USS Worden (CG-18) — Leahy-Class Guided Missile Cruiser Model
USS Worden (CG-18) — Leahy-Class Guided Missile Cruiser Model
Model details
- Construction
- Handcrafted
- Condition
- Fully assembled, ready to display
- Display
- Wooden base with brass nameplate
- Collection
- Battle Ship Models
- Item no.
- B517
A Cold War guided missile cruiser — the generation of warship built around missiles rather than guns.
Details
- Handcrafted hull and superstructure
- Missile launcher, mast and radar array detail
- Deck fittings and boats
- Mounted on a display base with nameplate
- Fully assembled
The design
Leahy-class cruisers were called double-enders — twin-arm missile launchers at bow and stern, with almost no gun armament at all. Their job was to screen carrier groups against Soviet aircraft and missiles, and everything about them was arranged around radar coverage and launcher arcs.
The distinctive lattice masts carry the air search radars, and the superstructure is kept clear of obstructions that would block them. It is the same design logic as USS Blue Ridge, applied to a fighting ship.
Service
Worden was commissioned in 1963 and served in Vietnam and the Pacific. During the Grenada operation in 1983 she was struck by anti-radiation missiles released by an American aircraft that had locked onto her radar emissions — an early and costly lesson in the risks of friendly electronic signatures.