A really big machine with a lot of people to run it

"RacinBob" (racinbob)
12/30/2018 at 02:06 • Filed to: None

Tours of the Battle ship Iowa. Watch and y ou get the idea of why any movie where 10 guys steal a battle ship is total BS.....

extended tour

DISCUSSION (16)

facw > RacinBob
12/30/2018 at 02:28

Yep, there were as many people working each turret on these beasts as there are on an LCS. Which is of course one of the reasons they are obsolete.

SirDrivesAlot (now with hybrid powerrrr) > RacinBob
12/30/2018 at 02:43

The USN did not have 1800+ crew on there because they thought it was a good idea- everyone was necessary to running a ship of that type. But when it was built labor costs were very cheap.

Ash78, voting early and often > facw
12/30/2018 at 09:28

Theoretically, modern tech could make a battleship possible in much the same way tanks are still viable. But holding land (infantry/cavalry) and air superiority will always exist, while controlling the waterways can be done with much smaller craft now (and support from the other branches).

Still, so amazingly cool to see these things up close. Really a marvel that mostly everything actually worked together, given the complexity.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > facw
12/30/2018 at 11:08

79 men. One man for each gun who just sits there and moves a lever to ram the powder and projectiles.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > SirDrivesAlot (now with hybrid powerrrr)
12/30/2018 at 11:09

I’d suggest that automation technology was not well enough developed. Lots of analog, electromechanical widgets that needed operating.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > RacinBob
12/30/2018 at 11:21

I used to be fascinated by the turrets until I watched this video. Now I want nothing to do with them:

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > RacinBob
12/30/2018 at 15:49

I've toured a few battleships and yeah, those things are like floating cities. They had their own post offices, barbers, general stores, etc. The larger ones could have over 1,500 men on board and each and every one had a job to do.

RacinBob > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
12/30/2018 at 16:13

Thanks. I enjoyed watching it. You hate to say it but it must have been terrifying to be in the bowels of those ships (actually any ship) in battle. Steam, water, electricity, fire; all are trying to kill you. I saw this when I toured the battleship New Jersey. It’s a reminder that if you have to fight the flooding with the door shut behind you, that’s what you got to do. That’s what “Don’t give up the ship” means......

Kinja'd!!!

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > RacinBob
12/30/2018 at 16:19

I’ve watched it several times. You climb down four stories in order to climb up four stories to your duty place. I would die of claustrophobia. And hot and the smell of hot lubricants and fluids and electricals. Misery.

RacinBob > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
12/30/2018 at 17:24

Oh yes I forgot that the guts of a ship would be miserably hot. Especially in the So uth Pacific in WW2....

facw > Ash78, voting early and often
12/30/2018 at 18:45

You’re right that we could create a much more automated battleship (though it would still be obsolete). To be honest, as I mentioned in the aircraft carrier post earlier this week, I’m not actually convinced tanks are really still viable, despite all their armor, it seems like they would still need a lot more protection to maintain their historical role.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > RacinBob
12/30/2018 at 21:59

And how far you’d have to go to take a crap. I bet in combat, sailors regularly wet themselves, crapped themselves, fainted from dehydration and heat exhaustion.

RacinBob > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
12/30/2018 at 23:39

I’d recall reading that submarines in the S Pacific were up to 140 submerged or so in compartment. That seems high, 120 maybe?

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > RacinBob
12/31/2018 at 00:46

Ever seen “Das Boot?”

RacinBob > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
12/31/2018 at 08:11

Ja..... I saw it in the original release, subtitled in a theater.

RacinBob > RacinBob
12/31/2018 at 14:07

This is the Sandia National Lab study of the turret 2 explosion. It essentially as I read it debunks the Navy supposition that it was caused by sailor sabotage.

https://www.gao.gov/assets/220/214716.pdf