USS Hornet blog

tbm3fan

tbm3fan

Defense Professional
Joined
Nov 1, 2009
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Thought I'd start this if it is ok to most. The ship has now been an open museum for 13 years and 1 month. I saw her in 1998 when no work had been done to her and it wasn't pretty. Rusty will have it so much easier with the Iowa because she is in great shape give or take some small items.

Over time this ship has really changed with the hard work of many volunteers especially a hard core group who have stuck it out for the whole 13 years. From cosmetic work, to engineering work, to mechanical work and to aircraft restoration. My wife doesn't understand what the attraction is and why I need to go down every week for 13 years but some of you may know. The only time I haven't been there was when on vacation in the Philippines and still I thought of the ship while there. She kind of like my drug of choice as I get so much enjoyment out of working there even if my head, hands, fingers or legs are killing me after a day. I think the only thing that could defeat this ship would be what affects many museum ships and that is big money. Small money to help with upkeep is not a problem as I know Tom is into $15,000 and I'm close to $4000 in paint and parts.

Part of which helps is events and it seems we had a big one this past week. It was NVIDIA GeForce LAN which I have no idea what it means. Has to do with gaming and I am not into gaming in the slightest. Waste of time in my opinion. Anyway they posted a lot of videos from that weekend from tours of the ship to what the event was about. given that they had use of the whole ship including using the Captain's and Admiral's inboard cabins as press areas I sure hope they paid a pretty penny in rent.

I'm not versed in embedding youtube videos so I just stick with the links.



I have to say Simon doesn't know much of what he is talking about

The bridge level which I restored pretty much from scratch from 2000-02

I'm dubious about his story of a round passing through the armored slit killing a sailor during action in WWII in part 3.


Tours of the engine by one of the Hornet's own original crew. This docent is good.

Same docent on 3rd deck where a lot of the stuff we get from the Reserve Fleet ends up like serving trays for one.

Last one at night. I don't know what hours this went to but it did cover 3 days. When I showed up 3 days afterwards the whole ship was cleaned out and nary a trace of them could be found. Time to move planes back to the hanger.
 
videos fixed. To embed any videos (for example from youtube) just use the this button:
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well your pic shows the "advanced reply" version, while mine only the "quick reply" one, so they'll complete each other.
 
Fear not Mike, You and others have taken a "war hag" and are slowly but surely (through hard work and dedication no doubt) are turning her into an inspiration. A labor of love that many will never understand until they step aboard her brow or speak her name. Like many men I see aboard they are more concentrated on their work then they are thanks. One of a kind men if you ask me.:)

And If I were you I would go shake down "the monsters" of Industry and Media in the area of the ship and let them contibute to the cause. Its only rightous IMO.
 
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Mike, thank you very much for your hard work. As I said in an earlier thread, I will be there this weekend with 16 Boy Scouts in tow to (hopefully) enjoy all of your 13 years of effort. It is truly a unique experience to be able to say that you have been able to spend a night on board a real live WWII aircraft carrier. I would like to thank you personally, but I have a feeling we'll keep missing each other due to our different schedules (besides, I only make it out there once a year or so anyway, if I'm lucky). Please keep up the hard work, and I promose I'll keep bringing young men out there to see what our Nation is capable of producing and saving.

P.S. The nVidia GeForce graphics chipset is THE computer graphics chipset of choice for hard-core gamers, and has been for quite a while now; yes, it is a different culture, but it is interesting. BTW, LAN means "Local Area Network"; sounds like they all spent 2 or 3 days playing games with each other (no pun intended!).
 
There are many projects to do and I am spending all my time on the Island superstructure since no one else is or has been. This includes both interior and exterior. I may go from one compartment to the next or hop out and work on a length of deck, bulkhead or overhead. Some areas you will never see on an Island tour unless you are brought up there by me. Most would consider the Bridge to be the highlight and everything else small potatoes. Me, I consider every place to be worth restoration from Navigation to a small head. These shots here are of the O8 level which has two different radar equipment rooms. One has all it's pieces while the other only has hanging cables left. Ducting was all removed and scattered there and on two other levels. So while you can't go to O8, O9, O10 and O11 I still couldn't stomach how BAD they looked. So first I located all the ducts for the internal compartments and muscled them into place which wasn't easy. Used the 1/4" bolts and nuts I bought to secure them and then swept up the place. Real cleanup later but now the trunk needs to be prepped.
 
After maybe 6 months it was time to make the trunk look like something from deck to bulkheads to overhead as all was stripped of old paint. I'm a perfectionist so that includes removing brackets to clean, cleaning of all nuts, clean or replace bolts, remove light fixtures, remove paint from all cables and areas you couldn't easily see like behind ducts. The light fixtures are beautiful porcelain bowls with 4-6 layers of paint on them. Boxes are either removed or suspended so I can get behind them. Nothing is too small to skip. The three brass knobs that close the fuse box are courtesy of the USS Sperry.
 
After this I worked some decks for awhile but need to take finished pictures of them. From there I took a stroll up to O11 to climb the mast and eliminate a crow's nest that was pooping all over my nice clean painted deck on the Navigation Level. While there I saw this and made mental notes. Every low spot, about 12 of them, had rust like seen here. The picture over the side shows the top of the AC unit at the O10 level and the rust in there was God awful in thickness. One drain, on the high side, so it was useless for who knows how many years. Paint and rust came off in 1" thick chunks which had me very worried about what could be left of the metal. Then after two months of a 3lb. sledge and various chisels I removed all the rust again in chunks. Made one hell of a racket throughout the ship. My chisel did go through one area of that overhead deck and had to have a piece welded in. Then rust converter, aluminum tie coat and polyurethane paint which cost me $250 was put down to last for good according to Kelly Moore/Rustoleum. I get a 30% discount because the shop knows what I am doing and would get 40% if the Hornet CEO would just submit an application as a valid non-profit. AC unit just under two forward antennas where ships horns are located. Have to take finished photos because I finished a few hours before rain and had to rush off to Pri-Fly to start dealing with a leak after the storm.
 
I admired your determination. If I lived nearby I would volunteer to help out. But since I live on the East Coast, distance is a problem. I would also have liked to help on the Iowa, but same problem, distance.

Not sure if they still need volunteers to do anything on the NJ, but I would be willing there as well. If Dreadnought reads this maybe he can tell me if they could use any volunteers. I did help on the NJ when she was downriver being prepped for museum display at the old New York Shipbuilding Yard.
 
Ken_NJ said:
I admired your determination. If I lived nearby I would volunteer to help out. But since I live on the East Coast, distance is a problem. I would also have liked to help on the Iowa, but same problem, distance.

Not sure if they still need volunteers to do anything on the NJ, but I would be willing there as well. If Dreadnought reads this maybe he can tell me if they could use any volunteers. I did help on the NJ when she was downriver being prepped for museum display at the old New York Shipbuilding Yard.
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Ken, I'm more then sure they can use extra hands and will probably never turn away anyone that wants to help out. I'll get you some information and IM you here.
 
The top of Pri-Fly which has a 1 1/2" high 1/4" thick steel flashing around it. Of course there were no provisions for the draining of water at all. This becomes a little inland sea during the winter and when the wind is blowing kicks up enough waves to swamp your model ship. So got up there and drilled 1/4" holes in the corners to get the water out. The cutters had never been cleaned so that was next so the water could get down. Am in the process of scrapping down to the red lead primer in order to coat with my rust converter before sealing up for good. After that all the poles for hanging the spotlights need to be dealt with. The tar sealer put on the rims of the windows needs to be removed as they allow the cracks to hold water and then rust the window frame underneath. That tar wasn't a brilliant idea. I can access one side of the stack here so I can scrape by hand one day. However, there happens to be a 6" x 2" hole and a 18" x 1" break right along two seams in the stack. Have some patching to do here. Now for the one decision I need to make in painting this roof area. There are three colors present from deck gray to haze gray to white. Haze gray is wrong as someone took the easy way out once. Deck gray is used on all upward facing horizontal decks and overheads. Yet, white is used over the bridge to keep the heat down and one could do that here. So I have yet to decide whether to do deck (dark) gray or white?
 
Was down at the ship at 7:30 this Sunday morning. Never down there on Sunday anymore since having a little boy who is 2 1/2 years old and the need to watch him on Sunday from 1:00 PM onward. Rusty asked a favor of me and so I needed to go down to leave a message on the door of Rick in charge of volunteers. Can't rely on the phone message system and getting him on the phone, Monday, could be hit or miss. The taped message will be hard to miss.

After that went to the machine shop as I was sure Tom would be in there. He was finishing some work on a gutter cover ( first two shots) to put up in Mount 51 when we place the 3"/50 cal twin in place. Started talking about O11 and Pri-Fly which got him up to take a look. Brought the saw to cut out some metal lip ( next two) in areas to create drainage to minimize standing water. The Navy didn't design these flat areas with the idea that there would be standing water and the ship not rocking. Cut six areas: 3-4" sections, 1-6" section, 1-14" section and 1-18" section. The large sections will get metal welded back in complete with a water diverter. Those I'll grind flat on Wednesday when back.

The fifth shot shows where water collects and the rust it creates. This particular area is pretty thin and when you hit it with a hammer and the debris jumps into the air. All other places are 1/4" steel deck. Last shot shows the leak in Pri-Fly. Tom saw the caulking used by the ships paid crew. He wanted the stuff off to see under. Sure enough these were thin patches by the Navy and two of the four patches managed to get dime size holes. I needed to leave at that point and Tom was going to grind them flat and weld 3 x3 square plates on top to seal for good.
 
Mike, was that you working on top of the island with a hand grinder about 9:30 AM Sunday? You guys were making an awful lot of noise! We were that stupid group down at the front starboard 5/38" playing with the 5" shells. One of the docents, Phil, took us down to the rear of the 3rd Deck to see the gyroscopic compass room (behind the main galley); was that room right next to it where they worked on Sidewinders? I saw a plaque on the wall that said something about working on the nose and guidance system of Sidewinders.
 
Yes, that was Tom and I up there. Also, yes, to that room for working on the guidance system of sidewinders next to the gyro compartment.

Talked with Tom today and he tells me those four patches covered cut off stuffing tubes. Ah ha. Seems those were there during the Apollo recoveries to power some special equipment mounted up there at the time. Then the equipment was removed with the tubes cut, and according to Tom, a patch just less than 1/16" thick was welded on top. Tom's patch is 1/4" thick.
 
tbm3fan said:
Yes, that was Tom and I up there. Also, yes, to that room for working on the guidance system of sidewinders next to the gyro compartment.
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I ALMOST took a picture of you guys up there working, but I figured he chances of it being you up there were about 10-to-1, so I didn't; I am NOT going to Vegas!

Any idea if the 5" upper shell handling room is on "the list"? It could use some attention. The shell hoists (from the armory) are still in place, but that's about it; the shell racks themselves are a shadow of their former self.

BTW, the work you do is excellent; I am something of a pefectionist myself so, a lot of times, things simply don't get finished because "they're not good enough". Keep up the good work!
 
I do have the mount area outside the room on my list. Strip the deck, the splinter shields, the bulkheads and the overheads of bad paint and then repaint using two part hardened paint. The inside is not on my list as it isn't in the Island and it isn't in immediate danger of damage from the elements.

Here's an example of good enough. Three weeks ago the guys restoring the FM-2 Wildcat were riveting on a new end cap for one of the elevators. I looked at the backside and saw that the rivets weren't bucked either correctly or all the way. Pointed it out and was told the plane isn't going to fly and no one will see. Said that I have seen it and it only takes a few more seconds. They just looked at me and I walked away. Now when I built three new cowling panels from scratch for the TBM without any prior experience in anything having to do with planes I researched it first. Got the correct tools to cut out the panels and form the curve. Bought the correct Zeus fittings to attach them and tools from a guy in Fresno to make the countersink holes. Then after cutting out the holes for small access points, such as for oil, Tim and I riveted in the doors I made. He is A&P and me just a novice and I told him I want them to pass inspection. They did and the only people to see them is Tim and me.
 
tbm3fan said:
Here's an example of good enough. Three weeks ago the guys restoring the FM-2 Wildcat were riveting on a new end cap for one of the elevators. I looked at the backside and saw that the rivets weren't bucked either correctly or all the way. Pointed it out and was told the plane isn't going to fly and no one will see. Said that I have seen it and it only takes a few more seconds. They just looked at me and I walked away. Now when I built three new cowling panels from scratch for the TBM without any prior experience in anything having to do with planes I researched it first. Got the correct tools to cut out the panels and form the curve. Bought the correct Zeus fittings to attach them and tools from a guy in Fresno to make the countersink holes. Then after cutting out the holes for small access points, such as for oil, Tim and I riveted in the doors I made. He is A&P and me just a novice and I told him I want them to pass inspection. They did and the only people to see them is Tim and me.
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The "Half A$$ed is good enough" attitude drives me crazy because it's usually a carryover of what they do for everything else in their life.
 
While we were standing just outside the pier area watching the Iowa, before we were invited inside, the Pacific Battleship board member was asking me what I was working on. Told him and he asked how I was dealing with removal of the rust and paint? Then asked what I was using for coatings to protect the areas against long term UV damage. Of course, he mentioned the use of a needle gun which I don't use. I am about 600 feet from a compressor down near the tire shop at the stern of the ship. Plus, since my ears already ring on a daily basis, I didn't need any long term loud noises around me. Of course the Iowa has been sitting less time than the Hornet and with less coats of paint so no rust bubbles from what I saw. Below is a shot of the rust thickness on the O11 Level and how I remove it inch by inch.
 
Here is a couple of shots of an aft trunk in the Island from at the O5 Level. This was not done by me but by another group of volunteers 4 years ago. That was the same time I had just finished the Flag Level after 2 /12 years. This group was not supposed to be up here by the Head of Restoration sent them up anyway. It wasn't long after this that there was a confrontation between the very elderly Head of Restoration, the COO, the Head of Volunteers on my side and me. The first two weren't happy with my go it alone method as other volunteers complained I was too particular. The Head of Restoration reminded me I signed a paper to follow his procedures and I told him I signed it to get him out of my hair. The COO said maybe I should leave the ship and I told him it would be better if he left so I could finish what I was doing. The Head of Volunteers backed me up all the way and so did the CEO in the end. The Head of Restoration challenged me to show him where my work was better than his guys which I did. He hasn't been in my hair since.

One shot of a 21MC that they considered restored. Another shot of the restored bulkhead and cables. Note paint is ever scraped off by them. The left shows a smooth area where I would scrap smooth to see if they would follow my lead the next day. Never did. This is the epitome of get it done and get it done fast.
 
My version. Strip the bulkheads when possible as in Flag. Strip paint from sound proofing fabric in the trunks. Restore all the chromate yellow boxes right down to the screws and name tags. Most name tags missing and what was left were terribly damaged so I had a trophy shop make them up for me. Put blanks in, so no bare spots, and when we figure out was it said I will bring them to the trophy shop. Last a 24MC that was taken home and disassemble for restoration. Missing most indicator lights, all name tags, brass hex cap nuts and a general mess at the time.
 
The toughest project I did on the ship. Cutting out and forming new engine panel covers for the TBM was easier than this. This was a sound proofing ceiling put in Flag Bridge for Nixon's visit during Apollo 11. Another quick and dirty job. Put plywood over the removable overhead panels and drill holes through the wood and the panels. Put a rubber washer and nut on the outside. Do this 60 times and then let sit 28 years in Bremerton. Result major water leaks and the tiles falling off soaking wet. Which is why they never wanted to open this Level to the public. In fact I was told to leave it alone. So I worked her for 2 years before the ship (COO), other than docents, knew about it. Today the ship hold small classes in here now on Naval history.

First had to rip all the tiles off of which there are a lot. This job was actually done by my wife in 2003 her first year in the United States. Next remove bad plywood which was fit like a jigsaw puzzle. Then go outside and locate all screws and seal them. Last, buy the tiles and one by one cut and fit through the entire bridge. Of course this was after removing all the paint covering the brass clamps that hold down the removable panels. That was done with one small screwdriver as a paint scraper. Gently I might add.
 
Last for 11/17 is of weather decks. No one does anything for them over the years. Just the other day, our irascible old Navy ship electrician, came to me the other day and said the decks in the Island look good. Whoa, coming from him I was shocked. He too is very particular in his work and very vocal when electrical work isn't done right. The Island has lots of outside decks to work with along with bulkheads and overheads and cables. I need much more free time to catch up and finish. Below a deck untouched on port side and a deck on starboard side where I work. No visitors allowed on port side.
 
Just ran across this 8mm home film of the Hornet in the 50's moving through San Francisco Bay. No hurricane bow yet, straight deck, twin 3"/50 mounts can be seen and a deck of Panthers and Skyraiders. Film says early 60's but clearly it isn't. Has to be between 1954 and no later than 1956 when she went in for her SBC-125 modernization. The fishing boat is sailing one direction and the Hornet is steaming the other.




Obviously I still don't know how to embed the photo. Well I tried the video link anyway.
 
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