09/21/2011 - Visit to USS Yorktown

During September I was on vacation in South Carolina, and whenever I am near a naval museum I try to arrange a visit.  My visits are usually something more than a causal pass through - typically an all day affair that involves conversation with the docents.  This also requires a complex negotiation with my wife: a dinner or two; and a visit to garden, a show or a shopping mall.  The Yorktown trip required two days at Brookgreen gardens. 

The USS Yorktown is berthed at Patriot's Point.  At the point there are several museums included and things to do besides the USS Yorktown, including: USS Clamagore; the Vietnam Support Base; and departure points for harbor cruises to Fort Sumter and Charleston.  I was hoping that the USS Laffey had returned but no luck.  The Laffey is a famous Destroyer, that was attacked by 22 kamikaze planes while on radar pickett duty off of Okinawa in 1945. The Laffey was in urgent need of repair and the Patriot's Point Association had to take urgent action, it went deeply in debt (see :ABC News - Patriots Point moving forward with payback plans).  Unfortunately, this is a story that is going to repeated number times at several museum ships in the future.

Unlike the USS Slater, there were no guided tours on the Yorktown but plenty of exhibits with signage.  I was actually very surprised are some of them which were somewhat rare but out of place: The SS Normandie and a 1.1 Anti-Aircraft Gun.

• USS Laffey Org (crew member site)
• Book about USS Laffey - Ship that would not Die.
• Naval Historical Center - USS Yorktown
• Patriot's Point Web Site
• USS Yorktown Association
• Navsource Photo Index - USS Yorktown
• Historic Naval Ship Guide - USS Yorktown

08/31/2011 - Irene

On Sunday, I was scheduled as a tour guide. I cancelled because of Hurricane Irene which dropped record rainfalls on the region.  The photos were taken the day following.  What is impressive is the new dolphins (vertical piles that keep the Slater in place) that were installed in the prior year.  Bravo Zulu (well done) to the engineers and contractors involved with this project.  It's my guess that the SLATER would have sustained substantial damage with the old camels that were used to keep the ship in place.

07/17/2011 - Steamboat Square, 20 MM

The Madison Ave Exit from 787 is closed because of repairs to the Dunn Memorial Bridge. It a little difficult to get to the USS SLATER from the north. If you're visiting from this direction it would probably be a good idea to call ahead and get directions (431-1943).

Sunday was a hot day. Started nice, but got very hot in the afternoon. I gave two tours.

I had a problem with the 1st group. A number of people came after I was showing the video in the briefing room. When I exited from the briefing room, without any prompting for me people waiting for the NEXT group tagged along with my group. When I got aboard the ship I found out that I had a huge group. It was just too large to get into all the spaces. When I tried to separate the people who tagged along, this lead to a protest. I let it slide and made do with the large group. In retrospect I should have asked for help from an intern and split the group into two.

In the second tour we had a VERY inquisitive young visitor. He was a great visitor - very well behaved and quite entertaining. Whenever I could I made him part of the show. We had fun at the 40mm. He was too small to move the mount by himself, so I helped him. When I did he would happily exclaim - "It's working!" But after a few seconds he would want to do it himself. Then the mount would stop and he would exclaim sadly that "It's not working!". We repeated this procedure several times. Very entertaining.

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Where was Steamboat Square?

Between one of the tours, I was asked where Steamboat Square was in Albany. Basically it was by the underpass of 787 (at the foot of Broadway), perhaps a 1/4 of a mile north of where the USS SLATER is moored. This is also the site of the old Fort Orange.

I dug up the slide show (mostly from Library of Congress Photos) that shows Steamboat Square and a collection of views of Hudson River Steamboats. These boats were very graceful and quite fast. I'm guessing that most of these boats were faster than the USS SLATER (21 knots). The Hudson River Day Liner Steamboats left New York City at 8:00 AM and arrived in Albany at 6:00 PM. This is a distance of 140 miles. During the trip they made 8 or 9 stops. Doing the math, allowing about 20 minutes on average for a stop, they would have to average roughly 18 knots during the rest of the trip. The last trip was made in 1948.

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How long did it take to change a 20mm magazine?

While I was a Gunners Mate, I never fired a 20mm. I managed to dig out a video of a 20mm being fired in a training exercise. Looking at this, I would guess that a magazine could be changed in about 4 seconds.

I also found another interesting video showing a 20mm being fired at night. When fired at night you get a good impression of the arc and speed of a 20mm shell.

Here are some interesting links on 20mm:

• Video - Oerlikon 20 mm Firing at Night
• Video - Training with Oerlikon 20mm
• Wikipedia - Oerlikon 20 mm
• Twin 20-mm Antiaircraft Assemblies, OP 1439 (1945)
• 20 MM Antiaircraft Gun, OP 911 (1943)
• Basic Gunnery Doctrine and Instructions for Ships of Air Force, Pacific Fleet (17 April 1944)
• Anti-Suicide Action Summary (August, 1945)
• Gun Sight, Mark 14 Operating Bulletin
• Bureau of Ordnance, Publication 75 - Chapter V (20 mm AA Gun)
• Navweps - Oerlikon 20 mm
• A Memoir of Antiaircraft Training in World War II
• Navsource - Oerlikon 20mm