Question for the naval guys

[Maryak]

Hi Guys,

At each docking, the blocks are moved fore and aft so that the vessel does not sit in the same place and the underwater hull where it sits on the blocks can be cleaned and painted alternately. Lastly it is very important that no through hull openings are covered by the blocks so that underwater valve tubes and grates can be accessed for maintenance and repair as these areas are some of the weakest points of watertight integrity.

Best Regards
Bob

 

[Foozer]

can be cleaned and painted alternately

Now I remember, given a shovel to get the sand out from between the blocks, me, a shovel and an aircraft carrier over my head. Could of been worse, poor sailor in coveralls getting loaded up head to toe with grease, his task was to crawl along the catapult bearing blocks getting them, well greased. One of the few times actually saw a large group of people working together winching the catapult tube up from its bed, on command everyone turns the crank 1/4 turn and slowly she comes up. One long hunk of tube, no bending allowed.

 

[ksouers]

Marv, I have to agree. P-factor seems the most logical reason for having the house on the starboard side. Even small planes yaw left quite a bit at high angles of attack.

Mike,
Thanks for the pictures of the Victory ship! Great stuff! I spent 1980-1982 sailing a T2 oil tanker, hull #438 built 1944, in the engine room of course. It was the Liberty, Victory and T2 ships that really helped win the war. Without them Allied troops would have never gotten the supplies they needed.

 

[AlanHaisley]

If anyone has noticed those gray/silver rectangular blocks positioned on the hull/rudder in various places - those are the sacrificial anodes to help prevent hull corrosion.

According to Tom Clancy in one of his books, the anodes are called "zincs" because that's what they are made from. In his story, the used boat purchaser thought that the surveyor said the boat needed new "sinks" and figured he could wait on that ... :big:

Alan

 

[Hilmar]

Thank's Guys for answering my question.
Hilmar

 

[cobra428]

Hey Guys,
If you are ever out in my neck of the woods, this is a must see too

http://www.intrepidmuseum.org/

Tony

 

[Tin Falcon]

The local naval museum ship here is the USS New Jersey.

http://www.battleshipnewjersey.org/


Machine shop photos here http://ussnewjersey.com/rect_37-1.htm
Tin

 

[Loose nut]

I found this on a naval information web site, can't find the link for it though, which backs up earlier statements.

"Why are aircraft carrier islands always on the starboard side? There are several reasons. Initially the island was placed on the starboard side because early (propeller) aircraft turned to the left more easily (an effect of engine torque). Obviously such an aircraft can execute a wave-off to the left more easily, so the island was put to starboard to be out of the way. There may also be other, minor contributing factors.

Once the starboard side position was established and a few carriers were built in that configuration, it became difficult to change. Pilots used to landing with the island to their right would be confused on a ship with the island on the other side. There was nothing to be gained by moving the island, so it stayed in the same place. Once angled decks were introduced this became even more important, since the deck angle would have to be changed to move the island.

There were, however, two carriers with their islands to port. The Japanese Akagi and Hiryu were fitted with port-side islands. Each was meant to work in a tactical formation with a starboard-island ship (Kaga and Soryu respectively); it was thought that putting the islands opposite sides would improve the flight patterns around the carriers. The idea was scrapped after two ships were so fitted, and all later carriers had starboard islands."

Port side islands did cause a lot of problems, not the least was a tendency for unfamiliar pilots trying to land on the bow. There were a few "no Island" carriers in the early days and some that had the funnels on the port side, which didn't work because of the problems with smoke over the flight deck and others that had funnels that folded down and out over the water while aircraft where taking off and landing.