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RustyBattleship · 04-12-2006, 21:32 PM

I have one more humorous (but absolutetly true) story about the Battleship New Jersey. When the Fast Battleships came out in WW II, only estmates were made as to what the overpressure (muzzle blast) of the main guns would encompass. There never was an opportunity to take one of them out on a special gunnery exercise to measure the overpressure.

When we (Long Beach Naval Shipyard) reactivated the New Jersey in 1982, that gave Dahlgren some time in 1983 to stick pressure sensors all over the ship, on CIWS Radomes, lockers, vents, etc. and then record what overpressures the structure and fittings was really getting. Of course, this required firing the guns at various angles of elevation and traverse.

Though the main structure survived quite well, various items of questionable attachment didn't. I have a couple of them sitting on my fireplace hearth. Anyway, the tests were carried out by a rather large team from Dahlgren and they had recording instruments set up in various compartments (generally those with at least 3/4" armor around them) and assigned a rep to run the monitors.

Well, one of them was a young lady who had NEVER been to sea before, who had NEVER seen a BIG gun fire (even though she worked at Dahlgren) and only knew (from movies) the meaning of "General Quarters - Man Your Battle Stations".

Because some of the shots were going to be with the muzzles very close to various structures the ship's Captain wanted everybody inside except when Dahlgren put a hold on firing while shipyard idiots (like me) went outside to inspect for structural damage. That's how I found my souvenirs of a WW II vintage antenna support for my fireplace hearth.

Therefore, before the firing began the Captain called General Quarters and the crew dutifully went about dogging down all the doors, including those made of 3/4" thick High Yield 80 armor plate to the Tomahawk equipment rooms where Dahlgren had some of their instrumentation. They didn't notice that young woman in the port equipment room when they dogged the door down.

After about an hour of firing, I was walking aft down the 02 level passageway starboard when I saw her dashing out and trying to open the weather door to the helicopter control booth. I called out at her not to do that as we were still firing. She turned to me with the widest, most fearful eyes I have ever seen and she asked loudly, "Are we at WAR?"

After I found out who she was and calmed her down that we weren't shooting at anybody, YET (damn that Irish sense of humor - got her wide-eyed again) I took her to the starboard equipment room where her boss and other Dahlgren reps were set up. Apparently what really got her scared was when the 1MC called for "General Quarters - Man Your Battle Stations" and the crew dogged the door down and she couldn't get out of the room. She said she had to take her boot off to hammer the dogs open and she was NEVER going to go on a ship again.

Good thing it took her awhile to open the door because if she went out to the helo booth platform BEFORE I CAME ALONG AND SAW HER, the next shot was going to be almost exactly over her head. As it is, it took off the maintenance platform of the fueiling-at-sea Kingpost. She would have just been a smear on the deck.

04-12-2006, 21:32 PM	#43 (permalink)
RustyBattleship *Defense Professional* Join Date: 01-12-06 Location: Long Beach, CA Posts: 2,967	I have one more humorous (but absolutetly true) story about the Battleship New Jersey. When the Fast Battleships came out in WW II, only estmates were made as to what the overpressure (muzzle blast) of the main guns would encompass. There never was an opportunity to take one of them out on a special gunnery exercise to measure the overpressure. When we (Long Beach Naval Shipyard) reactivated the New Jersey in 1982, that gave Dahlgren some time in 1983 to stick pressure sensors all over the ship, on CIWS Radomes, lockers, vents, etc. and then record what overpressures the structure and fittings was really getting. Of course, this required firing the guns at various angles of elevation and traverse. Though the main structure survived quite well, various items of questionable attachment didn't. I have a couple of them sitting on my fireplace hearth. Anyway, the tests were carried out by a rather large team from Dahlgren and they had recording instruments set up in various compartments (generally those with at least 3/4" armor around them) and assigned a rep to run the monitors. Well, one of them was a young lady who had NEVER been to sea before, who had NEVER seen a BIG gun fire (even though she worked at Dahlgren) and only knew (from movies) the meaning of "General Quarters - Man Your Battle Stations". Because some of the shots were going to be with the muzzles very close to various structures the ship's Captain wanted everybody inside except when Dahlgren put a hold on firing while shipyard idiots (like me) went outside to inspect for structural damage. That's how I found my souvenirs of a WW II vintage antenna support for my fireplace hearth. Therefore, before the firing began the Captain called General Quarters and the crew dutifully went about dogging down all the doors, including those made of 3/4" thick High Yield 80 armor plate to the Tomahawk equipment rooms where Dahlgren had some of their instrumentation. They didn't notice that young woman in the port equipment room when they dogged the door down. After about an hour of firing, I was walking aft down the 02 level passageway starboard when I saw her dashing out and trying to open the weather door to the helicopter control booth. I called out at her not to do that as we were still firing. She turned to me with the widest, most fearful eyes I have ever seen and she asked loudly, "Are we at WAR?" After I found out who she was and calmed her down that we weren't shooting at anybody, YET (damn that Irish sense of humor - got her wide-eyed again) I took her to the starboard equipment room where her boss and other Dahlgren reps were set up. Apparently what really got her scared was when the 1MC called for "General Quarters - Man Your Battle Stations" and the crew dogged the door down and she couldn't get out of the room. She said she had to take her boot off to hammer the dogs open and she was NEVER going to go on a ship again. Good thing it took her awhile to open the door because if she went out to the helo booth platform BEFORE I CAME ALONG AND SAW HER, the next shot was going to be almost exactly over her head. As it is, it took off the maintenance platform of the fueiling-at-sea Kingpost. She would have just been a smear on the deck.