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| Varn visits Wisconsin; The floating one, not the cheese one. | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jul 15 2015, 03:52 PM (196 Views) | |
| Varn | Jul 15 2015, 03:52 PM Post #1 |
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So as you all know, when it comes to warships, I've got a huge hardon for the Iowa-class. And seeing as I'm on vacation in Virgina Beach, just a few miles from Norfolk, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to pay a visit to the USS Wisconsin. This was my first time taking a tour of a ship of any sort. In my experience with various museums and other historical "hands-on" events, I was always left underwhelmed and unimpressed by the experience. I went into this expecting a few display cases with various artifacts, from the ship's lifetime, and few informational videos and then a few small sections of the ship turned into plexiglass hallways with some mannequins badly posed in caricature of what normally went on in that space. Oh boy was I in for a threat. A quick apology for the quality of some of the pictures, all I had on me was my cellphone. First and foremost, I was completely unprepared for the sheer SIZE of this ship. I live in a major port city, and I see huge ass car carriers and container ships sail by me all the time, but never from up close. It's one thing to read numbers in a book, and it's another to be towered over by 45,000 tons of American might. BB-64 It's really fucking big I actually learned a lot about the ship on my trip. Some things were pretty minor, like the fact that all 4 ships of the Iowa-class are exactly identical in every way, with the exception of the Captains living quarters on the Iowa. Where as the other three ships have showers in the Captain's head, the Iowa has a bathtub, custom made and installed just for President Roosevelt for his trip to Tehran. One captain would sell raffle tickets to the crew for a 30 minute soak in the tub, a real luxury when most of them only ever got 30 or 40 seconds of hot water for their normal showers. Another thing was a teak deck boards. The primarily reason the Iowa's were fitted with wooden decks when the Navy favored all steel hulls was for insulation. When it was first put into service, the entire ship had NO air conditioning. Even after her refits in the 80s, most of the ship still lacks A/C. The wood deck helps to keep the ship cool. It was a balmy 92 degrees F the day of my visit, and even up on the Flag bridge with the windows open it was hot as hell, and the below deck spaces were sweltering. I can only image what it would have been like packed full of sailors out in the middle of the Pacific. When the original USS Wisconsin (BB-9) was commissioned in 1901, the state of Wisconsin paid around $5,000 to commission a silver service for the ship to use for formal occasions. When the Iowa-class Wisconsin went into service, the state paid an extra 7 grand to refurbish and add to the original set. It's all made from solid silver Sadly, all of the gunnery spaces were off limits, with the exception of the gun control center of the Number 1 turret, and even then there was a thick rope net blocking the hatch so you could sorta look in, but not see much. One of the 5in turrets had it's hatch replaced with a lexan sheet, but it was very poorly lit so I wasn't able to get any decent pictures. The 5in turrets were surprisingly spacious though. Aft-Starboard 5in mount, traditionally crewed by part of the ship's Marine force The 5in mounts are actually really big and very open inside. That little wooden frame on turret 1 is a space that was not repainted when the ship was turned into a museum. It is where various people of importance have signed their name or left messages, mostly USO actors and even the president of South Korea. Turrets 1 and 2 Tomahawk Armored Box Launcher Business end of two of the ABLs The Navy only let the ship keep one of her Harpoon packs And that's all for tonight. It's 2am and I'm beat. I'll post more tomorrow. Edited by Varn, Jul 15 2015, 11:06 PM.
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| Amanda Schwarzkopf | Jul 15 2015, 10:38 PM Post #2 |
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That´s awesome. I love battleships in general, but Yamato and Iowa... mmmmmhhhmmmm. |
| Saavedra - Mobile Suit Attacks | |
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| Cessna | Jul 16 2015, 10:43 AM Post #3 |
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I want there to eventually be a collage of pictures everyone takes of all the vessels serving as museum ships. This needs to be a thing. We already have two now. |
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| Claude LeBeau | Jul 16 2015, 11:56 AM Post #4 |
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I had some pictures from Battleship Cove, but I can't find them. And almost none of the interior shots came out. |
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"I shall henceforth give no quarter to any Montanero whatsoever." Leadership: 0 Poise: 1 Cunning: 0 Traits: Unsafe Firepower, Cold-Blooded Reputation, Iron Resolve Wild Joker's AIr Wars RP account | |
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| Varn | Jul 18 2015, 04:13 AM Post #5 |
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So remember when I said I wasn't expecting much from the interior of the ship? Just a few corridors with some rooms or areas blocked off with plexiglass. Well, it's actually the exact opposite. Most of the interior is completely open, with only a few spaces sealed off for staff use or storage. What's even better, is that the entire ship has been stocked with period appropriate personal effects and stuff. It's like stepping back in time to 1988. I would also just like to add that I could have never made it in the navy. I'm not sure how much ship design has changed, but I'm only 6 feet tall and I had to walk stooped or with my head tilted almost the entire time. Officer's Mess The XO's Office Most of the Wardrooms were open and stocked. There were things like books (lots of Tom Clancy,) VHS tapes, tape players, even mini TV's (the ones that had a little 6in screen and were the size of a shoebox) along with newspaper clippings and fliers for upcoming ship or fleet activities and all sorts of stuff you would find in an officer's room. XO's Wardroom All of the National Geographics are from the 70s and 80s Top Secret American technology, Copyright, do not steal I also took a walk through some of the enlisted berthing areas. They were nothing but a cramped, confusing mess of halls, dead ends and switchbacks that smells vaguely of feet. Deeper into the ship, things get more plain once you get into working spaces. Most of the offices are tiny little rooms along the outside of the super structure or hull that just have a desk and a chair and maybe a file cabinet. Most have a placard telling you who used the room and how their job effected day to day living on board. I didn't take a lot of pictures of that stuff, mainly becasue I was running short on time and mainly becasue things like the Meat Preparation Room, Post office, Paymasters office, Bread room, and all that didn't really interest me or warrant a picture. Here is some of the more interesting stuff I thought: Armory room located in the middle of Officer Country Machine Shop Yes this was a real thing The Galley This ain't your grandma's Kitchenaid Took a stroll through the Communications Center. Lots and lots of stuff back there, you could touch and mess with all of it. Gear for sending/receiving/transcribing messages from any of the myriad of communications gear These are all radios More radio gear Power level management for the radios. Take note of the big red Crypto machine in the back Everything was covered in information plaques. Just about everything in the Comm room ran through this big red box that was used to scramble or encrypt everything that got sent in or out. And you thought that mess of wires behind your desk was bad Even cooler than all the gear itself, they actually had real manuals laying around. You could actually pick up and read how to run this gear. I only got through about a paragraph before realizing I did not have a degree in Electrical Engineering The whole time you are walking through the ship, you are constantly having to duck or lean to avoid walking into all sorts of pipes, cables, valves, or junction boxes that protrude from the walls and ceiling. Another thing that seems to sprout up seemingly at random are ammunition hoists. These things will appear in the oddest of places, sometimes back in a corner some place, right through the Post Office, or even in the middle of a passageway. There is even one running right through the Captain's wardroom. This one is tucked into the corner of an enlisted berthing area This one not so much At some point, I decided to make use of the Head. While the toilets had all been replaced with modern fixtures, the sinks were all original. I felt like a real sailor |
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| Varn | Jul 20 2015, 02:45 PM Post #6 |
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And now we get to the real meat and potatoes of things. Like I said before, all of the gunnery spaces and 80% of the below deck spaces are off limits. I was told that they are working on setting up a new tour that goes through the engine room and some other below deck spaces, but it's not ready yet. I did however shell out for the VIP tour package, which takes me through a number of normally off limits places, such as the Captain's and Flag wardroom, the Flag and Navigation Bridge, and most importantly, the Combat Engagement Center, the precursor to the modern CIC. Captain's Galley This galley is staffed by a single cook who's only job is to cook whatever the Captain wants whenever he wants it. This kitchen is fully stocked and has just about every appliance imaginable in it. Fun fact, the cook who worked here not only needed to have a Top Secret clearance, since he could easily listen in on whatever meetings the Captain was having, but also be an expert in foreign culture since it was up to him to impress and visiting dignitaries by preparing all manner of local dishes. You can see the Captain's wardroom through the little window on the right. On the opposite side of the room is another window that leads into the Flag wardroom. I didn't get any pictures of the Flag or Navigation Bridge becasue they were very cramped spaces and my tour group was crammed into them. The Flag bridge is split into two tiny sections on either side of the Citadel, little more than a 5x5 space with a chair for an Admiral to sit. The Nav Bridge is only about three feet deep, and runs around the front of the Citadel. Another fun fact: When the Iowa's first went out for sea trials and they fired their main guns, they blew out almost every window on the ship. So they went back and replaced them all with a primitive form of plexiglass. Those windows simply turned to dust when the guns were fired. Then, the story goes, the kid of one of the engineers asked why they didn't just roll the windows down. Every window on the ship that's not a porthole has a little crank on it so you can wind it down, it's hilariously primitive but gets the job done. View from the Navigation Bridge The Iowa's also made use of some other low tech hardware: Soundtube on the Nav Bridge leads back to the Captain's sea quarters The Citadel on the Iowa is constructed from 17 inches of solid steel and is rated to withstand a direct hit from a 16in gun. Entrance into the Citadel The hatches are hydraulically operated and weight 5 tons each The inside of the Citadel is only about 10 feet wide. It normally only ever held two men: One to control the direction of the boat, and another to control the speed. There is extremely limited visability from inside, even with the protective viewport windows lowered, and it's not ventilated or air conditioned. Ballistic glass covering of one viewport Citadel as seen from port side hatch Citadel as seen from starboard side hatch And now for the really cool stuff, the Combat Engagement Center. From this room, the Tactical Actions Officer would oversee the processing of incoming combat data and formulate an appropriate course of action before asking the Captain for authorization to carry out his plan. During the tour, they ran a simulated missile and bombardment fire mission for us, and I got to sit in the TAO's chair for it. Said chair Gun directors station, where firing orders could be sent to any gun station Missile control stations, used for uploading firing parameters for Tomahawk and Harpoon missiles With the addition of Tomahawk capability, two extra things were added to the CEC during the 80s refit: A large safe, and an extra control panel on one of the Tomahawk control stations. The Captain and TAO each carry one half of the combination needed to open this safe The keys stored inside the safe go to this control panel And that about wraps things up. I heartily encourage anyone visiting the Norfolk area to stop by the Nauticus Museum. Besides the Wisconcin, they have a lot of cool and interesting stuff to look at. And unlike a lot of museums, they really let you get a hands on experience (They even have shark petting tank, I shit you not) with the exhibits. General admission is cheap and gets you access to most of the Wisconsin, but I highly recommend the Command and Control VIP tour; it only costs a little extra, but is well worth it in my opinion, and the money goes towards upkeep for the ship. Edited by Varn, Jul 20 2015, 02:50 PM.
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