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  • +1 you don't want to wait too long and have bad complications or even them not being able to do much. Not looking forward to it myself as I have bone loss in my back and hips and severe loss in my ankles (ironically the treatments that healed me destroyed my body :slap:). So yea from experience get it done before it gets worse!
    RIP Charles "Bob" Spence. 1936-2014.

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    • Originally posted by 85 gt kid View Post
      +1 you don't want to wait too long and have bad complications or even them not being able to do much. Not looking forward to it myself as I have bone loss in my back and hips and severe loss in my ankles (ironically the treatments that healed me destroyed my body :slap:). So yea from experience get it done before it gets worse!
      While I appreciate the advice from one and all, and certainly some of it has merit, I am actually being told by more than one specialist that if I can gut it out, it's better to wait. At "only" 58, I'm considered "young" for total hips and knees; and I need all four done. Again TOTAL, and not "resurfacing" like they do mostly these days. Also, I have 31 years of living with this vicariously, as my wife broke her right hip in a bank robbery (she was the robbee and not the robber) and developed avascular necrosis (Bo Jackson's Desease), wherein the ball joint essentially died and rotted away. She was tabbed by the guru of joint replacement, Dr. Harlan Amstutz, Professor Emeritus of Orthopedic Surgery at UCLA to receive one of the first non-cemented joint implants. At this point, she is really, no fooling, the world record holder for not requiring a "revision." He picked her because she was under 30 and he could do a longitudinal study of the implant. All's well and good, right? Well, it was, once that nasty staph infection contracted at the UCLA Medical Center was brought under control . . . SIX MONTHS AFTER THE SURGERY! I tell you guys, you haven't lived until you've had to clean and dress something like that twice a day. That was my job. The antibiotic they had her on would knock a buzzard off a shit wagon, and here's the catch . . . it's not necessarly gone. If she does have a revision, that nasty mess could be lying dormant and reappear. Fun, yes?

      So, for now, I'm gutting it out. No one is requiring me to make weight for fitrep purposes anymore, so I'll just live with it for now.

      Comment


      • Question for Rusty B:

        Dick - was the Paravane tube/chain assy and lug removed from MISSOURI or was NEW JERSEY the only one of the 4 to have hers removed? One of the guys building a modern version of MO is inquiring. Secondly, were the after boat booms removed from MO prior to her last deactivation or at deactivation?

        Thanks,

        Hank

        ps - hope you're doing well, we haven't corresponded since last year!

        Comment


        • Originally posted by bbvet View Post
          Question for Rusty B:

          Dick - was the Paravane tube/chain assy and lug removed from MISSOURI or was NEW JERSEY the only one of the 4 to have hers removed? One of the guys building a modern version of MO is inquiring. Secondly, were the after boat booms removed from MO prior to her last deactivation or at deactivation?

          Thanks,

          Hank

          ps - hope you're doing well, we haven't corresponded since last year!
          You know, I wasn't even aware that ships like BBs deployed paravains "back in the day." I caught that whole discussion in Rusty's book as well, and found it rather interesting. That's why I love these threads; you learn something "new" all the time.

          Comment


          • Originally posted by bbvet View Post
            Question for Rusty B:

            Dick - was the Paravane tube/chain assy and lug removed from MISSOURI or was NEW JERSEY the only one of the 4 to have hers removed? One of the guys building a modern version of MO is inquiring. Secondly, were the after boat booms removed from MO prior to her last deactivation or at deactivation?

            Thanks,

            Hank

            ps - hope you're doing well, we haven't corresponded since last year!
            Only the New Jersey had it removed. When we first reactivated her, to save time an money we just welded a steel plate inside the 7" IPS chain pipe. When she was dry docked 5 years later, that plate and pipe had eroded away, flooded the forepeak tank and NAVSEA agreed with me to take the Paravane pipe and Forefoot Skeg out and insert 1" thick steel hull plating.

            Ummm, SEVEN- inch IPS Pipe? Yeah, that was somewhat semi-standard back before 1940. So the Paravan chain pipe on the Iowa and New Jersey was 7-inch International Pipe Standard (which is about 7 1/2" outside diameter). But IPS rules quickly changed (I think it had something to do with Japanese airplanes in Hawaii) and deleted all ODD numbered piping larger than 5-inch. So the Missouri and Wisconsin had EIGHT-inch IPS for thier Paravane pipes.

            PS: The small railroad capstan on the Main Deck for the Paravane line was kept in place. The crew reactivated it and it was a perfect tool for any other things that needed to be dragged around the bow area.
            Last edited by RustyBattleship; 03 Feb 15,, 08:27.
            Able to leap tall tales in a single groan.

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            • Dick,

              Thanks for the reply - I'll pass it on. Yes, I remember that the small capstan was used quite a bit for hauling up 5 gal. paint cans from the fwd. paint locker; not the place you'd want to go into yourself!

              DesertSWO,

              I don't recall that we shipped paravanes on board during NEW JERSEY's 68-69 commission; normally they would have been stowed on the outboard side of the W.T. coaming ahead of Turret 1 (P/S).

              Yes, these threads are treasure-troves of information & history.

              Hank

              Comment


              • Originally posted by bbvet View Post
                Dick,

                Thanks for the reply - I'll pass it on. Yes, I remember that the small capstan was used quite a bit for hauling up 5 gal. paint cans from the fwd. paint locker; not the place you'd want to go into yourself!

                DesertSWO,

                I don't recall that we shipped paravanes on board during NEW JERSEY's 68-69 commission; normally they would have been stowed on the outboard side of the W.T. coaming ahead of Turret 1 (P/S).

                Yes, these threads are treasure-troves of information & history.

                Hank
                For both Hank and Mike. Paravanes were not installed on the Big "J" in 1968. I know because that would have been part of my job out of the Fittings Design Section to inspect and write off their test report.

                In the 1980's however, read page 203 of my book. I was very happy to see that turbulence causing forefoot skeg taken off (note my pictures on page 205) and leave a clean smooth semi-bulbous bow as David Taylor envisioned that should be on all ships to carry the bow wave WITH them (that the Dolphins actually ride in rather that "outrunning" the ship).

                It was actually less than two weeks later I got a call from Panama City to ask if the mine sweeping paravane gear was still aboard the New Jersey.

                "Barkeep! Another double Vodka please."

                By the way, for those of you that have even a minor interest in my health, my left knee seems to have most of its strength back thanks to a spinal procedure to keep my lumbars from pinching off a nerve that was supposed to tell the muscles what to do when. I did shopping at three different stores today and finally was able to attend tonight's meeting of my American Legion Post (I'm presently 2nd Vice Commander and former Commander of the post) WITHOUT A CANE.

                But I shouldn't brag. Knowing what it is to recover from a "crippling" episode is wonderful. But then I see our veterans still in wheel chairs, canes, walkers, artificial limbs or nothing at all below the knees. I can't help myself but extend a hand in thanks and give them a salute.
                Able to leap tall tales in a single groan.

                Comment


                • Dick,

                  Thanks for the additional paravane info. FYI - your book is really excellent; I refer to it often when detail questions arise and when comments re. the IOWAs on the modeling forum tend to take a side road from reality (happens every now & then).

                  Glad to hear your legs are back into quick-step mode! Well, at least not requiring assistance.

                  Hank

                  Comment


                  • Not really a question for the experts and I had no idea this was happening in my back yard, only 45 minutes from me. They are rebuilding-renovating a coastal defense battery near Sandy Hook State park. There were two 16 inch guns at this location during WWII. On Monday, today, March 30th, a barrel from the NJ or Iowa class arrived via train from Virgina and will be trucked and put on display at this former WWII battery, Battery Lewis. Someplace very nearby to visit. There are old coastal batteries in Sandy Hook State park but they are only cement ruins.

                    http://co.monmouth.nj.us/documents/1...t_feb_2015.pdf

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                    • I thought they got rid of all the excess barrels? Very cool nonetheless though and hopefully I can get up there next year and see it!
                      RIP Charles "Bob" Spence. 1936-2014.

                      Comment


                      • A quick local news blurb about it. With video of the barrel sitting on the railroad siding.

                        World War II artifact to be displayed in NJ - News 12 New Jersey

                        Comment


                        • Originally posted by 85 gt kid View Post
                          I thought they got rid of all the excess barrels? Very cool nonetheless though and hopefully I can get up there next year and see it!
                          If you look at Terraserver, you can clearly see 4 barrels remaining in the 3-8-15 pass. There were 8 of them there 5 years ago. They've been slowly doled out to different groups.

                          Attached Files

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                          • I remember they were spread across the country I just thought they'd be cut up or donated by now. I guess that means the rest will be donated also? Maybe they'll renovate more gun emplacements across the east coast .
                            RIP Charles "Bob" Spence. 1936-2014.

                            Comment


                            • Originally posted by 85 gt kid View Post
                              I remember they were spread across the country I just thought they'd be cut up or donated by now. I guess that means the rest will be donated also? Maybe they'll renovate more gun emplacements across the east coast .
                              I know where two of them are. They should be in pretty good shape as they are in the middle of the California desert where "rain" is just a low cloud stirring up the sand, scorpions, rattlesnakes and tarantulas.
                              Able to leap tall tales in a single groan.

                              Comment


                              • May 2012 one went to Delaware.

                                Missouri gun barrel now rests at park on Delaware shore - tribunedigital-baltimoresun

                                Would be nice to get an accounting of where barrels are on display today.

                                Wonder if the forward Prinz Eugen barrels are still around. And wasn't an 18 incher at Dahlgren?

                                There is an old picture here of a few of these guys: http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_18-48_mk1.htm
                                Last edited by Ken_NJ; 31 Mar 15,, 21:47.

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