Shipyard stories

Strut

Jackie
Just got back from my first day of shooting sage rat's. A great day was made even better by an invite to shoot on a 1500 acre cattle ranch.....just me!

Life is good ......No ! ...it,s great.

Back to the photo's.

Why can't I see a strut on the inboard side of the other rudder?

Wish I was in your shape.. I'm just a biscuit away from 200.

Great photo's and thank's again.

Mort
 
dmort said:
Jackie
Just got back from my first day of shooting sage rat's. A great day was made even better by an invite to shoot on a 1500 acre cattle ranch.....just me!

Life is good ......No ! ...it,s great.

Back to the photo's.

Why can't I see a strut on the inboard side of the other rudder?

Wish I was in your shape.. I'm just a biscuit away from 200.

Great photo's and thank's again.

Mort
Click to expand...

If you look at the left part of the photo, you will see the Flanking Rudders on the Port side. Just aft of those you see the inboard strut arm with a B on it. The B is part of OB,meaning the props turn outboard.
 
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Ship Repairs and Liberty

One time after landing exercises on Taiwan it was announced "Bosun whistle, Now Hear this" that we are going back to the Philippines for minor repairs.

One of the "minor repairs" was the ventilation system in the passenger quarters (aka, Marines) had failed.

Most of us had taken to sleeping on our sleeping bags at night in our underwear...on the deck.

I'm sure there was a Navy regulation addressing Marines running around on deck at night in their skivvies, but they let it go.

I caught the first liberty in Subic Bay. I showered, put on clean starched khakis, kissed my shoes with a shine rag and I was ready to hit the beach. Before it was my turn to ask the Deck Officer for permission to go a shore, the back of my clean khaki shirt was stuck to my back, and it went down hill as far as uniform appearance went... but again they let it go.

Before leaving Subic to where ever, the ventilation was fixed.

The in take for the system was not far from my bunk and you could really hear it sucking air. Someone held up the center fold section from a Playboy Magazine and it was sucked right up to the in take vent.

We all got a big laugh out of that, and although her presence decreased the efficiency of the ventilation system, she was there for the rest of the cruise.

Mort
 
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A Very cool vid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7rc7U61B5E

The Gridley had this system. 1982 installed. Back then it was a crap shoot.....
The Navy actually launched Talos missiles(real ones) at the Gridley and Halsey.....Gridley shot down a missile aimed at Halsey.
Halsey never could get their CIWS to work...so we were told.

While in the shipyard(CMSD)...I was laid off the first time. 1-1987.
The foreman liked my work ethic. So he introduced me to the Maintenance Dept Foreman....I met one of the guys who installed the CIWS sys. at LBNSY. Really good guy.
Yep. The Halsey install crew were sub-par....as I was told.
Not sure why this would keep a stand alone Sys. from running...This was Star Trek stuff to us.....:).

By the way. A Burp of the CIWS is 100 rnds. Full Full auto is 3K pm. The magazine only holds 3000 rnds..........
Damn good Sh*t!
 
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Video's

Tim

It was a good video and I also watched the following one.

The gun/cannon barrels were smoking hot and I wonder how long they last.......and who picks up the brass?

Mort
 
dmort said:
...and who picks up the brass?
Click to expand...
Mort,

The feed system not only loads live rounds, it also collects spent cases. At 3000 rounds/minute, it's a tall order.

zippy06 said:
The magazine only holds 3000 rnds..........
Click to expand...
Zippy,

1,550 rounds, according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phalanx_CIWS#Gun_and_ammunition_handling_system . Even with that many rounds, you are correct that the gun has a limited number of shots available. Hence the move to systems such as RAM ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIM-116_Rolling_Airframe_Missile - more rounds available, over double the range of CIWS), and the recent attempt to field lasers. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_Weapon_System )

NOTE: The US Navy's Laser Weapons System is not an antimissile system - yet.
 
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Collecting Brass and Still Making the Ship Home

When I was in a gun battery we always collected the brass and it was either reused or recycled somewhere.

Because brass had a salvage value it could be use d in lieu of currency in some places.

We were in the process of closing out a winter exercise on Mt. Fuji, when a friend and I were assigned to guard duty around the battery motor pool vehicles.The trucks were placed in a column to make security easier. Our job was to walk around in opposite directions to keep warm and both sides of the column would always be in view.

We had all our cold weather issue: jackets with hood, jacket liners, cold weather shirts, gloves, long johns, etc. That issue made things bearable most of the time. That night (our shift) the temp really dropped and I was as cold as I had ever been in my life, and so was my buddy.

We were both smokers and after an hour or so, my buddy wanted to jump into the cab of a truck and light one up.

I was opposed because if we were checked by the Cpl, or worse, the Officer of the Guard it would be an automatic bust if charges were brought.

This was my second cold weather exercise in Japan, and I was due for rotation back to the States...not a good time for me to screw up.

On the first walk around our small convoy, I could see the glow of a cigarette through the frosted window on one of the trucks. I got in the cab and told my friend to keep his head lower because people could see.

While we are discussing his lack of precaution there is a knock on the window. I'm ready to..... my pants...we are both dead and I might not be going home.

You couldn't really see out of the glass so one of us opened the door. Surprise, Surprise, Surprise! ...There were three Japanese women who wanted to exchange a service for some brass. They were all wrapped up in heavy blankets and it was best if the service was provided in one of the truck cabs.

My buddy was willing to negotiate so I got out of the cab and walked my post like nothing was going on. I could never remember all of the Seven General Orders for guard duty, and remembering them now wasn't going to save my ass if he/we got caught.

My buddy and I survived this incident and my ship home arrived in San Diego on December 7th (Pearl Harbor Day) 1961.

My buddy and I still talk about this when we meet ,but mums the word when his wife is around.

We both got Good Conduct Awards before we left the Corps.

Mort
 
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Asa Yam said:
Mort,

The feed system not only loads live rounds, it also collects spent cases. At 3000 rounds/minute, it's a tall order.


Zippy,

1,550 rounds, according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phalanx_CIWS#Gun_and_ammunition_handling_system . Even with that many rounds, you are correct that the gun has a limited number of shots available. Hence the move to systems such as RAM ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIM-116_Rolling_Airframe_Missile - more rounds available, over double the range of CIWS), and the recent attempt to field lasers. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_Weapon_System )

NOTE: The US Navy's Laser Weapons System is not an antimissile system - yet.
Click to expand...

Eh! Been watching the laser stuff. I used to work at a company that laser welded blanks for all sorts of stuff. Mostly autos.
But, they also welded the Ray Dome for the Patriot Missile sys.
Then we have the "Rail Gun". US Navy Type. That should have been on ships years ago........
 
Refuel at Sea

On one of my pleasure cruises with the Navy it was announced we would be refueling from a tanker/oilier. It sounded interesting so I think most of us were up on deck to watch.

They managed some how to get a couple of cables strung between the ships to carry the hose. This obviously took more then just a little training, to make it work as well as it did.

Our ship and the tanker/Oilier were running parallel at a low speed, but there still was a lot of turbulence in the water. Someone said we were running about 8 knots which I thought was pretty slow.

If any of you Navy Vets can explain how the initial cable was transferred from one ship to the other I would appreciate it.

In logging parlance it would be called a straw line....I know how that works.

Thanks, Mort
 
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Unreps.

The US Navy keeps 2 M-14 rifles in stock/in armory for "High Line Exercises". Refueling and high line(Xfering people and stuff). To shoot a "monkey fist" across to the other ship.
Look on youtube. I beat there are a lot of vids.
I have been away from the those things for 17 yrs. Last I heard, The Soviets/Russians never could figure it out. It's a VERY dangerous exercise.
Being on a Cruiser with boilers. We refueled at night. Every other night.

Another time we didn't refuel for 4 days. 12 miles out from Japan. JDF Tankers met the Fleet. Free Fuel....YEA!
Japan pays for everything. When you are their Guest. 12 NM out. The Mess Decks got an upgrade. Wow!

Electricians are involved in everything. Sea and Anchor, UNREPS, GQ, Fire Party, Flying Squad, Flight ops(no extra pay), EHHH!

I have seen 4 ships UNREP at a time. My ship was out board of the Carrier. Starboard side. 0300 hrs....Getting fuel.
Carrier's port side was an AOR fueling the Carrier with JP-5. AOR's portside was another ship refueling MFD....
Wow. That was a cool thing to see. Every ship had all lights on. And 2 ships plane guarding aft. For survivors.....6 ships total.....Wow
 
OH, YEA!
While doing this. You also have flight ops.
Delivering Soda and maybe movies(16 mm). And maybe Gedunk Stuff.....
 
zippy06 said:
OH, YEA!
While doing this. You also have flight ops.
Delivering Soda and maybe movies(16 mm). And maybe Gedunk Stuff.....
Click to expand...

Tim,

Did you get to watch the movies during refueling?

Gedunk or Slopchute was the term used for civilian concessions on base. They got quite a bit of business in the evening because attending evening chow at the mess hall required wearing the uniform of the day. No one wanted to mess up a uniform that had to be starched and ironed or sent to the dry cleaners before an inspection.
 
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No.
On the Gridley. You had to have 3 extra sets of uniforms.....Wow ! Did that cut into the paycheck....
5 sets of "work uniforms"(with no faded or dirty or painted, or oily or frayed...). 1 set of "Quarters uniform"(only used at Quarters, then changed) which eventually became a work uniform. 1 set of "inspection uniform"-working, Dress Whites, Dress Blues, Working Blues-3, Working Whites-3, Summer and winter .....
Too pissed off to continue..........US Marines could turn in damaged uniforms....

THAT WAS THE STRAW, THAT BROKE, THE CAMEL.........My sister in law was a Marine. Drove my Brother and her to Vegas to git married......I was up for re-enlistment in a few weeks......Marines get free Uniforms. And the rest of the Fleet gets ...........
 
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Uniforms and Officers

Tim, I'm pretty we didn't pay for our initial uniform clothes issue but officers did. We did get a clothing allowance to keep our uniform maintained and serviceable. Our work clothes (fatigues) you would wear out eventually but people had a difference of opinion on service ability. Most of the time, that difference was between the officers and us.

We liked wearing fatigues and khaki that were faded and showed some "time in". Clothes with "time in" could be worn longer overseas than in the States.

Most of us had our uniforms including our fatigue jackets tailored in Okinawa or Hong Kong. It was hard to have someone tell you that you couldn't wear it any more.

Mort
 
Uniforms

Tim,

I was one of those people born without a rear end. When you had your pants tailored they had to be tight and right. They took so much material out of my crotch area the bottom of my fly was on the wrong side of my b....

But they looked really good.
 
Uniform Modifications

I'm sure all the service branches had way's of personalizing their uniform's.

At a E.M Club in Japan some Sailors came in wearing their blues with the cuffs rolled up. The underside off the cuffs were decorated with colorful stitching on what appeared to be silk.

Mort
 
M47 Clothes Dryer

On an exercise in the Philippines a big tropical storm blew in. I will just say it was bad enough that the operation was shut down. You were on your own to find shelter once you got back to the beach.

Operation exit started in daylight but it was dark when my buddy and I had moved to the staging area.
Some tankers were already there and had done a good job with tarps and small tents of putting up shelters. Some tanks were being used as retrievers and weren't present. We were offered a shelter to use until one of of the absent tank crews returned.

It seem like no time at all and we were being rousted from our shelter. So now my buddy and I are standing back in the rain looking like homeless people with nowhere to go. One of the tankers offered up his tank as a way to get out of the rain. He said it wasn't real comfy but it wouldn't blow away.

Our clothes were soaked, the tank was cold but we eventually fell asleep. Then someone opened the hatch and said we had to get out. It was daylight and the worst of the storm had passed.

The tanker told us to take our clothes off and he would show us how to dry them over the exhaust vents on his tank.

I want you to picture two guys standing on the back of a M47 with nothing on but socks and skivvies. The tanker said socks were a good idea because you could easily burn your feet. The skivvies were just another safety measure.

Mort
 
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Funny Mort.
I had to do something similar. Dry my clothes and boots on the steam turbine of a generator...
During shore power retrieval. My glove got caught in the bolts for the lugs. I was lifted off the pier and swung towards the ship. Then I was man over board.
 
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