Reactivating Battleship NJ For Vietnam: Work Orders
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 พ.ค. 2022
- In this episode we're going through the official work orders to reactivate the battleship to go to Vietnam.
For the full document:
drive.google.com/file/d/1yBWK...
To send Ryan a message on Facebook: / ryanszimanski
To support this channel and the museum, go to: www.battleshipnewjersey.org/v...
Nicknaming the helipad "New Jersey International Airport" is the best thing I have heard all week.
My grandfather had purchased the honing machine used to polish the 16" gun barrels after WWII when the government was selling everything as war surplus. They came to buy it back as it was the only one available for the recommissioning USS New Jersey. Our family machine shop was in Edison, NJ.
thank you for selling it back
I was serving in Vietnam as a Navy Seabee in 1968/69. While detachment from Dong Ha to Qua Viet, a marine amtrack base, the New Jersey was just off shore. She was firing over our heads, to a target inland. We would listen as the rounds passed over. I must say it was an awe inspiring experience.
I don't know how often she engaged targets inland, but there was a documented fire mission when she assisted a MACV-SOG recon team inserted into the Laotian jungle. The 1-0 of the team noted it was a danger close fire mission, they wanted the rounds to hit within 50 meters of their perimeter, basically right on top of them. From first hand account, the 16 inch HE shells were so much more powerful than the 155mm howitzers they were used to calling in, the NJ almost wiped the entire team out with her devastating salvos. From then on, the 1-0 of RT Idaho said they never called in fire missions from any battleship ever again lol.
I had an old MSG in the Army reserve that was originally enlisted in the Navy during Vietnam as a forward observer assigned to a Marine unit. He said one day he was calling in fire and kept asking, hey guy, where’s that fire coming from because it’s been SO LONG since you called shot on the way. The liaison said it should be there in 3…2…1…, SGT Moriarty said it was the biggest damned explosion he’d ever seen! He then asked what the hell they were shooting. Liaison said it came a from a battleship off the coast and took a while to get there.
@@anemoia2661 Interesting. At Dong Ha we would get hit with 130mm rounds from North Vietnamese guns either in the DMZ or just north of it. This occurred several times while we were stationed there. It was always during the day. However, one night we were awakened to incoming. As we crouched in the trench under our hooch, the rounds hitting kept getting closer. Turns out the Army was firing 175mm rounds and was either given the wrong coordinates or miscalculated. The bottom line here is that even 130s and 175s hitting close by is nerve wracking. So I can only surmise what a 16" round hitting so close would feel like.
My uncle was a Marine Force Reccon LLRP and a platoon Sgt. His team was in heated fire fight and called for air support, there was none available, he called for an artillery strike and none was available. Uncle Danny kept calling on the radio and the USS New Jersey answered and he gave them the coordinates and he said it was wild when the shells hit the communists blowing them away. He said it blew his mind that he was 20 years old and had the power to get a battleship to shell the enemy.
@@russellweber4334
That would have been awesome to do and experience the effects of your radio request.
Hey Ryan! My father's father served aboard the USS New Jersey during her Vietnam tour, his name was Darrell M. Greenlee and he was a member of the Aft IC serving as a member of damage control center two, he listed one of his accomplishments as "Completely rebuilt Pneumatic Valve Position Indicating System with several dedicated men from E, IC, M, R Division, ...all while under way!" and marks it as a task 3 shipyards had failed to accomplish. He was a plank owner and I thought you would find this information useful, and I was hoping you would do a video further explaining what he was referring to, but more importantly I want his story to be remembered as he passed away to stomach cancer in September of 2015. Continue to make interesting content and take care of the ship he loved so dearly.
Yes Ryan, this Deserves a video!
My grandfather worked on the USS North Carolina fitting and installing the recoil mechanisms for the 16-inch guns when it was built at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. He was contacted in 1967 and went for two weeks to teach the mechanics how to service this equipment when the New Jersey was being refitted.
My uncle worked on s shop there thrn served on the bb59. Hi from brooklyn.
Pointing the spot out on the model is an excellent educational tool, you should do that more often!
Cool Quad 40 trivia: After the 89-90 Drydocking, Texas was fit with quad 40s (replacing the beat-up quad 1.1s). One of those had been removed from Missouri. The museum battleship world is a small one.
Honestly the only channel I have notifications on for.
Why though, 7 every night!
@@myselfremade I don’t believe in clocks.
I forwarded this to "Battleship Fred", my BT Navy friend from the '80s that served on the Jersey. He was on board during the world tour and Beirut/ Golan Heights....
$21,000,000 in 1967 money is about $175,000,000 today, per online inflation calculator. Shame we can't divert some money to keep these historic ships in pristine condition.
A history forgotten is a history doomed to repeat itself. If i was prez parks and rec would have the funding it needed to invest into Texas an the Sullivans. Goddam shame to see our political will transform intto what it has.
Can you imagine how much it would cost today.
These ships are practically a waste of resources and floating scrap right now. It would be better to divert the energy and funds into something useful like industry or current war efforts (for example against russia)
Right....data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl
@@KnaufL Reactivate the NJ to fight Russia?
I'm gonna go on a limb and say about half of those 10 months were spent just cleaning the damn ship.
shipyard work is all about cutting out the old and putting in the new, things that can't be done underway... cleaning is done by the crew because they got all day.
One thing that really struck me when touring the USS Yorktown recently is how elaborate (compared to everyone else) the admiral's stateroom was. It seems like a ton of square footage in the tower that might be prized for other purposes.
I usually look down my nose at the military's ability to name things (especially operation names), but New Jersey International Airport is a good name. I like that one.
"New Jersey International Airport"
gotta love that nickname
Being a native New Jersey boy I love seeing things about the mighty Black Dragon (BB-62).
First thought when I saw headline was "Charlie's gonna get payback"
The only channel I religiously watch every new video that's posted...yet I'm an army vet...just goes to show how great and interesting and detailed your videos are to me and captivate me...I'm only 2 hours away and I've talked the kids and wife to do an overnight with you guys...just need to figure out dates and possibilities and I'm in!!!!
Check out Drachinifel's channel as well.
Being a new englander, parents retired in fla, and retired Army. I can claim visiting USS Massachusetts (Fall River), USS Alabama, (Mobile), and USS Missouri ( while she was recommisioned in 1980's in Lisbon, Portugal) she was on liberty visit going back to the States. I was assigned to USAELM, CINCIBERLANT a NATO naval command as a US ARMY SSG in the M/W section of C5 Divisision (COMMS), 1 of 1 officer and 8? Enlisted personnel. And I have visited several museum ships, along side the 'Bama, and Mamie. Plus the USS CONSTITUTION (Boston, MA), USS SALEM (Quincy, MA) and a visit to HMS BERWICK in Lisbon, Portugal, on her liberty call. And a couple of museum ww2 museum subs, and destroyers. Glad that they've survived as museums for children, sad that some of them need some tlc.
I was just watching the beginning of An Officer and a Gentleman. You can clearly see BB62 New Jersey, and BB63 Missouri next to each other . Thought that was pretty cool .
You do a nice job. I have a model of The Missouri I built many years ago. Still sits on my shelf. As a kid we visited The Texas several times back in the day. I'm in SoCal so The Iowa is not far from here. Not a war hawk, but military hardware has always interested me. And my nephew fixes F/A18 Super Hornets on The Nimitz .
Hey Ryan and all! I was watching another NJ video about "self-destructing" the ship (ha-ha), and a question came to mind: did the New Jersey or any American battleships have divers aboard to assess underwater damage/conduct damage control, clear UW obstacles, etc.? If so, were these rated divers or simply members of the crew trained to undergo these duties as needed and/or required? Thanks again for all that you and the crew of the NJ are doing to preserve and promote such a magnificent piece of American history and pride. Looking forward to more vids!
They would have had Navy schooled "rescue swimmers" and open circuit (scuba) "emergency" divers, usually shipfitters, but no fully qualified Navy Divers or EOD personnel permanently assigned to the crew.
@@SSN515 Thanks for the reply, sir. Answered my questions quite nicely.
@@PDInfantryman but they definitely have one on speed dial...
I served on 3 WWII built destroyers in the 1960s.Probably the AC installed for Vietnam was similar to that found in the destroyers. In each birthing area was a standalone AC unit that took up the space of one bank of bunks and bottom lockers. Freon was salt water cooled. It was not tied into the ventilation system. It was more than enough to cool each area. Usually too cold. People at lights out would usually commandeer extra blankets from the bunks of on watch people. Later those people would reclaim their blankets and more. It was not uncommon to awake freezing with no blanket. AC in the fwd superstructure was tied into the ventilation system in CIC, wardroom, & captains cabin. No AC on the bridge.
This does line up with the document saying it went down from 4 to 3 bunks.
I still remember seeing the NJ in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Beirut in the early 1980’s. It sure was impressive. I was on the CVN69 Ike
back in the early 80s, when I practically lived in the VA TECH library, I came across a document listing the measured necessary to reactivate the USS North Carolina at that time. Nothing of note, but thought I would share.
If we have to do an amphibious landing today we’re not really capable of doing an en mass landing with fire support. There is no mechanism for cheap indirect fires. All the current munitions are limited and expensive.
@@soonerfrac4611 If we had to do Naval Gunfire Support right away, with only the ships deployed to whatever part of the world that needed USN attention would be with the ubiquitous MK-45 5"/54 or 62 caliber deckguns mounted in most of our destroyers (1 each) and Ticonderoga Cruisers (2 each.) If you want anything bigger ... you're out of luck unless you can get some ARMY 155mm (6.1") howitzers landed.
The MK-45 is damned good gun, I love the thing, but compared to a MK-7 16"/50 or 8"/55 ... it's a peashooter.
My dad, Lt. Richard H. Kerr(he was an LDO mustang and some years later promoted to LtCmdr.) served aboard the USS New Jersey during the Vietnam deployment. He was attached for the complete reactivation including bringing her out of mothballs. He was the administration officer in charge of all the admin. and personel dept. on board. So, he would have seen all this work you are talking about. During reactivatlion he was also the public relations officer which included being in charge of the press releases to the media. He ended up serving 30 years, retiring in 1973. He said that this was the best command he ever served in and Captain Snyder was the best CO he ever served under.
I was an Airedale in the USN.. the Advance crew on any deployment were PAINTERS. We would paint EVERYTHING to make things look as new as possible. I often wondered how many layers of paint were on the hangers we used.
Speaking of painting, I was a Radarman aboard the Enterprise during the Vietnam War. One time, when we were in port at Subic, a buddy of mine and I were "voluntold" to paint the mast on the Enterprise. SOME haze grey paint MIGHT have wound up on the flight deck and the quay we were tied up to!😉😉Whoops!
I think the rational for sending us up there instead of a Bos'ns Mate was: Well, there's radar antennas up there, send a couple of Radarment up!
(Fortunatly, the radars were turned off!)
Thanks for the video. Always nice to learn more history.
just wanted to say that sportscoat with the battlewagon in gold profile is awesome
Very informative. Thanks Ryan for sharing.
Another great video from the battleship.
great Video , again Ryan, Thanks!
Dude you are living the dream.....love it
These kinds of historic documents are fascinating to me. I've done some research for various things, schools, organizations, etc, and even primary factual documents like this one are riddled with nuggets of new information, as well as bringing up more questions, and maybe even a few errors.
Thanks for showing it to us, I love geeking out about analyzing old information sources like this, comparing what is on the page to what we know from other photos, documents, oral history, etc. I love doing it myself, and I love seeing other people doing it!
Concerning the number of guns mentioned; Might this represent the ships inventory/assigned number of weapons, rather than mounts? It would seem quite probable that the ships carried extra weapons in the armories.
well done History Ryan...Bravo
Beautiful job Ryan, this video was very informative on how the ship was made ready for Vietnam.. Loved the pictures.
Great vid. Very interesting. Thank you.
I love the close-up and enunciation of the fact it took 10 months and an equivalent $1 billion just to do a "quick set up". That should quash the amount of people in the comments who think the thing could be put back in service
I have that same green canvas bag. It fits really well in my bike basket
Thanks a million for providing a link to the paper.
First. I sometimes view you in the morning. You are a good example of what keeps history documentation growing. Good job.
Fantastic video!
i think this is a great topic to present
The return of a battleship? Nice
Imagine seeing the Iowa class battleships in action. What a fearsome yet majestic sight. Like a tiger mid leap with it's fangs and claws exposed in anticipation of a fearsome fight.
I was at a museum with some battleship artifacts, and a model of Pearl Harbor. As fearsome as the dreadnaughts were compared to their predecessors, the Iowas look so much more fierce. The Arizona looks like a giant turtle someone left some cannons laying around on. New Jersey looks like it's going to find you, and kill you. From over the horizon.
I was stationed on USS Kitty Hawk; we had just left SLEP in Philly and were tied up in Norfolk. I happened to be on the pier when (I think it was NJ?) was coming up the river straight bow-on toward me. I remember thinking, "Damn, that's a big son of a b*tch." I was standing right next to a super-carrier and that was the thought. Battleships underway have a certain gravitas... A physically intimidating presence that bird farms just... Don't.
@@seafodder6129 That's cool! Few people get to see what you did. I've never seen an aircraft carrier or battleship in real life, just videos and pictures. One day I want to tour both. Aircraft carriers look colossal and ominous. Like a fierce storm moving across the water.
I want tour the USS Texas first as it's the only dreadnought left (I think) and then maybe the USS Alabama then on to the bigger ships to keep a perspective on size (are there aircraft carriers one can tour?). If possible I'd like to tour a WW2 sub as well. I think being able to touch those vessels with my own hand will somehow connect me better to the men that fought for us. It's one thing to read about them in history books and another to put them in reality.
@@seafodder6129 That's why when the Wisconsin made a port stop visit in Abu Dhabi, the leaders there were so impressed with her that they offered to pay the yearly cost of running her if we'd station her there.
There's something to be said for being badass.
@@olliefoxx7165 battleship cove in mass has the bb59 and a ww2 sub. The chicago museum has a german sub.
Thank you for this video. It is interesting to see what was required to reactivate a battleship and illustrates that the battleships of WWII were in fact very sophisticated.
Very nice smart new blazer Ryan.
I live outside Philly and driving on the elevate highway and the bridge we could clearly see the battleships next to each other. What a site.
Ryan this really good info
love the jacket!
Excellent explanation added to the what
Regarding AC, you are wrong. My father served on the USS Iowa during WW II, he was a plank owner and served on the ship the entire war. He made chief, at the time was the youngest chief in the navy. There was a time when the chiefs got together and, using their authority to sign requisitions up to a certain amount, were able to get AC compressors, etc. for the Chief's Quarters. The exec was apparently very angry, but the captain told him to be quiet since it was really the chiefs who ran the boat
I am always surprised how much is not known about this ship. I would have assumed that all of this data would be easy to look up, but it is extremely interested seeing advances in the knowledge being made.
I have said this before....nothing says "Stop doing that...." like a battleship!
Hey Ryan, you mentioned that it was unsure whether the helicopter pad at this time period was a rubber pad or a metal structure. My uncle was a welder at the Philadelphia Navy Yard during the reactivation for Vietnam and took part installing the metal structure for the landing pad. I always remember him mentioning it as we watched the New Jersey being towed up Delaware on Veterans Day 1999. Hope this helps.
Flash jacket there Ryan mate! I find it very ironic that the 40mm mounts were removed, as they were deemed to be ineffective on the "modern jet aircraft" as they came out after the war, and now today 30mm guns are fitted to a lot of warships for AA point defence. It seems we've gone full circle with AA guns, 20mm CIWS, 30mm close in guns and 76mm auto guns for point defence, the humble gun seems to be here to stay in the close in defence arena.
kick over a ant hill and watch them work, that's how is was back in the day when we built things ... 24-7 until the lines were casted off and the tug pushed it out to open water.
today not so much. you need check out 2 of our newest multi-million dollar scrap heaps ... talk about cracks.
Very interesting
It would REALLY be a joy to have An Iowa back in the fleet. her sheer presence turn the enemy pail/to a big smokin' hole. 35 knots and 16 inchers.......i hear the grunt in me drooling.(note i unfortunatly,never served my beloved USA).
I read a year or so ago that reactivating an Iowa, if the navy owned one, would cost upwards of 2 billion dollars. The article cited finding retired crew who would come back and train new crew. Also was lack of ammo, powder and spare parts.
I am not sure even 2 bil would do it now and get a crew trained.
No way, Floating HAZMAT site. All Analog instruments that only Old farts would know.
@@TheDustysix You can take your "old farts" and put it where the sun don't shine! Because of WWll Vets... you live in a free country.
Grow Up..
@@CRUZER1800 My Father is a WW2 Veteran. As were 5 Uncles and an Aunt. I served.
@@CRUZER1800 You and your "channel" have no content.
@TheDustysix My father gave 7 years of his life (3 1/2 on the USS Iowa) for your freedom. Your insults are not appreciated
The picture you show in this video of the 3 Iowa's in the mothballs at Philly navy yard. Why does the NJ have a smoother topside bow line for lack of a better term the Wis. and Iowa have a much rounder top bow section ?? Any story behind the difference in the top section of the bows on each ship ??
Yes. Missouri and NJ had their bow tubs replaced during the 50’s. Iowa and Wisconsin retained the originals. Not sure how the decisions were made for each ship.
I served in nam 66/68 with coscom.
Yes, but for "Battleship" the Missouri had been in commission and was on her way to Hawai'i just before in "Under Siege. (LOL!!) That's why the boilers came on line so quickly. In Hollywood all things are possible! Also her fuel tanks had fuel oil in them. I don't imagine New Jersey does or atleast not enough to move her and have the Navy take her back.
This video already deserves a thumbs up for the potshot against the movie Battleship 🤣👍🏻 I think the movie is entertaining with the naval battle scenes, just be willing to switch off your brain and don’t ask any questions about realism.
Never could switch my brain off for unrealistic movies showing post war ship designs in action in WW II. Can't do it. Movie spoiled. Dumb.
Wow, Ryan in a suit/sport jacket. Whoda thunk it possible.
Hey Ryan. Cool suit jacket you got going there. Is that sillhouete of the ship embroidered onto it? Or is that a pin or something?
The other helicopter facilities would likely be conversion of the aviation gasoline systems to jet fuel storage and pumping systems, and adding the AFFF flight deck firefighting systems, since with float planes there previously there would not have needed special firefighting systems.
as a retired service member, and being involved with things like this... The order itself, would take weeks, months of just write ups and preps.. just to get to the ready for approval..dont forget all the prior plans and numbers, just to come up with this 1 page fact sheet.... the man power alone to make these estimates! plus.. there is no one in active service today that could lead the training of the trainers...
I seem to remember in the 80’s, we figured they counted guns by barrels, not by mounts. Perhaps that makes more sense?
Cool
Great video, Ryan. considering how much it cost, do you think they saved anything by deactivating in the first place?
Hello Ryan. Very interesting video. Does the ship's library have the books "Dreadnought Returns" and "Dreadnought Farewell"? They were publications that showed the reactivation and deactivation of "J" from the Vietnam era. Lots of great photos in those books. I followed the reactivation very closely and have a number of newspaper clippings from back then and I have the two books.
was CIC built before or after vietnam re-activation ?... PS Great Video as usual Ryan.. Keep up the great work.
The ship has a CIC since WWII though they did upgrade it with some newer equipment. Latter after the ship gets missiles they repurpose unused space into a secondary CIC to handle the missile based systems.
It would be cool to simulate what changes would be made today if the ship was reactivated.
Did the 67 model have an ice cream parlor like many major Navy vessels had prior? I recall on board Kitty Hawk and Midway there was a smoke shop where you could buy cigarettes tax free when underway. That was a popular feature from a time when many people smoked.
5:08 thats the Rms Queen Mary on the back left!
Something that I doubt you even know, but New Jersey was involved in the so called "Secret War" when it assisted MACV-SOG Recon Team Idaho with a fire mission into the Laos Jungle against an NVA division that had made contact with the team close to the Ho Chi Minh trail. A MACV-SOG veteran who was the 1-0 on that operation (team leader) let it slip in a very rare interview that it was the first and only time New Jersey, or any Navy ship for that matter, was directly involved in one of those absolutely out of this world levels of crazy MACV-SOG operations. The Special Forces guys usually called artillery in within a few meters of their own positions as the majority of the time their LZ's were being overrun during extraction, and with your typical 155mm Howitzers or various mortars, bringing rounds in extremely close to their perimeter was somewhat doable. But they very quickly discovered the HE from those 16 inch guns was NOT something you wanted landing within 50 meters of you and that danger close fire missions from those monstrous 16 inch guns simply was not a viable option lol.
My uncle was in special forces, a platoon sgt. in a Marine Force Reccon LLRP team and they were in a heated fire fight and couldn't get an air strike or an artillery strike and uncle Danny got ahold of the USS New Jeresy on the radio and gave them the coordinates and that barrage wiped out the enemy. My uncle thought I can't believe that I'm 20 years old and have that kind of power.
I'd be interested in finding out (and apologies if it's been covered before!) what the "minimum viable configuration" for the NJ to get underway would be. Something like one functional boiler, one engine, rudder, and helm? Maybe multiples are required to have enough power for station keeping in storms and such? On a similar note, did they write down "skeleton crew" specifications for the smallest possible complement?
@@SSN515 I served on a Minesweeper,(not the stupid game), but the MSO 439. If I remember right we could get underway with 10 or 12 men, and that was a real pinch. One guy in each engine room, a couple of Bosuns, and some one to steer
@@SSN515 great story! What ship was used for the 1960s test? How can I find more info on this test?
@@SSN515 thanks, John.
I'm a Nam vet and can tell you that the NCO'S were the most important people especially the E6 & higher ranks with over 10 years in the service.
The video on mothballing the shop throws some light on this, posted 1 August 2022. One captain advised another to try and begin mothballing two of the four engines en route to the yard, so two engines sounds like the minimum. I don’t think these ships have any other source of power, so even if one engine gave enough to keep station, if it, or it’s generator, failed you would have no electrical power.
Wow, way to crush everyone’s dreams Ryan! 🤣🙈
I am curious though; if absolutely zero updates or refurb was completed, what would be required to SIMPLY fire up the boilers and generate steam again, as shown in your favorite movie. 🤣
I realize one of the prerequisites of the USN was that all steam systems should be disabled / inop or no longer activated, but those systems are pretty robust and obviously used fresh water and were put into storage with extensive protections…. If there was adequate fuel onboard, I think we are all wondering if (if if if if if) the the US was being invaded by aliens, would the New Jersey fire up again?
Odd but understandable that each reactivations took about the same time as to build her.
Seem to remember reading that the rear 40mm tubs, while recommissioned for Vietnam were cleaned out, and had sealed sides, and used as salt water pools while on the gun line.
They certainly did have at least one pool in a gun tub, subsequent video gives details.
Not sure if I missed something but "Adjusted for inflation, $21,500,000 in 1967 is equal to $200,457,112 in 2024.
Annual inflation over this period was 3.99%."
@Battleship New Jersey, does information like this go into some sort of ...narrative writing that documents everything you've ever learned about the ship, running from approval/design phase to her final decommissioning? Somehow including thing like crawling through a 16" gun and down the conning tower tube...
Jungle warfare in Nam was one thing. Mean while on the other side of town had to be kept a eye on!!! Roa Aotearoa nui.
cool
Iowa was next to the pier not Wisconsin ,she was outboard on Iowa &Wisconsin all 20mm &40mm were taken off in mid 1950's on NJ. wasn't until reactivation in 1967 almost all 57 20mm were taken off 1947-48 inactivation rest were removed in 1952.
Where can I see the 1980's re commissions work orders? I'd love to see how much of "new tile" work was done. This last orders would have been amazing to see!!!!
FINALLY! Uss NJ being reactivated after
Years being a Museum ship
No, this was during Vietnam
@@SealofPerfection yeah we're going back to Vietnam again /s
11:33 that is a clearly a raised platform on a teak deck with a ramp. Would be interesting to know what it's made of.
Thanks for sharing. Is there a 1980’s reactivation work order in your collection? I wonder what a current day reactivation work order would include?
Being woke and joining antifa {sic}
New target radars, new ECM, Radios and eavesdropping equipment, updated SeaRAM/CIWS, VLS systems with integration to CEC/CIC, Drone swarm engagement systems, updated air conditioning, updated plumbing and bathrooms, modernized berthing units to name a few.
A current day reactivation work order would include building a totally new ship
Obtain the book by Mr Landgraff about the history of the Long Beach Naval Shipyard. He was in charge of reactivating New Jersey and lead design for the rest of the Iowas. He was also heavily involved in the 67 reactivation. You can still buy the book on Amazon, I believe.
The man was a wealth of knowledge about the Iowas.
"Well over a billion dollars today"
You missed your opportunity to start your outro that mentions funding and donation drive at that exact sentence :)
Along with Iowa wasn’t Wisconsin attached to the Atlantic fleet in the 50’s ?
Looks like a UH-1 on board ! at 8.52
AC was: instead of all E3 and below mess cranking…half the crew was employed to pump big bellows through pipes to cool the crew and for chiefs and zeros…the sailors would wave the giant leafs circa ancient Egypt. See Cleopatra 🤭
Maybe big ships like battleships should be kept under permanent reserve. You never know when a battleship might come handy in a war.
The thing is, one Arlie Burke destroyer Could take on and sink all 4 Iowas without breaking a sweat. The Iowas are cool ships, but their time has passed for being front line naval units.
I mean, in a situation in which things were "so dire" as to need to reactivate the NJ, I imagine a $1bn check would certainly not be off the table, but I can't exactly see that kind of money just showing up to get her underway tomorrow!
$21,000,000 in 1967 dollars equals $175,294,670.66 in 2022
It's easy to look at a piece of equipment that was parked, in good working order, and say: "Easy!" Then comes the infinite details required to bring equipment that hasn't run for decades up to reliable operating condition. Details.
Sometimes I reactivate Diesel Generators that haven't been operated in decades. Some of this equipment has received excellent preservation treatment. Some of it has received none. I have no doubt that these ships could be reactivated and operated reliably. I also have no doubt about the amount of work, money and time it would take to do it Right. That means Better Than New! Every brand new machine has problems. An older piece of equipment has had these problems dealt with.
$21,500,000.
I’m not entirely sure what to make of that number.
The photo Ryan shows at the 7 min mark...... NJ seems to have a slightly different top to the bow to the ones either side (and no anchors) as well as a slightly different curve up the bow??
Very interesting video! Ryan, I went online to calculate what $21.5M in 1966 is today, and it came up with $192M. So, do you have the order to reactivate in the 1980's?
I heard it was 250 million a ship when the 4 were brought back in the '80's.