USS Oklahoma CIty CLG-5 (1971) 3D CAD model

[Dr PR]

MIDSHIPS RADAR TOWER

 

This tower originally carried a radar antenna, but it was removed to reduce topside weight. The basic structure was similar to the forward radar tower.

 

 

The tower rested upon the top of the O3 level radar room. Well, it was a radar room while the 3D radar antenna was on the tower, but after the antenna and associated radar equipment were removed the compartment became an office with very good heating and air conditioning. The large vent stack on the starboard side of the compartment was Charlie Noble. The arms extending from the deck house sides were the rests for the stowed boat booms.

 

 

The platform at the top of the tower carried four 35 foot whip antennas and a few other smaller antennas. A short stub mast carried the ship's Tactical Air Navigation (TACAN) antenna in the dome. It was used by helicopters to determine the range and bearing to the ship. It was also used by other ships to facilitate rendezvous. Another mast at the forward edge of the platform carried a few more antennas and the ship's AN/URD-4 radio direction finder at the top that was used for search and rescue operations. This mast was hinged about half way up so it could be folded sideways. There were a few bridges the ship might have to pass under that were lower than the raised mast.

 

Phil

Edited November 12, 2018 by Dr PR

[Dr PR]

SMALL BOATS

 

The ship had a good collection of small boats even after the weight reduction measures that eliminated two of the 40 foot utility boats. In addition to the ship's complement of four boats, when the ship served as 7th Fleet flagship it carried two additional boats on portable cradles atop the missile house (described later). Plans for most of the Navy's small boats and auxiliaries that were used in the mid 20th century are available from the Barbour Boat Works Inc. records (#758) at the J. Y. Joyner Library at East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/11208

 

40 Foot Personnel Boat Mk 4

 

This boat was used to ferry personnel from ship to shore or to other ships.

 

40 Foot Utility Boat Mk 2

 

 

The utility boat was used for many things. We used it to carry the crew to shore for liberty and to bring back personal belongings that were purchased in places like Hong Kong. The center benches folded to make room for large cargo.

 

26 Foot Motor Whaleboat Mk 10

 

The whaleboat was used to carry personnel and mail between ships and to shore. It was also launched during man overboard drills - and the real thing - to fish people out of the ocean.

 

28 Foot Personnel Boat Mk 6 Captain's Gig

 

This boat was assigned to the USS Oklahoma City, and served as the Captain's gig.

 

 

 

28 Foot Personnel Boat Mk 6 Admiral's Barge

 

 

While the 7th Fleet staff was aboard the ship carried the Admiral's Barge on a portable boat cradle . It was stowed on top of the missile house aft. It was tricked out with more details and chrome than the other boats.

 

 

28 Foot Personnel Boat Mk 6 7th Fleet Staff Boat

 

The 7th Fleet Staff Boat was used by the Chief of Staff and other 7th Fleet officers - there were lots of them! It was tricked out better than the Captain's Gig, but not quite as nice as the Admiral's Barge. It was also stowed on a portable boat cradle aft on the missile house.

 

The portable boat cradle was another challenge. I have found no plans but I do have several good photos of the cradles used on the OK City. The ship had two snaking winches on the missile house that were used to drag things around. They were used to move the boat and cradle from the stowed position on the after part of the missile house top to the forward part of the missile house top where the boats could be lowered and raised using the boat booms.

 

Phil

 

Edited November 12, 2018 by Dr PR

[Dr PR]

AFTER SUPERSTRUCTURE AND TOWER

 

For the CLG conversion everything above the main deck aft of the midships superstructure was removed. The triple 6"/47 turrets #3 and #4, dual 5"/38 gun mounts #54, #55 and #56, the aft Mk 34 and Mk 37 directors and the deck houses around them, and the aircraft catapults and crane were scrapped. In their place a huge armored missile house was built on the main deck and a new after superstructure and tower were built on top of the missile house. The entire after deck house was part of the Talos guided missile launching and guidance system.

 

 

The missile house contained the Mk 7 Guided Missile Launching System where the missiles were stored and serviced. The house was made of 1 1/2" Special Treated Steel (armor plate). Including 46 Talos missiles and boosters the house added 400,000 pounds on the main deck. This didn't help stability problems!

 

Missiles were prepared for launching inside the house and then moved onto the Mk 7 launcher rails, passing through armored blast doors in the end of the house. The upper doors carried spanner rails to mate the launcher rails to the launching system rails inside the house.

 

For more information about the Talos launching system go to this link: https://www.okieboat.com/Talos launching system.html

The deck house on top of the missile house contained Weapons Control, where the Talos system was operated, and radar rooms for the SPS-30 3D height finder radar, the two massive AN/SPG-49 missile tracking radars and the two AN/SPW-2 guidance transmitter antennas.

 

Talos was a long range (130 nmi.) Mach 2.7 missile designed to intercept aircraft and missiles at altitudes from 50 feet to 75,000 feet. It had an anti-surface ship capability, and an anti-radiation (radar) ARM capability. For these missions it carried a conventional expanding rod warhead. It also had a 2 KT nuclear warhead that could be used against air, surface and shore targets.  For more information aout the Talos missile see: https://www.okieboat.com/Talos missile.html

 

Talos was the first anti-aircraft missile system designed by the US Navy, beginning in 1945 before the end of WWII. The program actually spun off the shorter range Terrier missile which was the first to enter service. Talos was a massive system that was installed on only a few cruisers. It was replaced by the newer AEGIS missile system.

 

You can see the stowage locations for the two 7th Fleet 28 foot personnel boats and their cradles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were two of these little snaking winches, port and starboard,  that were used to haul the 28 foot personnel boats and carriages around the top of the missile house. It was the smallest of the ship's winches, with just an electric motor and gear system and no hydraulics. I modeled it from photos and dimensioned sketches made on the USS Little Rock CG-4 museum ship.

 

It was also used to transfer missile warheads into the missile house through hatches in the deck at the rear of the missile house.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The after radar tower was much simpler than the other two towers. It was positioned above the radar room for the AN/SPS-30 3D height finder and air search radar. In addition to the SPS-30 antenna an AS-791/UPA-43 Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) interrogator antenna (below left) was mounted on a platform wing. It was slaved to the SPS-30 to allow IFF interrogation of targets.  An AS-979A/UKR telemetry antenna (below right) was mounted on a platform extension at the rear of the tower platform. I think (but I am not certain) that this was the antenna used to receive telemetry information from Talos missiles in flight. The missiles sent back airspeed, altitude, fuel consumption, wing motion and radar proximity fuze information to allow analysis of the flight.

 

On the ship's centerline on top of the forward end of the missile house was a large contraption called the Fleet Active Shuttle Transfer (FAST) crane (below). It was designed to operate with similar equipment on replenishment ships to transfer Talos missiles to the OK City's missile magazine. It was capable of transferring a missile or booster every 90 seconds. The operator worked in a small booth at the aft end of the midships superstructure on the O3 level.

Missiles would arrive on a shuttle that rode a highline strung between the FAST crane and the FAST system on the replenishing ship. The missiles and boosters were attached to strongbacks carried by the shuttle. The FAST crane would capture the shuttle and strongback, A pantograph arm on the FAST crane lowered the strongback and missile/booster into position above a strikedown elevator (yellow in the images above). The elevator captured the missile and the strongback was released. Then the missile was lowered into the magazine at the forward end of the missile house. The pantograph arm raised and sent the strongback and shuttle back for another load.

 

That's the way it was supposed to work. In reality the FAST crane was a piece of junk. It was exposed to the worst of weather conditions and the complex hydraulic and electrical system failed during transfers more often than not. The real problem was not with the machinery - the Navy did not have enough trained personnel to maintain it. Many complex systems were introduced into the navy in the 1950s and 1960s - nuclear submarines, nuclear powered ships, nuclear weapons, sub launched ballistic missiles, surface to air missiles, jet aircraft with complex avionics systems, air to air and air to surface missiles, and many new types of radars. There were not enough intelligent people joining the Navy and not enough training facilities to train them. First priority went to nuclear submarines and the air wings. There was a chronic shortage of trained personnel on all other units. We just didn't have enough trained men on the OK City to maintain the missiles, launching system, radars, guns and other systems to spare anyone to baby sit the FAST system.

 

The FAST crane was removed in late 1971 and only the kingpost at the center remained. We used the FAST kingpost and burtoning winch for underway replenishment of missiles and powder for the guns. The FAST crane is the reason I decided to model the ship as it was in the summer of 1971, just before the FAST crane was removed. I wanted to model it.

 

Phil

Edited November 21, 2018 by Dr PR

[herask]

I could stare at the details whole day long! cudos for patience and the execution, Phil. 

[Dr PR]

RADARS

 

The ship carried a collection of radars. I have data sheets and drawings for most of them, and the service manual for the AN/SPS-10. Each antenna was a model unto itself.

 

AN/SPS-10 Surface Search Radar

 

 

The SPS-10 was the primary surface search radar, used to detect ships and low flying aircraft and missiles. On the OK City the horizon was about 13 miles at the height of the SPS-10 antenna. The radar could track targets above the horizon out to about 100 miles. It was very sensitive when tuned properly. On one occasion we tracked flocks of birds a mile or two away. On another occasion when we had excellent atmospheric "tunneling" over the horizon I tracked an aircraft carrier at Yankee Station in the Gulf of Tonkin at a distance of 65 miles. The SPS-10 operated at 5.42 to 5.825 GHz with a 285 kW peak power.

 

The antenna carried a AN/UPX-27 Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) dipole on the "spider" arm that held the feed horn. This is the rod with the square kink in it, and the surrounding reflector rods. 

 

 

Pathfinder Navigation Radar

 

 

 

We had a Raytheon Pathfinder radar for navigation in harbors and channels. The SPS-10 had a minimum range of about a mile or so, and couldn't detect close in objects. The Pathfinder was good down to very short distances.

 

This is a very sketchy illustration. I have no data sheets or drawings and only a few fuzzy photos to work from. Some day I will have better information and will be able to make a more accurate model.

 

 

 

 

AN/SPS-43 Air Search Radar

 

The SPS-43 was the primary air search radar. It had an effective range out to 300 miles for high flying planes and missiles. The minimum range for low flying planes was limited by the horizon. In Vietnam I used the 43 to track B-52 flights from Thailand to targets in North Vietnam. The huge slab sides of the B-52 were "anti-stealth" - they showed up as large bright blips on the radar screen. They were called "Arc Light" missions for good reason!

The "bed spring" reflector had a "W" shape cross section behind an array of  ten pairs of dipole antennas fed by a complex coaxial transmission line system with power dividers to feed each pair of dipoles the same amount of radiated power. The SPS-43 operated in the VHF band at 200 MHz with 180 kW peak output.

 

I finally found a few high resolution photos to allow me to work out the details of the antenna and support pedestal.

 

The short rectangular antenna at the top is an AT-352/UPA-22 IFF Interrogator antenna.

 

 

 

 

AN/SPS-30 3D Height Finder Radar

 

The SPS-30 was an air search radar that had altitude detection capabilities. Altitude information from the 30 was fed into the missile guidance computers for intercept calculations. The SPS-30 also served as a secondary air search radar. An AS-791/UPA-43 IFF Interrogator antenna located on the aft radar tower platform was slaved to the SPS-30.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The SPS-30 had a large oval parabolic dish reflector. In front of the reflector, at the end of the long support arm, was an "organ pipe" scanner. A waveguide connection in the scanner rotating at 240 to 2400 RPM fed the RF energy into twenty parallel vertically stacked waveguides leading to the feedhorns. Each feedhorn radiated RF energy at a slightly different angle to the reflector, resulting in 20 different beams reflected at different elevations. Returning signals from a target reflected off the dish into the respective feed horn, allowing the system to determine the vertical angle from the antenna to the target. From this angle and the range to the target the elevation was calculated.

 

The antenna could be rotated for air search operation or it could be aimed to track a single target. The entire rotating antenna dish and support arm could be elevated to track targets through a wide range of elevations. The mechanisms of the antenna were supported on a pedestal that had a gimbal system to compensate for roll and pitch of the ship to keep the antenna aimed at the target being tracked. Dual electric motors positioned the antenna for roll and pitch compensation. The SPS-30 operated in the S band from 3.4 to 3.6 GHz with a peak output power of 2.5 megawatts. It had an effective range of 240 miles.

 

AN/SPG-49 Missile Tracking Radar

 

The ship carried two SPG-49 tracking radars. The SPG-49 was a 19 feet high, 17 feet wide, 22 ton monster. The 49s had C band monopulse tracking radars and continuous wave (CW) illumination radars combined into the one antenna. The system performed three functions. During target acquisition the antenna radiated 3 megawatt pulsed bearing and azimuth sweeps to determine range, bearing and altitude of a target. After the target had been acquired the antenna switched to a pulsed 3 megawatt narrow beam tracking radar. When a missile closed range to a target the antenna also radiated a 5 kilowatt CW illumination beam that carried target identification information for the missile to home on.  All of the transmitters and receivers were housed inside the antenna shell.

 

The mechanism consisted of four assemblies. The truncated cone base was mounted on the ship with an accuracy of +/- 0.035 inch vertical relative to the axis of the missile launching system. The base contained a hydraulic drive to rotate the "U" shaped yoke around the vertical axis on the base. The yoke carried dual electric motors to drive the gimbal that rotated around the horizontal axis. The antenna housing rotated around the vertical relative to the gimbal by two sets of dual electric drive motors. A coarse bearing was maintained by the rotation of the yoke, but the motors on the gimbal allowed the antenna housing to be rotated side to side quickly and with better precision.

 

 

 

 

The antenna carried a closed circuit television camera that was used for antenna alignment. It could also be used to track short range targets visually. The Talos missile had a range of 130 nmi and the SPG-49 had a maximum range of 150 nmi. Tracking information from the 49s fed the missile guidance computer for calculation of the intercept position. For more details of the SPG-49 construction and operation use this link: https://www.okieboat.com/SPG-49 description.html

 

AN/SPW-2 Missile Guidance Radar

 

The ship carried two SPW-2 "radars." The SPW-2 wasn't exactly a radar. It transmitted a narrow guidance beam that the beam riding Talos missile followed. The missile guidance computer calculated an intercept point ahead of the target position and used the SPW-2 to drive the missile to the intercept point. The missile transmitted position and identification signals that the SPW-2 received. The received signals from the missile fed the guidance computer to track the missile.

 

The SPW-2 had a small optical telescope that was used for alignment. It also had a platform on top that could carry a closed circuit television camera, but we didn't have the TV cameras on the SPW-2s while I was aboard. The television camera could be used for alignment and to visually track the missile in flight at close range.

 

Mk 25 Gun Fire Control Radar

 

The Mk 25 electronics were housed in the Mk 37 gun director, with the antenna on top. It was used to determine bearing, elevation and range to targets that were engaged with gunfire. For direct fire missions with visible targets it tracked the target. For indirect fire missions with targets hidden behind hills it tracked a known point on land for reference in calculating the range and bearing to the target.

The Mk 25 operated from 5.2 to 10.9 GHz with a peak power output of 50 KW. It could track targets out to 50 nmi.

 

Phil

 

 

Edited November 14, 2018 by Dr PR

[Dr PR]

That's all for now. Someday I will create a 3D model of the Kaman SH-2B Seasprite helo that the ship carried, but right now I do not have very good drawings and dimensions to work from.

 

The next step it to start creating the plans for the actual 1:96 scale model.

 

Phil

[Geonas]

It's a piece of art!! 👏 Increible. 

[Dr PR]

Thank you very much!

 

Phil

[SJSoane]

Astounding work. It is hardly conceivable how you work in so much detail. And you must be creating gigantic digital files!

 

Mark

[Dr PR]

Mark,

 

Thanks.

 

The 3D model is about a gigabyte (for comparison, the 3D CAD file for my house is only about 20 megabytes). I have included details down to 3/16 inch (1:1 scale) - primarily fasteners such as screws and rivets. But there were a few places where I omitted some of the tiny details (screw threads and some very small rivets) in order to keep the file sizes smaller.

 

I put in all the details with the hope of someday generating walk around videos.

 

I have started generating 2D files. The forward superstructure file took several days to generate and the resulting file is 345 megabytes. After cleaning it up to remove unwanted lines and duplicate line segments it should be quite a bit smaller. But it is going to take a long time to generate all of the files.

 

Right now I am taking a break from CAD and I am building a 1:48 scale model of a Baltimore clipper revenue cutter.

 

Phil

[William Dubiak]

 I have been following your project for several years, having served on the Oklahoma City from 1971 to 1974.

 

I don't know where you plan to take the Okie Boat from here, but there is currently a project to bring realistic AI ship models to the new Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 that you might be interested in. I know I would love to see the Oklahoma City sailing again.

 

The project page is at this address: https://flightsim.to/file/9529/global-ai-ship-traffic-msfs-v1 and the developer's name is Henrik Nielsen.

 

I thought perhaps your ship might be too highly detailed for this, until I read a post by another developer who has contributed his model of a historic paddle steamer to the project: https://www.avsim.com/forums/topic/589840-henrik-nielsons-global-ai-ship-traffic-for-msfs/page/38/

 

William

[Dr PR]

William,

 

Good to hear from you.

 

I don't know where I will go with the project either. My intent was to create a complete set of 2D drawings that modelers could use. This turned out to be a massive undertaking - a side profile drawing takes 5-6 days to generate from the 3D model (on a 4.7GHz i7 machine with 32 Gbytes of the fastest RAM I could buy, running 24/7)! Then it will take a week or two to clean up the drawings and scale them for plotting.

 

I wanted to build a 1:96 scale model, and the hull is partially completed. 3D printing has come a long way since I started the project in 2004, and I am considering converting many of the files to printing files. But there will be a pretty good learning curve and I don't know when I will start that. First I must build a workshop to house the tools and the model. Who knows when/if that will happen!

 

Converting the 1 Gbyte of files to a new format for Flight Simulator is not something i am interested in doing.

[hunter1955x]

On 10/29/2018 at 12:03 AM, Dr PR said:

I have been working on a 3D CAD model of the USS Oklahoma City CLG-5 as configured in 1971 since 2004. It is just about complete now. I will try to describe the steps I followed to make a very accurate 1:1 scale model, including the problems I encountered and the research (which took most of the time) necessary.

 

I am a former Lieutenant in the US Naval Reserve, and I was the Nuclear/Special Weapons Officer on the Okie Boat from January 1970 through March of 1972, hence my interest in the ship. If you want to know more about the ship, it's history and a lot more, have a look at my web page at

 

https://www.okieboat.com/index.html

 

****

 

To summarize, the OK City was commissioned in 1944, the 20th of 27 Cleveland class light cruisers. It entered the war in mid 1945 and earned two battle stars, one at Okinawa and one for attacks on the Japanese homeland. After the war it was mothballed, but was chosen in the 1950s to be converted into one of the first guided missile cruisers. It was to carry the Talos surface to air missile. Talos design was changed several times between 1945 and 1955, from a range of 20 nmi, to 60 nmi, and eventually 130 nmi. Meanwhile a Talos test missile was developed into the Terrier missile, and Terrier was the first missile to enter the fleet. The changes to Talos delayed introduction to the fleet until 1958.

 

The Oklahoma City was recommissioned as CLG-5 in 1960. It was a fleet flagship, and served as First and Seventh Fleet flagships for most of it's 19 year service. It was Flagship of the Seventh Fleet for most of the Vietnam War, where it earned 13 more battle stars, becoming the most decorated of all the Cleveland class ships. The OK City was the first ship in the US Navy to use a surface to surface missile in combat successfully, and the first to use an anti-radiation (ARM) missile against an enemy radar successfully. It was decommissioned in 1979 and expended as a target ship in 1999. It was one of the US Navy's historic ships.

 

****

 

In future posts I will describe the steps I took to research the design of the ship and how I proceeded to make the CAD model. Bear with me though. I am fairly busy with other things and there is a lot to tell.

 

Phil

I was on the Okie boat 1974-1976.  I have been looking for a model.  Have you made others or are any for sale

[Dr PR]

I have not finished a model of the ship and it may be years before i do.

 

I was working with Yankee Model Works on a 1:350 model of the USS Oklahoma City CLG-5 (1971 configuration) but the 2008 recession shut them down. I haven't heard anything more about it.

 

I have seen models of the OK City offered on the Internet, mostly by someone in the Philippines, but they are junk. They are a mix of the USS Little Rock CLG-4 and the USS Providence CLG-6, and the radars, towers, communications antennas, boats, winches and several other things were just wrong!

 

I do not know of any company that offers a model of the USS Oklahoma City in any date/configuration.

Edited February 7, 2022 by Dr PR

[Ras Ambrioso]

From your reply to Valeriy I found your post. What an amazing job collecting all that information. I have used the Archives before but mostly for general arrangements. I will be following your build in one of my future projects that is a  
Sumner class destroyer USS John W. Weeks (DD-701). 

[Dr PR]

Ras,

 

Thank you. That project turned out to be  a very deep rabbit hole and it took me about 14 years to find my way out again! In addition to the blueprints from the Archives I had hundreds of photos I took on the ship and hundreds more that other OK City sailors sent me (plus tech manuals for the equipment, etc., etc.). I originally posted the CAD model build on the DesignCAD Forum (for the CAD program I use) over the 14 year period. That is where I first met Valeriy -  a friend of his in Ukraine was building a model of the ship using the pictures I posted on the DesignCAD forum and he contacted me.

 

I still want to build a 1:96 scale model of the USS Oklahoma City CLG-5, but right now I don't have the space or tools to do so. I started on one in 2005 but stopped when I realized I didn't have enough information to do a good job. So I dove down the rabbit hole. You can see some photos of that early attempt here:

 

https://www.okieboat.com/Ship model page.html

 

I had planned to use styrene and Plexiglas for the main structural parts and brass for the details. Recently I have obtained a 3D printer and have been experimenting with that, but it just isn't good enough (too fragile and too much pixelation/jaggies) for what I want to do at 1:96 scale. And I have seen Valeriy's work (and Kieth Aug and others on the Ship Model Forum) and that has raised the bar for what I would like to achieve.

 

Now I am planning a workshop addition to my garage so I will have a place to work, and accumulate the tools needed to do good work. But don't hold your breath. It may be years before I resume work on the real model.

Edited October 1, 2022 by Dr PR

[el cid]

Not to highjack the conversation, but want to also thank you for sharing your CAD images, especially the somewhat obscure weapons, directors, and other antennas. I have the 1/350 Orange Hobby USS BOSTON (CAG-1) in the stash and your research will help me modify the kit to a 1964-66 fit (my dad’s tour as AA gunnery officer and then navigator). So thanks again for sharing all of your hard work.

 

Cheers,

 

Keith

[Dr PR]

I will be happy to share any information I have on the blueprints, weapons, radars, directors and such. However the CAD model is in DesignCAD file format and the files are not compatible with other software, and I don't intend to spend more years trying to translate them.

 

I do have a few STL files  that I can share. These are from my 3D printing experiments.

 

You can contact me by personal message on this Forum or through my contact page on my Okieboat web site:

 

https://www.okieboat.com/Contact page.html

[Ras Ambrioso]

Phil, thanks for your quick reply I will be following your posts. Amazing the work that guys like you, Valeriy, Wefalk, et al, do to our hobby. Thanks again.

[Jim Brady]

Thank you Phillip, for helping to bring back some great memories of serving on a Cleveland Class Cruiser. Although I did not serve on the Okie, I was fortunate to be assigned to the USS Springfield CLG 7. I was assigned to the Flag Marine Allowance to serve Vice Admiral D.L. Mc Donald Commander of the Sixth Fleet from March 1962 to May 1963. Your drawings and details are amazing. I am glad I was able to find your post. I will continue to follow now I know how to find it.

 

Jim Brady 

[Dr PR]

Jim,

 

Good to hear from another CLG sailor - if you will excuse me calling a Marine a "sailor."

 

This thread isn't very active. The CAD model is finished, mostly. I guess I should put a Kaman SH-2B Seasprite on the fantail (the Admiral's helo) but I haven't found any good plans to work from.