Battleship Cove and the New Bedford Whaling Museum

[Subnuts]

Back in September 2012 (this explains why it takes me so long to write a book review!) I went on a little two-day trip to Battleship Cove in Fall River, MA, and to the New Bedford Whaling Museum in New Bedford, MA. I didn't take a whole lot of pictures, but figured some people would enjoy seeing them anyway.

First, some views of Battleship Cove from the boardwalk at Fall River Heritage State Park.

The USS Joseph P Kennedy Jr. is probably the best preserved of the four ships at Battleship Cove. Restoration is a year-round project, and several times a year former destroyer sailors and other volunteers spend a few days living aboard the ship, painting, restoring, and occasionally reactivating old electronic systems.


This side view vividly displays how the FRAM upgrades didn't exactly help the ship's lines by adding huge boxes all over the superstructure.


(Oh, and if you saw the pictures I took in 2009 and are confused, yes, the Braga Bridge is blue now.)

Moving to the right, we see the Balao-class submarine Lionfish, the East German "Tarantul I"-class missile corvette, and the stern of the South Dakota-class battleship Massachusetts.


The Lionfish has been repainted lately, but rainwater constantly accumulates in the casing and drains out through the flooding slots, which explains why the saddle tanks are so much rustier than the rest of the boat.


...And the two viewed from the front.


A Landing Craft (Mechanized) was being restored at the moment. Not sure what it's status is now.


Two PT boats, one and Elco (PT-617) and another a Higgins (PT-796) are housed in an indoor exhibit. The first picture shows a Packard V12 4M-2500, a typical PT boat engine. The other shows the bow of PT-796.




I'd wager the Massachusetts is the second best preserved of the four ships. The deck is a bit of a mess, and I saw grass growing out of it farther forward. Still, the ship looks remarkably similar to how it appeared at the end of WWII, except for the industrial-sized air conditioning unit on the superstructure.


Reading Norman Friedman's book on American battleships after visiting Battleship Cove was an eye-opener for me. These ships look huge, but it reality were incredibly cramped. This view of the starboard battery shows how closely crammed together everything was. The South Dakota-class were an attempt to cram as much firepower, armor, and speed into a 35,000 ton ship. As a result, the superstructure turned into a mess - the command facilities, secondary battery, officer's quarters, fire control equipment, etc., were packed so closely together that congestion was a frequent issue. The walkway on either side is barely wide enough for two men to path, and you can also see the indentation in the hull for the fueling connections. There simply wasn't enough room on the deck for them!

[Sailor Steve]

Nice shots. The Joseph P. Kennedy is a Gearing-class, just like the ship I was on back in 1970. I've always wished I could visit her.

[Subnuts]

I kind of wish more naval museums would paint their ships in the camouflage schemes they actually carried during WWII. Not every ship was Haze Gray all over during the war!


The forward superstructure is virtually immaculate, and they were working on restoring more of the interior when I visited.


I like making everything look taller than it really is. Must be a guy thing.



This is "George", Big Mamie's mascot. He was blamed for everything that went wrong aboard the ship, making him the Bernard of his time.


Here's the view from the navigating bridge. My mom is terrified of heights (and gangplanks, and small dark spaces) so she looked at me like I was insane when I walked up the three levels to get there. On a historical note, the ship had the two quad Bofors removed from the top of turret 2 after the war, which you can see here.


And here's one of the Bofors that wasn't removed. Massachusetts seems to retain the 15 mounts that were in place after her post-war refit. Several of them can still be operated under manual control. Only a few of the Oerlikons still remain, and most of them are either missing their magazines or sights. Not sure why this is the case.


This is one of the boat cranes and a utility boat. The ship is definitely dingier in out of place areas. The former manager of the HMS Belfast in London is running Battleship Cove, so hopefully things will improve over the years.


Semi-related, but the galley makes awesome French Fries. They were so good I bought seconds - something I can't say about most museum food!


You can go inside Turret 3, but it's pretty dark, hard to take photographs, and this bears mentioning, smells horrible. My mom tells me I smelled like a smellovision version of Das Boot for three days afterwords. Thank God I was on vacation! Anyway, here's a closeup of a hand-cranked fire control thingy that was inside the turret.

[Subnuts]

This shot brought to you by Stanley Kubrick Vision.


The Lionfish's fairwater. Wish they'd get rid of the plastic guardrails.


But at least you can go up onto the bridge, which I wasn't able to do last time.


And the periscopes and antennae are still in pretty good condition.


The interior is in average condition. Like the other ships, it ranges from immaculate to almost falling apart. The forward and after torpedo tubes are fenced off, and much of the interior is covered in plexiglas plating. Not quite as heavy-handed as the Nautilus, but kind of irritating.


The illusion starts to fall apart when you look closely, as you can see in this view of the forward torpedo hatch.


Okay, I think we all know what this is. SH4 makes the interior of the control room a lot roomier than it was in real life. The chart table dominates the compartment, the overhead is a lot lower, and there's more stuff in here than you'd actually expect.


The coffee machine.


The engine rooms are in excellent shape, and neither are covered with Plexiglas panels.


The Hiddensee is probably in the worst condition of the four ships. As cool as it is to explore an authentic piece of Cold War Soviet military hardware, it's pretty obvious the ship has just sat there rusting for 16 years.

[Subnuts]

I'm thinking about starting a career in symmetry.




Hiddensee is probably the most accessible ship. This picture was taken on the highest accessible deck. Down below things start getting creepy, with some rooms being lit only by a single bulb. I can imagine kids falling over and hurting themselves if they aren't careful.


Cutting edge Soviet hardware. Where's the chrome?


One of the JPK Jr's two triple torpedo tubes. Side note - getting out of Fall River was a royal PITA because the sign for the onramp that takes you onto the Braga Bridge was obscured by a tree. We must have driven past the thing six times before one of us noticed the sign. Surprised the next exit doesn't go straight to the Hotel California.


One of the Massachusett's four propellers on display outside the entrance.

[TarJak]

Great shots Subnuts. Looks like you had a great time there. Will hve to put it on my list for next visit to the States.

[CaptainMattJ.]

Reminds me of my recent trip to the Iowa. Very awe-inspiring ships.

[Jimbuna]

Fantastic pictures Subnuts, certainly looks like the place is well worth a visit

I noticed the bow of the USS Fall River CA-131 in the background of one of your earlier shots

[u crank]

Excellent pics subnuts.

[Subnuts]

And now for some shots from the New Bedford Whaling Museum. This place was a big surprise for me. It's not a terribly huge place (you can probably see everything in three hours), but it's one of the nicest museums I've ever been to. Every display is spotless, the exhibits are fascinating, the docents are great, and I didn't feel like there were any useless "padding" exhibits either. I really don't think my photos really do it justice.

One of the museum's entrances, which seems to be locked in battle with a Giant Squid.


What it looks like from the inside.


The museum's main entrance houses three full-size whale skeletons hanging from the ceiling. The first is Quasimodo, a 37-foot long male Humpback Whale.


The next is Kobo, a juvenile 66-foot long male Blue Whale. To the left of Kobo is Reyna, a 49-foot female North Atlantic Right Whale.


Unfortunately, Renya was 10 months pregnant when she was struck by a ship and killed in Chesapeake Bay. Here you can see the calf she was carrying.


Kobo is still leaking oil, which represents 30% of the mass of a Blue Whale's skeleton. That explains the big drip tray installed in his jaw!


The centerpiece of the Bourne Building is a half-scale replica of the New Bedford whaler Lagoda, which, at 89 feet long, is the world's largest model ship. You can go onboard, and all of the running rigging really works.


I'm not sure if it'd float if you put it in water, though.


The entire Bourne Building is fascinating, and filled with whaling artifacts from across the world, but I guess I was just fixated on the giant boat in the middle.


Until Mystic Seaport gets around to fully restoring the Charles W Morgan, this is the closest you'll get to seeing a genuine Yankee whale ship in working condition.

[Subnuts]

Oops, I still have a few more!

Two shots of Lagoda's sails taken onboard. If it wasn't for the hall enclosing it, you'd think it was a real ship.





The museum contained a hall of ship models and figureheads, but this is the only one I took a picture of, from the whaleship Leonidas. One would imagine life onboard was awfully spartan.


Original whaleship crows-nest. Not for those afraid of heights.


The centerpiece of another exhibit hall is the skeleton of a 48-foot long male Sperm Whale. He hasn't been named yet, so I'll just call him Moby's Dick.




Best friends forever.


Reproduction of a Yankee whaleboat.


Another of the museum's lifesize reproductions is a whaleship Forecastle. The sail and it's rigging apparently function "just like the real thing," but I didn't plan on playing around with it and inciting the wrath of the museum staff.


Everything is bigger in the movies. Somehow I can't see the boy scouts putting in a lot of requests for overnights here.

[Subnuts]

The windlass doesn't actually work, but it sure looks like the real deal.


The lower jaw of a juvenile Sperm Whale. I wonder where I can get one for when I do a nautical themed bedroom when I move in January?


On the left is a baleen plate from a baleen whale. On the right is a severely deformed Sperm Whale jaw. As painful as this looks, it probably didn't stop the whale from actually eating. Sperm Whales have the largest teeth of any animal on the planet, but very rarely actually bite or chew their prey. Entire Giant Squid remains have been recovered virtually intact from the stomachs of Sperm Whales, without a mark on them.


There's a nice observation deck on the top floor where you can look out at New Bedford's fishing fleet in harbor. The city is still a major fishing port, although by most accounts, not a very nice place to live.


And again, finding the museum was a nightmare. We didn't see a single sign for the place until we were within 500 feet of it, and I was lucky to see a picture of the museum's cupola before heading off on our trip. Is Massachusetts too cheap to afford road signs? Here in Connecticut, people constantly get lost trying to find the Air Museum because signs for it start popping up as soon as you enter the state!

[Schroeder]

Great shots, thanks for sharing.

[fireftr18]

Great pictures. Thanks for sharing. Did you visit the "Moby Dick" Church? I know it's somewhere near the whaling museum. For those who don't know, the church in the Moby Dick movie is a real church in New Bedford. It looks exactly like it does in the movie.

[Jimbuna]

Even more great shots...must be a joy to visit