Kingfisher photos

[dswo]

Yesterday my wife and I drove out to the coast and toured the U.S.S. North Carolina, which is now permanently anchored at Wilmington, NC. Some photos here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/dokwok/USSNorthCarolinaWilmington?feat=directlink

Of special interest here: the Kingfisher and maybe the kill board.

Things I wouldn't have guessed: wooden decks (because they're softer to fall on? because they don't rust?), how hot it was inside the ship, how many men it took to fight the guns.

If anyone's interested, here are some photos I took of the Wright Bros. Memorial at Kitty Hawk, also here in North Carolina:

http://picasaweb.google.com/dokwok/WrightBrosMemorial?feat=directlink

Surprises here: the first flight wasn't very long! (Look at the photo with the "1" stone.) The real Cessna that you see taking off in a couple of the pictures is departing from the First Flight airfield next door to the monument.

[Barvan40]

Nice pics David, looks like a great place to visit.

[StickMan]

I just got back last week from Kitty Hawk/ Hags Head area.

[mike_cyul]

Nice pics! Thanks for posting them. :)


Mike

[SkippyBing]

David, one advantage of wooden decks is it lowers the centre of gravity making the ship more stable. It does assume you're not going to be hit by plunging fire from the enemy, but as that could only happen well within max engagement range it's not really a worry. I think European BBs had armoured decks as I remember reading that the Bismark survived a surprising amount of shells hitting her vertically at the end. I'm not sure why there was a difference in design philosophy although a greater emphasis on coastal operations may have been one reason.

[dswo]

David, one advantage of wooden decks is it lowers the centre of gravity making the ship more stable.

I don't know if the wood helped in this case. Apparently, there was a very heavy armor plate under the wood deck, with another, thinner plate under that to catch any shrapnel from the armor plate (should a shell detonate on the deck).

I don't recall the exact number, but armor accounted for approximately 40% of the North Carolina's unloaded weight!

[PRB]

Interesting question about wooden decks. This (http://www.hazegray.org/faq/smn3.htm#C10) site suggests it was either for heat insulation, and/or traditional appearance. Destroyers didn’t have wooden decks, and they also had non-skid thingies all over the steel deck to help footing. You wouldn’t need that with a wooden deck…
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
As for deck armor, the North Carolina had three “layers” of it under the pretty wood, from 0.62 inches to 5.5 inches in thickness.
<o:p></o:p>
Great pictures, dswo! When I visited BB-55 some years ago it was also in summer, and the amazing heat inside that ship I will always remember!

[fliger747]

Most of the cruisers and battleships of WWII had wooden main deck planking. This was layed over steel. Several reasons? To keep the deck force busy with holy Stones? A more elegant traditional appearance for showing the flag? Certainly easier for the ships carpenters to patch up after an action.

The modern series of BB's in the USN of WWII, North Carolina's, SODAK's and Iowas used a main armored deck with a splinter deck below. The idea being that the space between these two decks would cause even an AP shell to burst possible after penetrating the thicker deck, but the thinner splinter deck would contain damaging fragments. Other navies favored a thinner upper deck to decap the AP projectile and set the time delay fuse and the thicker deck to stop it.

Some evidence suggests that a single thicker deck might be more effective. Outside of 25,000 yds or so most ships were more vunerable to plunging shellfire. Bombs were surprisingly not very effective on armored ships underway, as far as deck penetration, since from very high altitude chances of hits were small and low altitude bombing such as from dive bombers, lacked the velocity for good penetration. In one engagement SODAK recieved a direct hit from a divebomber on top of one of the fwd turrets and the crew inside did not even know they had been hit! Some crew were injured, including the Captain topside by flying fragments.

Near misses alongside, especially to lighter ships, could be very damaging from water hammer and splinters, which could penetrate lighter shell plating.

Cheers: T.

[harleyman]

I have been to both those places..It brings back fond memories..
We went into the ship in the middle of the summer, as I recall it was stiffeling hot.....They susposedly have air vents that open underway that bring air into and thru the ship if I recall...

Did you go into one of the fore guns? That was an awsome experience...

[PRB]

Yep, the turret 2 experience was jaw dropping. I had been to the USS Texas and Alabama museums prior to North Carolina, and there was no access to the barbette in those ships. I had always wondered how the crew got down there, and evidently it’s (normally) down vertical ladders through hatches located inside the turret. It’s awe inspiring to stand down at the bottom of the ammo handling area and realize that entire assembly rotates with the turret. And I also didn’t realize, until visiting North Carolina, that all the 16 inch “boollets” are stored inside the barbette(s). I though they were in the magazine, but that’s just for the powder.
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
Also liked the gun plotting room, with all the mechanical “computers” for aiming the guns. I read someplace that when they brought the Iowa class ships back into service in the 1980s, they considered replacing that stuff with new computers to aim the guns, but that they wouldn’t really be able to improve on the accuracy of the old ones, so they left them in place. That’s cool.

[jmig]

I think I still have a piece of teak wood, about 3X10X1 that came from the deck of the USS Utah (?). It was given to me by a friend who worked in the Avondale shipyard. The Utah came through there for refurbishing in the early 1980s, I think. That is how he got the wood.

I always thought that if I knew someone who had served on the ship during WWII and who wanted it, I would give it to them. I have no need for it.

[SkippyBing]

To keep the deck force busy with holy Stones?

Possibly more likely than you'd think. One of the problems with warships is that the manpower required to fight it is far larger than that required to cruise around in peace time, which raises the question of what to do with all the spare hands? From experience bored matelots are one of the most dangerous forces on the planet, certainly the RN's T22 has internal decking that requires almost constant polishing, versus that in the lean manned T23 that doesn't!

Happy to concede that wooden decks won't help lower the CoG if they're just laid on top of armour!

[jojohnson9]

I think I still have a piece of teak wood, about 3X10X1 that came from the deck of the USS Utah (?). It was given to me by a friend who worked in the Avondale shipyard. The Utah came through there for refurbishing in the early 1980s, I think. That is how he got the wood.

I always thought that if I knew someone who had served on the ship during WWII and who wanted it, I would give it to them. I have no need for it.
It can't be from the Utah. The USS Utah, BB-31/AG-16, was sunk at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
It may have been from the New Jersey, Iowa, Wisconsin, or Missouri if it is from the '80s.

[Silver Fox]

All 4 of the Iowa class had significant amounts of teak removed from the decks during the re-activations in the early 80's. It would be nice to know which ship the wood came off of... Some real history involved! That wood was there at most of the late war battles in the Pacific, perhaps in Tokyo harbour during the surrender. It might have been there on the gun line in Korea or Vietnam. The donor ship was one of the last 4 serving superdreadnaught type battleships... Just a bit significant. ;)

[jmig]

It can't be from the Utah. The USS Utah, BB-31/AG-16, was sunk at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
It may have been from the New Jersey, Iowa, Wisconsin, or Missouri if it is from the '80s.

It was the Iowa. I got Iowa and Utah confused. My apologies to residents of both states.