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  • final shots
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    • That would've been cool to watch, especially the MH-60!

      When I did the overnight program a couple of years ago, they were doing Urban Shield onboard the ship that weekend; the vendors all had their booths set-up on the hanger deck, and they were doing tactical excercises in the areas all around the ship, especially in and on the ship shown in your first two pictures (that one's been there a while, which probably explains why they're able to use it for exercises; I recognize the extra propeller sitting on top of the cargo hold). At night, they did a practice take-down of the bridge of that ship, which was pretty cool to watch; I've never seen tactical forces in operation before.
      "There is never enough time to do or say all the things that we would wish. The thing is to try to do as much as you can in the time that you have. Remember Scrooge, time is short, and suddenly, you're not there any more." -Ghost of Christmas Present, Scrooge

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      • Howdy Mates, my name is Jim Gillum. I served on the Hornet from January 1961 to August 1963. I also am a plank owner of the USS Hornet Museum. Joined when she wasn't even open to the public yet. I was a Machinist Mate 3rd working in the forward engine room. All this ghost story stuff baffles me. I never heard of ghosts when I was aboard. The crowning glory of my services on her was getting the "Gold E" for engineering. That was five years in a row of winning an "E". Once a ship wins a Gold E it's with the ship forever. The Hornet was also the fastest Essex class carrier on the west coast when I served on her. I'll come up with more stories as we go along. Until later,

        Happy motoring, Jim

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        • I have some pics of the interior and exterior of the Hornet that were taken by a shipmate who worked with me. If I email them you someone here could you post them on this thread?

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          • Originally posted by jimmykg View Post
            I have some pics of the interior and exterior of the Hornet that were taken by a shipmate who worked with me. If I email them you someone here could you post them on this thread?

            You could send them to me as you will see if a PM. Does anyone on the Hornet, particularly archives, have these photos on a ship's computer? If not I know who to pass them on to. I just passed my 15th anniversary date for working on the ship's restoration.

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            • Fourth of July and I am down at the ship with family from 10am-11pm. When I walk on I noticed that Tom signed in when I thought he wasn't going to be on the ship for the 4th. So I go down to the Machine Shop where I see him fabricating eight stanchions. These are to be for the two ladders he is making from scratch. These ladders go from Deck 2-3 and Deck 3-4 where there is a storage compartment spanning the entire width of the ship at the stern. Entrance is just forward of the hatch down for Aft Steering.

              The only thing he didn't have to fab were the stairs. We found them on the KANSAS CITY three years ago and he didn't want them. Then last year he decided to take them just in case. Well they came in handy as he made a great looking ladder. Note the anchor point had to be modified given that things seemed to have moved over the decades. One done, one to go from Deck 3-4 and then mounting the stanchions.
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              • That's a fancy looking ladder, keep up the good work. I've heard that the M div. compartment is no longer there. If I remember correctly it was port side and about 2 decks below the hanger deck towards the stern.

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                • Postage stamp, too....

                  Originally posted by tbm3fan View Post
                  Fourth of July and I am down at the ship with family from 10am-11pm. When I walk on I noticed that Tom signed in when I thought he wasn't going to be on the ship for the 4th. So I go down to the Machine Shop where I see him fabricating eight stanchions. These are to be for the two ladders he is making from scratch. These ladders go from Deck 2-3 and Deck 3-4 where there is a storage compartment spanning the entire width of the ship at the stern. Entrance is just forward of the hatch down for Aft Steering.

                  The only thing he didn't have to fab were the stairs. We found them on the KANSAS CITY three years ago and he didn't want them. Then last year he decided to take them just in case. Well they came in handy as he made a great looking ladder. Note the anchor point had to be modified given that things seemed to have moved over the decades. One done, one to go from Deck 3-4 and then mounting the stanchions.
                  Happy to see a part of our Hometown ship saved for another day!
                  It was a "large day" locally with a special Cancelled postage stamp issued when the USS Kansas City hits the waves... ;)

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                  • Forgot about this. One of the HORNET's board members owns this flying C-1A Trader which is kept up in Santa Rosa.

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                    • Thanx for sharing that TBM. Brought back lots of memories. In 1963 I got to fly in that C-1 to go to Fleet Training school in San Diego. We got back on the fan tail and the pilot revved up the engines and away we went. What a thrill. I also got to fly and land on the Hornet in 1962. We were in West Pac and tied up in Subic Bay. I had an uncle who lived in Manila and got weekend liberty to go see him. That weekend a typhoon moved into the area and the Hornet left to go out to sea. Needless to say I missed ships movement. I was in the same boat as a lot of the ships company. We were sent to a airbase close by that had all the planes there. I got on a S2F with some other guys and they flew us aboard. What a thrill when that hook snagged us to a stop. I think the C1/S2f was a great looking plane and a great flying work horse. They use the plane now as water bombers for wild land fires.

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                      • Life is good.....

                        Well keeping a C-1 flying is not cheap and hefty stack of $$$$'s goes part of the way to keeping the air worthiness certificate up to date.
                        Some gentlemen on this thread have quite a bit of fun! :whome:

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                        • I know this isn't about the Hornet but does anybody know how fresh water was made on WWII pig boats? They didn't have boilers to make steam and I don't think reverse osmosis was invented yet, I could be wrong on that one. I have a friend that was on a pig boat and he said that when they made water it was very noisey. (sic)

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                          • Originally posted by jimmykg View Post
                            I know this isn't about the Hornet but does anybody know how fresh water was made on WWII pig boats? They didn't have boilers to make steam and I don't think reverse osmosis was invented yet, I could be wrong on that one. I have a friend that was on a pig boat and he said that when they made water it was very noisey. (sic)
                            Submarine Fresh Water Distillation

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                            • Evaporator (marine) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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                              • Originally posted by jimmykg View Post
                                I know this isn't about the Hornet but does anybody know how fresh water was made on WWII pig boats? They didn't have boilers to make steam and I don't think reverse osmosis was invented yet, I could be wrong on that one. I have a friend that was on a pig boat and he said that when they made water it was very noisey. (sic)
                                Salty and tbm3fan both sent you good links that describe the vapor-compression type distilling plants used in US Fleet Type submarines; although tbm3fan sent you a picture of a rather old school vapor flash distilling plant, and not a vapor-compression model. This is a vapor-compression distilling plant:



                                I used to teach distilling plants at Surface Warfare Officers School Command (SWOSCOLCOM) and we briefly covered both the vapor-compression and reverse osmosis plants, but because the former was no longer in use in large numbers (I believe some older salvage ships, etc. had them but we didn't send that many officers in that direction), and the latter was not yet present in the fleet in large numbers, we didn't linger there too long. We spent a couple of class periods however, on the vapor-flash type distilling plants that were most common, even on Spruance-class destroyers (using waste heat off the SSGTGs as the primary heat source) at that time.

                                You sometimes wonder what is going through the minds of naval architects and design engineers, because it is clear that in at least some cases, they didn't talk to any of the people who have to go to sea and make the ships do what the people of the US expect them to do "conduct prompt, sustained combat operations at sea . . ." That is the mandate of the Congress to the Navy. They even have a watchdog to ensure that mandate is being met. It's called the Board of Inspection and Survey or INSURV. It is made up by naval officers and some civilians with significant experience, and is led by a flag officer. Everyone does inspections, even aforementioned flag officer. They go aboard each ship every three years and inspect it against the GENSPECS of that year. So a ship is inspected in 2013, so it is inspected to the 2013 GENSPECS . . . even though it was built in 1973. So the deck is rigged against the ship from the get-go. No matter, there is blood in the scuppers and they leave you with a set of things to fix and/or enter into your pending repair and maintenance database (some things cannot be "fixed" because the equipment installed was built to 1973 GENSPECS, and short of replacement it will always be "broken"). So long as you can "conduct prompt, sustained combat action at sea" you will be rated as "fit for further service" even if you are technically "broken." It's very confusing, but regardless, it's like having a root canal sans anesthesia. Believe it or not, some ships have not been found fit for further service and when that happens, the excrement collides with the rotary vain axial atmospheric stimulating device. Very bad juju.

                                One of the things INSURV just LUVs to watch is distilling plants make water, and if the machine is rated at 10,000 gallons per day (such as those in a Knox-class frigate), it damn well better be pissing out water at something at, near, or above 10,000 gallons per day.

                                Now, notice that I said 10,000 gallons per day. We had two such machines in a Knox-class frigate, so we were often sending water over the side because we had more than enough boiler feed water (which is our prime customer) and potable water for the crew (mere insects that we occasionally allow to shower). The thing is, one of those vapor-compression distilling plants was making a whole 5000 gallons per week! Yikes! Pig boats indeed, but like the reading that Salty posted says, compared to a Type VII U-Boat, the US Fleet Type boats were like luxury liners.
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                                Last edited by desertswo; 16 Aug 13,, 13:30.

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