Yes. Primary mission was shore bombardment, but we did have air control of our fighters. New Jersey came on duty during my second deployment.

I seem to recall reading that on WW2 era RN ships they painted all the brightwork, porthole brass included, at the onset of war. This was to prevent the reflection of light from the sun or searchlights giving the ships position away..

Peejay, was your 2yr during the Vietnam War era ??

I was on the USS Canberra for two years and we never had the portholes opened. Certainly reduced the time to set Condition 3 or General Quarters.

Gents.
Thank you all for your valid and interesting replies most of which have my notions in mind.
I think I shall do some but certainly not all and lightly weather the surrounding brass.
As always it’s good to hear your thoughts.
Regards
Bill👍

Hi Bill,
I'd go for some and some, as I know from my own 1/72 destroyer (HMS Hotspur H01) what a chore that can be. Got it all ahead of me again after re-skinning the hull to strengthen it☹️
I'd leave the forecastle portholes dogged down, in case of heavy seas.🌪️🤔
Open some of them midships and stern and fit subdued lighting behind them. E.g. yellowish.
In the wheel/chart-house perhaps orange/red?
4 function RC switches (e.g Krick or Component Shop/Action Electronics) could be used to animate them and simulate life on board.
Weather to taste - before you fit the lenses/clear resin😉
My two-penneth for what it's worth
Cheers, Doug😎
Pic shows the portholes on the forward superstructure, stb side, of my Hotspur.
Made 30+ years ago using brass belt eyelets and a few drops of clear epoxy.
Due for replacement with proper flanged frames,

Yes, I'd agree with what Colin said. All the best 👍

I guess my first question would be, how are they finished on the 1;1 ship? I suspect that the frames are painted to match the surrounding area. Otherwise, some poor slog will be polishing them underway!
My second thought is that they should look pretty much alike. If the frames differ significantly, you will notice it and it you are like me, it will haunt you.😀

Hi Bill, I am a rust and patina freak myself, so I always go for the weathering. In that scale, go super light as a test to start and let dry to see how you like it. Then it’s off to the races! Keep those pix coming! 😊

The brass portholes changes the look of the ship entirely for the better.
Of course since it will be an r/c you have to have them sealed.
You could overlay them on top of the existing ones or smoothly sand them off until you could glue the brass portholes flat to the hull.
After that is just a matter to add an aqua or greenish drop of paint inside each and let that dry and add a few drops of epoxy to represent glass.
And I wound’t add any weathering on them but if you must, do it slightly.
We could easily go wild with the weathering but it wouldn’t look good on a vessel so small, so the less weathering the more authentic it will be.
This is my humble opinion but you will receive many other to choose from.😎

Hi Bill
As you are doing a refit then it would seem sensible to remove all that is there and replace with your bits. Looking at the originals the detail is not that good so removing all and tidying up the surrounding area and replacing with new would be worthwhile and probably in keeping with the rest of you restoration. They do cover a large area so will be prominent on the finished model. You will I suspect weather the finished result. Look forward to seeing how you proceed
dave976

Bill, if it were mine I'd weather and dull them down, as your model already has some excellent rust and weathering.
Cheers Colin.