Thanks, Jeff. In a way, you make my point. If you want to build a model of a particular ship, you have to identify her. As far as hull numbering goes, the rule of thumb is as I stated. With exceptions, And, to that, you have to add Varients.
A Varient could be a change as minor as the location of ready-service lockers, or as major as the power plant.
And the Varient could be a one of a kind, or several ships of the same class.
Then there are changes made by C.O.s during construction and overhauls, plus changes ordered by BuShips.
Now, is this important to the modeler? It depends. How big is the model? Bigger models require more detail.
Who's the intended audience? For some, if the gun mounts and super structure look close, and the hull number matches their ship, it's great.
For nuts like Jeff (no insult intended) and me, you'd better have your rivet pattern, and, count right.
But, most importantly, what do YOU want? Make your decision, collect the info, and build it. Anyone who doesn't like it can go build their own. Besides, buddies, who served together ,don't always remeber the same things, so who's to say?
Mike