AHPC XIV Post 7 Manilla Bay 1898

A slow week again for me (teaching an overload course and wife's birthday) but a few things made it off the workbench.  A few more ships from my ongoing Spanish American War naval project, mostly Spanish and mostly from the Battle of Manilla Bay 1898.

The Spanish squadron in the Philippines was a collection of obsolete cruisers in a pretty dodgy state of maintenance and training.  They gave Dewey's American squadron little opposition but with some proper preparations and work, things might have been tougher for the US Navy.  Dewey had the easier challenge in battle but had a host of other issues to deal with.  His squadron was operating thousands of miles from a US port and had to shepherd colliers and other support ships.  He also had to stare down the German Asiatic squadron which anchored in  Manilla Bay and deal with Phillipino rebels that the US Government was preparing to throw under the bus once the Spanish were out of the way.  

The Reina Christina was an Alphonso XII class unprotected cruiser and flies the flag of Admiral Motojo.  She was the best of the Spanish squadron at Manilla and went down fighting.   This class of ships was named for member of the Spanish Royal Family and both the ships and royalty had pretty sad careers.  Christina was the Queen Regent in 1898, widow of Alphonso XII (who died in 1885 at the age of 27 from TB and dysentery) and mother of Alphonso XIII (born posthumously in 1886 and deposed in 1931).  Her sister ships were named for Alphonso XII and his first wife Reina Mercedes who died at age 18 from typhoid fever after 6 months of marriage.  The Alphoso XII was immobile in Havana harbour in 1898, but her crew helps the crew of the USS Maine after she was sunk.  The Reina Mercedes traded shots with the US Navy at Santiago, but was too sow to take part in the the breakout,  She was sunk as a block ship to deny the Americans access to the port.

The Castilla was an even older unprotected cruiser.  She served against the Tagalog Revolt but was thoroughly worn out by 1898.  Her machinery gave only a very slow speed and she in the early days of the war was found to have a serious leak that could only be patched with cement around her propellor shaft, immobilizing her.  The Christina had to tow her into position.

Two member of the ill fated Velasco class of small cruisers.  Tow of the class had been lost at sea prior to the war and three more members were sunk at Manilla Bay including Velasco herself.  She was immobilized on the day of battle (are you sensing a theme here?) with her boilers ashore and under repair.  Isabel II was at San Juan Puerto Rico in 1898 where she took part in two actions against the US blockaders.  She served in the Armada until 1907.  Isabel II was the mother of Alphonso II and had a troubled reign from 1833-1868.  Her succession caused the Carlist Wars (the other side was lead by an uncle who refused to accept a Queen), and she was deposed by a revolution in 1868.  She lived until 1904 but had abdicated while in exile in favour of her son.   

Finally some pretty good little ships.  USS Petrel was a gun boat that fought at Manilla Bay and further against against first the Spanish and then the Philippinos.  Very useful in the brushfire colonial campaigns of the day.  And another flotilla of two Spanish destroyers, which were modern designs for 1898.  

Thats's 7 1;2400 scale ships (all Tumbling Dice castings) at 2 points per hull for a total of 14 points.  I  should have something more substantial next week.

Painting Challenge Post 3: Protected Cruisers

 If there were two subject areas on the Library Map that you could bet money on me visiting it would have History and Maritime.  So here's the second of these with a selection of 1:2400 scales ships for the Spanish American War, all of which fought at Manilla Bay in 1898.  All the toys are produced by Tumbling Dice, who do good castings with excellent service.

First up is a set of four Protected Cruisers for the US Navy.  Protected cruisers were a late 19th century development when navies were looking for speed with firepower at the cost of armour.  Early armoured cruisers had decent armour belt protection but the weight was so high that they were no faster than the battleships that they were to scout for.  A protected cruiser did away with the armour belt and substituted a armoured deck that would hopefully shield the engines and lower hull from the effects of shellfire.  British Arms magnate Lord Armstong's Elswick yard produced these as a popular option for smaller navies looking for prestige ships.

USS Boston was one the the first three cruisers for the US Navy using a home grown design heavily influenced by the Chilean Esmeralda.  Commissioned in 1887 she carried her two 8" guns in barbettes that were slightly offset to supposedly increase end on fire.  She was slow and slow firing by 1898 standards.

What's a barbette you ask?  Here's a picture from her sister ship Altanta.  The barbette was an armoured cylinder that protected the training and loading mechanism of the gun but provided no protection the the men serving the weapon.  Note the blue jacket fully exposed above the waist. 

These early ships came from a time when navies were loathe to abandon sails.  Boston carried an impressive full rig, but I've assumed that this would be downsized for combat.

  

The USS Baltimore was US built but used a design purchased from Armstong's.  Her 8" and 6" guns were broadside mounted but the crew had decent gun shields protecting them.

When I was adding ship labels I noticed that I had the Raleigh mounted differently from the other ships so that her table is on the starboard side instead of the port side.

USS Raleigh was a smaller ship commissioned in 1894.  She had mainly 5" guns which was the largest rapid fire gun available to the US Navy at the time plus a slow firing 6" on the foredeck.  She is credited with firing the opening shot at Manilla Bay. 

USS Olympia is a first class protected cruiser and one of the best cruisers afloat in 1898.  She carries four 8" guns in proper turrets and flies the flag of Commodore (soon to be Admiral) Dewey.  Dewey was a giant in the US navy pre WW1 and quite a character (see his bio here).  Most importantly, Olympia is still afloat and I visited her in September.

Look beyond my moose travelling companion and you can see where Dewey stood on the open deck while shell and shot whizzed past him.

Finally a trio of smaller ships.

USS Concord was a Yorktown class gunboat, useful for diplomatic missions!

Two members of the ill fated Velasco class, small cruisers with no armour and light guns.  Both (plus the Velasco herself) were sunk at Manilla Bay.  Two more members of the class were lost in storms. 

Summing up that 7 ships in 1:2400 scale at two points a hull plus 20 for the Maritime section nets me a total of 34 points.

This is my third section covered and my updated map is as follows.

Painting Challange XIV, Battle of Santiago

I've signed up for another painting challenge and my first post is below.

 WARNING:  This post is 25 years in the making, has lots of naval and personal history and I am too verbose at the best of times.  

In February 1998 I relocated from Halifax NS to Regina SK.  I spent the first two months in a sublet apartment with almost no furniture until my wife and toddler daughter joined me in April.  At loose ends with my evenings and weekends I bought an Xacto knife, sandpaper and some bass wood and started carving Pre-Dreadnought battleships for the Spanish American war.   I got some work done and then my family arrived, we moved into a new house and you know the rest....

In early 2011, I set up a blog and my second post featured my 1:1200 scratch built ships from this project which I had begun working with again.  Venturing onto the internet allowed me to meet gamers who lived within 2km of me, and my fleets made it on table in 2012.   I am not sure what happened but I'll ascribe it to real life.

In September, 2023 I went to Philly for Society of Actuaries exam meeting.  During some time off I went to visit USS Olympia, Admiral Dewey's flagship from Manilla Bay.  This time I think the bug took up permanent residence.  Fleets were ordered in 1:2400 scale from Tumbling Dice as I no longer have the patience for scratch building.  And my veterans came out for another test game.

OK, initial blather over, let's move on to the models.  Fast service from Tumbling Dice meant that I these arrived and were assembled and primed in time to get initial paint on during my wife's book club in November and then December hit and they sat.  So yes full disclosure, these were started prior to the Challenge but Curt tell's me that Overdues and Returns allows for that.  So I represent the full fleets from there battle of Santiago 1898.

First up is the US Navy with USS Texas, USS New York and USS Brooklyn leading the way.  I will note that the US Navy painted all of their ships grey for the war, but I've represented them in their much spiffier white and ochre peace time livery.

• Texas was built as a second class battleship to counter South American navies.  She was the first major warship built in the US for many year and construction was delayed as industry tooled up.  Therefore while her design was au courant when ordered in 1886 it was passe on completion in 1895 such was the speed of naval development.  She was considered slow and underarmed but gave a good fight at Santiago.
• No such worries with the Armoured Cruisers New York (ACR2 completed in 1893) or Brooklyn (ACR2 completed in 1896) which had a good balance of speed, protection and firepower. 
• New York was the flagship of Admiral Sampson in 1898.  She almost missed the battle at Santiago, as she was taking Sampson off to see his Army equivalent the ex CSA General Wheeler and only arrived at the very tail end.  She had a long service with two name changes to free up names for new construction and was finally decommissioned in 1932 in Cavity, where she was scuttled in 1941.
• Brooklyn had her turrets in a schwacky French-style lozenge arrangnement and was the flagship of Commodore Schley in 1898.  Schley had his moments during the war but was senior officer when Spanish came out to fight.  He narrowly avoided ramming the Texas, but sank the entire Spanish squadron with Brooklyn doing much of the heavy lifting.  There was a bun fight between Sampson and Schley after the war over who did what,

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Next up three American Battlewagons, USS Indiana (BB1), USS Oregon (BB3) and USS Iowa (BB4).

• Indiana was lead ship of her three ship class, the others being Oregon and Massachusetts (which was off coaling and missed the battle).  They were designed for coastal defence and thus smaller than contemporary European designs and had low freeboard.  But they were well armoured and packed a punch with 4*13" main guns, 8*8" intermediates plus light guns.  They were overarmed and there was a lot of blast interference between the 13" and 8" guns. 
• Oregon was the most famous member of the trio.  Built in California she relocated 14,000 nautical miles around Cape Horn to the Caribbean in 66 days.  This level of efficiency probably scared the pants off of European navies, while the length of the voyage lead to the building of a canal by a certain Roosevelt.  She chased the Colon for over an hour until the Spanish ran out of decent coal. 

Last of the American are some light ships.

• USS Vixen and USS Gloucester were armed yachts, taken over by the navy, stripped of their finery and armed with light quick firers.  Gloucester was formerly owned by J P Morgan.  They were useless against big ships but shot up the Spanish destroyers.  While most of the Tumbling Dice models are really nice, I am not a huge fan of these casts as they don't yachty enough.  I may try to fine substitutes.
• The USN didn't build destroyers until the 20th Century but employed torpedo boats during the war.  USS Ericsson was part of the Santiago blockade but went off with Sampson to meet the army.  The rules I plan to use (Long Face Games Broadside and Salvo), represent torpedo craft in flottillas instead of individual ships so I've grouped them two per base.

Now over to the Armada Espanol (yes that it still the official name).

First up are the three armoured cruisers of the Infanta Maria Teresa class, all of which were sunk at Santiago.  These were standard armoured cruisers if slightly under armoured and influenced by the Royal Navy's Orlando class..  The biggest problem was the hopeless state of efficiency in the Armada.  

• The Infanta Maria Teresaflies the flag of Admiral Cervera who commanded the squadron.  She was named for a Spanish Princess who was the first wife of Louis XIV and thus green grandmother of Louis XV.
• The Almirante Oquendo was named for the Admiral who lost the battle of the Downs in 1639.   Other Oquendos had prominent roles in the 1588 Armada.  If your Spanish (or Scottish) you celebrate valiant losers.
• The Vizcaya was named for the Biscay region.  She had the misfortune to visit New York on a friendly tour just after the destruction of the Maine and without knowing what happened.  She was slowed considerably by a dirty bottom in need of a scrub (this brings back memories of saving with my dad).

• Cristobal Colon was a member of the Italian Garibaldi class cruisers, and was named for some guy who figured he found China.  Half sisters served in the Italian, Argentine and Japanese navies.  They were fine ships but Colon sailed without her 10" main guns due to a bun fight with the makers.   She nearly escaped at Santiago but her supplies of good coal ran out and she couldn't maintain a decent speed.
• Reina Mercedes was on station at Santiago when Server arrived from the Canaries.  Named for the first wife of King Alfonso XIII (she died six month after their wedding), she was old slow and not much use at anything.   Too slow to join Cervera's planned escape she did trade shots with the US Navy during the siege and was eventually sunk as a block ship in the harbour entrance. 

• While most of the Armada was old and cranky, they had some shiny new destroyers ordered from the UK.   Cervera sailed from Europe with three destroyers, of which the Furor and Pluton were sunk at Santiago.  Terror and engine troubles in transit and ended up in Puerto Rico where she traded shots with American blockaders.
• I can't find any records of Spanish torpedo boats in combat in 1898, but they had quite a few and there's always what ifs.

Blather over and a project well under way after 25 years.   I'll have ships from the Pacific side of operations later in the Challenge.  

Points wise I make it 19 ships in 1:2400 at 2 points per hull is 38 points plus a 20 point room bonus for Overdues and Returns.

An Actual In Person Miniature Game

I've been rattling on this summer catching up on my paitning production over last winter's callenge becasue paiting since summer began has bascially come to a standstill. There's just too many things to keep me buy and by the time I call it a day it's after nine pm and I don't feel like setting my stuff up. 

 

However, there has been a fair amount of gaming activity thus far in 2021, including some in person gaming at Curt's new clubhouse. Back in June I ran a 1879 War of the Pacific Ironclads game using David Manley's excellent  Dalhgren and Columbiad Rules. This was a repeat of a game first played in November 2020 just before we locked down for the pandemic again. I don't recall enough for a detailed AAR but highlights are as follows.

• The Chilean's had a blockading squadron of wooden vessels commanded by myself keeping tabs on Sylvain's Peruvian force of two ex-US Civil War monitors and two spar torpedo boats.
• Stacy took the receiving Peruvian squadron including the ironclads Huascar and Indepencia and screw sloop Union.
• Curt was coming to my rescue with the two Cochrane class ironclads.
• The Peruvians focused on my squadron aiming to take out as many wooden ships as possible. 
• I randomized the positions and headings of my blockading squadron with scatter dice, with most of them stirring north towards the oncoming Peruvian ironclads.  Scared of Sylvain's torpedo boats I made the mistake of continuing to steam North towards Stacy.
• Stacy sank all of my force, but I at least put up a decent fight.  
• Curt arrived and roughed up the monitors with his much better ironclads.  At this point the Peruvians called it a day to save the Ironclads having inflicted considerable damage while keeping Stacy's sea going squadron in good shape.  Sylvain crept back into port needing some repairs and the Chileans resumed their blockade.
• Once again D&C gave a good quick game that was fun, quick to learn and gave reasonable results.  All ships are 1/2400 from Tumbling Dice.  Good detail and nice little castings.

A typical D&C confused melee!  My Chilean Was up class, Peruvian TBs excited harbour and a Peruvian IC at the top of picture.

Spar torpedo attack.  Stylvain's comment that it was like something that Space Orks would use wasn't far off!

A hit!  A palpable hit (or two)!

Sylvain monitors slowly exiting the port and coming under fire from the Cochrane class ICs.

Another hit and a fire!

The two monitors taking it from both sides as the Cochrane twins split up.  The Chilean vessels closer inshore steered between the shoals to make it safely back out to sea, while the monitors had enough and steamed back home while they could.

 

AHPC Crusier Trieste

 

Second last day of the challenge and second last post fro me, the Italian cruiser Trieste from GHQ in 1/2400.  I had the model primed in one of the first batches of work for this year's challenge but she's been kicking around the work table semi finished since December. 

Trieste and her sisters were armed with 8" guns but only lightly armoured.  Her sparse superstructure are typical of e 1920s era designs,  The float plane on the foc'sle seems precariously perched and required that she steam into the wind to launch it.

I've painted her in a camouflage scheme that she wore in 1942 even though it comes from a later date than the era that I'm focusing on. She had a busy war attacking and escorting convoys.  She was torpedoed and damaged by HMS/M Utmost in late 1941 and sunk by US bombers in port in 1943.

There's some interesting history in the naming of Italian 8" gunned cruisers of this era, all seven were na med for former Habsburg territories taken over by Italy after WW1.  The three name sake territories for the  Trento class (Trento, Trieste and half sister Bolzano) all remain Italian.  But three of the four Zara class (Zara, Pola and Fiume) were named for territories that are now Croatian (and renamed) with Gorizia being the sole exception.   None of the seven ships survived the war.

As Trieste sails off so do my entries in the Naval Side Duel.  That's another hull and another two points and a tip of my hat to Adam and the other participants in that challenge.

Yet More Allied Destroyers

 

Following on from previous posts I think I'm reaching the end of the destroyers in house.  These are 5 allied N class destroyers plus another radar blip dummy counter to represent an unknown sighting.  The models are all CinC, 5 are J/K/N class and the sixth is a spare "L" AA type.  CinC sells these in packs of 5, but there were only 4 in this particular configuration so spare one became a dummy counter.

Given the mess ups over the L/ M class, the next batch of Royal Navy destroyers went back to the successful J/ K class design.  They did manage to fix he one odd feature so that the rear "X" mount now was able to fire astern.   None of these ships served in the Royal Navy during WW2 although a couple did RN service after the war.  Five were manned by the RAN, two by the Dutch Navy and one by the exiled Polish Navy.

HMAS Napier, Nestor, Nizam and Norman split their service between the Med and the Indian Ocean before heading to the Far East in 1944.  I've tried my hand at period camo again, including a couple with a tan base which was effective against the North African coast. Nestor was sunk off Crete in 1942 and was the only RAN ship never to serve in Australian Waters.  HMAS Nizam was named for the Last Nizam of Hyderabad  who paid for her.  That's how you roll when you're the richest man in the world.  

ORP Piorun served both in the Atlantic and the Med.  She was one of the destroyers who engaged the Bismarck at night prior to the Bismarcks' final battle.  She is said to have sent the signal "I am a Pole" by signal lamp prior to engaging.

That is 6 hulls of 1/2400 scale ships for another 12 points, which also count in my Naval Side Duel.  There are more ships to come but I'll have to join Mr Peabody in the Wayback machine to go back a few centuries.

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The Cap'n likes these, oh yes he does! In fact, there is a local memorial service for NIZAM in a few weeks time which I am attending. In her spirit I grant a bonus points for each RAN vessel you have delivered here today - 16 points for you Peter!

Cap'n Wednesday

AHPC L Class Destroyers

Another four Royal Navy destroyers from my WW2 med theatre project, these representing the four L class destroyers armed with 4" AA guns as main armament.  All four ships served in the Med and were lost there between January and May 1942.  HMS Lance and HMS Lively were part of force K with HMS Aurora and HMS Penelope, which had some notable successes in its brief history.

The design history of the L/M class destroyers had a number of bumps that were unfortunately matched by my attempt to proceed models for the ships.  Fresh not the heels of the highly successful J/K class of destroyers, the naval design team decided to do what all designers do and improve a good thing by changing to a new main armament.  The new 4.7" gun fired a bigger shell, had some high angle capability and had an improved gun house.  But it never worked as an effective AA gun and and the director was overweight giving structural issues.  Simulatenoulsy the RN had an internal bun fight over the best light AA guns for destroyers, and the class was initially designed without any light AA while this was sorted out.  As a result four of the "L" class were given 8 4" AA guns in stead of the 6 4.7" of the other 12 L&M classes. 

HMSs Lively, Lance, Legion and Gurkha.  I need to redo the label on HMS Legion as it badly smudged.

So onto the model issues.  GHQ does not do either an L or M class destroyer but CinC does three different ones!  One is clearly an M class with the 4.7" mounts - these were big enough that the Italians thought the ships were cruisers on first meeting- but there are two labeled L class AA.  I ordered a pack of 5 based on what I could see on the website  and had these prepped and primed for the start of the challenge.  However, when I opened Mal Wright's excellent book on Naval Camouflage I noted that the rear guns mounts on the models didn't match the pictures in the book.  This likely wouldn't bother anyone else but having researched and ordered models to fit particular ships it bothered me.  So I went bak to the CinC webstore and ordered the other pack of L class AA destroyers which do look like the pictures i the book and those are what I've shown above.  I can't figure out what the other casting is supposed to represent but it sure as heck ain't an L class destroyer.  These casts became some of my greyscale unidentified sightings along with the extra correctly modelled L class, since CinC sells these in a pack of 5 and there were only 4 ships.

 

Challengers who paid attention while watching Sesame Street will note that Gurkha does not start with an L.  The ships was originally to be named HMS Larne but this was changed in honour of the tribal class destroyer lost in 1941.  The Gurkha regiments did a crowd fund to pay for the ship and command was given to the brother of an officer in the Gurkhas.

Excuse the ramblings, but to sum up that is 8 points for 4 hulls in 1/2400 which also count towards my Naval Side duel efforts.

AHPC Freccia Class Destroyers

AdamC noted that my shipyards seemed quiet of late, but there has been some work going on.  Here are four more WW2 destroyers in 1/2400 scale.  All  models are CinC.

The three ships with the candy stripe foredecks are Italian Freccia class destroyers.  There were four of this class and four more in the similar Folgore class plus modified ships sold for export to Greece and Turkey.  The Italian ships fought hard and all of them were lost during the war.  The stripes were for aircraft recognition, added after the Regia Aeronautica bombed the Regia Marina early in the war.

The final ship is another Paynes' Greyscale unidentified bogey for for of war purposes.  She is sold by CinC as a British L class destroyer (but isn't... that story with my next post).

That is 4 hulls at 2 points each for a grand total of 8 points.  These points count against my total in the Naval Side duel, but I'm long since left in the other's wake on that front.

AHPC WW2 Italian Destroyers

 

It's been a week since my last post and all I've got to show for myself is these four little ships worth a whopping 8 points.   These are 4 1/2400 scale Italian destroyers and torpedo boats for my WW2 naval project.  The original plan here was to model all of the ships that took part in the actions over a 6 month period from destroyers up.  We'll see how far I get with this plan but at least I'm getting a good variety of escort vessels for a decent campaign.

Closest to the camera are two GHQ models of the Soldati class Aviere (aviator) and the Poeti class Alfredo Oriani.  Both models are sold as Soldati class but the Soldati were only slightly different from the preceding Poeti class.  Leave it to the Italians to name one class of ships after poets and then name the lead ship of the next class after the Blackshirts!  Both of these ships were heavily engaged in the convoy battles.

Now we have the Spica class torpedo boats (or destroyer escorts) Aretusa and Cigno.  These are CinC models.  With both navies mining classical mythology for ship names its not surprising that there could be both an Aretusa and HMS Arethusa on table.  At least it's not Trafalgar with two Neptunes plus a Neptuno!  

So that is 4 hulls at 2 points each for a grand total of 8 points for my overall totals and my Naval Side Duel total.  I think I need another 25 hulls or so to catch Adam assuming he stands still for a while.  Don't hold your breath on that happening.

AHPC WW2 K Class Destroyers

 

On my dungeon crawl I used two Lumberjills to transport me back to the Aquifer so that I could take the water route to level 2.  I'm not sure if it's required but here's a naval themed post to mark my second trip to the Aquifer.  I have 4 1/2400 models for my ongoing WW2 Naval project - three British K class destroyers and another dummy radar blip in greyscale.  The K class models are GHQ and the other is by CinC.

Group Sot.  Still working out how to use my lightbox so not the best photo.

HMS Kelvin, Kimberley and Kipling (the K class had the most Victorian Imperial names possible)were all heavily engaged in the Med all served in the Med.  Kipling was sunk by the Luftwaffe off Mersa Matruh in May 1942 but the other two were the sole survivors (of a class of 8) on VJ Day.  I picked up a copy of Mal Wright's book on WW2 British Destroyer Camouflage and had some fun putting some of the patterns on 1/2400 models. 

I couldn't find a mid war pattern for HMS Kelvin so used a typical Med pattern based on that worn by HMS Javelin.  These close ups show the fine detail on these 1/2400 scale models, which come up nicely with some washes and dry brushing.

HMS Kimberley sports a 1940 era pattern.  Mal notes that this was unofficial and created by the crew using what ever paints were available in the lockers.

HMS Kipling wears a 1942 Admiralty scheme with a typical mix of colours.

CinC sold this as a L class AA destroyer which it most certainly isn't.  So it's become another  radar blip.

As I get ready to post I've noted that I need to go back and add Pennant numbers on the hulls.  (G37 for Kelvin, G50 for Kimberley and G91 for Kipling).  In past posts people seem to like my basing so I thought I'd share my recipe.  I should note that it carries by batch of ships and also I use different base colours for different projects (i.e. a much greener tint for my Dutch Wars ships).

1. I base the ships prior to priming on 2mm pdf  60mm by 20mm in this case.  The corners are rounded for my own protection.
2. A base coat of ultramarine blue.  I think that the Med needs bright Azure tones even if it could often be an ugly grey.   I try to get close to the hull edges but would rather leave an outline of primed base than paint the hull blue and have to fix it up.
3. An overcoat of Payne's Grey thinned down so that the base coat shows through.  If one was being really correct you could paint bands of the deeper colour to indicate mid-Ocean rollers, but that's too much bother most times.
4. Typically I do the base edges in Payne's Grey at the same time as the overcoat.
5. Wave highlights using a mix of Payne's Grey (or ultramarine blue depending on what's on the palette) freehanded resemble bow waves, wake and Ocean waves.  Typically I'll use a mid blue mix followed by something close to white for the crests.  At this stage I try and fill in any gaps around the waterline left in step 2.
6. Glue the label down with PVA.  Labels are banged together in word using text boxes with  pictures inserted representing the naval ensigns.
7. Give the sea a coat of Acrylic Gloss medium to get a shine.  This can be unnerving at first as the medium goes on milky white but dries clear.

That's 4 hulls at 2 points a pop (compared to Adam's 30 points for one hull earlier today).