SUBSIM Meeting 2008

[Sailor Steve]

Ah, I should have known!
:rotfl:

[Jimbuna]

Shame on you

[Hanomag]

And the hits just keep on comin'....

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4. Thirsty??



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Think we are juat passed the halfway marker.... Gasp!

[Task Force]

Just halfway huh.

[Sailor Steve]

1. The little door I described in my thread. Coming out James was the only one who even tried swinging through it 'Das Boot' style. He actually managed to do it.

2. The very steep ladder down to the #2 Boiler Room.

3. Boiler inspection ports. The starboard half of the Boiler Room is completely restored, while the port half is in its old rusty state.

4. The boiler room gets very hot, so of course there's a drinking fountain. Most of the working spaces we saw didn't have one; at least one that I noticed.

5. More switches and junction boxes.

6. Boiler control valves. The black hoses are the fuel oil lines leading into the heaters.

7. The unrestored half of the Boiler Room.

8. Heat guages. They left off a zero for easy reading - the red line is three thousand degrees. The small guage is the pressure guage, and its red line is 400 pounds per square inch.

9. Engine telegraph in the boiler room. As I said in my thread, the bridge tells the boiler room what speed to set, the boiler crew sets the pressure and then tells the engine room what revolutions to set.

10. Close-up of the engine telegraph.

[Hanomag]

Ok next batch...

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Phew... about 15-16 Texas BB pics left... then we post the range pics.. then the BBQ pics.

[Sailor Steve]

1. Obviously another pressure guage.

2. Oh, cool! Radio Room stuff!

3. Honest-to-goodness teletype machine. Rather than waste time with a telegraph key, you type your message on the typewriter, and it punches holes in a roll of paper tape. You then run the tape back through the machine and it prints out on a sheet of paper. When it's perfect you then insert the paper tape into the transmitter. It reads it and sends it in Morse code, at about 120 words per minute. A machine on the recieving end prints it out for you.

4. Yet another ladder leading down to yet another dark but important place.

5. I give up. I have no idea what that is. Some kind of control box, obviously.

6. Golden Rivet admiring more ancient guages, this time in Central Control.

7. Our Guide explaining Central Control, and how all fire control solutions are plotted there.

8. The switchboard that controls electrical power throughout the ship. We were told not to touch them, partly because they are old and brittle and easy to break, and partly because for some as-yet unknown reason power comes on sometimes to different switches. Nobody knows for sure where it's coming from, but sometimes any given switch will be live, and can give a nasty shock to anyone who touches it.

9. Access ladder from Central Control to the Damage Control Center.

10. Electrical guages.

11. Knot meter ('Pitometer'). Funny that it goes so high - the ship's absolute maximum speed was 21 knots, and by World War Two she was lucky to make 15.

12. Ship's draft (obviously). The current draft is 23 feet. The minimum allowable draft is 17 feet - any less and the ship might capsize. Maximum is 40 feet - any more and water is coming in the lower gunports.

13. A handwritten note that's been there for 45 years! Apparently that compartment was hot enough that sailors liked to dry their clothes there.

14. Designed by Rube Goldberg. It's too close to tell, but it looks like the direction-transfer gears from the second steering wheel in the Damage Control Center.

[Jimbuna]

Steve....I've left a message over on your 'Excellent Adventure' thread

My PM box needs a good sort out

[Sailor Steve]

Got it, thanks! And replied.

[Hanomag]

Yay.. last of the BB Texas... After this Steve gets a break as I will take on the roll of humble narrator for the range and BBQ pics.

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Wow... anyways these pics could have been better overall but was my 1st time out with a new camera.


Thank you and good job Steve!!!

[Sailor Steve]

1. Just another hatch. For anybody who doesn't know, a hatch always leads up through the overhead (ceiling) or down through the deck. If it goes sideways through a bulkhead (wall) it's a door. It may be a watertight steel door, but it's still a door. That alway bugged me watching JAG - whenever someone wanted to have a private meeting they would always say "Shut the hatch." Had me throwing popcorn at the TV screen.

2. Looking up from the starboard side of #2 14" turret. In the middle left is a quad-40mm AA gun. Above on the right is the back end of the turret, sitting atop its raised barbette. The cylindrical object barely visible behind the turret is the armored conning tower, where the ship is controlled from during sea combat. Above and behind that is the bridge, and up on the tripod is the main Fire Control Center, where the guns are aimed from.

3. 3" anti-torpedo boat gun. It's about the same size as the 8.8cm gun on a Type VII u-boat, but sits higher so the gunners can be seated while they work.

4. 3" gun from behind. You can see the gunners' seats. On the left is the training seat, with wheels to turn the gun right and left. On the right is the elevating seat, which wheels to raise the gun up and down. All done by hand.

5. Elevating operator's gunsight.

6. Same gun, from a little further back.

7. Looking down from the starboard aft bridge wing, at a 3" gun and a quad-40mm AA gun.

8. Looking forward from the starboard bridge wing. To the left can be seen the #2 turret, with #1 turret barely visible below it. To the right is another quad-40mm mount, and in the background is the San Jacinto battle monument, important because that battle created the independant Republic of Texas.

9. Rangefinder mount. From this position the Secondary Fire Control Officer would give orders to the 5" and 3" gun captains for longer range firing.

10. Looking aft from the port bridge wing. To the left is the funnel (smokestack). To the right is the port boat crane. Behind the stack is the main ventilator housing, for getting air into the boiler and engine rooms. Behind that is #3 turret, and behind that is the aft fire control position.

11. Looking forward from the port bridge wing. To the right is a quad-40mm mount, and next to it the port secondary rangefinder mount. Below is a 3" gun, another quad-40mm mount and a single 20mm mount. To the right can be seen the armored conning tower and both forward turrets.

12. The rear of the bridge, with some actual combat helmets and flak vests.

13. Steve and Rip trying hard to look like they belong on the bridge of a 94-year-old battleship.

14. Looking down from the bridge over the forward turrets at the front end...what's that called again? Oh yeah, the pointy part.

15. Straight-forward view of the bow, with the San Jacinto monument in the distance.




Are we done now? Can I go home?

[Task Force]

Yes SS you can go home, NOT NOW THOUGH. :rotfl:

[SteamWake]

Originally Posted by Hanomag

Ok next batch...

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Woah.... that just looks very dangerous ! Lots of exposed live parts...

[stabiz]

Nice to see the old lady taken care of. She looks to be in pretty good condition from the outside. It makes me think of all those beautiful uboats rotting away on the ocean floor.

[Hanomag]

Originally Posted by SteamWake

Woah.... that just looks very dangerous ! Lots of exposed live parts...

Aye .. we were told DON'T TOUCH!! In the pre tour briefing.

Some of that stuff is still HOT!