Destroyers - Fletcher Class

[Ytlas]

Just for fun. My Dad spent 20 years in the shipyard after spending 20 in the Navy. He was presented with a number of plaques from the ships he worked on. We hung 7 on the wall of the den and there's a couple more in the closet. Here's a picture of the three on the end, two of which come from Fletchers.

[blidgepump]

Salty, whose plaques are great keepsakes.

Some one was talented in the woodshop @ LBNSY?

[Ytlas]

Salty, whose plaques are great keepsakes.

Some one was talented in the woodshop @ LBNSY?

These are actual plaques from the ships. I imagine each ship has a vendor where they can order the plaques. The Officer's Club on the Naval Station used to have a wall full of plaques. Come to think of it, they also had a fully detailed destroyer about 4' long made of brass under glass in the Officer's Club.. I think it was a Fletcher.

I have a few plaques from the shipyard that were made in the woodshop. I don't have room on the wall of the den to hang them so they sit in the closet.

During the last year of the shipyard, one of the jobs I worked was helping with building closures. I got to know the Shipwright Shop Planner, who came out of the Woodshop. Really nice guy and he scraped up half a dozen yard-related plaques and had name plates put on them and gave them to me.

Dug some shipyard-made plaques out of the closet. The top two are the same Misery plaque, but on different backings. The bottom one, the shape of the BB is cut out of teak wood removed from the ship. All three plaques were completely made in-house in the yard.

[blidgepump]

Salty,

I'm always impressed with the craftsmanship offered by the trades.

Locally, the former TWA Engine Overhaul base in Kansas City produced some incrediable "government work". Personally, such government projects were referred to as recess.
Examples such as a 1/16 scale 100% accurate rollaway tool box with appropriate scaled tools for a retiring flight line mechanic, or office aids for wheel chair bound employee.

An important lesson learned in school was the importance of recess to keep the brain cells refreshed. When the trades apply their abilities to the production of projects ( rather than mean spirited pranks ) people outside can reflect upon, something good has occurred.

We can only imagine the capabilities of the combine workforce @ LBNSY to produce "government work"!

[Ytlas]

We can only imagine the capabilities of the combine workforce @ LBNSY to produce "government work"!

I think Long Beach was like any other large business in that you had a small percentage of really good workers, another small percentage of worthless bums and the remainder pretty much did just enough to get by.

[blidgepump]

Things that go boom-boom !

This 40mm Bofors (Amidships - Starboard between the two stacks) is a Quad Mount.

The Bofors were an important development in AA. This weapon was a good match with the Mark 51 director as the Fletchers emerged from the role of screening / protecting capital ships with torpedoes to a bristling gun platform on picket duty to prevent enemy planes from reaching the carriers.

"It should be noted that the USN considered the original Bofors Model 1936 design to be completely unsuitable for the mass production techniques required for the vast number of guns needed to equip the ships of the US Navy. First ...... Swedish drawings often did not match the actual measurements taken of the weapons. Secondly, the Swedish guns required a great deal of hand work in order to make the finished weapon. For example, Swedish blueprints had many notes on them such as "file to fit at assembly" and "drill to fit at assembly," all of which took much production time in order to implement. Third, the Swedish mountings were manually worked, while the USN required power-worked mountings in order to attain the fast elevation and training speeds necessary to engage modern aircraft. Fourth, the Swedish guns were air-cooled, limiting their ability to fire long bursts, a necessity for most naval AA engagements. Finally, the USN rejected the Swedish ammunition design, as it was not boresafe, the fuze was found to be too sensitive for normal shipboard use and its overall design was determined to be unsuitable for mass production." Source - Navweapons.com

[Archdude]

Where there any foreign navy's that specifically requested the Fletcher's be transferred to them, rather than the old Bensen/Gleaves class?

[Dreadnought]

Business end of a 40mm. Open breech.;)

[kato]

Where there any foreign navy's that specifically requested the Fletcher's be transferred to them, rather than the old Bensen/Gleaves class?

Germany in the 50s specifically got Fletchers as "artillery destroyers" to support amphibious landings. Benson/Gleaves would have lacked the necessary topspace to mount both 5" DP, 3" AA and gun directors in the same manner as the modified Fletchers, and thus wouldn't have been able to deliver the same broadside.

[blidgepump]

Mind expanding portal with a cosmic twist

Business end of a 40mm. Open breech.;)

Whoa dude! Very 1960's! Got anymore in your stash !

[Ytlas]

I just ran across this file on the computer. IIRC it's the USS Toledo in Korea.

[blidgepump]

I just ran across this file on the computer. IIRC it's the USS Toledo in Korea.


[ATTACH]22936[/ATTACH]

The canvases placed over the edge of the gun tub serve what purpose?

[kato]

At least for twin gun mounts, the inside of the tub holds extra ammo - three rows of 4-round clips all around the tub. The canvas covers the ammo from the weather when the gun is not in use. Should be similar here. Plus the gun itself needs to be covered too.

Inside of twin 40mm tub on USS Pensylvania

[Ytlas]

The canvases placed over the edge of the gun tub serve what purpose?

As a wild guess I'd say they were covers for the gun.

I found this picture on the USS Toledo's website

[USSWisconsin]

^ That is what I was thinking, canvas gun covers