Destroyers - Fletcher Class

[Builder 2010]

In the early 2000s, GM divested EMD to Ripplewood, a private equity company, who then sold it to Caterpillar. That was one takeover which actually makes sense. Cat has much more at stake in finding uses for its exceptional diesel capabilities than GM did in its later years. I worry about GM. All of their eggs are now in the automotive basket of Chevy, Buick, Cadillac and GMC Trucks. They used to make locomotives, diesel engines other than locomotive, Allison turbo-prop engines, Allison transmission, Delco Remy, New Departure ball bearings, electric switch gear and traction motors, etc., etc. Now if car sales slump (which they certainly will) GM will have nowhere to turn. I have a 2013 Buick LaCrosse and it's one of the nicest cars I've ever owned so one could argue that focusing on a few brands enabled them to get it right. But car sales are already dipping since demand has caught up with supply after the recession. We'll see.

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Gm .....

Yes the glory days at GM.
I was one of the folks on the Truck & Bus Group to jump ship the to the new improved GM Truck Division.
This was right after Ross Perot left Detroit, MI's Ivory Tower.
Heavy Truck got sold to Volvo. Medium truck shut down the plant at Janesville, WI...
With the Astro and General HD Trucks off the list the need for DDAD waned....
and the mighty 2-cycle Detroit with emissions issues faded into the sunset.....

But its still cool seeing them on board the Fletcher's!!

[Builder 2010]

May I digress a bit...

I have a problem with companies divested themselves into oblivion. The company that pays my retirement is the Henkel Gruppe headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany. They're like Proctor and Gamble, in that they sell predominantly consumer products. They also have a serious adhesives division that sells consumer (Loctite) and industrial adhesives and an automotive division. As a result, they never had an unprofitable year since they inception in the 1870s, except for the war years when the Nazis took the company away from the family. It's in its fifth generation of family ownership. While automotive and industrial adhesives follow the market with its highs and lows, hair care and detergents just keep making money. Women will give up a lot before they give up on hair color and shampoo. This levels out the company's performance and helps fill in the poor years. GM used to be like that. When sales were down, GMAC kept turning a profit. Or if car sales were down, locos or trucks could pick up the slack. Heck... at one time they also owned Telex and made some significant construction equipment. As I said, we'll see....

[blidgepump]

Yes, the path least travelled .....

Before GM I was tattooed with the IHC brand.
Recruited from college during the opening days of title IX to join a 150 year old company that had never missed a stock premium.
After 36-months, a major UAW strike, a CEO determined to break the union and double digit inflation...
this company that diversified in AG, Trucks, Construction, Solar, Engine, Finance ... suddenly rolled over toes up right before my eyes.
But at least President Regan kept the Air Traffic Controllers glued to their respective radar scopes and brought home the hostages, Willy sang about Farm Aid ....
and yes, Archie McCardell kept his bonus .....

[Builder 2010]

In my estimation, "breaking unions" is a slow (or fast) form of suicide. Engelhard Corp (may it rest in peace) moved a chemical (union) catalyst plant from near the Newark Airport to a new green field plant in Seneca South Carolina. The move was entirely based on breaking the union and operating in a union-free environment. The northern plant was almost entirely manned by African Americans. The senior management made a fundamental error. They blamed their problems on the union rather than on non-investment in the plant for 70 years. They moved all the old, non-automated equipment to the new building in SC, but left all employees but one supervisor behind. All the rest lost their jobs.

All of the art and technology, and I really mean all, was locked up in the heads of those old black men. They hired young college students—it was supposed to be a team-based plant—who ended up doing horrific manual jobs in an un-air conditioned plant in the South. They almost lost their chemical catalyst business entirely since no one knew how to make anything and were attempting to do it on open kettles and non-instrumented equipment. I'm not talking about lacking computer control. They didn't even have manual "steam gauge" control. They spent over $50 million and got basically nothing. The college students were quickly disillusioned and turnover took off.

If they would have spent half of that capital on modernizing the northern plant they would have been amazed how quickly their "union problems" would have vaporized.

To add insult to injury, they could not sell or close the Northern site since it was a hazardous waste site of biblical proportions after almost a century of leeching cyanides and vicious acids into the soil. So they had to maintain a watchman there 24/7 and never realized any savings from leaving it. All in all it was one of the most bone-headed management decisions that I ever witnessed. It was done for all the wrong reasons, was hurtful at its core, underestimated the knowledge needed to actually produce the products they were in business to produce. It would make one heck of a case study that could be used in MBA classes as "How not to improve union relations".

As an epilog, Engelhard was bought by BASF with a great loss of employment. Engelhard at the time was 100 years old. It had been one of the most successful catalyst and precious metals companies in the world, held the patent on automotive exhaust catalyst, but when professional "managers" took over for the Engelhard family, it was a steady downhill slide. So far, the Henkel family still holds the reins on Henkel Gruppe and I hope for the sake of my retirement checks, that it continues to do so.

Treat unions a one-half of the equation to run a company and make money and you'll do okay. Treat them as an enemy that must be vanquished and watch what happens.

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Corporate challenges ...

In my youth I drank from the well and was the baby boomer in the grey flannel suit ....
then the journey lead to self imposed discoveries which created opinions maturing into
a strong voice on specific issues. Now I reflect on the energy spent on such mind numbing
events in the corporate world strengthening the resolve to seek the quieter life talking about the same with a
hobby of discovery focused on Fletcher- DD's.... ahhh, I feel better ....

[Builder 2010]

Well said! I find my solace in building models and model railroading. Right now I'm teaching myself Spanish on line using Duolingo. It's an amazing program and I wish I had it when I had to move to Germany 17 years ago.

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Pickett station ...

Always amazed how well a sailor could write backwards with a grease pencil on the plot board in the CIC....
I note the date displayed as my mother's 15th birthday the same date her big brother was working for the U.S. Marines at this exclusive island venue.

My tour guide is largely responsible for bringing the CIC back to life, with lights and looped sound recordings... a busy place!

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Another CIC pic ....

As stated the USS Cassin Young has been adapted to offer some realism with lights, sounds and yes the smell of a DD is easy to recreate....
The Crew has collected many artifacts to add to the authenticity of a DD's CIC ...

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More CIC ....

The CIC is a busy place and the additional equipment added post WW-II certainly adds to the coziness.

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No more ratings...

Someone needs to change the sign ....
With October 1 and the new navy tradition of no more ratings ( New NOS)
and yesterday's Birthday for the US Navy we offer this artifact from another time...

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A summer jumper ....

Throughout the Cassin Young artifacts are displayed which personalized the ship.
So another tradition begins during my time and Seaman, Petty Officer, & Chief become the "norm" ....

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Placard .... and lights

The SOP for operating the Fire & Bilge pump on a Fletcher Class - DD.
You never know when someone might ask you this question....
and the emergency feed warning lights on the port side near the FD's.

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Wardroom TV .....

The staff continues to keep their eyes open for artifacts that would add a display of "life aboard a Fletcher - DD".
By chance a "period piece" arrived in the form of a Motorola TV.... does this bring back memories ????

[tbm3fan]

Ok, who put the lens in backwards?