BB-55 at low tide

Dreadnought said:
Second question.... are other museum ships still holding bunker oil? I.e. Showboat, Mammie, the DD's & DE's across the nation.

If the were museumed before mid 1980's chances are they were/are Bunker "C" fuel. They shouldnt be holding any oil at all and should have had a modest cleaning prior to their donation. The Iowas were all converted from Bunker "C" to DFM during their 80's reactivation.
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I have heard that the Hornet was not as empty as was originally thought....
 
One might keep in mind that at the time some of these ships were both laid up and donated the EPA and other entities rules may have changed since. When the last of the Iowas were laid up (New Jersey in 1969) it was laid up in very good condition. No one ever thought they would be recommed but planned for none the less. Thats why she was chosen to re-enter service before the others and not as expensive due to modest upgrades in 1967. I think they knew with Hornet, Midway etc that they would not re-enter service as the US is constantly building replacement carriers. A good check of this would be say the former USS Kennedy or the former KittyHawk for comparison. Or perhaps Rusty could comment on former Ranger or the former Constellation's condition for mothballs or donation. Being used as a target ship or reef I'm pretty sure would offer its own sets of material conditions before sinking.
 
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RustyBattleship said:
For Blidgepump (I assume you mean BILGE pump).

You wrote: But.... the interpertation of replacing the corroded steel hull using this technique is confusing. As BB-60 is resting on the mud and tunneling is required to gain access, how does one "crib up" to prevent stress points as the micro tunneling progresses?

Is the cofferdam to be once again flooded to refloat BB-60? Then the process ( turbidity screens ) will prevent sediment for contacting the hull in the future?

As I could see in some of the photos of that link, they did dig out enough mud to do repairs on the Bilge Strake which is one of the main hull stringers for strength (Keel, Bilge strake, Stringer strake and Shear strake). To tunnel underneath, putting in miners type of shoring on the sides would of course be necessary. But as the ship is now, that is the only way you can get to the areas needing repair.

But as Michigan Guy said to put it into a dry dock and emphasized it by saying, "Do it the right way the first time" is precisely correct. The only way to properly repair the steel hull of any ship is in a dry dock. Then the best way to keep it preserved is to never let it touch the bottom of the mooring site (leaving 4-feet minimum clearance at extreme low-low tide for diver inspections if needed).

And if you have a watertight cofferdam around it (actually dikes or quays), fill it with FRESH water. Any seepage from the salt water outside can be neutralized by doing recycling of the fresh water to filter out the sea water minerals and critters.
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;) The pdf file is great for the aerial view, and the sides above the mud line illustrate your point made about corrosion.

So BB-60 got a patch job ? :(

Has any large ship ever been left on cribbing for display?
 
Are you referring to USS Kidd in Baton Rouge on the Mississippi? She is moored on pilings that allow her to rise and fall. You can easily see the ship as you cross over the river on I-10. I have gone by when the river is low and the ship is sitting on cradles. Everything I have seen and heard about Kidd is that she is a great example of all of the right ways to preserve and maintain a museum ship.

I presume you have heard about BB35 springing a leak almost 2 weeks ago and took on about 100k gal. of water. The ship settled about 2' at the stern and there may have been some hull stressing. I don't know the details. They were able to slow the leak and pump the ship out. Fortunately, the money is now in place to get the ship out of the water, and some political obstacles have been overcome. The goal is to have her permanently out of the water in time for the 100th anniversary of her commissioning in 2014. The hull is so poor in places, it is probably going to be a close race between drying her out or a catastrophic event.
 
Even the Midway had a leak. I'm not sure if it has been fully fixed or not. I know the Hornet's Chief Engineer was going down there quite a bit to help locate the leak. All boils down to a little bit of poor planning by the Midway Association. First they forgot to have the ship hooked up to the sewer system when she opened. Then her berth was not fully dredged or not dredged at all. At low tide her front half was still free floating but her stern was in the bay mud and so there is stress in her middle.
 
Just learned more info about the Midway. As I said the back half of the ship sits in mud when the tide goes out. She still has her rudders and props on her. These sink into the mud and put stress on their respective shafts. Previously 7-01 and 7-04 had flooded completely while 7-05 partially. They drained the compartments and installed baffles to prevent future flooding so to speak. They are also now monitoring the shafts for leakage. I asked why they were not getting the area under dredged for a long term solution all our engineer could do is shrug his shoulders. They made $4 million in profit last year so I don't understand their delay either.
 
Bound for Louisana with a GPS on my knee

Bound for Louisana with a GPS on my knee

Gun Grape said:
Yep, Its the Kidd.
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Very strong prospect for a tour of the USS Kidd this fall.
Directions are simple, get on the river and go downstream.
Thank you for the picture. ;)
 
I was planning on going to see the Kidd this last 2 weeks. Family and other problems kept that from happening.

But on a happier note she isn't that far from me. About 400 miles. I can do that on a long weekend.
 
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