The Cherokee class, originally known as the Navajo class, was a class of Fleet Tugs built for the United States Navy prior to the start of World War II. They represented a radical departure from previous ocean-going tug designs, and were far more capable of extended open ocean travel than their predecessors. This was due in large part to their 205 feet (62 m) length, 38 feet (12 m) beam, and substantial fuel-carrying capacity. They were also the first large surface vessels in the US Navy to be equipped with diesel/electric drive.

USS Navajo (AT-64) was the lead ship of her class. She was named for the Navajo people. Navajo was laid down by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, Staten Island, New York, on 12 December 1938; launched on 17 August 1939; sponsored by Miss Olive Rasmussen; and commissioned on 26 January 1940, Lt. Comdr. M. E. Thomas in command.

Following the loss of the first two ships of the class, Navajo and Seminole, the class was renamed from its original name of Navajo-class to Cherokee-class.

The Navajo was en route to San Diego from Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941, and was 12 miles outside the Pearl Harbor entrance when the attack occurred. She immediately reversed course once news broke of the attack, and became a critical element of salvage and rescue operations there, as did her sister ship Seminole, in the days following.

Navajo then operated in the South Pacific until 12 December 1942 when she was torpedoed and sunk by the Japanese submarine I-39 while towing gasoline barge YOG-42 150 miles east of Espiritu Santo, 12 December 1943 with the loss of all but 17 of her crew of 80. She earned 2 battle stars for her WWII service.

Features:Included are the main USS Navajo figure, and 3 smart-propped versions of the Anchors (all anchors up, single anchor lowered, and all anchors lowered). Optionally the Anchors may be left out for replacement by other props (such as the available easy pose chains and extra items of that nature available from many sources)...

Pose-able features include: working Rudder and Propellers, Main and Secondary Gun Turrets that can rotate with Barrels that can elevate independently, working Deck Crane, and functioning Spot-lights.

Product Features (DAZ Studio):

• DAZ Studio props: dsf, duf/ png:
• USS Navajo, with 11,369 polygons.
• All Anchors Down, with 4,032 polygons.
• Anchors Up, with 112 polygons.
• Single Anchor Down, with 2,072 polygons.

The USS Navajo includes:

• Rotating rudder
• Rotating propellers
• Rotating main and secondary gun turrets
• Barrels can elevate independently
• Working deck crane
• Functioning spot-lights.

Textures:

• One set of texture maps with corresponding normal/ bump maps, at 3000x1800 pixels.
• All of the materials use Iray shaders.

All sales images rendered in DAZ Studio with an HDRI skydome environment.

Designed for use in DAZ Studio 4.9 and above with Iray. Not recommended for use in other software programs.

Product Features (obj, fbx):

• Includes 4 models:
• USS Navajo, with 11,369 polygons.
• All Anchors Down, with 4,032 polygons.
• Anchors Up, with 112 polygons.
• Single Anchor Down, with 2,072 polygons.
• All models made entirely with 3 and 4 point polygons.
• The USS Navajo model includes group information, which your software should interpret as separate parts:
• Rotating rudder
• Rotating propellers
• Rotating main and secondary gun turrets
• Barrels can elevate independently
• Working deck crane
• Functioning spot-lights.
• Includes logically named materials, such as BodyMetal, Tires, Headlight Glass, and more. This makes it very easy to recolor the model.
• The obj version includes an mtl file, which your software program should read to colorize the model.

Textures:

• The model is UV mapped.
• One set of texture maps with corresponding bump maps, at 3000x1800 pixels.

For use in any software that can import obj or fbx files.

Original model by, and acquired from Chris Schell, and now owned by VanishingPoint.