Author Topic: Mighty MO (Read 686 times)

StarOfAfrica2 · « **on:** March 22, 2005, 01:33:49 AM »

I'll try to post the first pic, if it doesnt work I'll just put a link in to the album and yall can view away.

I really need to train the wife on what's important to take pictures of lol.

Ok that didnt work. Lets try this.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/fallnforu2/album?.dir=b96e&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/fallnforu2/my_photos

Ok, that works. I dredged up an old yahoo account and made an album to store the photos online. Unfortunately I cant post pics from it using the IMG tool, but this link will take you directly into the album so you can see the pics. The final ones are from the USS Bowfin which is also anchored at Pearl and is open to the public. The torpedos are Mk 14 steam driven torps. They also had a display of a later electric torp and missiles from early boomers. Each feature at Pearl Harbor has its own museum. There is one for the Arizona memorial, one for the Bowfin, and one for the Missouri.

The size of those 16" guns are unbeliveable. Even the 5" guns are huge. Some notes.

Missouri originally had 20 and 40mm AA guns all around her. There is a large scale model in one of the old mess halls that shows the locations of these. The 20mm were removed before the end of WWII, as they were considered "ineffective". During refit in the 80s the 40mm were removed also for the same reason. No use against jets. MO was originally outfitted with 12 5" guns (6 2-gun batteries, 3 on each side) but the aft batteries on each side were removed to make room for cruise missle launchers during her refit, and a Phalanx (sp?) antimissile defense system was installed. It's basically a computer controlled gatling gun that can track and take down multiple missiles from as far out as 2000 yards. It looks like R2D2 on a really bad acid trip. Before use in Korea the seaplane launchers on the fantail were removed and helipads were put in place. According to the guide, the original seaplane catapults were fired by the same powder charges they used in the 16" guns (1 instead of 6) and the plane was literally "fired" off the deck like a bullet from a gun. The 16" guns of an Iowa class battleship have an ACCURATE range of 43,000 yards. Plus or minus about 30 yards. Shells used for shore bombardment make a crater 50 feet across and 20 feet deep when they hit, mostly from the kinetic energy of the shell. Shells reach up to 30,000 feet in their arc on their way into a target. The 1940's era targeting computer was used all the way up until retirement because even modern computers couldnt do the job much better. It takes into account the pitch and roll of the ship and can automatically adjust the turrets to fire on target. Each gun tracks and fires independantly of the others, even in the same turret.

The Missouri is capable of app. 34 knots at flank speed, and takes about a mile to stop pushing the engines to full reverse. She is capable of stopping in a much shorter distance

GtoRA2 · « **Reply #1 on:** March 22, 2005, 02:52:32 PM »

Star
Thanks for posting the pics.

I soo need to come there.

frank3 · « **Reply #2 on:** March 22, 2005, 03:22:58 PM »

Good reading man, thanks for sharing

StarOfAfrica2 · « **Reply #3 on:** March 22, 2005, 04:55:13 PM »

Whoops, realized I didnt finish my last sentence (wife was bugging me to do something or other at the time).

In an absolute emergency, the Iowa class battleships are capable of stopping in as short a distance as 600 feet from flank speed (34 kts). They do this by pushing the engines to full reverse and closing the twin rudders in what they called a "barn door" maneuver. Basically, the rudders can rotate independently of each other, and they swing them both inwards like closing a barn door. The only time it was tried (cant remember off hand which ship it was that tried it) they said everything that was not nailed down was plastered against the forward walls and bulkheads. When drydocked for inspection before mothballing, that ship was also the only one that showed a problem with loose rudders lol.

Two bits of trivia also for battleship lovers, unique to the Missouri............

While she was the 3rd of four Iowa class battleships built, she was the last commissioned, making her the youngest of the group.
Battleships are named after states. Normally the Governor of each state's namesake got to pick who christened the ship. However, the Missouri was completed in an election year, and Missouri's Gov. was Republican. Roosevelt wasnt.

So Roosevelt picked the person to christen the Missouri: Margaret Truman (Harry Truman's daughter).

This is a good site for pics of the ship and some data also.

http://www.navsource.org/archives/01/63a.htm

nirvana · « **Reply #4 on:** March 22, 2005, 05:15:52 PM »

She's a beautiful ship thats for sure, nice long career. I think she deserves a rest. Thanks for sharing Star.

GtoRA2 · « **Reply #5 on:** March 22, 2005, 08:40:16 PM »

Star
Did they say anything about her running aground in the 50s? And how long it took to get her unstuck? I read a book on it once, hell of a story.

StarOfAfrica2 · « **Reply #6 on:** March 22, 2005, 10:24:54 PM »

Hmm, no but it gives me something to ask when I go back lol. I still havent seen the bridge and I want to go crawl up and stick my head in the #3 turret.

doobs · « **Reply #7 on:** March 22, 2005, 10:37:37 PM »

SA2 great pics bro.
But if Iknew you where Michael Moore ahead of time I wouldn't of let ya fly with us. jk

btw SA ruin my day give me the weather report.

StarOfAfrica2 · « **Reply #8 on:** March 23, 2005, 01:35:23 AM »

Today was nice for a change. 79 degrees, sunny with big puffy clouds floating around. Not too windy but still a steady breeze all day about 5 mph. Woulda been a perfect day to call in sick. Friend of mine keeps inviting me to go fishing, today would have been the day for it. Ah well.

And btw, I am not in any way Michael Moore the attention freak. You are thinking of my brother. lol

pipz · « **Reply #9 on:** March 25, 2005, 06:24:59 AM »

Cool pictures thanks.The naval thing has interested me too over the years.I have the New Jersy parked about a mile or so from my house.Ya think I woulda went and seen it by now The one picture that struck me was the subs torpedoe room.Never realized they used so much brass in there.Imagine havin to keep that all clean and polished.

Pipz

StarOfAfrica2 · « **Reply #10 on:** March 25, 2005, 04:13:55 PM »

I dont know that this is a fact, its just my "educated guess". Wars make for material shortages, especially metals like Iron/Steel, Aluminum, etc. I collect cap and ball revolvers (new hobby, long time interest) and many of the Civil War CSA guns used brass where they could. It was cheaper and easier to use, more readily available. The Bowfin's torp. rooms might have been built with such thoughts in mind. Or it could just be a naval-type shiny brass fetish. Either way, it looks purty.

I noticed as well some of the Mk 14 torps that were lying around had brass heads, some didnt. I have no idea what the difference is, if any. Hell, for all I know the brass was added later as a "showpiece" type thing.

rshubert · « **Reply #11 on:** March 29, 2005, 10:05:25 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by pipz
Cool pictures thanks.The naval thing has interested me too over the years.I have the New Jersy parked about a mile or so from my house.Ya think I woulda went and seen it by now The one picture that struck me was the subs torpedoe room.Never realized they used so much brass in there.Imagine havin to keep that all clean and polished.

Pipz

That kind of stuff only takes an hour or two a day. Most of what you put up with on a sub is sheer boredom, and continuing routine. Stand a watch, do a little work (cleaning, mostly), stand a watch, get some sleep, rinse, repeat for a couple of weeks (or a couple of MONTHS on a missile boat).

But the food is good, the people are top notch, and the duty ain't too bad. Plenty of time to read, study, whatever. I got real good at cards.

rshubert · « **Reply #12 on:** March 29, 2005, 10:32:41 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by StarOfAfrica2
I dont know that this is a fact, its just my "educated guess". Wars make for material shortages, especially metals like Iron/Steel, Aluminum, etc. I collect cap and ball revolvers (new hobby, long time interest) and many of the Civil War CSA guns used brass where they could. It was cheaper and easier to use, more readily available. The Bowfin's torp. rooms might have been built with such thoughts in mind. Or it could just be a naval-type shiny brass fetish. Either way, it looks purty.

I noticed as well some of the Mk 14 torps that were lying around had brass heads, some didnt. I have no idea what the difference is, if any. Hell, for all I know the brass was added later as a "showpiece" type thing.

Brass is really useful in contact with seawater. Various types of brass and bronze are used for valves, doors, seals, etc. Another factor is the malleability of brass and bronze make them resistant to sudden pressure changes (i.e, explosions) and able to be deformed when making a seal.

StarOfAfrica2 · « **Reply #13 on:** March 29, 2005, 11:37:55 AM »

Thanks for the info shubie! Been a long time interest of mine that I'm just now getting time to indulge in.

Maverick · « **Reply #14 on:** March 29, 2005, 12:20:12 PM »

I saw the pix of the torpedo tube and torpedo. Did the "Mo" have torpedos??