarine were full of failures, violations, until June 4, 1944 the ship was heavily damaged by depth bombs and was intercepted by the Americans and towed to Bermuda. But the biggest loot was not the ship itself, but the “Enigma” code-books and encryption equipment. After the war, the ship was supposed to be sunk along with other German submarines, but it was decided to save it as an exhibit, where it is in the Chicago Science Museum on September 25, 1954, where it still stands today.

Small, uncomplicated, well-designed and maximally detailed ship models for this scale, which any experienced modeler will stick together perfectly, but for beginners and less experienced modelers this should not be the first more complex model (although the “U 505” could be). And they are advised to work under the supervision of a more experienced colleague.