the USS New Jersey battle ship.

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harrisonm said:
The WW II submarine is so SMALL inside. Talk about claustrophobia. I could never have served on one. They look much bigger in the submarine movies.
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Agree 100%
On my only trip to Hawaii I toured the WWII USS Bowfin submarine in Pearl Harbor. During a later trip to Chicago I was also able to tour the captured WWII U-505 at the Museum of Science and Industry.
Although the Bowfin is 60-feet longer and 5-feet wider than the U-505, both are very cramped inside. I'm 6'3" and felt like I was hunched over the entire time during the tour of U-505 and absolutely no way I could have slept in the tiny bunks. There is only room for one person to work in the galley of U-505.
Check out the pics and information available online.



 
RustyRatRod said:
There's a great online article that's not hard to find that in one paragraph basically says that, but in the next, tells how useful they could be if upgraded to the next level of rail gun technology and how easy it would be to do to those big guns. With all of the money this country sends to pukes who hate us, it would be easy to come up with funding by eliminating that nonsense.
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When I worked in the physics program at umkc, we got a huge Navy grant. One of the professors got a 12" square, 1/2" thick steel plate that had about an 8" hole in the middle. The hole was pulled through, like a bullet hole. It was a rail gun target that the Navy gave him as a souvenir. He had me make him a stand for it.

That being said, I also built a rail gun. Not as easy as you'd think.

Guided missiles are MUCH more flexible.
 
"Battleship New Jersey arrived at Paulsboro Marine Terminal on Thursday for ballast. 2,000 tons of water will be pumped into tanks in the ship so she can sit evenly on the blocks in dry dock at the Philadelphia Naval Yard later this week"


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I have a friend from the Marine Corps who was on board another ship off the coast of Lebanon and watched the New Jersey shell terrorist areas. He said it was awesome to watch. He also had to pull bodies out of the rubble when Hezbollah blew up the airport terminal. Semper Fi
 
Read here on the history of the USS IOWA and the tragic accident that claimed 47 lives:

H-029-4 USS Iowa Turret Explosion

I am sure there are different accounts of the facts. But regardless, so sad what happened in Turret 2 that day on 19 April 1989.
 
DC 340 said:
Read here on the history of the USS IOWA and the tragic accident that claimed 47 lives:

H-029-4 USS Iowa Turret Explosion

I am sure there are different accounts of the facts. But regardless, so sad what happened in Turret 2 that day on 19 April 1989.
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a good friend from high school was on it when that happened.. he said it was pretty messed up. didn't talk too much about it.

originally they tried to blame it on a gay love triangle or some ****. they ended up ruling it was old *** gun powder not stored so well.
 
I did not read all of DC 340's post but what I gleaned. From the article, was.... They were firing a 2700lb shell with powder specifically for a 1900 lb shell, and marked "do not use with 2700 lb shell"
Also, apparently the rammer (for the shell and powder bags) was over extended. During simulated tests, explosions happened.
Also, all of the 16"turrets were manned by inexperienced unqualified sailors, with turret 2 being the best qualified of the three. Hardly surprising, since the guys that knew what they were doing in that turret probably retired or were mustered out 40 years earlier.
 
New Jersey made it to her dry dock. Not my pictures however.
Last photo is BB62 and BB64 from late 80s
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DC 340 said:
Read here on the history of the USS IOWA and the tragic accident that claimed 47 lives:

H-029-4 USS Iowa Turret Explosion

I am sure there are different accounts of the facts. But regardless, so sad what happened in Turret 2 that day on 19 April 1989.
Click to expand...
I remember this incident well. The Navy tried to blame Hartwig in an attempted CYA to cover up the disgraceful lack of training and following of safety protocols, processes and procedures. After 22 years of active service in the Navy I learned that 'big Navy' never admits fault to anything and always tries to find a scapegoat.
 
A bow on view of the battleship USS New Jersey (BB-62) leading the American battle line.
She is followed by the battleship USS Missouri (BB-63) and the nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser USS Long Beach (CGN-9) with other screening vessels following astern of the cruiser.
The photograph was taken from the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise (CVN-65), off the coast of Yokosuka, Japan, 1989




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Great pix...

My Dad served aboard the Wisconsin BB-64 at the end of WWII plus took his reserve training on her to Cuba and the Caribbean.

He was a gunners mate firing those 16" guns... He said Everytime he boarded her he kissed the teak decks.

My wife and I visited the Whisky in 2016.

Here's a photo of me kissing the deck like my Dad did. And one with Dad's seabag where he wrote down all the places he visited from '42-'46...Guadalcanal, Papua New Guinea, New Britain, Pearl Harbor, Bremerton, Brooklyn Naval Yard, Murmansk Russia, Guantanamo Bay and several more.

He served on several ships...started out in '42 as an armed guard aboard a supply ship sailing to Murmansk, Russia in the Artic. He was charged with defending the ship against the German U boats armed with a .45 and an M-1 carbine!

He also served on the USS Nitro an ammunition ship, APA McCracken an armed troop ship, an oiler and a few more.

His favorite was BB-64.

I would recommend that everyone visit a military ship museum when the opportunity arises.

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33IMP said:
I did not read all of DC 340's post but what I gleaned. From the article, was.... They were firing a 2700lb shell with powder specifically for a 1900 lb shell, and marked "do not use with 2700 lb shell"
Also, apparently the rammer (for the shell and powder bags) was over extended. During simulated tests, explosions happened.
Also, all of the 16"turrets were manned by inexperienced unqualified sailors, with turret 2 being the best qualified of the three. Hardly surprising, since the guys that knew what they were doing in that turret probably retired or were mustered out 40 years earlier.
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Powder bags on the Wisconsin.

There is a Navy submarine weapons facility south of Las Vegas. They have large, partially buried storage huts that contain Mark IV 16" powder bags manufactured in the late 193O's.

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abodyjoe said:
a good friend from high school was on it when that happened.. he said it was pretty messed up. didn't talk too much about it.

originally they tried to blame it on a gay love triangle or some ****. they ended up ruling it was old *** gun powder not stored so well.
Click to expand...
Leaky powder bag and a hot breach do not mix well.
 
Back in 78 I worked for the range division (Range Control) at the Yakima Training Center in central Washington State. The Navy scheduled a controlled detonation of surplus 16” HE and armor piercing rounds. It was common throughout the year to have the other services destroy outdated munitions. We would have the AF EOD destroy 500 pound bombs left over from WWII and Korea. The range time was scheduled during a period where there were minimal units training. Navy EOD was in charge of the operation.

The plan was to dig trenches using D8 cats and lay the rounds side by side in the trenchs. This was to minimize the amount of frag being scattered in the area. EOD would daisy chain the explosive (C4) and double prime each round. The change would be electrically detonated. It took a good two days for them to accomplish this.

On the day of the shot all of us drove out to a vantage point a safe distance from the shot. When they detonated the charge you could see the blast wave heading toward us and rolling south over the ridge toward the town of Moxee, WA. Almost knocked us down.

Anyway, the installation MPs phones were ringing off the hook. Some people called saying the nails were coming through their walls. People on I-82 called into the State Patrol reporting that we were dropping nukes. I could see that happening due to the mushroom cloud.

Needless to say a big pow wow took place the next day and it was decided to limit the shot to a maximum of 10 rounds. Apparently the shale subsurface maximized the blast wave both above and below the ground. Basically creating a mini earthquake. The local media was also informed that large explosions would be heard through the two weeks of Scheduled detonations. The Navy ended up footing the bill to make any repairs from damages caused by that first shot.

Fun times
 
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