Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length.

[Bryan Young]

Bryan,

I know that my brain is (almost but not quite  ) as addled as yours but my brain cell is telling me that those venturi devices you referred to in #11 were an early form of tank gas-freeing equipment provided before steam-driven fans were introduced.

Cheers,

Barry M

Thanks Barry. I thought they must be something like that as there's also one fitted on the pumproom roof. Bryan.

[Bryan Young]

When the notion of building this ship finally cemented itself into my then unfuddled brain I was remarkably lucky in discovering that the Dundee Library services had a full set of builders plans for the “Gold”. If I’d had to rely on the MoD or the RFA archives (even if they still held a copy) I’d have to make do with plans showing the ship after being fitted with all the post war RAS gear and the extra deck. If that had been the case then I don’t think I’d have bothered.
The plans I eventually got from Dundee were excellent, comprehensive and remarkably cheap when compared to the prices the NMM charge. I’ve had similar excellent service from the Glasgow university archives.
I was pleased to find that the deck pipe layout on the Rangers was fairly basic compared to later RFAs. This was mainly due to the fact that the class was limited to stern RASing.  For those who can’t visualise this, but have seen pictures of the more modern  and “normal” method of the abeam RAS…well, the 2 systems are as chalk and cheese. The only thing the 2 systems have in common is that they both pump oil to a receiving ship. The stern RAS system is still used now and again when the weather dictates its use, but more often it’s used as an exercise so both issuing and receiving ships can “keep their hand in”….just in case. Also, the modern system of stern RASing is a lot different to that used during WW2. In fact there’s one aspect of it that I don’t fully understand…..and in a way I’m rather pleased that even some “older” Masters and Ch.Engineers couldn’t help and indeed looked a bit blank faced when asked about it. I refer to what is blandly described as “the stirrup method”. Sounds more like something found in a hospital maternity unit than something that gets draped over the back end of a ship. But that aspect can wait awhile.

As I said, the pipeline layout was easy to follow…even if some of the convoluted bits of pipework in the vicinity of the pumphousing are difficult to make sense of.
In the photo showing the entire deck layout it’s just plain unfortunate that a falling leaf has landed right on top of the main loading/discharge manifold! Behind the leaf you can see the main valve for this, and the second pipe comes past it and heads off both upwards and sternwards. I’ll ignore that one for now.
EMA supply (or used to, don’t know about now) length of plastic piping, straight, 45* bends, 90* bends in various diameters. They also supplied flanges, valves bearer brackets etc. In fact all the stuff needed to build a pipeline system. If I remember I’ll include a couple of photos of part of the piping system on “Gold Rover” (1970s).
Also in the photo of “Gold Ranger” main deck I’ve included the actual rubber hose that will lead along the catwalk to the RAS point at the stern.
Picture time.

[Bryan Young]

The next 2 are just to show why I chickened out of building "Gold Rover"....and these are just a couple of the "easy" bits. The plan drawings are horrendously complicated!

[Edward Pinniger]

A superb model of a very interesting subject (which I knew absolutely nothing about before reading this thread!)
Looking forward to reading future updates - it's always very interesting to hear how other modellers do things, especially when they're to such a high standard!

Your approach of making the entire deck + superstructure removable is an interesting solution to the problem of interior access. I could have done with a similar setup on my HMS Sir Kay (1/48 Caldercraft kit) as the access hatches are tiny, with barely enough room to lift a standard 6v SLA battery in/out! I bought the kit part-built with the deck already glued and sealed, else I might have tried a similar setup to your Gold Ranger.

[Bryan Young]

Thanks Edward.
When I first began modelling and years before I joined TMBC, I'd looked at varous models at the lakeside and observed how many modellers had real difficulty with access into their boats. Still do in fact. So right then I decided that whatever I was to build in the future, access was to be the first "must have" on the list of requirements. As it happened, the first model I started was c.s. "Norseman", and she has rigging all over the place so any sort of access was quite impossible without the entire deck being removeable, This became the only model I made with a split hull. And to be perfectly honest with you, I wish now that I'd done the same with the others. I can only put it down to laziness that I didn't. Splitting the hull may take a little longer to do, and is more fiddly, but better and lighter than having to use a lot of bracing up when only the deck is "portable. I explained how I did the "Norseman" in the rebuild articles I did on this site.

[Bryan Young]

Dear All.
There will now be a few days break on the "Gold Ranger" write up.
I was given temporary custody of 2 more "Smiths Docks" journals this morning. One from 1930 and the other is an undated souvenier presentation issue. ( I think this one has some pictures already seen here, but I intend doing the whole isse again anyway).
    I don't like hanging on to other peoples property longer than necessary, so I'm going to crack on with that job first. BY.

[stoney]

 
 Superb model

 Paul

[Bryan Young]

A couple of points that don’t really fit into any category:-

I recall being berated by a very indignant chap at one the Harrogate shows who was really quite adamant and obnoxious while stating that a tanker would never have cowl ventilators anywhere near the cargo tanks. In a way, it was quite amusing to listen to him ranting on. When he stopped to take breath I asked him what he knew about pumprooms on a tanker. The pumproom running the full width of the ship, the deckhose above it is really just a glorified entrance porch. I could almost see the penny dropping. Some people really deserve a bucket of cold water…..

Watertight doors, as fitted to “old” merchant ships.
Too often do I see RN style W/T doors fitted to non RN models. The standard “Merch” type is a single steel panel with all 4 edges turned over to allow a rubber seal to be seated inside. No indented panelling. 8 latching bars, 2 per edge. When vertical the latch is open, horizontal = closed.

The single focsle mounted deck winch:-
I don’t know if you can see them, but I have rigged one wire on each side of the model from the heel area of the aft derricks via pennant mounted blocks and rollers in an attempt to show the sheer awkwardness of both raising the derricks and then having to swap wires to allow the derricks to lift/lower whatever it is being worked.

A note on deck camber.
Almost for ever…at least in the 20th century, the standard camber of a deck was laid down as ¼” at the centre line for each 1ft of maximum beam. This is very handy for people like me who prefer building at ¼”=1ft. It should be noted that the same curve applies to all decks, but reduces in height as the beam narrows. Which is why the decks get “flatter” towards the ends of the ship.

[Bryan Young]

The short bulwarks and “fashion plates” at the for’d and after ends of the tank deck :-
The after end ones, being mainly vertical are easy, but the for’d ones that attach to the focsle head have to accommodate the outward flare of the hull bow section. And be a neat fit. On many ships the rise of the bulwark to the focsle level is simply capped in the same way as the rest of the bulwark (ie a 6” wide or so just continues upwards. When this design is used then there will be a rather large triangular plate at rail height, or just above, connecting the bulwark to the focsle bulkhead. This one is a bit different. The bulwark “capping” widens out considerably as it rises to meet the bulkhead. This then acts as the stiffener. I’ll post the pics first and then have a look at the construction and fitting.

[Bryan Young]

The main structure of the bulwarks is 1/32” ply covered with 30thou  plasticard (double sided tape again). The plasticard on the inner surface stops at deck level, this is to allow the raw ply base to be epoxied to the exposed deck edge….which has been sanded down to give the bulwarks a flush fit. The photos don’t show it, but there is a slight outward curvature at the for’d end. A small size angle strip was glued and pinned to the b’hd to form a landing for the bulwark and force it to shape. The raw ply was then fitted. Then the inboard plasticard was cut (oversize) and fixed and trimmed to shape. Then the outboard section was “plated” simply by cutting the plasticard into short lengths and butting the edges. For extra strength a length of angle was fitted along the bottom of the inboard side. Then the bulwark stiffeners were cut and fixed in place. The bulwark capping also had to be braced with short lengths of angle as there isn’t really much surface to glue it to. The photos explain the rest, but it was only after looking at the pics I’ve realised I left a silly little gap that should have been filled. Photos really concentrate the eye. Dead easy with a digital camera….but I was using a Pentax film camera at the time of building…so no instant viewing then.
And now for the catwalk structure……and what an enjoyable (?) pain that was.

[Bryan Young]

I suppose it’s stating the bleedin’ obvious that I had to build a jig to make the framework for the catwalk. It also horrified me how many lengths of various sizes of plasticard angle I needed. One bit of serendipity though….the deck camber over the length of the tank deck is more or less pretty consistent, so all the frames could be made the same and only a few needed a minor adjustment when it came to fitting them. These “adjustments” can be seen in the pic. Kind of draws the eye when looked at in isolation like this, but on the model the gaps aren’t noticeable …not much, anyway.
No double sided tape here. Superglues, Bostik, Epoxy and small pins were the order of the day(s) here. But when the main “trestles” were eventually assembled, lined up and fixed to the deck the cross bracing had to be done…and that’s when the pain came in. A very “worthwhile” job, but oh, how frustrating it all was. Painting it all was just as bad, even though I’d done a fair amount of that before the fitting of the trestles. Then, after the main structure was done and dusted there were even more angles to fit to support the timber planking and hand rails etc. This whole job was, while both necessary and worthwhile, I was mightily relieved when it was done. I seem to remember that it took me the best part of a fortnight to make it.
The long black thing on the catwalk is a length of hose.
The after end of the catwalk structure made for a different problem. How to get a very heavy hose to rise from catwalk level up to the next superstructure deck. The photo may explain most of the structure including the fitting of a sort of “monorail” with hose supports on trunnions to allow the hose to be hauled around. Much extra bracing required here. A real mental exercise that involved the cracking of many cans of the Laughing Cavalier.
And that’s the end of the front half of the model.

[Bryan Young]

Where to begin?
Start with a slightly fuzzy pic of the after end in profile. This is only to show that there are 4 decks that are 4 decks that were planked. Main, Boat, Bridge and Monkey Island. First job is to lay the cambered 1/16” ply underdeck …same method as used on the foredeck. Once that’s done the plan view of the main deck superstructure can be drawn and cut out. Again, so that the superstructure has a nice flat base to sit on. All “corners” including those for the door alcoves are rounded. The fore and aft bulkheads are easy enough as there isn’t any camber to think about. The most difficult part is the corners. I used ½” dia dowel, but had to mill 2 “flats” on each corner post to accept the bulkheads without leaving anything standing proud. The b’hd panels are all braced with ¼” sq ramin “judiciously” spaced (this includes the internal fore/aft length). If everything is square the individual b’d panels should be capable of free standing. Next came the marking out and drilling the scuttle apertures…following the sheer line. Now to make the athwartships bulkheads. Very carefully cutting the top edges to match the camber required at the relevant beam of the hull. Make a mistake here and the whole thing will finish up a bit skew-whiff. When all the sides have been epoxied  to the corner pieces we have a nice open topped box. Now to “plate” the structure. I used litho for this. The 1st layer is easy enough. Cut slightly oversize and lay on the ready taped bulkhead. Trim to fit. Mark off the approx. centre of each scuttle hole drill through the litho and cut/file to suit the hole. I found I got a cleaner hole this way rather than drilling through both the litho and ply inner. Then the second layer of litho. Second layer? Well, with a riveted b’d the plates are placed vertically with a single line of rivets visible down the vertical edges of the “outer” plates. Having a “full length” inner plate means that the outer plate sits flush without losing shape. The same principle as when plating the hull plug and foredeck. In fact, this whole exercise is easier to do than describe. The corner pieces being (to me) the most difficult. They are “outer” plated by the way…and litho is easy enough to bend to a curve. OK. Now the plating is done and the whole caboodle sits nice and square on the deck, it’s painting time. A couple of light sprays of matte white to give a key for the grey followed by a brush painted coat of satin grey. All that remains now is to push fit the port/scuttles whatever you want to call them. Only a very small (less than 1mm if you can manage it) bit of the rim left protruding. Handrails and anything else that needs to be fitted to the housing can be fitted now…things like wood or steel doors and so on. Job done. Epoxy the whole thing to the marked deck and be prepared for hours of deck planking.

[TugCowboy]

I am simply in awe of this model, can think of little else to say but its just....superb.

[Bryan Young]

I am simply in awe of this model, can think of little else to say but its just....superb.

Thanks a million for that. But it probably looks better in the photos than it does "in the flesh", as it were! It certainly needs a bit of cleaning and a few things putting to rights. Bryan.

[Bryan Young]

Unfortunately I can’t get my camera inbetween the main deck and the boat deck to give an idea of the fittings etc within that space. Sorry. Now if I had one of those gizmos doctors use to photograph peoples innards……; however, the exercise wasn’t totally fruitless as even the “unusable” results showed areas of damage that I hadn’t noticed before. But that’s for later.
So the best thing I can do is to move straight on to the boat deck. The planking principle is the same so no harm done there.
As has been my usual practise I’ve used Obeche for the planking. At 1:48 scale I reckoned that planks 5” long and 3/16” wide would look OK. So after selecting some Obeche sheet (comes in sheets about 4” x 30”) with as little visible grain as possible, I was ready to start the cutting business. I’ve explained my methods of cutting and laying a few times in the past (See “Norseman”, “Baroda” and “General Havelock” at 1:48 scale or the ferry “Northumbrian” at 1:24th scale). The only thing I should remind you of here is the use of “Margin Planks”. These are wider than the normal plank. I appreciate that all my deck planks etc. are a bit overwide for the scale, but to be honest I don’t think that detracts very much from the overall result. The margin planks surround every fixture that is permanently attached to the ships structure, plus the outboard plank of the deck where it forms the edge of the water “gutter”. This includes all ventilators, winches and sundry other stuff, but not items that are screwed or bolted down, lockers etc.).
I’ll post a general view of the boat deck now (to save you from reading fatigue) and do the layout and fitting next time.

[Bryan Young]

Oops. Made a bit of a blunder here! I forgot to mention that when I had the main deck laid (the one with the camber), I copied its shape on to another sheet of 1/16” ply. With that shape cut out and clipped over the main deck I was able to drill through both decks and into the main (flat) underdeck which gave me the locations for the side pillars (tall stanchions, if you wish). Then I could put the “raw” boat deck sheet to one side and continue fitting out the main deck. The main item on the poop were the mooring capstans. Just standard steam driven things as found on many ships of the era. Mark and drill the fixing holes for the many small cowl vents and sundry other fittings. Then it was time to make the bulwarks. Same method as used for the short lengths at the ford end of the tank deck, but with cutouts for the gangway stowages, freeing ports and mooring leads. The raised surrounds for the freeing ports are simple lengths of wire shaped to fit and epoxied around the hole, with the epoxy still “wet” the join was cleaned up to disguise the roundness of the wire. Similarly with the fairleads….except their surrounds are suitably sized rubber “O” rings. The sheer length of  the bulwark meant it had to be made and fitted in sections..the areas of the joints being with a hidden (inside the bulwark) piece of 1/64” ply). That more or less finished off the main deck. A multitude of coats of matte clear lacquer sealed the planking, and gave it a bit of “colour”.
For a bit of relief from all the “grey” work, I felt in the mood to tackle the gangways next. Before you eyeball the following photo, please remember that the distance between the decks is set at 8ft which is 2” in model size, and the bulwarks are 7/8ths” high, the ports are ¼” dia. So the photo is just a little (!) larger than “life”, therefore try to pay no attention to the flaws you spot.

[Bryan Young]

Gangways. Structure of. These gangways (for my convenience) are made with fixed treads. Some ships I’ve been in had gangways with the sort of treads that stay horizontal no matter the angle of the gangway. And they are a real pain to make at model size. Similarly, most gangways have gratings as end platforms. But I have seen them with solid platforms. I made gratings for the “Norseman”….never again! The “Y” shaped thing on the underside of the bottom platform drops down when the gangway is swung out and basically holds the gangway a little bit away from the ships side. There are many fiddly bits of details that could be added to the gangway…would make a model all by itself really….but lifes too short to do it on a working model. My opinion, anyway.
I used 1/16” thick teak (I think) for the side pieces. Made up a jig and cut the slots for the treads with a thin bladed tenon saw so the 1/32” treads would just slot into place. In real life the fixed tread sort of gangway can be a menace to life and limb. They are OK whenfitted to a ship that doesn’t change its draught very much but as the gangway has to reach a boat boarding level they can be very long, so at shallow inclinations the user can be walking on the tread edges. Bad enough when sober, but the return journey ….well, imagine for yourself. Which is why (in the RFA) when this occurs the unsteady returnee is put in a helicopter rescue strop….just in case. It doesn’t help matters that the hand lines get lower and lower the higher the gangway is hoisted!
       A mention about the tall pillars that run around between the decks. Years ago I found a plastic coated wire that comes in 2 sizes. The internal “wire” seems to be piano wire as it’s devilishly hard to cut without a proper wire cutter. The beauty of this stuff is that a short length of the plastic coating can be trimmed off, so forming a “land”. Fitted and superglued into a close fitting hole at both ends the pillars are almost indestructible.

[Bryan Young]

The boat deck:-
Lots to see, make and explain about this part of the ship.
The first thing to do is to actually fit the deck. No underdeck this time, just a single sheet of 1/16” ply. It sits quite neatly on the cambered tops of the superstructures on the main deck, and when the side pillars are inserted and the deck edges weighed down the stern end of the deck seems to find it’s own flattening of the deck camber.
Off with the lot and give the underside of the deck a coat of matte white and 2 coats of satin white. Sometimes a couple of the older RFAs I was in had the deckheads painted a very pale shade of green…a bit bilious on a model, but apart from protecting the ply, it does reflect light a little. Time to fix the deck in place. This time using slow setting epoxy as I’ll need some time to get the deck lined up and weighed down in place.
When all is set, firm and square I’m again confronted with a nice blank sheet of ply…albeit with a slight camber curve to it. Time to start marking off again. Apart from the main superstructure, the main areas not to plank are the lifeboat areas and the part of the deck that will hold the stern hose “chute/ramp”.
This time the deck planking will be done first. I find it easier that way as this decks superstructure is both more complicated and more difficult to line up square than that underneath.
But I always forget something. Now I have to cut out the template for the bridge/wheelhouse structure as the long pillars run up through the boatdeck to the wheelhouse deck. Same procedure as before, but when done the holes in the boatdeck have to be enlarged to the full dia of the pillars, not just the dia of the central wire.
As you can see from the previous full length general photo the actual superstructure is basically a “3Box” affair. So planking the deck is fairly straightforward although the number of “cut-outs” makes things a little “fiddly” and time consuming.
The next photo shows a lot of “stuff” that I’ll probably come to later, but is mainly concerned with the structure and plating etc. of the accommodation block. Although the front b’hd is curved it follows the same pattern of plating, and together with the after b’d had to have both the top and bottom edges carefully cut to fit the camber of the deck it’s sitting on and to allow the wheelhouse to sit square on the next(cambered) deck.
Notes on this photo follow next.

[Bryan Young]

Notes on the previous photo:-
The curved corners look much better than square ones…but again, not all ships had curved corners.
Doors. Teak veneer stuck to a bit of plasticard cut oversize to allow the doors to be fitted from the inside and to give a landing.
Door frames around all doors.
Hinges on all outer doors are at the for’d edge of the door…hence the door handles at the aft edge.
Outer door frames overhung with a water shield.
All plated outer bulkheads throughout the ship should have a “doubling plate”
Their bottom edge
Bulkhead plating projects upwards to just over the deck edge.
All outer doors to be fitted with a slightly projecting “step”.
All outer bulkheads fitted with a handrail….curved to fit the camber on athwartships b’hds.

[Bryan Young]

Boat Deck...stbd side.

Boxes 2 and 3 were built as one…but with a solid b’d between the two, to make construction simpler.
I’ll start with the photo taken from the stbd side/
There’s a lot of stuff on this part of the model. As you can see from the pipes and things sticking out of the funnel top, they were Motor Ships. B&W German engines powering British ships built after the start of WW2 (!). The short length of wire sticking up near the front of the funnel top is the R/C aerial.
I absolutely hate to see otherwise well made models going around with a wonky bit of wire dangling from somewhere or other …why don’t people hide the ruddy thing. As long as it’s insulated, the aerial can be part of the rigging or simply draped (fastened) around the inside of the hull. No need at all to make it unsightly.
The aerial on the Gold follows what I did for other models where the deck lifts off in one piece…..the bit of the aerial that’s visible sticking out of the funnel is fastened to an electrical “chocolate” connector with a strip of “springy” brass also connected and led to somehere close to the receiver. There it impinges on a brass tube (laid athwartships) which is in turn connected to the R/C receiver. Voila! Instant connect/disconnect with no plugs to clart around with. Having said all that….I now run my aerials around the inside of the hull just above the waterline and never seem to have loss of range…not as if you should anyway as most boaters don’t sail away as far as an R/C aircraft does.
Anyway, back to the ship.
The front part of the boxes is the main “fiddley-top” above the main engines. The second box is the bit that the funnel sits on…and the 3rd is the Galley. Galleys always seem to have bars over the windows…I wonder why.
I’ll post this, then have a look at the Port side.

[Bryan Young]

The first noticeable difference between the P&S sides is the effect the offset funnel has…particularly with the positioning of the “tower” gun sponsons. The stbd one is mounted on the funnel deck…but the port one has to be taller and fitted on the boat deck.
The ventilators on the top of the E/Rm skylight are unusual nowadays, but were common during WW2. The construction of them allowed the area to be “darkened” but could still provide a degree of ventilation, probably to get rid of hot air rather rather than letting cold air in. Just as well that heat seeking cameras hadn’t yet been invented!
That’s really about it as far as the actual boat deck structures are concerned.
Perhaps a quick run-down of some of the fittings on the structure may be handy now. …but pic first.

[Bryan Young]

Starting at the for’d end of the fiddley deck.
There are 2 forced draught air blowers…not air-con, just air blown in from the outside and exiting into cabins through “Punka-Louvres” (Eyeball type things). I suppose some sort of steam heating must be incorporated somehere down the line.
The units are pretty basic things made from bits of a broomshank (Mrs Y didn’t really mind me lopping a foot or so off her newish broom as she isn’t all that tall anyway). Shank turned to two diameters…the electric motor part (the inboard bits) had various plasticard flanges and fins glued on to make the thing look a bit more realistic. The main impeller (the broad section) was coated with plasticard and the side panels simply cut to a “trunking” shape and the top simply welded on and wrapped around the visible part of the ex-broomshank (bostik this time. The side box (dunno what that does, but it has an inspection panel and so on attached just to make it look a little less bland.
The main skylight is almost entirely of plasicard construction with the closing clamps of brass and the top mounted vents  also of plasticard.
The main cowl vents are scratch-built using wooden “plugs” and formed in my home made and so very simple vac-forming machine as described in another post about a different model. Simply an air-tight box with a lid that can be closed over a sheet of plasticard and put under the kitchen grill. When the plasticard gets very soft and almost runny, the nozzle of the household “Hoover” is inserted into a hole in the side of the box, switched on and the soggy plasticard is drawn down over the 2 halves of the plug. Sounds simple, but some experimentation was needed before the results were deemed “satisfactory”. The smaller cowl vents are modified commercial plastic items. I have made them myself before, but it takes ages (see “Norseman”).
The funnel is also plasticard made around a former in the same manner as a model balsa aircraft fuselage …..but I’ve just noticed that I seem to have forgotten to fit a whistle(!). Ooops. The pipes sticking out of the funnel top are brass tubing.
The Lewis gun tubs started life as caps on the larger size of aerosol (de-icer sort of thing) but with various additions as can be seen. These additions had to be superglued in place as plasweld won’t even look at the stuff the aerosol caps are made of. The rest of the supporting structure is again from plastic angle etc.

[Bryan Young]

I was going to continue with the boats and davits etc….but came across these 2.
The first one showed me that I’ve lost a gun…that I hadn’t spotted earlier. Rats.
The 2nd is a more general view showing the deck clutter and made me wonder if the boat-fall reel at the after end of the dinghy has come adrift…I’m pretty sure it should be more in line with the deck planks. Ah well, another thing to put right.
Almost hidden behind the awning spars at the bottom right of the pic is a pipe termination c/w valve. Could be used as both an inlet or outlet, but it connects to that riser pipe at the stbd back end of the main deck.
I’m sure that you’ll realise that the pair of long black things sitting on rollers represent the fueling hose that will be payed out over the stern. In retrospect I should have made the hose that’s visible on the foredeck a lot longer, as the way I’ve presented it the hose wouldn’t go very far astern of the ship….and doing a stern RAS with the receiving ship only 20ft away is a bit of a no-no. Still, it’s done now, and I’m not inclined to start changing things.
So next time will be the boats and davits….if that’s OK with you.

[BarryM]

Bryan,

Were the hoses individually long enough for a RAS or were they coupled  and, if so, what sort of coupling was used?

Cheers,

Barry M

[Bryan Young]

Trust a clankie to ask such a thing.
You must realise that all this was made and operated when I was between zero and 5 years old. In those days the hoses themselves weren't buoyant...even when full of oil. And they were more rigid than the modern ones. I have no idea of their construction. The buoyant hoses didn't appear until some time after the "Altmark" was captured (or such is my belief). The Germans were ahead of the Allies in this respect.
The connections would be recognizable to anyone nowadays who has to deal with such things. A male screw into the female end of the next length...so they weren't the same at both ends.
This connection is still used when the "other ship" isn't fitted with any of the more modern connections....including the "probe" rig.
The other most common one in use is the NATO standard coupling which is basically a variation on the original.
Hose length would seem to have remained pretty well constant at 30ft....although smaller (dia) hoses can easily be 60ft. (I'm talking about the "full size" 6" hoses as compared to the 3" hoses used for Lub Oill and so forth. Thats why the RFAs I was used to had rigs with hoses fitted for simultaneous transfer of FFO, Deiso, Avcat, Water and Lub Oil. All on one rig......but not the same contents in each hose. Bryan.