Posted on 10/23/2014 5:13:43 PM PDT by EternalVigilance
Dang! Looks like I need to learn how to size pics.
5.56mm
I like it like that.
Thanks.
All FOUR Iowa class Iowa ships have not been scrapped.
http://www.network54.com/Forum/165547/message/1016019024/Location+of+Iowa+Class+battleships+today
Yea and you also forget how much you hated it while you were there LOL. I got out and got married within a year. There's nothing like waking your wife up at 0 darkthirty yelling "Get Out Of Here Get Out! Flooding in compartment number 4-whatever-5-Q" while getting into battle dress. LOL. I'd went through several fires including one major one but no flooding compartments.
We had went to a full time Fire Dept in 1979 before our 12 month overhaul and I did two TAD stints in two yard periods in it. For decades I'd have dreams when asleep of being back on the ship.
America was the first super carrier to be sent to Davey Jones Locker. We made a good effort to try and get museum hold for her but couldn't get it. To add insult to injury since our ship was to be sank to gain design data for the newest class CV we tried for the class namesake getting that ship named America. A certain Virgina U.S. Senator John Warner who was also former Sec of Navy went behind our backs to SecNav to get it named after his former boss Gerald R Ford. It was a dirty trick considering former crew members had written him and he made no mention of his intentions to us until the ship was named and announced.
We did get a LHA Class namesake finally. The old ship was stripped before Sinkex. Parts are scattered here and there including the island. I think part of it is also on the new AMERICA as well. We also have a time capsule on the old ship that went down in the sinkex with all the former crew-members names and any pictures we had.
You might want to read post 45. Our ship had some experiences trying to get museum hold.
Thanks.
Seriously Good Luck and I hope you guys succeed. Just beware of the politics involved. It’s ruthless. JFK is probably an ironclad at taxpayer funded museum for example. It will be in Boston Harbor come hell or high water.
When they announce it will sold for scrap for a penny, offer two cents!
Yes, the hull of the ship in the water gets thinner and thinner and thinner.
If carriers had not ever been invented those BB’s would rule the seas, unless a sub got them.
I was wondering...
did they normally keep all the aircraft on the deck or did they do that to look cool for the port call?
Unless entering a port in the U.S. they usually stay on board. Most ports aren’t deep enough or secure enough for the carrier to go pier side so they anchor out about a mile and stay steaming. If needed they can have the ship underway in less than two minutes. I’ve seen it done before when we anchored in Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia. An Alpine Express storm hit us broadside and we drug anchor. The Captain began yelling “Get the &&&& ship underway and do it now”. We had anchor coming up and screws in full reverse ship moving in less than two minutes. I’d say a launch could be done in less than five if needed.
Wow, that is impressive re W.
If you had had the opportunity to meet the current CinC, the chance of you catching Ebola from your bowling ball is greater than the Chance he’d give a poop enough to remember you.
So they usually keep the bulk of the aircraft inside the ship? Man, must be a pain getting ready to make a port call.
Yea and you also forget how much you hated it while you were there LOL
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Guess it goes back to when John Paul Jones was an SR - or 'JC' was mess cooking....
The TWO best ships you ever served on were the one you just left and the one you are going to.
I do not disagree with the sentiment. But the practical truth is that keeping a ship the size of Ranger in reasonable good repair will take millions of dollars a year.
Fees from visitors will not even cover the cost of the paint that is required. Every few years she will have to be docked for shell plating repairs, then you are talking very big bucks. With the financial situation of most American cities bordering on disaster, I do not see a viable future for this project. JMO
Some of the planes are on the hanger Deck {the one where you can see through the ship if the doors are open or 4 decks down from flight deck}. The rest are on the flight deck. You have to have a place to send them too if you send them out when coming in. In the US when were are pulling back into home port the planes fly off the night before or the morning of our returning to port. They want them off before we hit the channel due to draft and ballast reasons. The planes fly back to their home base like Oceana, Jacksonville, etc. As soon as we tie up we loose about 50% of the persons onboard {the airwing} as they offload and go back to their squadron bases. They leave ship before any liberty occurs.
The Navy has the port call system down pat as far as foreign ports go. Very organized and somewhat efficient. Each carrier has 6-50' utility boats and 1-35' utility boat or UB for enlisted transport. The 50' can haul about 175 persons at a time. They also have 2- 35' officers boats {PB} which have two cabins, the Captains Gig a 35' and the Admirals Barge as they called it another 35' PB. The Captains Gig and Admirals have twin inboards and can flat get up and haul. The other boats when I was in had Detroit 671 engines.
Before I made NCO I was assigned to work as an engineman on the three man crew that run each one of them when in a foreign port. We ran in 24/48 shifts. The close calls I had while in were mainly on boat crew except for one in a fire on the ship. In general our runs were 20-45 minutes from ship to what we called Fleet Landing on shore.
Very interesting. When they say Carriers are surrounded by other boats, I usually think of destroyers and stuff. Where do they keep all those utility boats? I’ll google that I guess.
Mess cooking was a pain. I lucked out and got officers mess. I ate good. Chiefs would have been better though :>} After mess cooking came the real let down. I joined to work AC&R {the Air Conditioning & Refrigeration system} and I had civilian training for it but I was a non rate. CHENG wanted a BT and down to The Hole I went. I worked Test Lab for about three months. I started having serious issues with my balance and concentration. MPA thought I was joking. I wasn't and I'm now disabled from the cause of it. The Medical Officer wrote a waiver to get me out of there.
I worked in the Engineering Log Room about a month and the AUX Officer asked me why I was a FA working as a Yeoman which in Engineering wasn't real uncommon. I told him and said just as well I joined to work AC&R. He asked about my civilian work experience and training and asked if I thought I could work in less humid and cooler spaces in AC&R shop. I said I'll give it my best effort and I did. He said put in a chit and next day I met a real character named Whale who ran the shop.
"Whale" {Ranger vets 70-74 he was on your ship any info or contact real name was Robert Albrecht likely a MM2 then?} was a Lifer who sang Anchors Aweigh for duration of GQ. I don't mean just a minute I mean the whole blasted time.
We had GQ a day or two later and he started up his nonsense. His battle station was the shop which was also an A/C Chiller Machinery room. I said OK I can do crazy too then and I started barking and howling at him. He gave me the nickname DOG that stuck till I got out. Nobody on the ship that knew me called me my name they called me Dog even the officers. LOL.
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