My father served on her sister ship the Washington for 6 years.   See that photo of the person standing next to the shell and powder display?  My dad was a gun captain and that was just about as far away he was from all that when the gun was fired.   We took him and my mom to see her in 1981.  My father was a very low key man.  But once we got near the ship you could see him bursting with excitement.  It was like watching a 20 year old sailor scramble all over the ship in a 53 year old man's body.   Got a great tour of every square inch of the ship we could get into.

Great tread, thanks OP, and posters!

Saw it in 2016. Was a great experience and I took tons of pics that I still look at time to time.

As a matter of fact, I wore my t shirt from the museum on Thanksgiving.

For artillery, the caliber is the length of the barrel in relation to the bore. 16" x 45=720" long.

Lead, dammit, lead!!!!

Wisconsin, Alabama, and Massachusetts. Everything we built before North Carolina, except for Texas, is razor blades. So are Washington (NC's sister), South Dakota, and Indiana (Alabama and Massachusetts' sisters). Every completed ship of the Iowa class is a museum though.

If you want to count pre-dreadnoughts surrounded in concrete and filled with concrete below the second or third deck.... Mikasa in Japan.

Cool pics.

Completely ineffective. The Japanese shells were described by our pilots as "pretty." They were also highly unstable.

Battleship main guns can't elevate or train fast enough to really be effective AA weapons.

Unfortunately, the submarine, Clamagore, is in bad shape and they are going to turn it into a reef in Florida.

Lets see
BB
USS Alabama
USS Massachusetts
USS North Carolina

CV
USS Lexington
USS Midway

SSN
USS Nautilus

I travel for my job and if there is one near by I try to go

That isn't the deck - it is laid over the deck, most likely to protect it from all the foot traffic.  You can see the deck planking between the plywood and the turret.  The deck planking is most likely teak.

Mike

iIRC the Texas is rusting in mud.  They intended to drydock her, but can not seem to build the drydock (the drydock was to be used as her mooring afterwards)

HI RES VERSION

The thought process in using the 16" guns for air defense was as protection against torpedo planes.  Using the guns at their lowest elevation to throw shells into the water in front of the incoming places.  If they hit that wall of water it would destroy them.  The problem being the US battleships operated near the carriers in the center of the fleet and skipping 16" shells across the water was not a viable option.

As to the "pretty" shells, the Japanese used color to distinguish which guns fired what shells.  It was used to track effectiveness of individual guns and help correct firing solutions.

Not to mention that the North Carolina was getting all that press attention at the same time the play and the 1936 movie version of "Showboat" was very much in the press.  The North Carolina being built, fitted out and tested out of the Brooklyn Navy Yard and the New York City press giving lots of attention didn't hurt in getting the name to stick.




Wikipedia entry:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_North_Carolina_%28BB-55%29

And the Massachusetts.

Not just naval guns.  Most artillery pieces are described this way.

No, a 308" in 45 caliber barrel would be 1155 feet long.

Now a .308" with a 45 caliber barrel would be 13.86" long.

Cool family story that had been uncorroborated until I toured that ship in '01.
My uncle had been shot down in an action (at that time no one in my family knew WHERE), and picked up by a destroyer-the O'Brian.
This destroyer was hit by a Japanese torpedo, and back in the water he went.
Picked up by rescuers from a carrier-the Wasp, and back in the water he went AGAIN as it had also been hit and they had to abandon.
Everyone in my family had always been "cool story", but of course it had to have been embellished, right?
So there I am, on the NC, and I read on one of the exhibits about action off this little island called Guadalcanal.
Japanese sub fired a spread of 6 at long range-one hit a destroyer called....the O'Brian.
Three hit a carrier called...the Wasp.
One hit the North Carolina.
It was really a cool moment to stand on that deck and realize that he very likely saw the hit on the ship I was standing on.

Nick

Some I took a few years ago.

Yes it is and her treatment should be a crime.

I was on her in October, her hull is in really bad shape. I was the only one on board, and I heard what sounded like running water and FO'd quickly out of her.

I visited her and the Yorktown a few years ago.  The Yorktown wasn't doing so hot either back then.  Did they ever get her fixed up?

Next time I go east I will see her and Bentonville.

It is the barrel length.

That is sad.

I have been able to work radio from the North Carolina, Yorktown, and also Midway.  My goal is to work radio from as many museum ships as I can.

The North Carolina's radio group was very impressive, the 'off the map'' tour was amazing and totally unexpected.

Next up is probably Alabama (if the wife talks me into a gambling vacation) or the Missouri if I get my way.

Used to live in Wilmington, went on board many times. Very cool tour. I knew a night watchman for the ship, allegedly theres still hundreds of BAR's, 1911's, Thompsons, and M1Garands in areas of the hull that arent accessible to the public.

Google, it's a motherfucker.  

Background
http://www.navy.mil/ah_online/deptStory.asp?dep=8&id=90879
"Teak" sounds descriptive of some nice furniture - perhaps a dining table - not a word associated with the survivability of a Navy warship.
However, when applied, the teak wood aboard a battleship had several duties to accomplish.
It's not just merely decoration.
It had purpose.
An active battleship had large amount of gunpowder that had to be transported on and off of the ship. Teak served as protection preventing metal-on-metal scraping, which could potentially create sparks, thus fires.
Teak served as insulation. A battleship had a vast area of deck, 1.2 acres in fact in the case of USS Missouri (BB-63), and the sun can beat on it insistently.
She had no air-conditioning, so the space underneath it would get visibly hot.

USS Iowa
November 24, 2010
Teak Deck Maintenance/ Repair/ Intentions
https://www.portoflosangeles.org/EIR/USSIowa/DEIR/AppendixC.pdf

Teak has been used for centuries in both land and nautical construction.
Teak is easily worked and has natural oils that make it suitable for use in exposed locations, where it is durable even when not treated with oil or varnish.
Teak cut from old trees grown slowly in natural forests is more durable and harder; teak from young trees grown in plantations is more prone to splitting and water damage.

For ship decks, teak can last almost indefinitely with only salt-water rinsing and recaulking.
Like all wood, teak expands when wet and shrinks when dry.
If you allow it to dry, the caulking between the planks has to expand as the teak dries putting the mating surfaces in tension.
If the surfaces are well adhered, the caulking will stretch, but any weak points will pull away, opening up a fresh leak.

It has been said that re-caulking of teak decks is a continuous process which commences about 10 minutes after the deck was first laid and continues until the ship is abandoned.
Inevitably, the deck seams will leak and the trapped water will rust the steel beneath, causing it to swell and lift the teak off.

Untreated seam leakage also causes rot to begin on the underside of the teak planks.
A daily salt water rinse leaves a fine salt deposit which will absorb moisture out of the air, especially at night and help keep the wood from drying out.
It also reduces mildew and algae growth.

Deck replacement is required where the leaks have been unattended for so long that the wood rots or the deck below rusts, buckles and damages the teak.
Additionally, the bung plugs that cover steel bolts holding the deck planks in place are key indicators of water damage, as they lift from their holes as water leaks in.

Onboard Battleship IOWA, teak decks have been repaired upon reactivation in the 1980s including replacement with Douglas fir.

Intermittent maintenance during periods of inactivity inevitably leave teak decks in need of attention.

Pacific Battleship Center intends to use a laminated system, such as those utilized by the COLUMBIA placed at Disneyland Park.
Pacific Battleship Center has been in preliminary discussions with the company that invented this process, and is testing the viability of the system.
We plan to budget and spend $275,000 per year for deck replacement with the completion planned at 10 years.

It is recognized that the decks of the USS Iowa are completely degraded and in need of full replacement on the teak decks.

It is the intent of Pacific Battleship Center to immediately cover the existing deck with 5/8” tongue and groove marine grade plywood.
This plywood will be caulked at the seams and painted with grey paint and anti-slip additive on the surface to further seal the surface from additional water penetration.

The cost of this work with labor and materials will be $150,000.
It is our intent to leave a few areas of the better conditioned decks open for viewing by the public.
We will then begin our phased approach to teak deck replacement with the goal of having the entire deck replaced within a 10 year period.

No. Yes. Yes/No.

http://www.navyhistory.org/2011/12/battleship-iowa-repair/
Some of the wood on Iowa was replaced with Douglas Fir in the 1980’s and it appears the Douglas Fir has rotted much more than the teak.

I believe the sub is headed for the breakers soon.

Sarco sells 16" 1911 barrels. They would be about 4" short of 45 caliber though.

Don't tour in July. I lost 10 lbs in two hours.

Hmm... as a former RM, this interests me.

Teak.

Why on Earth would they choose Doug Fir? It's great if you can keep it dry, but it will rot quickly when wet.

Wait...OK, teak comes from SE Asia, which happened to be infested with Japanese, so supply was bad to non-existent.

So they had to use a domestic wood...and Doug Fir was there in abundant quantity right by the Western US Naval bases.

"Fuck it, use the Douglas Fir, we'll replace it after the war is over."

ETA: Duh, I should learn to read. 1980's.

It's the whisky's fault.

Holy fuck, did you bother to read my posts?    

Holy fuck, did you bother to read my fucking post?
You even quoted it.

"Some of the wood on Iowa was replaced with Douglas Fir in the ****1980’s****"

The God damn fucking war had nothing to do with it.

So, read my edit?

That guy lives on the ship.  He has for 30 or 40 years.  He also wrote a book about
his and other peoples' ghostly encounters on board over the years.

Yeah, the deck on the Iowa is teak.

USS Washington the North Carolina’s sister ship Was the only battleship in World War II to sink another battleship The Kirishima with 9 16” shell hits.

Maybe urban legend, but the Showboat nickname was a result of commissioning issues with propulsion vibrations.  She was in and out of port so much as they tried to detune the oscillations they called her the showboat.  They never completely resolved the issue.

Bismarck sank Hood in WW2.  Kirishima was a battlecruiser as well.  OBBs at Leyte Gulf helped sink Fuso and Yamashiro.

Wasp was already hit and burning before O'Brien was hit by torpedoes fired by the same sub.  IIRC, O'Brien was about 2000 yards beyond Wasp and struck by a torpedo aimed at Wasp.

 

Not a teak fan?

That teak on the deck of the Iowa is pretty cool.

Google it,

USS Clamagore
Attached File

Attached File

I was born in Wilmington and live in Florida.

Teak, it's teak.