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Post by steel selachian on Jan 17, 2016 21:03:16 GMT -6
Ideally, most vets would probably want to see their ship preserved as a museum. This isn't always possible. To my thinking, being sunk either by scuttling or weapons tests is a more dignified fate than being carved up for scrap, which is the fate of most warships. At least then there's something left to visit, even if it is only by divers or remote submersibles. These days most SINKEX ops are done out in deep water; in some cases this is partially because the Navy does not want anyone looking at the wrecks for possible vulnerabilities on in-service vessels. This is why to my knowledge no photos of the USS America (CV-66) during or after its sinking were published; she was scuttled in 15,000 feet of water. Too bad; I imagine a full-size supercarrier would be a spectacular wreck dive.
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Post by oldpop2000 on Jan 17, 2016 21:49:07 GMT -6
Ideally, most vets would probably want to see their ship preserved as a museum. This isn't always possible. To my thinking, being sunk either by scuttling or weapons tests is a more dignified fate than being carved up for scrap, which is the fate of most warships. At least then there's something left to visit, even if it is only by divers or remote submersibles. These days most SINKEX ops are done out in deep water; in some cases this is partially because the Navy does not want anyone looking at the wrecks for possible vulnerabilities on in-service vessels. This is why to my knowledge no photos of the USS America (CV-66) during or after its sinking were published; she was scuttled in 15,000 feet of water. Too bad; I imagine a full-size supercarrier would be a spectacular wreck dive. I am certain all the vets would love to see their old ships preserved but that isn't going to happen so being used for weapons testing and/or artificial reef for diving isn't a bad fate. The America was specifically sunk in deep water to prevent the damage from being investigated, my bet.
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Post by director on Jan 25, 2016 9:58:42 GMT -6
It's really expensive to keep a ship as a museum. The Navy has fairly strict standards about upkeep, etc, and as the Texas and Alabama have shown, when you let steel sit in water it eventually rusts. Repairs are expensive, tourists don't always pay enough to meet the overhead and states and cities refuse to put up much in the way of funds. In the next few years we may lose Olympia - one of the few ships of her era left in the world - just to decay that nobody wants to pay to fix.
There are a lot of ships that should have been saved and weren't - HMS Iron Duke from WW1 and USS Enterprise from WW2, just for two. But yeah, trying to save every WW2 carrier, battleship and sub is not going to work. Too much money needed, not enough money available.
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Post by wolfpack on Jun 8, 2016 20:22:35 GMT -6
You'd think they would put ships in a permanent dry dock to keep costs down and ships from rusting away that would surely lower costs enough to increase the number of museums ships save able
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Post by oldpop2000 on Jun 9, 2016 7:05:59 GMT -6
You'd think they would put ships in a permanent dry dock to keep costs down and ships from rusting away that would surely lower costs enough to increase the number of museums ships save able Dry docks are expensive and have to be maintained themselves, so putting a museum ship in one to protect it and reduce hull repair costs defeats the purpose. You can put them in a situation where a coffer dam is built around them, and let them sit on the bottom. You can then clean the water and reduce the salt content and other chemicals that attack the hulls. Here is an article on the USS Midway currently a museum in our city: www.anodesolutions.com/USSMidway-final.pdf
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Post by steel selachian on Jun 30, 2016 19:16:24 GMT -6
FYI, as part of 'Shark Week" Discovery Channel is running a program titled "Nuclear Sharks" tonight. So far they've shown a little dive footage of the Saratoga and from the previews they will also be diving the Nagato. First dive was in the Castle Bravo crater - about as lifeless and barren as one would expect.
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Post by oldpop2000 on Jul 1, 2016 14:04:30 GMT -6
FYI, as part of 'Shark Week" Discovery Channel is running a program titled "Nuclear Sharks" tonight. So far they've shown a little dive footage of the Saratoga and from the previews they will also be diving the Nagato. First dive was in the Castle Bravo crater - about as lifeless and barren as one would expect. It looks very interesting about how they have returned. My father was at the first Bikini Atoll bomb test in 1946. I have a signed book about Operation Crossroads. It was signed by the Admirals and scientists. He saw his old ship, the Saratoga sink into the lagoon. He stated they tried to get a line on it to tow it to the beach but it was too "hot". His ship carried the bombs.
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Post by steel selachian on Aug 4, 2017 21:20:33 GMT -6
Dredging this topic back up, I had a chance to tour the USS North Carolina (BB-55) on my road trip back to Florida last week. I really felt she was an example of the challenges faced in preserving a museum ship; much of the portside deck was cordoned off (whether for restoration or to keep people away from the construction of a walkway on the shoreline, I don't know). There was significant corrosion evident in some spots, particularly the superstructure decks between the fire control tower and 1st stack and on the 20 mm Oerlikon mounts. The interior was mostly in good shape, although I noticed some equipment missing parts inside Turret #2. At present they're building a cofferdam around the hull to do restoration work below the waterline.
Overall though, it was great to see her and an interesting comparison to the USS Missouri (BB-63), which I toured at Pearl nine years ago. While the Missouri was in much better shape due to only having been laid up for about 16 years at the time, she's also not in her original WWII state. It was a little jarring to see Tomahawk and Harpoon launchers next to the 5"/38 mounts.
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Post by oldpop2000 on Aug 4, 2017 21:58:07 GMT -6
Thanks for the interesting piece and yes, maintaining a ship as a museum is difficult. We have the USS Midway and that takes a lot of care along with the aircraft.
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