This is really a terrific - not to mention gorgeous - build, Don - for several reasons, IMHO. First - of course - technically, it's beautifully done. It may well be your best model to date - certainly up there among your top 5, IMHO - including the gorgeous base, which I notice even has a fine brass title plate. Then there are all the details - a ton of 'em, yet not too many to maintain your interest in the build (a trick which I could do well to learn) - among which my favorites are the FLIR pod on the chopper's chin, and the SeaRAM launcher in which, if I'm seeing correctly, you depicted individual rounds!
The above also includes brilliantly scratch-bashed radars - again, very convincing and by far the best you've done so far, IMHO - and which brings up additional benefits of this kind of "recycling". Firstly, regarding radars in particular, old PE scraps can provide far more convincing lattice shapes - just like you found here - than just using standard mesh or screen. Plus of course it's true, just like you said - it is economical (and I'm certainly not about to knock that 
). But also scratch-bashing from spares improves one's modeling skills - to recognzie and adapt the shape(s) and appearance you're after (of which there could be no better example than your own builds, IMHO) - and I think, anyway, that it also builds character! (Now my point, Don, isn't to judge your character, and whether it needs improving - but instead to note of the World in General, whether or not it needs work on character-building, I would say: just take a look around! )
And oh, but there's more ! This build has a historical/educational aspect that I really like, as well. Starting with the side-by-side comparison in sizes of the WWII Fletcher vs a modern-day "destroyer". The latter shown clearly and very graphically in your build to have the bulk - the sheer volume - of a cruiser. Or at least, what used to be called a cruiser.
This is a particularly good comparison because otherwise, these days you can't tell from the hull form what kind of ship it is; they all (except for carriers) look basically the same! Once was a time when, for instance, the smallest (non-planing-hull) craft - the DDs and torpedo boats of circa WWI - had basically vertical stems, and as you got larger from there, the bows angled back to form underwater rams. By WWII the trend was for the most part reversed; with the larger ships having increasingly forward-swept, "clipper" prows. Nowadays, everything has a clipper bow - everything from missile patrol boats on up to the heaviest cruisers (not to mention all merchantmen except for large tankers, as well).
So, again, a killer build, Donny! Did you build this for a customer, or just for yourself?
Either way, it's a great contribution and Thank You for posting it, buddy!
Cheers,
-Matty
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