I've toured both the USS New Jersey in Philadelphia and the USS Missouri in Pearl Harbor, both Iowa class battleship. I'd still like to see the Iowa and the Wisconsin someday.
When I was in the Navy, I was an Airedale slinging wrenches at Museum Grade Aircraft. We did so many deployments so often we kept a 'Whiskey Det' on site at VC-8. We went there so often, I spent 88 days out of 90 the day after I checked into the command. ....yeah. Roosevelt Roads Puerto Rico was a beautiful base... I was in that command for two years, spending probably close to a year there, never knew about the Light House Grill over at the Tower, about 300 yards down the flightline from us... finally got there one day, ate the greasiest, thinnest, toughest T-Bone Steak and eggs with hash browns and plain white toast, big ole glass of ice water and an OJ. One reason why we walked down there was the Hot Pit Refueling Station was another 200 yards and it was on the way and we had time before the aircraft started coming back from the War Games. No one had told us, no one gave us a heads up, security was that tight that for the 5 days after the Iowa had its turret explosion only a handful of folks off the ship knew it happened. So we finished up breakfast, got up from the table and walked out the door, only to be greeted by ACC Tims yelling at our very Junior Enlisted asses "Grab those body bags off the (aircraft cargo) pallets, stack the bodies over there in the shade! Get those pallets ready to go back out!" We were not base personnel, we were not the assigned airfield cargo handlers, but ACC Tims didn't want to scar his troopers.... so he yelled at us. Our tasking was to perform Hot Pit Refueling of all of our aircraft coming back..... we had over 20 of our aircraft out there flying returning home and needing to refuel, but Navy regs demand last order from the ranking is the order you do...... which always puts Junior Enlisted in a no win situation where two competing orders cannot be done at the same time, only one... but ACC Tims threatened to have us all at MAST (big big trouble) so we started moving body bags. We had to stop, our primary orders were supporting our aircraft.... and, we stopped moving body bags when two things happened, our aircraft with the smallest fuel tanks started to land and we had 200 yards to cover and get the Hot Pit ready, and an old dry rotted body bag exploded when we lifted it.... so.... as the ranking person in that moment, I sent the crew to go to the Hot Pits, and I returned to our hanger to my leadership to explain what happened and... well... walk behind the hanger and flush everything on me off.... Next day was worse, we were on an airplane going back to home base and were involved with a mid-air collision that nearly took us out of the sky and a few hours later I met Stephan King, and the next day was worse because we were on another airplane going west and hitting Turkey Buzzards at 37,000 killing engines #1 and #2...and neither relighted all the way to about 12 feet, we had to hop UP to get over the fence around Dallas Forth Worth...and we got on another aircraft only to find out at 28,000 feet and 200 miles away from any suitable landing site the aircraft had pissed out every drop of hydraulic fluid for the flight controls (except for Area 51 who was 50 miles away said "we not here, you don't know us" and sic'd about a dozen F-15 and F-16s on us.... ) and we all had to take turns pumping every bit of hydraulic fluid we brought with us, but at least we had it. After we landed, we found out the base didn't know we were coming so we ended up being assigned a series of barracks that we had to hump our seabags too, all over the base finding out 3 times that the base did NOT know which rooms were vacant and we had to walk across the base again. Landed at 5pm, hiked across the base in search of billeting until nearly 11pm. At 2305 we found out the bowling alley was still open serving food, so we walked over there to eat...a greasy thin tough t-bone steak and eggs with hash browns..... which, I couldn't eat. Walking back my right Flight Deck Boot's sole fell off.... but... at least I wasn't strawberry jam in a body bag exploding on a hot day. BZ Iowa and crew, a suck day where not everyone made it home.
Great tour. Was on the deck of the Missouri at Bremerton and saw the Iowa from a distance in Suisun Bay. That's it. Good as it was, I was hoping the tour would get to the machine shop. Wanted to see Keith trying to stuff the machines into his pockets.
At least there is a bit of room to move there. We toured the USS Silversides (WWII Submarine) over on the west side of Michigan. Holy wah, how they put 100+ crew on that tiny boat is beyond me. The "Machine" shop was in the torpedo room. It was some drill motors, hand saws, and a lathe...The lathe was a small "Sebastian Lathe", probably a 6"x18" (at best). CRAZY. I highly recommend touring that boat if you ever get the chance. Over the 4th of July they fire up the engines to keep them in operating order. Wanted to make it out for that (but didn't).
Hello Clarke, what a fantastic tour you had. Particularly interested in the boiler room, familiar with that type of burner, as a company I worked for in Adelaide, South Australia, used to sell a similar item (jet tubes and spray nozzles) to the Australian Navy, until all ships that used them were scuttled to provide reefs for marine life.
Probably going to be mentioned by other folks too, but I must recommend the YT channel of USS New Jersey. Beyond the recent dry dock videos where you can see the underside, they have a massive library of other videos inside the ship. Ryan has done all sorts of things ranging from being inside one of the main engine steam condensers, to in the void space outside the armor where it ends (full thickness shown), to inside the rotation machinery for a turret. Watch enough of those videos and I can guarantee you wouldn't get lost in there.
Fantastic video Clarke, I have never been aboard a navy ship but would like to take a tour such as this. My Dad was an electricians mate on the USS Laws, a Fletcher class destroyer in WWII. They were call tin cans and seeing this ship makes it easy to understand the difference between a battle ship and other smaller ones.
That firing control computer is amazing. Designing that thing had to have been a huge job to calculate out! It never freezes or needs rebooting. I am pretty sure that wiring does not look like any I have seen you do. LMAO
The conning tower, where the "steering wheel" is, will stop a 16" shell from penetrating. But there's some debate if the people inside would still be alive as that much blast and energy is going to ring that room like a bell. It doesn't matter that the shell didn't get you if your eggs are terminally scrambled. Contemporary British designs were eliminating most armor there. The walls were think enough to stop splinters, shrapnel, and small shells, but that was about it. The theory was, the steel wasn't think enough to set off a large AP shell. The shell would pass straight through, and as long as you weren't in the flight path, you'd be more or less fine. The theory was proven in some respects by the DDs and DE of TAFFY -3 in the battle off Samar when Japanese AP shells were punching holes through the hulls of the ships but not exploding.
LOL Clarke - USS Iowa - made in Iowa. A great video Clarke and thanks to the tour guides for a special look inside this magnificent piece of engineering.
The British early fire control was known as the "Dreyer fire control table"......and was installed in RN warships prior and during WW1 Very interesting to get to look inside a huge dreadnought like that.......I'd have enjoyed it... Unfortunately all our surviving dreadnoughts were scrapped after WW2 😐🇬🇧
These ships, the last of their kind anywhere, have always struck me as testaments to genius, written in steel. They show all the hallmarks of having been touched by a spark of divinity, kindled by the able hands of intelligent and dedicated men.
I've toured both the USS New Jersey in Philadelphia and the USS Missouri in Pearl Harbor, both Iowa class battleship. I'd still like to see the Iowa and the Wisconsin someday.
When I was in the Navy, I was an Airedale slinging wrenches at Museum Grade Aircraft. We did so many deployments so often we kept a 'Whiskey Det' on site at VC-8. We went there so often, I spent 88 days out of 90 the day after I checked into the command. ....yeah. Roosevelt Roads Puerto Rico was a beautiful base... I was in that command for two years, spending probably close to a year there, never knew about the Light House Grill over at the Tower, about 300 yards down the flightline from us... finally got there one day, ate the greasiest, thinnest, toughest T-Bone Steak and eggs with hash browns and plain white toast, big ole glass of ice water and an OJ. One reason why we walked down there was the Hot Pit Refueling Station was another 200 yards and it was on the way and we had time before the aircraft started coming back from the War Games. No one had told us, no one gave us a heads up, security was that tight that for the 5 days after the Iowa had its turret explosion only a handful of folks off the ship knew it happened. So we finished up breakfast, got up from the table and walked out the door, only to be greeted by ACC Tims yelling at our very Junior Enlisted asses "Grab those body bags off the (aircraft cargo) pallets, stack the bodies over there in the shade! Get those pallets ready to go back out!" We were not base personnel, we were not the assigned airfield cargo handlers, but ACC Tims didn't want to scar his troopers.... so he yelled at us. Our tasking was to perform Hot Pit Refueling of all of our aircraft coming back..... we had over 20 of our aircraft out there flying returning home and needing to refuel, but Navy regs demand last order from the ranking is the order you do...... which always puts Junior Enlisted in a no win situation where two competing orders cannot be done at the same time, only one... but ACC Tims threatened to have us all at MAST (big big trouble) so we started moving body bags. We had to stop, our primary orders were supporting our aircraft.... and, we stopped moving body bags when two things happened, our aircraft with the smallest fuel tanks started to land and we had 200 yards to cover and get the Hot Pit ready, and an old dry rotted body bag exploded when we lifted it.... so.... as the ranking person in that moment, I sent the crew to go to the Hot Pits, and I returned to our hanger to my leadership to explain what happened and... well... walk behind the hanger and flush everything on me off.... Next day was worse, we were on an airplane going back to home base and were involved with a mid-air collision that nearly took us out of the sky and a few hours later I met Stephan King, and the next day was worse because we were on another airplane going west and hitting Turkey Buzzards at 37,000 killing engines #1 and #2...and neither relighted all the way to about 12 feet, we had to hop UP to get over the fence around Dallas Forth Worth...and we got on another aircraft only to find out at 28,000 feet and 200 miles away from any suitable landing site the aircraft had pissed out every drop of hydraulic fluid for the flight controls (except for Area 51 who was 50 miles away said "we not here, you don't know us" and sic'd about a dozen F-15 and F-16s on us.... ) and we all had to take turns pumping every bit of hydraulic fluid we brought with us, but at least we had it. After we landed, we found out the base didn't know we were coming so we ended up being assigned a series of barracks that we had to hump our seabags too, all over the base finding out 3 times that the base did NOT know which rooms were vacant and we had to walk across the base again. Landed at 5pm, hiked across the base in search of billeting until nearly 11pm. At 2305 we found out the bowling alley was still open serving food, so we walked over there to eat...a greasy thin tough t-bone steak and eggs with hash browns..... which, I couldn't eat. Walking back my right Flight Deck Boot's sole fell off.... but... at least I wasn't strawberry jam in a body bag exploding on a hot day. BZ Iowa and crew, a suck day where not everyone made it home.
Wow that’s one hell of a story
Clark Easterling, still waiting for you to report to the office...
🤣
Great tour. Was on the deck of the Missouri at Bremerton and saw the Iowa from a distance in Suisun Bay. That's it. Good as it was, I was hoping the tour would get to the machine shop. Wanted to see Keith trying to stuff the machines into his pockets.
At least there is a bit of room to move there. We toured the USS Silversides (WWII Submarine) over on the west side of Michigan. Holy wah, how they put 100+ crew on that tiny boat is beyond me. The "Machine" shop was in the torpedo room. It was some drill motors, hand saws, and a lathe...The lathe was a small "Sebastian Lathe", probably a 6"x18" (at best). CRAZY. I highly recommend touring that boat if you ever get the chance. Over the 4th of July they fire up the engines to keep them in operating order. Wanted to make it out for that (but didn't).
Great fun! You met a friend of mine: Marann Fengler and I used to sail tall ships together.
What up, Art! Marann says to tell you to come visit her new ship.
Hello Clarke, what a fantastic tour you had. Particularly interested in the boiler room, familiar with that type of burner, as a company I worked for in Adelaide, South Australia, used to sell a similar item (jet tubes and spray nozzles) to the Australian Navy, until all ships that used them were scuttled to provide reefs for marine life.
Thank you,got a lot out of the tour ,former submarine sailor and powerplant operator
It’s about 120f in the firerooms underway. When we stood watch we were under fans.
Nice tour. Good seeing you guys.
Thank You for sharing this absolutely informative video about an awesome ship with us! Awesomeness Extreme!
Probably going to be mentioned by other folks too, but I must recommend the YT channel of USS New Jersey. Beyond the recent dry dock videos where you can see the underside, they have a massive library of other videos inside the ship. Ryan has done all sorts of things ranging from being inside one of the main engine steam condensers, to in the void space outside the armor where it ends (full thickness shown), to inside the rotation machinery for a turret.
Watch enough of those videos and I can guarantee you wouldn't get lost in there.
That’s my old home. I was in B Division #2 Fireroom.
Fantastic video Clarke, I have never been aboard a navy ship but would like to take a tour such as this. My Dad was an electricians mate on the USS Laws, a Fletcher class destroyer in WWII. They were call tin cans and seeing this ship makes it easy to understand the difference between a battle ship and other smaller ones.
That firing control computer is amazing. Designing that thing had to have been a huge job to calculate out! It never freezes or needs rebooting. I am pretty sure that wiring does not look like any I have seen you do. LMAO
When I took the tour with a private group I whined until they let us tour the ship’s machine shop. That was interesting.
Thanks for sharing enjoyed
The conning tower, where the "steering wheel" is, will stop a 16" shell from penetrating. But there's some debate if the people inside would still be alive as that much blast and energy is going to ring that room like a bell. It doesn't matter that the shell didn't get you if your eggs are terminally scrambled. Contemporary British designs were eliminating most armor there. The walls were think enough to stop splinters, shrapnel, and small shells, but that was about it. The theory was, the steel wasn't think enough to set off a large AP shell. The shell would pass straight through, and as long as you weren't in the flight path, you'd be more or less fine. The theory was proven in some respects by the DDs and DE of TAFFY -3 in the battle off Samar when Japanese AP shells were punching holes through the hulls of the ships but not exploding.
Awesome roadtrip
LOL Clarke - USS Iowa - made in Iowa. A great video Clarke and thanks to the tour guides for a special look inside this magnificent piece of engineering.
👍👍👍 Thank you.
Im from iowa and she's a beauty.
Thanks for sharing 👍 Now you know why I served on submarines.
I volunteer on the New Jersey and it's interesting to see the similarities between the ships. They are sisters.
Awesome ship!
The British early fire control was known as the "Dreyer fire control table"......and was installed in RN warships prior and during WW1
Very interesting to get to look inside a huge dreadnought like that.......I'd have enjoyed it...
Unfortunately all our surviving dreadnoughts were scrapped after WW2
😐🇬🇧
The type of Americans who conceived, built, and operated this machine are virtually extinct.
These ships, the last of their kind anywhere, have always struck me as testaments to genius, written in steel. They show all the hallmarks of having been touched by a spark of divinity, kindled by the able hands of intelligent and dedicated men.
It can't have been made in Iowa, shipping would have been too expensive, and it probably wouldn't have been elegible for Amazon Prime.