New Submarine Models

AIMM is pleased to announce that we will soon be carrying the OKB Grigorov line of submarine models. These models are produced in 1/700 scale and are made of resin with photo-etched details.

We are ordering the following models:

• USS Skipjack class SSN
• USS Sturgeon class SSN
• USS Permit class SSN
• USS Tullibee
• Russian Borei class SSBN
• Russian Yasen class SSN
• Russian November class SSN

The company is introducing new models on a regular basis, and we will be able to special order kits as well. We're excited to carry this line, as many of these models have never been available - in any scale - at any price.

There's even talk of a USS Razorback model....

USS Herring (SS-233) Sinks Ship in the Atlantic

On this day in 1942, USS Herring (SS-233), a Gato-class submarine, sank the Vichy (Axis-allied French) merchant ship Ville du Havre, 5,083 tons, off of Casablanca, Morocco, during "Operation Torch", the invasion of North Africa. Herring was one of five U.S. submarines to participate in Operation Torch.

Herring is one of the few U.S. submarines to sink an enemy ship in the Atlantic.

She conducted four more Atlantic patrols, but was unsuccessful, and she was, like the rest of the U.S. submarine force, redeployed to the Pacific.

On 01 June 1944, Herring was sunk by a Japanese shore battery.

Construction Started on First American Submarine

It could be said that submarine history began on this day in 1896, when construction was started on the vessel that would become USS Holland, the first truly successful submarine in the world.

Her designer, John P. Holland, is pictured above.

Within five years of being commissioned in 1900, over 20 Holland-type submarines were in operation around the world. Modern submarines still use many of the same basic engineering principles that John P. Holland incorporated into his submarine.