Today I ground out and spaded the ML 1383, that was added in the recent update, and there seems to be a myriad of mistakes in the model. The first and most pressing one seeming to be that they modelled the ship based on the still extant sister ship of the same class ML 1387, also known as HMS medusa. The reason I say this is there are several features of it that where not present of ships of its class during service, and were specifically added to ML 1387 in the post war period by its civilian owner, along with a few features missing that should be present. To further illustrate the differences, here is a blueprint view of the internal compartments for the MLHD:
Now i will break down the issues:
AMMO RACK IN THE CREW QUARTERS:
The first error is the large amount of ammunition (9600 rounds) in the main crew quarters situatied front of the ship, where the crew compartment is, my only assumption is someone at Gaijin saw the word shell, and assume that meant ammo rack, on one of the techical drawings, but in terms of british ship schematics this simply means empty space. In this case its little alcoves for the portholes to allow unrestricted light. This can be clearly seen during this video, which involves a full walk around of the sister ship HMS medusa, which exists today as a museum ship.
MODERN LIFEBOAT IN FRONT OF THE BRIDGE:
This was the thing that made me stop and take a look at the model, as i noticed the modern lifeboat present on the model, and then i rabbit holed into this post. It is clear who ever modelled ML 1383 could not find any reference pictures of the actual vessel and instead used its sister ship ML 1387 as their references for the ship, which is understandable as they were basically identical and both served in the same unit on D Day. This life boat in question is of modern spec, and is present on ML 1387 so it can meet modern health and safety standards allowing it to transport passangers, and can be seen in this photo taken of the museum ship:
The place it occupies would originally contained ammunition boxes for the forward 20mm gun, which would make sense, seeing as currently where they are located is literally the longest walk possible on the vessel to bring them to the guns. This leads to the second thing that confirmed to me that they had modelled HMS Medusa instead of ML 1383 that being the living quarters skylight.
Random Living quarters skylight:
This was not present on the ship during its service life with the royal navy, and was installed by her civilian owner in the post war period to bring more light into the crew living quarters. This would not have been there in service, as it would get in the way of the gunner traversing the forward 20mm, and would based on the drawings be covered by his duck board, which are for some reason missing from the model along with shrapnel screens for the rear gunner.
Civilian service external bridge:
The model in game has the modernized glass bridge from the HMS medusa, that was put in only a couple of years ago to comply to health and safety requirements, as well as provide a better amount of protection on somewhat windy days. This along with the wooden plaque, leaves little doubt in my mind that the modeller for this vessel used the museum ship as reference without tanking into account the multiple changes the ship has had over the years, resulting in all these as noted mistakes that were not present on the ship when it was in service, and are only present on the museum ship, as they are modifications that happened way past when the ship had left service.
AMMUNITION CRATES BLOCKING REAR GUN TRAVERSE:
These were not present on the vessel during its service life, and where added post war by her owner to increase on deck storage. This can be clearly seen if you have a look at this actual historical picture of ML 1383, which also illustrates the raised duck boards currently missing entirely from the vessel:
So in conclusion, the ML 1383 currently in game is not representative of the class or the ship in question during its service, and instead the museum ship HMS Medusa (ML 1387) has been modelled, including all the changes done to it in modern times to comply with changing health and safety regulations. A more accurate representation of the class would instead look like the following:
There are also a few minor issues, like the lifeboat being missing from the port side alcove, the ventalation funnels being incorrect and modern, the hatches being post war installations and the small boat on the bow being in the wrong position for stowage, but overall i am just impressed at how badly this thing was modelled seeing as blueprints for it are incredibly common. all in all this easily takes the cake, after such hiccups as the aa gun on the gneis and the missing turret on the shim. regardless enjoy this chunky post 