Quote:
Originally Posted by Mikeb213
Dave,
What do they do to prepair a ship for becoming a museum? I have seen at least one that looked like it was ready to sail, and had working engiens. The Pampinito in San Francisco is a very good example. Can they still sail under there own power? Is it possible to still dive one of the subs? How about the aircraft carriers? Do they remove the engiens so it can't move? Could they be put back into service?
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Any equipment that is currently used by the Navy and is in good shape is removed for reuse and put back into the Navy supply system. All fluids are drained (hydraulic, lube oil, fuel oil, potable water, battery water, etc.). All other hazardous materiels are removed and disposed of. Off course, all ammunition, including torpedoes are sent ashore to a magazine. The propellers are removed from the shafts. The electrical system is scoured for salvageable metals, rendering it incapable of being used.
The biggest change is that the batteries are removed. This alone prevents the boat from ever being used again operationally. The batteries are probably the most maintenance intensive item on a submarine and their care and upkeep would be well beyond the limited resources of any museum.
It is true that several of the boats have working engines. The Fairbanks-Morse and GM-Winton diesels were hardy and robust engines and with a moderate amount of care will run forever. Parts are fairly plentiful and getting one operational would not be difficult or overly expensive. However, with the electrical system gutted and the screws removed, using these engines to provide propulsion is nothing but a dream.
For a private organization to put one of these boats into service and take it back to sea would be a monumentally daunting task, to put it mildly. The financial requirements alone would be light years beyond the capability of a privately funded museum. Even if you could fix all the gear and get everything running again, you have to remember that the Navy decommissioned these boats because they were no longer serviceable. They had been run hard during their service lives and were plain worn out. Thousands of compression/expansion cycles from diving and stresses put on the hull from decades of heavy seas leads to severe metal fatigue. Welded joints weaken, the hull dimples in between frames, and corrosion becomes a major concern.
I would also imagine that getting all the proper Coast Guard certifications for operation would be virtually impossible.
These boats make fine memorials and teaching tools for the public, but their days of going to sea are over, most unfortunately.
Making one of the carriers operational again would be an even more difficult task, if that is possible. Steam plants are very dangerous to operate once they are worn out. Making the hundreds of miles of steam piping and the thousands of valves operational again would be virtually impossible for a private organization.