USN George Washington Class SSBN
SSBN-598 USS George Washington
1/350th scale model kit
By Blue Water Navy
http://www.bluewaternavy.com

In-box review by: John Sheridan

The Ship:

In the late fifties, at the height of the cold war, the U.S. Navy ordered the first Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarine (boomer) from the Electric Boat Company, as part of its new Polaris Missile System. The arms race was on and the Navy was not willing to wait for a new boat to be built from the keel up.

Instead, they ordered that the USS Scorpion (which was under construction at the time) be cut in half and a missile compartment (and supporting equipment) be added. The new submarine would be called USS George Washington / SSBN 598. She was launched June 9th,1959, commissioned December 30th, 1959. She was dedicated by Mrs. Robert B. Anderson. Her Blue Crew CO was CDR. James Butler Osborn, XO was LCDR P.J. Hannifin and ENG was LCDR Shepard Jenks. The first skipper of the Gold crew was CDR John L. From, Jr. She was the worlds first boomer. She was certainly a technical marvel and the new cornerstone of America's nuclear deterrence strategy.

Here are some odd little factoids about the Georegfish. Inside the forward escape hatch was a plaque bearing the name 'USS Scorpion'. To accommodate later
boats, the missile compartment was designed with a deeper test depth rating than the rest of the boat! Due to the configuration of the forward ballast tank, the boat dove with an up bubble! The Georgefish and her crews made 55 deterrence patrols in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in her 25 year career.

On July 20, 1960, she executed the first test launch of a Polaris missile from a submarine at sea, off the coast of Cape Canaveral, Florida. On April 9, 1981, she collided with the Japanese merchant ship Nissho Maru in the south china sea. In 1982, she returned to Pearl Harbor from her last missile patrol. The following year, the missiles were off-loaded in Bangor, Wa. In 1983 the 598 left Pearl Harbor for the last time as she began the journey thru the Panama Canal back to New London, her birthplace. On January 24 1985, the USS George Washington SSBN 598 was de-commissioned. She was officially stricken from the active ships roster on April 30, 1986.

The Kit

The 1:350th scale Blue Water Navy kit of the SSBN-598 USS George Washington is a multimedia kit consisting of Resin, White Metal, and Photo-etched parts. 

The resin parts consist of the hull which a solid one-piece chunk of resin with all the detail cast in. Hatches, access-ports, and other openings are scribed into the hull. The hull has a large casting plug on the keel that will have to be removed and sanded smooth. The dive planes and scopes  are made of White Metal and require a light sanding to fit in their place. Several choices of propellers are offered in photoetch brass. The propeller you use is determined by the time period you wish to display the model.  The instruction sheet is a one-page two-sided affair that clearly shows where the parts go. A decal sheet with hull numbers, pennants, and rescue markings round out this kit. 

Conclusion

This is a great kit for a person who is looking for a simple, yet very detailed resin kit to build. Those who have never built a resin kit would find this kit to be an excellent first-time kit to build. I would highly recommend this, or any other Blue Water Navy submarine kit to anyone