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Description

Ported to OBJ from the model created by the original Virtual Navy team for Microsoft's Combat Flight Simulator 2 (CFS2). Preview picture posed in XNALara XPS. NO MODEL DOWNLOAD.

Tarawa (LHA-1) was the first full-blown class of amphibious assault ships built for the Cold War era United States Navy (USN). They began building in 1971 and first entered service in 1976, with five of eight planned eventually being built. Issues with the design that arose during operational use and problems with the way certain of its intended features were implemented eventually led to the remaining three ships in the class being cancelled in favor of an improved design which became the Wasp class. Tarawa and all subsequent USN LHA/LHD type warships also inherited the mantle and nickname of "gator carrier" from the USN's earlier helicopter carrier classes and conversions, such the old Essex class LPH conversions and the later Iwo Jima class purpose built LPHs, due to the fact that they exclusively operated helicopters as their primary air wing. They (and their successors) were later upgraded to handle U.S. Marine Harrier jump jet aircraft as well late in their service lives, although this remained a secondary support feature. While the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) had pioneered the concept of the amphibious assault ship during World War II with its own Akitsu Maru class, it was the USN Cold War era Tarawa that took it and raised it to a whole new level, setting the standard by which most of this type are still judged today. They also served as the design basis for their own successors, the subsequent Wasp and America classes. They served very well during their service lifetimes, and you can look up their service records for yourself. None of the Tarawas remain in active service today, with the last, USS Peleliu (LHA-5) being decommissioned in 2015. As of this date (early 2021) the class ship Tarawa is still on donation hold for possible museum ship conversion, one has been scrapped (Saipan), one expended as a target ship (Belleau Wood), and two remain in reserve (Nassau, Peleliu). To find out more about the Tarawa class LHAs, follow the link below:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarawa-c…

This is surprisingly nice for a low-end warship model, although it's completely hollow inside and this can easily be seen from certain camera angles. I also had to fight flipped normals (a common SketchUp porting issue) and I may not have caught them all. If anyone wants to re-flip any normals I missed fixing, put some interior blocking pieces in the appropriate locations, and then re-release this on your own, please be my guest.

This is not my model. All I did was port it for you. Please credit the original CFS2 Virtual Navy team for their effort. You do not have to credit me for my OBJ port.

For non-profit, non-commercial use only.

Description

Ported to OBJ from the model created by the original Virtual Navy team for Microsoft's Combat Flight Simulator 2 (CFS2). Preview picture posed in XNALara XPS. NO MODEL DOWNLOAD.

Tarawa (LHA-1) was the first full-blown class of amphibious assault ships built for the Cold War era United States Navy (USN). They began building in 1971 and first entered service in 1976, with five of eight planned eventually being built. Issues with the design that arose during operational use and problems with the way certain of its intended features were implemented eventually led to the remaining three ships in the class being cancelled in favor of an improved design which became the Wasp class. Tarawa and all subsequent USN LHA/LHD type warships also inherited the mantle and nickname of "gator carrier" from the USN's earlier helicopter carrier classes and conversions, such the old Essex class LPH conversions and the later Iwo Jima class purpose built LPHs, due to the fact that they exclusively operated helicopters as their primary air wing. They (and their successors) were later upgraded to handle U.S. Marine Harrier jump jet aircraft as well late in their service lives, although this remained a secondary support feature. While the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) had pioneered the concept of the amphibious assault ship during World War II with its own Akitsu Maru class, it was the USN Cold War era Tarawa that took it and raised it to a whole new level, setting the standard by which most of this type are still judged today. They also served as the design basis for their own successors, the subsequent Wasp and America classes. They served very well during their service lifetimes, and you can look up their service records for yourself. None of the Tarawas remain in active service today, with the last, USS Peleliu (LHA-5) being decommissioned in 2015. As of this date (early 2021) the class ship Tarawa is still on donation hold for possible museum ship conversion, one has been scrapped (Saipan), one expended as a target ship (Belleau Wood), and two remain in reserve (Nassau, Peleliu). To find out more about the Tarawa class LHAs, follow the link below:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarawa-c…

This is surprisingly nice for a low-end warship model, although it's completely hollow inside and this can easily be seen from certain camera angles. I also had to fight flipped normals (a common SketchUp porting issue) and I may not have caught them all. If anyone wants to re-flip any normals I missed fixing, put some interior blocking pieces in the appropriate locations, and then re-release this on your own, please be my guest.

This is not my model. All I did was port it for you. Please credit the original CFS2 Virtual Navy team for their effort. You do not have to credit me for my OBJ port.

For non-profit, non-commercial use only.