We Got the IOWA

[RustyBattleship]

Right now we are having divers do a hull scrubbing. Dry Dock date will be some time in the future. If Long Beach had not filled in Dry Dock 1 at the former LBNSY, there would be no problem. Iowa had been docked there before in 1945.

Now it's a case of finding a dry dock or a heavy lift ship big enough for her.

It's not a lack of planning on our part, it's a lack of common sense in Congress that drastically reduced dry dock capabilities in California. And I mean ALL of California. Hunters Point in the Bay area is now the work shops for Mythbusters. Long Beach Naval Shipyard and Base are now just a huge parking lot for containers. San Diego has one private dry dock big enough but the company prefers to use it for building ships rather than repairing ships. It also has a floating dry dock I believe is big enough but I get conflicting info as to how wide of a ship it can take.

[Ken_NJ]

Rusty, in the video in post #337, just after the 11 minute mark, we noticed the blast bags being blown around as though they were a lighter material. Are they the original blast bags? I read the article on putting the blast bags back on the NJ and it sounds like a very involved process.

[Dreadnought]

Those cannot be the real "bucklers" but merely plastic sheathing. The real bucklers wouldnt flinch even in severe winds. It is very manpower intensive as you have to either have power to the A/B hydraulic end of the elevating gear (doubtfull they have) or do it the hard way such as those aboard the New Jersey did to replace them via manual elevation of each gun. Very manpower intensive and those bucklers are not cheap at all.

[RustyBattleship]

Getting real bucklers made up would not meet our limited time frame. They are light weight copies. There are a number of items mounted on the ship that are really mock ups or fiberglass copies. But they give the right appearance. As time goes on and funds start building up with the massive visitation we expect, those mock ups will eventually be replaced with real items.

But we are very pleased with what we got because that baby is going to come into her temporary berth in San Pedro around 1000 tomorrow morning looking like she's ready to take on the bad guys again.

[Ken_NJ]

Where the original bucklers removed and stored in the ship when she was decommissioned? Or are they of a material that would not stand up over time and they were discarded years ago?

[tbm3fan]

The bucklers had to be removed when the ship was first laid up. I am sure they are not absolutely weather tight over the long haul and for dehumidification system to work one needs to be airtight. Where they went one can only guess. Since Daniel B said the protection huts were on the ship in 1999 and then off one year later makes me think someone decided Iowa didn't need them anymore. Maybe someone assumed Iowa would eventually meet her makers and so use them elsewhere. When I look at Suisun and see all the LSD's with their protection domes intact, around gun mounts, then something is amiss. Those LSD's were definitely going to the scrappers.

[RustyBattleship]

I had hoped the bucklers would have been aboard the ship, but they weren't. Interestingly, when we inspected the New Jersey in 1981 for reactivation, all of her bucklers were hanging from the overhead in the Mess Halls on 2nd deck. We had to have new bucklers made up for the other three ships. Then we had to have three new ones made up for Turret I on the NJ after an over the bow test shot with full service charges blew them off.

So the company that made them is still around and I'm sure still has the plans and the molds. I did not save a copy of the plan unfortunately. But I think the company's name started with "Good----". Whether it was the blimp company or the other, I don't know.

[Dreadnought]

The bucklers had to be removed when the ship was first laid up. I am sure they are not absolutely weather tight over the long haul and for dehumidification system to work one needs to be airtight. Where they went one can only guess. Since Daniel B said the protection huts were on the ship in 1999 and then off one year later makes me think someone decided Iowa didn't need them anymore. Maybe someone assumed Iowa would eventually meet her makers and so use them elsewhere. When I look at Suisun and see all the LSD's with their protection domes intact, around gun mounts, then something is amiss. Those LSD's were definitely going to the scrappers.

Mike, that would be correct, as the dehumidification aspect goes. When New Jersey was recieved she had the standard plating over in the areas surrounding the rifles to make her air/water tight. You can see this in the attached picture of the day she was recieved in Camden.

[RustyBattleship]

What a morning. She's home.

[RustyBattleship]

In above posting. Photo 1 is the Iowa coming through Angels Gate (Los Angeles gate in the breakwater).
Photo 2 is where the tugs turn Iowa around 180.
Photo 3 is Dreadnaught Helper and you know who.
PS: I'm wearing the same coveralls and hard hat that I wore when inspecting the Iowa in 1985 in Norfolk based upon a photo taken of me then.
Photo 4 is Iowa in her temporary berth. In 7 days she will go to her permanent berth.

[tbm3fan]

Pretty damn cool isn't it, Dick...;)

[Ken_NJ]

Link to a thread with what looks like pics from a tugs perspective.

RC Groups - View Single Post - Good story and photos in the L.A. Times today about the Iowa

[tbm3fan]

Sometimes you have to wonder if the press ever gets a story right. Here is ABC 7 News:

The Pacific Battleship Center spent two years and $7 million to refurbish and buy and the ship from the U.S. Navy, which had mothballed the Iowa in the Bay Area for the last 20 years

and this one from the Daily News:

The USS Iowa is on open water for the last time Saturday, June 2, 2012 as she is tugged to Berth 51 at the Port of Los Angeles, where she will be restored before taking her final place at Berth 87 and becoming a museum. (Photo by Brittany Murray / Staff Photographer)

Those guys must work really fast down there. So fast that they put us Hornet and Red Oak Victory folks to shame.

[Ken_NJ]

I think this might be a question for Rusty. Is any of the Iowa's power sources running at all? Or what is providing power around the ship? She dropped anchor before heading into port. There had to be active power in order to operate the winches to bring them up.

[RustyBattleship]

Ken: We do have a diesel generator on board to provide lighting and power in various places, especially the anchor windlasses.

Special thanks goes to the Battleship USS Wisconsin (BB-64) for providing us a copy of the windlass manual through the Battleship USS New Jersey (BB-62). We have also been trading assistance in various subjects with the Battleship USS Missouri (BB-63).

With all four working together, I guess you can say that Battleship Group One is still active.