Navis Neptun 1/1250 1311 USS Independence, American WW2 Light Fleet Carrier
USS Independence is a second-hand, 1/1250 scale, waterline metal model of the lead ship of a cruiser conversion to a light carrier. The model was made as a Neptun model by the famous Navis Neptun Company in Germany, catalogue number 1311. This model is in excellent condition, see photograph.
After Pearl Harbor, the Americans wanted more carriers quickly and converted cruiser hulls already building until the Essex Class Fleet Carriers could enter service. In practice, both carrier classes entered service around the same time.
Despite shooting down six of her attackers, CVL-22 was torpedoed and seriously damaged by Japanese aircraft off Rabaul in November 1943. As new carriers were entering service more rapidly than they were being sunk, this class were no longer needed on the front line and Independence herself was selected as a target for Atomic bomb tests. Independence was subsequently damaged beyond economic repar in the 'Able' atomic bomb test at Bikini atoll on 1st July 1946. She was eventually scuttled off the West Coast of the USA.