In this episode we're talking about how the battleship was moved since her engines were mothballed. To support this channel and the museum, go to: www.battleship...
Regarding when NJ goes into drydock, I'd pay to ride, pay handsomely to walk the drydock (under supervision and signing a waiver, of course). Think you can make a great fundraiser out of this! I had a rare opportunity to walk the drydock last time USS CONSTITUTION was out of the water with my son, witnessing original timber under copper was a once in a lifetime moment.
New Jersey is a different case. When Ranger was towed from Bremerton, around the Horn, to Brownsville, a lot of us wanted to ride her. They said we couldn't due to liability. But, we think it was more because they thought we might deliberately scuttle her so she wouldn't be scrapped. No fear of that happening with New Jersey. I'd find a way to get back there if it was allowed.
I had a similar moment in the early nineties when Constitution was getting a major overhaul. Walking into the Navy yard there were bits and pieces of the ship on the hard. As we walked in, there was her rudder on a pair of horses, having just been re-coppered. I stood there, with my hand on the physical rudder of the Constitution! The foremast trestle trees were just off to the side. The hull was open to the public, even though it was a cold autumn day. It is an experience that I will never forget.
I'm west coast but would love to see it move. I once moved the USS long Beach with three sailors. In 32nd Street Naval Station, they pulled us in about six feet from where they needed to. I was engineering, (MM1 nuke). We couldn't align our services and the CDO wouldn't help us. We asked permission to move the ship and he granted it, believing we couldn't. We loosened the spring lines in the other direction and sweated the bow spring line until it moved where we wanted it. That done, we checked all the spring lines tight, hooked up our services, and let him know we were done. He freaked out and ran on deck, to find everything was properly aligned and snug. BTW, there was absolutely no wind.
@@conrad4667 I've been aboard her, it was a great visit! I was just wondering if she's still there, cause if you look on Google Earth, USS Iowa is nowhere to be seen
@@conrad4667 are you from that area? I was out visiting my sister in Van Nuys, luckily her having newborn twins gave me an excuse to get out of the house for a while and go see the Iowa and the Queen Mary.
I remember when BB62 was being towed from Bremerton to Philadelphia by the tug Sea Victory from Crowley Marine, there was a website that was updated every day or 2 by someone on the tug. Giving information such as information about the tug, the captain and the crew, current location, travel speed, etc. Was very interesting being aware of how the tow was going. Think the website is long gone. They would even say if someone on the tug caught some fish for dinner that night. lol Sea Victory actually broke a turbocharger after coming out of the Panama Canal so another tug took over the tow temporarily while Sea Victory went to Miami for repairs. Sea Victory took the tow back a few days later after repairs were made and took BB62 he rest of the way to Philadelphia. I was fortunate to get on a whale watching boat in Cape May the day BB62 reached the mouth of the Delaware Bay and spent a couple of hours circling her. Was an amazing sight!
A few years ago I was enroute to San Juan on a Crowley Tug and saw the aircraft carrier Constellation being towed to Texas to the ship breakers. Foss tugs had that job. I believe it took about 4 months to tow from Washington to Texas taking the long way around Cape Horn. Went on the Sea Victory one time, nice boat long since sold by Crowley Another company I worked for used hawsers like Ryan was showing and they are big and heave especially when wet. What was not mentioned was in addition to the hawser is about 1500 feet of maybe 2 1/4" tow wire let out once at sea.
@@glennrishton5679 tow wire ain’t cheap.. nothing involving big towing is cheap. Worked on tow boats on Colombia river for a few years.. towing log rafts and pushing chip barges to paper/pulp mills
I went to Desert Storm on the carrier Saratoga. USS Wisconsin steamed home with us in our battlegroup. You might can imagine how proud I am to be one of those who got to see an Iowa in her glory steaming through the swells. We got a little weather after we exited the Gibraltar but the Wisconsin continued on her way stately and sedately as the frigates tossed and rolled around. I spent every moment I could watching her.
What was most fascinating while on the whale watcher boat was overhearing 2 BB62 veterans, one being from an earlier version of the battleship and one from the version just before it's final decommissioning. And hearing them talking about how BB62 had changed through the years. What weapons systems had changed decade to decade, etc. I apologized to them for eavesdropping and I thanked them for their service and told them that listening to them was a learning experience for me. Was the best $25 I ever spent, getting a ride on the whale watcher boat to witness the Battleship New Jersey coming home.
I was supposed to be on Missouri when she dead sticked to Oregon to have the hull scrubbed before being moved to Pearl Harbor. I was deemed too necessary to my ship to be let go TAD as a line handler. One of the things I wished I could have done.
Similar experience, in 1999 or 2000 the Navy moved the Wisconsin from Norfolk Naval Station to Nauticus, where she is today. They needed volunteers to man the rails, I was supposed to go but got bumped. A guy that didn’t even care about the Navy got to ride on her on the way down the river.
From the Battleship Missouri History it is mentioned that when Missouri entered the Panama Canal in 1986 as part of the her around the world cruise the tug boats pulled her in a little cockeyed into the dry dock. She scraped a lot of concrete. The captain described the sound as like fingers going down a blackboard.
Definitely would want to come out to see the ship under tow to dry dock when that day comes! Maybe - if your lawyers would allow it - a fundraising opportunity for the museum to sell some tickets to be aboard for the ride 👀
When the Intrepid (CV11) went to dry dock several years ago, the museum let former crew members ride. The even had a former Commanding Officer on board. Maybe, New Jersey could do the same.
I've seen dozens of ships enter and exit dry docks in 20 years at Long Beach, including the New Jersey and Missouri (a couple of times) It takes all day and is very boring. The shipyard would assign all the workers to different ships for the day because all the temporary utilities would be disconnected for the move. There was also the time in 1980 when a hawser connected to the USS Belleau Wood snapped while getting it aligned in dry dock one. The end of the line first hit a truck then a yard bird and broke his arm and leg.
While I KNEW the towline was thick, for some reason I expected it to be even thicker than we see here. I wonder how thick the lines are that they are using to tow Carrier Kitty Hawk from Bremerton to Brownsville. I would imagine the main towline is either thicker or has been doubled or even tripled. Even an empty hull like CV-63 would mass over 60,000 tons. Thank you for the look Ryan. I'm actually amazed that the Navy left that tow line aboard. On a related subject, the 120,000 ton containership Ever Forward is still stuck in the mud in the Chesapeake Bay and the salvage company is dredging around her and trying to hire enough tugs to try to pull her out of the mud. None of the tugs they have immediately available are as powerful as the tug that brought New Jersey to Philadelphia or that has Kitty Hawk in tow. Nor do they have the necessary ground tackle and anchors. The gentleman whose website I'm getting my news from refers back to Battleship Missouri getting run up on the sand near Old Point Comfort next to the Thimble Shoals Channel, and what it took to get her armored butt off the sand and afloat again.
I worked on sea going tugs with hawsers of that size towing sea going barges, That hawser is maybe 300' long and very strong but that is only part of the story. Once clear of the shallow waters the tug will let out tow wire. The weight of the tow wire sagging deep in the water takes up the surges caused by seas.
I was part of the crew of the New Jersey during it's recommissioning in the Philly shipyard in 1968 and was onboard during the Panama Canal transit to the west coast. Being on the NJ was an amazing experience and one which I well remember even after all these years. While the ship was in the hands of the Philly shipyard, the crew had access to the entire ship. Once the Navy took control, we had access to only the areas we were authorized to be in. I have been back to visit the ship in Camden a few times and especially enjoyed again walking down Broadway.
Dan Marcus. Thank you for your service! I was stationed on USS Columbus CG 12 1967-1970 three Med cruises and finished enlistment as an RD 2. Columbus was one of first Guided Missile Cruisers. Commissioned in mid-1943 as heavy cruiser CA 74. In 1959 the Columbus, Chicago, and Albany were converted to CG’s. First stripped of all guns, then Tartar, Talos, and Asroc were added. Three 6 mo. Med cruises in 1967-1970 to keep an eye on Ivan and his Bear bomber associates. Those guys are a LOT more aggressive towards us and NATO nowadays!
I know the Navy's doesn't own the NJ but do they still need notified according to the contract with the museum? And will the Navy come out and "have a look" once Big J is in drydock ?
I was working at the Courier Post newspaper in nearby Cherry Hill N.J. when the ship traveled thru the canal. They had a reporter on board for several days while the ship moved thru the canal. The newspaper made a nice size hard copy book on the battleship. Guess they thought it was going to be a NY times best seller. They advertised the hell out of the book and a year later still had probably a halve dozen shrink wrap pallets of them collecting dust in the newsprint warehouse.Thanks for another great vid. While working at my first job the maintenance department had to tie a 1.25" rope on a box car and move it maybe 10' to top load into next roof hatch. Rope would break and only guy who could splice the 100' long rope was a retired navy guy.
Talking about towing a battleship makes me think about the USS California being made too wide to fit through the Panama Canal post Pearl Harbor. The Navy put her in mothballs on the east coast and her beam meant if she were to be preserved it would mean towing around the bottom of South America. B-44 was the only modern battleship ever built on the west coast and it would have been great to see her open to the public at Mare Island where she was built.
Thanks for doing these awesome videos! We got a team together and recently purchased the historic ship wmec-167 Acushnet and have started restoration to be a museum.
We are dealing with a generations of people that think you can simply start an airplane up that has been sitting somewhere for decades and fly away. Or a federation star ship left on a planet for over a 100 years. Yep, no problem. People have no grasp of the mechanical complexity and required maintenance required to keep something functioning. Modern military aircraft require many hours of maintenance for each single hour of flight. A big old battleship has a lot (LOT) of systems that all have to work together for it to do its job. I loved the 2012 Movie "Battleship". They lit the boilers and had steam in about 15 seconds. It was tragically beautiful. A nice fantasy movie, at least the aliens lost.
While I know deep in the trenches of my brain that it is an almost impossible feat to turn it back on, my instinctual thoughts are still "couldn't we just send a volunteer who is also scuba certified down there with an angle grinder to cut off the coverings of the sea chests?" "Hey, it's a bit rusty? Just a sec, I have a wire brush in my glovebox!" I know it isn't so simple, not on a hundred foot wide ship certainly, not on an untouched for 30 years mechanical room too, after all, I spent two weeks installing lighting circuits and lights on a single floor of a high rise office building, and that was with a team of 4 people. I know that anything to do with electrical or mechanical systems is obnoxiously expensive, time consuming, efforted, etc, but I still underestimate the actual amount of work, I still think there is an easy solution, even if there objectively is not.
World of Warships has a LOT to answer for in this regard given its absurd abuse of physics and ridiculous speeds ships reach. I suspect it's the single largest ongoing environment involving these ships, and people who play it end up thinking they know about the ships and technology when in fact they're terribly ignorant. That they're ignorant isn't their fault as we're all ignorant of everything until we start to learn. That they think they know about the topic because they play WoWS is largely WoWS' fault because the only thing realistic in that game is the modelling of the appearance of ships (which is done very well).
@@steeltrap3800 I play World of Warships and it is a fun game but the only similarities to actual naval warfare is the ships 'shoot at each other'. That is it. lol You are right about the ship modeling. That is what drew me into it in the first place.
@@ut000bs I played it from its Alpha test through to launch. I quit playing some 480 games after that. Too easy to see where it was going, WG will never change their spots. The didn't listen to anyone during testing, so there was no reason to think they would at any other time. Sad thing is many of us identified a lot of the most complained about issues and made predictions as to likely results if not addressed. One I made? "WG will NEVER manage to 'balance' CVs in the minds of most players. Either CVs will be 'fun' to play and a misery for everyone else, or not much of a factor for everyone else and those who DO play them will soon stop out of frustration with them being unrewarding let alone not no longer grossly OP." If you think CVs might be a bit OP now, they were WAY worse back in Beta and release, hard though that is to believe. That was when, 2015? LOL I've also been reading naval warfare reference books for a bit over 40 years. Cheers
I lived in Portsmouth RI, and recall visiting the Iowa by boat at Coddington Cove at the Newport Naval Base. She was tied up next to the Forrestal and Saratoga. I also remember watching the USS Massachusetts being brought back to her berth at Battleship Cove in Fall River after the drydock work.
I saw Massachusetts get towed back into Fall River in 1999. My hockey team had just won our league championship, and I was going over the Braga bridge heading home. Looked down the bay and there she was, under tow. An absolutely unforgettable sight.
As I'm in the UK, I wouldn't be able to come see NJ going into drydock but would love to see footage and videos of her moving and when she's in. On the story of her launch; I love the thought that the ship realises that she's now in the water and decides that she's off, and all those tugs have to curb her enthusiasm...
You should sell tickets to ride the Jersey into drydock. That's a once in a lifetime experience. Also sell tickets to see her while in drydock. You'd make a good amount of money for the museum. I saw the Wisconsin in drydock 3 while being decommissioned. It was incredible
A very interesting subject that it never crossed my mind, Thank you Ryan for how you explain each subject in such detail and in very simple words. 🚢 🖐🙂
Yes and yes! Also spent some time helping with the restoration and served as a docent, primarily for the overnight encampment program for the first few years she was open to the public.
And comments about how hard it is to move ships In water, there is a clip around of russian sailors moving a typhoon into drydock using about 100 men pulling ropes.... typhoon class subs are not small and while it was mid way through being broken up it was still one hell of a clip!
I plan to visit and tour for the first time this summer. I'll also be sure to come watch her be towed to drydock whenever that happens. I was just in San Diego and took the opportunity to tour the Midway. Very entertaining and informative tour. Given the quality of your videos, I expect I'll have much the same caliber tour on the New Jersey!
I got to see Missouri get towed out of Bremerton when she left for the last time on her way to Hawaii. I was in a 12’ aluminum boat and boy was I small compared to her. It was really cool seeing her leave, but I really miss her, I used to love going onboard and getting a tour. They wouldn’t let you very far into the ship but what little I could do was awesome.
UK comment... having visited NJ and having lost paternal grandfather on POW i fully support these efforts.. if you can dry dock her, i will some how find the cash to come over and see
I just recently visited the Philadelphia Navy Yard to see the old JFK for the last time. I hadn't known that New Jersey was going to go into drydock, but when it does, I will definitely come for a look. Even if I don't get there on the day that it goes into the dock, it will be quite a sight while it's in there!
I haven't gotten out to see you in NJ, but got to come aboard when she made a port call in San Diego on her way to Vietnam. She was tied up at North Island just after of the USS Coral Sea.
I read a lot of comments below about manually moving ships in the water which is not a problem if there is no wind or current affecting the ship, but you add a little breeze or a 4 knot current and your tiny little body can be made into some greasy spot on a dock real quick. I own a couple of small fishing boats and one time a storm came up and I got to the ramp with a 20 mph wind and some do good guy offered to catch my bow line, he caught it and acted like he was just going to hold it to stop the boat. Well, I screamed at him to wrap it around a cleat and you should have seen his face when my boat started pulling him around. And after another go at positioning my boat with the motor I got along side and he got the line around a cleat and held the boat till I got it fast. Tugs have huge engines, and sometimes bunch of big propellers, and are designed to handle the push and pulls of the wind and current dragging enormous loads. And Sea Tugs are for real at what they can do.
It's because you didn't watch the movie "Battleship". In the movie, the decommissioned Engine immediately started back up. I know you said you didn't want to watch it, but that's why you get this question a lot.
I wanted to get down to SF to watch USS Iowa go under the golden gate but if I remember they had some ride issues or something. So there was delays. I did get on her twice before she left Richmond CA
Interesting topic with current relevance as the decommissioned USS Kittyhawk is currently under tow from Bremerton to Texas for scrapping. Her props have been removed and are sitting on the deck. Since she is too wide for the Panama canal she was towed through the straits of Magellan and as of this date (May 5 2022) her tug is at anchor near Montevideo Argentina with a second tug securing her stern.
I was on a 4500 ton Destroyer and I watched 2 deck sailors who were repainting the boot top (black water line) put their backs against the pier and push that ship with their legs. It moved about 6 inches, assumed the mooring lines stopped the movement, then came back to rest.
I used to stand on the mooring line cutting barges loose my body weight could easily move one. The load on one was around 5000T we used to calculate load by cubic feet using how much they settled in easy with a rectangle.
Was lucky enough to see her towed in, as I happened to be working at the Camden aquarium. Cell phones weren't really common, so no pictures unfortunately.
Tugboats are basically a massive engine, with just enough fuel tank added to get through 2 days of full power use, and just enough bouyancy added so the engines float. Then you use it to provide massive amounts of force to a rope, and massive amounts of force to a bumper, to move ships in harbour. Bigger ones can travel long distance, but living on them can best be described as spartan, and all the crew do multiple tasks. A hard life, on both machines and crew.
I was present when the Iowa was moved out of her anchorage at the Suisun Reserve Fleet. Watched the process from the marsh and then an overlooking hill. Next made a quick drive to re-position and see her go under the Benicia-Martinez Bridge to the Benicia Port Terminal which is private. Two of us could only go as far as the fence line to watch. Ended talking to another fellow who I find out paid the money to facilitate the tug move. Big bucks. Then a port terminal employee came by and asked if we wanted to go on to port property to watch the Iowa dock up close and we did. News crews and interviews. She made the trip down to Richmond the next day and people were on board for both moves. When she left the Bay, under tow, I shot a picture of her going under the Golden Gate Bridge, for the last time, and it looks like she is sailing on her own. I do not know if people were on board for the tow to Long Beach. I have also been present when the Hornet was moved.
Ryan . I think a interesting video would be why the New Jersey was not included in Desert Storm did she need a major overhaul . Or where the other two Iowas more modern. In a video I saw Missouri getting ready to leave for the gulf while New Jersey was getting ready to be deactivated. Was there a plan in case something went wrong in the gulf to get New Jersey ready to fight . Probably a very interesting story. One worth telling.
New Jersey were just done from the Lebanese Civil War, and at the time of NJ being active, Missouri and Wisconsin were not. Iowa were in shakedown and her turret 2 explode in 89. Thus, for the Gulf, Missouri and Wisconsin were selected because they had the least mileage. New Jersey by that point was the "oldest". She been to Vietnam and Korea, it was time for her to rest.
I did go out on a 23' SeaCraft to view New Jersey as she went up the Delaware Bay. We were out of Lewes, DE. It was was a beautiful but sad sight. I'd like to see her back in service with a comprehensive suite of missiles, lasers, and her big guns. I'd love to see her go down the bay again.
Of course I had seen hawsers in pictures and TV/movies and knew what they were and what they were for but the first time I ever saw one in real life I looked at my buddy and laughed, "Now THAT is a rope." At 7:10 the aircraft carrier island you see is USS Lake Champlain (CV-39). She was commissioned 2 months before WW2 ended in the Pacific. My uncle was a BM1 aboard her at that time. He spent the entire war on tug boats then finally got to go to war and it ended. He used to pretend he was disappointed about that. 😉 Ryan, I would love to come see the New Jersey but I will never be able to. Instead I buy merchandise and help a little here and there. I need to get a new CDR-CAPT ball cap. Mine is wearing out. Of course I have the plain and admiral's versions. Next I'm starting on patches. Thank you to all of you there at BB-62. Great job.
Can New Jersey still steer using her own rudder? I.e. when under tow is all the steering from the tugs or does the ship contribute to steering with it's own rudder when under tow?
I doubt they could and also think it may be a bad idea. My guess at the low speeds of a move like to drydock the ships rudders would be near useless or very slow responding. Better to let the tugs do the steering, they know how.
Ryan, other than New Jersey, are there plans to move the other Iowas in the near future? Other Museum ships. I live about 20 minutes from the Massachusetts, and 10 minutes from the Salem. Both are amazing.
I toured the USS New Jersey way back in the 1950s when she was stored in Bayonne, N.J., along with the USS Franklin....Then in the 1990s, shortly after Desert Storm, I was driving south in Philadelphia past the Navy yard where all four Iowa Class battleships were anchored at the same time....I didn't have a camera....What a bummer.
We have all read about be-calmed sailing ships being towed by crewmen rowing with the ships boats. Do you think it would be possible for the NJ ships boats (if all six are working) could move her? How many rowed boats might it take?
Have u ever did a video on the museum ship Hoga . The tug boat that saved or helped saved at a minimum 3 ships during the attack. She even pushed the sinking USS Nevada in to safety of soft sand so the battleship wouldn't block the cannel when she made her famous run to open ocean during the attack.
I'd definitely come out and watch you tow the ship if I was able, obviously given the scope of the project there will be ample notice so for me personally it's something I'd love to do
When I was stationed in Panama after Operation Just Cause I was luck to witness a US Navy submarine being towed through the Panama Canel somewhere I have a photo of it under the bridge of the America's
I would assume most people see tugs as the ones in a harbor, aren't there sea going tugs that are the ones used to make such moves because they way they are designed?
You are quite correct. Sea going tugs are bigger and much more horsepower. Most sea going tugs are used to tow sea going barges, basically vessels with no propulsion but the size of medium ships. Also a lot are used to move offshore oil platforms.
Ryan, has Hollywood lined up a movie to be shot during the move to drydock? (For those who don't know, part of _Battleship_ was filmed when BB63 moved to drydock.)
After you get an unpowered ship moving, how do you get it to stop where you want it to stop? Thinking that opposite to the tow there's a lot of taut lines and tugs that had been pushing are now in max reverse
Exactly tug power to stop it. You would approach very slowly where you want to stop after beginning to slow forward speed plenty early. Now imagine out at sea one tug towing a ship the only way to stop there is by gradually slowing letting the momentum bleed off the ship.
I would love to make a trip out with my young boys when Jersey goes to dry dock. From the midwest a lot of logistics have to fall into place but with enough notice i would do it!
I can believe you might get 1000 tons moving a slight bit dockside in a zero knot wind BUT 1) there is still 50,000 tons of mv, momentum and 2) there is still wind speed^2 x drag coefficient x cross section area (skipped fluid density). And 2 might get big. Then, there is 3) ... water is heavier than air and we can do the same calculation with currents and I bet at times that is bigger yet. It would not surprise me weather and sea conditions might strain even a good sized sea tug at times. In the canal, any significant velocity would mean a big momentum. If Ryan was there sticking a foot out to stop USS NJ, I expect to see only a stain on the lock gate.
Given the number "3" I guess drydock no. 3 is not the only drydock there. What is the reason you hope to put her in this drydock again instead of any of the drydocks?
The timing of towing New Jersey through the Panama Canal because of the turnover in 2000 seems off, because I’ve seen a picture of Iowa squeezing through the canal in April 2001.
it doesn't take much to move a ship by itself on the water, but surely to speed it up or slow it down, or if you need to change directions, you will need a lot of force to alter the ship's momentum not to mention, even though there are no sails on the ship, the wind could still push the ship around, and the tugboat will need to have enough power to compensate for it
I've wondered about all the Navy contract limitations and wondered...back in the day what the non Iowa's had in their contract. Since they can go back to the late 40's. Back then it might be, "Hey, if you find any 14 inch shells laying around, try to be away from the house before striking the match."
That hawser- design is weaker that the tug's tow wire or the ships anchor chain (will be attached to this let out some) . A Good Sized tug will have two cylinder EMD 645 diesels - generate 7 to 9 thousand Horsepower, bollard pull near 100 tons, and could probably move the NJ around easily at 6 to 7 knots in open water. Surprised Ryan is not yet selling tickets to ride NJ from Camden to the Drydock. So from the story the NJ has had cosmetic surgery on her (Bull) Nose.
A lot of the WW2 subs have restored at least one of their Diesel engines and ran them. I’m not sure there is a prop on the shaft. They’ve actually towed a few for movies. There are good videos of the Cod being side pushed between Cleveland and Erie. The Diesel engines on the subs are still more or less currently technology and much simpler than the steam plants on the larger ships.
You mention the width isn't exactly known as such, would it possible with laser measuring/scanning to do so? Although as a museum I suppose the cost is something that is probably used elsewhere.
A while ago I was watching one of your premieres where you were talking to someone about the USS Clamagore in the chat. It struck me as odd, how quickly you dismissed the concerns about the ship and said that Patriots Point was doing everything in their power to take care of it. For whatever reason that really stuck with me, I think part of it was because I've been down to the Patriots point several times in my life and I had always seen the ship in a perpetual state of worsening decay. This morning I was shocked and just incredibly disappointed by a news article I found on CNN saying the ship would be sent for disposal. In all honesty it feels like the museum has deliberately neglected Clamagore for a long time. When any attempts to help or save the ship were made they were just ignored or dismissed. I just hope you can understand how frustrating this is.
Regarding when NJ goes into drydock, I'd pay to ride, pay handsomely to walk the drydock (under supervision and signing a waiver, of course). Think you can make a great fundraiser out of this! I had a rare opportunity to walk the drydock last time USS CONSTITUTION was out of the water with my son, witnessing original timber under copper was a once in a lifetime moment.
New Jersey is a different case. When Ranger was towed from Bremerton, around the Horn, to Brownsville, a lot of us wanted to ride her. They said we couldn't due to liability. But, we think it was more because they thought we might deliberately scuttle her so she wouldn't be scrapped. No fear of that happening with New Jersey. I'd find a way to get back there if it was allowed.
@Rabid Razorback I couldn't agree more. To have my feet on the deck of a moving ship,, even though by tugs, would be the greatest.
I had a similar moment in the early nineties when Constitution was getting a major overhaul. Walking into the Navy yard there were bits and pieces of the ship on the hard. As we walked in, there was her rudder on a pair of horses, having just been re-coppered. I stood there, with my hand on the physical rudder of the Constitution! The foremast trestle trees were just off to the side. The hull was open to the public, even though it was a cold autumn day. It is an experience that I will never forget.
I'm west coast but would love to see it move. I once moved the USS long Beach with three sailors. In 32nd Street Naval Station, they pulled us in about six feet from where they needed to. I was engineering, (MM1 nuke). We couldn't align our services and the CDO wouldn't help us. We asked permission to move the ship and he granted it, believing we couldn't. We loosened the spring lines in the other direction and sweated the bow spring line until it moved where we wanted it. That done, we checked all the spring lines tight, hooked up our services, and let him know we were done. He freaked out and ran on deck, to find everything was properly aligned and snug. BTW, there was absolutely no wind.
Y'all have the USS Iowa over there on the west coast, Long Beach, right?
@@cleverusername9369 Yes, technically San Pedro, which is technically Los Angeles, next door to Long Beach.
@@conrad4667 I've been aboard her, it was a great visit! I was just wondering if she's still there, cause if you look on Google Earth, USS Iowa is nowhere to be seen
@@cleverusername9369 It must be an old satellite picture. Maybe it’s telling me I should visit her soon and not miss her like I did the Spruce Goose.
@@conrad4667 are you from that area? I was out visiting my sister in Van Nuys, luckily her having newborn twins gave me an excuse to get out of the house for a while and go see the Iowa and the Queen Mary.
I remember when BB62 was being towed from Bremerton to Philadelphia by the tug Sea Victory from Crowley Marine, there was a website that was updated every day or 2 by someone on the tug. Giving information such as information about the tug, the captain and the crew, current location, travel speed, etc. Was very interesting being aware of how the tow was going. Think the website is long gone. They would even say if someone on the tug caught some fish for dinner that night. lol Sea Victory actually broke a turbocharger after coming out of the Panama Canal so another tug took over the tow temporarily while Sea Victory went to Miami for repairs. Sea Victory took the tow back a few days later after repairs were made and took BB62 he rest of the way to Philadelphia. I was fortunate to get on a whale watching boat in Cape May the day BB62 reached the mouth of the Delaware Bay and spent a couple of hours circling her. Was an amazing sight!
Awesome. Thanks for sharing
A few years ago I was enroute to San Juan on a Crowley Tug and saw the aircraft carrier Constellation being towed to Texas to the ship breakers. Foss tugs had that job. I believe it took about 4 months to tow from Washington to Texas taking the long way around Cape Horn. Went on the Sea Victory one time, nice boat long since sold by Crowley
Another company I worked for used hawsers like Ryan was showing and they are big and heave especially when wet. What was not mentioned was in addition to the hawser is about 1500 feet of maybe 2 1/4" tow wire let out once at sea.
@@glennrishton5679 tow wire ain’t cheap.. nothing involving big towing is cheap. Worked on tow boats on Colombia river for a few years.. towing log rafts and pushing chip barges to paper/pulp mills
I went to Desert Storm on the carrier Saratoga. USS Wisconsin steamed home with us in our battlegroup. You might can imagine how proud I am to be one of those who got to see an Iowa in her glory steaming through the swells. We got a little weather after we exited the Gibraltar but the Wisconsin continued on her way stately and sedately as the frigates tossed and rolled around. I spent every moment I could watching her.
What was most fascinating while on the whale watcher boat was overhearing 2 BB62 veterans, one being from an earlier version of the battleship and one from the version just before it's final decommissioning. And hearing them talking about how BB62 had changed through the years. What weapons systems had changed decade to decade, etc. I apologized to them for eavesdropping and I thanked them for their service and told them that listening to them was a learning experience for me. Was the best $25 I ever spent, getting a ride on the whale watcher boat to witness the Battleship New Jersey coming home.
I was supposed to be on Missouri when she dead sticked to Oregon to have the hull scrubbed before being moved to Pearl Harbor. I was deemed too necessary to my ship to be let go TAD as a line handler. One of the things I wished I could have done.
Similar experience, in 1999 or 2000 the Navy moved the Wisconsin from Norfolk Naval Station to Nauticus, where she is today. They needed volunteers to man the rails, I was supposed to go but got bumped. A guy that didn’t even care about the Navy got to ride on her on the way down the river.
From the Battleship Missouri History it is mentioned that when Missouri entered the Panama Canal in 1986 as part of the her around the world cruise the tug boats pulled her in a little cockeyed into the dry dock. She scraped a lot of concrete. The captain described the sound as like fingers going down a blackboard.
Definitely would want to come out to see the ship under tow to dry dock when that day comes! Maybe - if your lawyers would allow it - a fundraising opportunity for the museum to sell some tickets to be aboard for the ride 👀
Insurance would never allow it...as novel as it would be.
When the Intrepid (CV11) went to dry dock several years ago, the museum let former crew members ride. The even had a former Commanding Officer on board. Maybe, New Jersey could do the same.
@@kurtvond1798 I would chip into a fund if they allowed former crew to be aboard the ship when its moved. What a tremendous honor.
When the Missouri went into drydock, members of the memorial got to ride along.
I've seen dozens of ships enter and exit dry docks in 20 years at Long Beach, including the New Jersey and Missouri (a couple of times) It takes all day and is very boring. The shipyard would assign all the workers to different ships for the day because all the temporary utilities would be disconnected for the move. There was also the time in 1980 when a hawser connected to the USS Belleau Wood snapped while getting it aligned in dry dock one. The end of the line first hit a truck then a yard bird and broke his arm and leg.
While I KNEW the towline was thick, for some reason I expected it to be even thicker than we see here. I wonder how thick the lines are that they are using to tow Carrier Kitty Hawk from Bremerton to Brownsville. I would imagine the main towline is either thicker or has been doubled or even tripled. Even an empty hull like CV-63 would mass over 60,000 tons.
Thank you for the look Ryan. I'm actually amazed that the Navy left that tow line aboard.
On a related subject, the 120,000 ton containership Ever Forward is still stuck in the mud in the Chesapeake Bay and the salvage company is dredging around her and trying to hire enough tugs to try to pull her out of the mud. None of the tugs they have immediately available are as powerful as the tug that brought New Jersey to Philadelphia or that has Kitty Hawk in tow. Nor do they have the necessary ground tackle and anchors.
The gentleman whose website I'm getting my news from refers back to Battleship Missouri getting run up on the sand near Old Point Comfort next to the Thimble Shoals Channel, and what it took to get her armored butt off the sand and afloat again.
I worked on sea going tugs with hawsers of that size towing sea going barges, That hawser is maybe 300' long and very strong but that is only part of the story. Once clear of the shallow waters the tug will let out tow wire. The weight of the tow wire sagging deep in the water takes up the surges caused by seas.
I was part of the crew of the New Jersey during it's recommissioning in the Philly shipyard in 1968 and was onboard during the Panama Canal transit to the west coast. Being on the NJ was an amazing experience and one which I well remember even after all these years. While the ship was in the hands of the Philly shipyard, the crew had access to the entire ship. Once the Navy took control, we had access to only the areas we were authorized to be in. I have been back to visit the ship in Camden a few times and especially enjoyed again walking down Broadway.
Dan Marcus. Thank you for your service! I was stationed on USS Columbus CG 12 1967-1970 three Med cruises and finished enlistment as an RD 2. Columbus was one of first Guided Missile Cruisers. Commissioned in mid-1943 as heavy cruiser CA 74. In 1959 the Columbus, Chicago, and Albany were converted to CG’s. First stripped of all guns, then Tartar, Talos, and Asroc were added. Three 6 mo. Med cruises in 1967-1970 to keep an eye on Ivan and his Bear bomber associates. Those guys are a LOT more aggressive towards us and NATO nowadays!
I saw being towed up the river. Would also go out and see her when the time comes being towed to dry dock 3.
I know the Navy's doesn't own the NJ but do they still need notified according to the contract with the museum? And will the Navy come out and "have a look" once Big J is in drydock ?
Yes under the contract they do have to notify the us navy when they have to move it to dry dock
Ryan which tug company towed New Jersey from Bremerton. Foss tug and barge is towing the kittyhawk to Brownsville.
I actually was present when the New Jersey was brought up the Delaware. A very impressive sight.
I was working at the Courier Post newspaper in nearby Cherry Hill N.J. when the ship traveled thru the canal. They had a reporter on board for several days while the ship moved thru the canal. The newspaper made a nice size hard copy book on the battleship. Guess they thought it was going to be a NY times best seller. They advertised the hell out of the book and a year later still had probably a halve dozen shrink wrap pallets of them collecting dust in the newsprint warehouse.Thanks for another great vid. While working at my first job the maintenance department had to tie a 1.25" rope on a box car and move it maybe 10' to top load into next roof hatch. Rope would break and only guy who could splice the 100' long rope was a retired navy guy.
Talking about towing a battleship makes me think about the USS California being made too wide to fit through the Panama Canal post Pearl Harbor. The Navy put her in mothballs on the east coast and her beam meant if she were to be preserved it would mean towing around the bottom of South America. B-44 was the only modern battleship ever built on the west coast and it would have been great to see her open to the public at Mare Island where she was built.
I agree. My Grandfather helped build this ship at MINSY.
@@charlesmaroon8819 Had to decipher MINSY then remembered I spent a year ion a ship in LBNSY
How about a video on the bull nose? I see pictures with them changing throughout the service careers of each ship.
Thanks for EXPLAINING this again Ryan.. some folks are just oblivious to the how’s and why’s 🤦🏻♂️
Awesome Video Ryan! A Kiss on shore after launch! Funny Stuff!!
GreatInfo as always!! Thanks
Thanks for doing these awesome videos! We got a team together and recently purchased the historic ship wmec-167 Acushnet and have started restoration to be a museum.
We are dealing with a generations of people that think you can simply start an airplane up that has been sitting somewhere for decades and fly away. Or a federation star ship left on a planet for over a 100 years. Yep, no problem. People have no grasp of the mechanical complexity and required maintenance required to keep something functioning. Modern military aircraft require many hours of maintenance for each single hour of flight. A big old battleship has a lot (LOT) of systems that all have to work together for it to do its job. I loved the 2012 Movie "Battleship". They lit the boilers and had steam in about 15 seconds. It was tragically beautiful. A nice fantasy movie, at least the aliens lost.
While I know deep in the trenches of my brain that it is an almost impossible feat to turn it back on, my instinctual thoughts are still "couldn't we just send a volunteer who is also scuba certified down there with an angle grinder to cut off the coverings of the sea chests?"
"Hey, it's a bit rusty? Just a sec, I have a wire brush in my glovebox!"
I know it isn't so simple, not on a hundred foot wide ship certainly, not on an untouched for 30 years mechanical room too, after all, I spent two weeks installing lighting circuits and lights on a single floor of a high rise office building, and that was with a team of 4 people. I know that anything to do with electrical or mechanical systems is obnoxiously expensive, time consuming, efforted, etc, but I still underestimate the actual amount of work, I still think there is an easy solution, even if there objectively is not.
World of Warships has a LOT to answer for in this regard given its absurd abuse of physics and ridiculous speeds ships reach. I suspect it's the single largest ongoing environment involving these ships, and people who play it end up thinking they know about the ships and technology when in fact they're terribly ignorant. That they're ignorant isn't their fault as we're all ignorant of everything until we start to learn. That they think they know about the topic because they play WoWS is largely WoWS' fault because the only thing realistic in that game is the modelling of the appearance of ships (which is done very well).
@@steeltrap3800 I play World of Warships and it is a fun game but the only similarities to actual naval warfare is the ships 'shoot at each other'. That is it. lol
You are right about the ship modeling. That is what drew me into it in the first place.
@@ut000bs I played it from its Alpha test through to launch.
I quit playing some 480 games after that. Too easy to see where it was going,
WG will never change their spots. The didn't listen to anyone during testing, so there was no reason to think they would at any other time.
Sad thing is many of us identified a lot of the most complained about issues and made predictions as to likely results if not addressed.
One I made?
"WG will NEVER manage to 'balance' CVs in the minds of most players.
Either CVs will be 'fun' to play and a misery for everyone else, or not much of a factor for everyone else and those who DO play them will soon stop out of frustration with them being unrewarding let alone not no longer grossly OP."
If you think CVs might be a bit OP now, they were WAY worse back in Beta and release, hard though that is to believe.
That was when, 2015? LOL
I've also been reading naval warfare reference books for a bit over 40 years.
Cheers
I love this channel, and do even more now knowing that this man runs marathons!!
I lived in Portsmouth RI, and recall visiting the Iowa by boat at Coddington Cove at the Newport Naval Base. She was tied up next to the Forrestal and Saratoga. I also remember watching the USS Massachusetts being brought back to her berth at Battleship Cove in Fall River after the drydock work.
Excellent pictures of her just launched at 9:00! Interesting to see just how much the superstructure was complete at launch.
I saw Massachusetts get towed back into Fall River in 1999. My hockey team had just won our league championship, and I was going over the Braga bridge heading home. Looked down the bay and there she was, under tow. An absolutely unforgettable sight.
As I'm in the UK, I wouldn't be able to come see NJ going into drydock but would love to see footage and videos of her moving and when she's in.
On the story of her launch; I love the thought that the ship realises that she's now in the water and decides that she's off, and all those tugs have to curb her enthusiasm...
I had visions of a Philadelphia Experiment movie where you teleported the ship coast to coast :)
You should sell tickets to ride the Jersey into drydock. That's a once in a lifetime experience. Also sell tickets to see her while in drydock. You'd make a good amount of money for the museum.
I saw the Wisconsin in drydock 3 while being decommissioned. It was incredible
Your videos are so very informative. Visiting your ship is on my bucket list.
A very interesting subject that it never crossed my mind, Thank you Ryan for how you explain each subject in such detail and in very simple words. 🚢 🖐🙂
Yes and yes! Also spent some time helping with the restoration and served as a docent, primarily for the overnight encampment program for the first few years she was open to the public.
I would be more inclined towards a guided tour of the boat in dry dock. I want to see the big propellers up close.
And comments about how hard it is to move ships In water, there is a clip around of russian sailors moving a typhoon into drydock using about 100 men pulling ropes.... typhoon class subs are not small and while it was mid way through being broken up it was still one hell of a clip!
Oh yeah, the _Typhoon_ Class. The one which was supposed to have a titanium hull.
@@dalecomer5951 Yea, I wasn't alive when they where built so wasn't really exposed to the USSR bullshit
I plan to visit and tour for the first time this summer. I'll also be sure to come watch her be towed to drydock whenever that happens.
I was just in San Diego and took the opportunity to tour the Midway. Very entertaining and informative tour. Given the quality of your videos, I expect I'll have much the same caliber tour on the New Jersey!
I got to see Missouri get towed out of Bremerton when she left for the last time on her way to Hawaii. I was in a 12’ aluminum boat and boy was I small compared to her. It was really cool seeing her leave, but I really miss her, I used to love going onboard and getting a tour. They wouldn’t let you very far into the ship but what little I could do was awesome.
Was in the Ship Channel when Texas was sent to Galveston in '88. It was an experience.
UK comment... having visited NJ and having lost paternal grandfather on POW i fully support these efforts.. if you can dry dock her, i will some how find the cash to come over and see
I just recently visited the Philadelphia Navy Yard to see the old JFK for the last time. I hadn't known that New Jersey was going to go into drydock, but when it does, I will definitely come for a look. Even if I don't get there on the day that it goes into the dock, it will be quite a sight while it's in there!
Thank you.
I haven't gotten out to see you in NJ, but got to come aboard when she made a port call in San Diego on her way to Vietnam. She was tied up at North Island just after of the USS Coral Sea.
I read a lot of comments below about manually moving ships in the water which is not a problem if there is no wind or current affecting the ship, but you add a little breeze or a 4 knot current and your tiny little body can be made into some greasy spot on a dock real quick. I own a couple of small fishing boats and one time a storm came up and I got to the ramp with a 20 mph wind and some do good guy offered to catch my bow line, he caught it and acted like he was just going to hold it to stop the boat. Well, I screamed at him to wrap it around a cleat and you should have seen his face when my boat started pulling him around. And after another go at positioning my boat with the motor I got along side and he got the line around a cleat and held the boat till I got it fast.
Tugs have huge engines, and sometimes bunch of big propellers, and are designed to handle the push and pulls of the wind and current dragging enormous loads. And Sea Tugs are for real at what they can do.
I’d definitely pay to ride a battleship into dry dock. I remember they did a similar thing with the USS Missouri.For the movie “Battleship”.
Thanks for sharing!
Worked on her for over a year, at Long Beach Naval shipyard shop 56 marine pipefitters awesome ship
Another great video, thanks for doing these Ryan. I would love to come and see The Big J moved.
USS Iowa was moving through the Panama Canal in 2001 after the hand over was completed.
It's because you didn't watch the movie "Battleship". In the movie, the decommissioned Engine immediately started back up.
I know you said you didn't want to watch it, but that's why you get this question a lot.
Great video from the battleship.
I wanted to get down to SF to watch USS Iowa go under the golden gate but if I remember they had some ride issues or something. So there was delays. I did get on her twice before she left Richmond CA
Another great informational piece!
Interesting topic with current relevance as the decommissioned USS Kittyhawk is currently under tow from Bremerton to Texas for scrapping. Her props have been removed and are sitting on the deck. Since she is too wide for the Panama canal she was towed through the straits of Magellan and as of this date (May 5 2022) her tug is at anchor near Montevideo Argentina with a second tug securing her stern.
I was aboard USS Excel off the coast of Northern California when we passed the Missouri that was being towed from Bremerton to LBNY.
As with some below, I would pay to ride to drydock! I would sign any waivers needed and give me a hardhat!
@7:18
RYAN! Why are you spying on meeeeeee?!?!
I was on a 4500 ton Destroyer and I watched 2 deck sailors who were repainting the boot top (black water line) put their backs against the pier and push that ship with their legs. It moved about 6 inches, assumed the mooring lines stopped the movement, then came back to rest.
I used to stand on the mooring line cutting barges loose my body weight could easily move one. The load on one was around 5000T we used to calculate load by cubic feet using how much they settled in easy with a rectangle.
Was lucky enough to see her towed in, as I happened to be working at the Camden aquarium. Cell phones weren't really common, so no pictures unfortunately.
You guys should donate the towing cable to Evergreen Shipping Co.
Don’t you think that a cable that is meant to move a battleship should stay to move the battleship that is going to dry dock in the nearing future
Tugboats are basically a massive engine, with just enough fuel tank added to get through 2 days of full power use, and just enough bouyancy added so the engines float. Then you use it to provide massive amounts of force to a rope, and massive amounts of force to a bumper, to move ships in harbour. Bigger ones can travel long distance, but living on them can best be described as spartan, and all the crew do multiple tasks. A hard life, on both machines and crew.
How many curators would it take to pull the New Jersey by hand?
Did he say how many curators long the tow rope is?
I was present when the Iowa was moved out of her anchorage at the Suisun Reserve Fleet. Watched the process from the marsh and then an overlooking hill. Next made a quick drive to re-position and see her go under the Benicia-Martinez Bridge to the Benicia Port Terminal which is private. Two of us could only go as far as the fence line to watch. Ended talking to another fellow who I find out paid the money to facilitate the tug move. Big bucks. Then a port terminal employee came by and asked if we wanted to go on to port property to watch the Iowa dock up close and we did. News crews and interviews. She made the trip down to Richmond the next day and people were on board for both moves. When she left the Bay, under tow, I shot a picture of her going under the Golden Gate Bridge, for the last time, and it looks like she is sailing on her own. I do not know if people were on board for the tow to Long Beach. I have also been present when the Hornet was moved.
Ryan . I think a interesting video would be why the New Jersey was not included in Desert Storm did she need a major overhaul . Or where the other two Iowas more modern. In a video I saw Missouri getting ready to leave for the gulf while New Jersey was getting ready to be deactivated. Was there a plan in case something went wrong in the gulf to get New Jersey ready to fight . Probably a very interesting story. One worth telling.
Hard to find any details on this .
New Jersey were just done from the Lebanese Civil War, and at the time of NJ being active, Missouri and Wisconsin were not. Iowa were in shakedown and her turret 2 explode in 89. Thus, for the Gulf, Missouri and Wisconsin were selected because they had the least mileage. New Jersey by that point was the "oldest". She been to Vietnam and Korea, it was time for her to rest.
If I could convince my wife to take a quick vacation to New Jersey (from Ohio) randomly during the year, I'd be there to see her get towed out.
The ship or the wife?
@@kaldiz well, the wife makes nore than I do, so it'll have to be watching New Jersey get towed. 🙂
@@lonnyyoung4285 Hope you get to see it! Would be awesome :)
I've seen the New Jersey in Bremerton, while on the mothball fleet boat tour. I remember thinking it looked small parked right next to the Hornet.
The ship has been sitting in the same place so long. Is she still floating? Or do they dredge the river around and under her?
I'm pretty sure NJ is floating but some museum ships such as USS Alabama are siting in mud.
Massachusetts, NJ, Texas, Missouri, Wisconsin, Iowa are floating. North Carolina and Alabama are in 20ft or so of mud.
Will the dry docking be a private operation or will the navy be involved?
I did go out on a 23' SeaCraft to view New Jersey as she went up the Delaware Bay. We were out of Lewes, DE. It was was a beautiful but sad sight. I'd like to see her back in service with a comprehensive suite of missiles, lasers, and her big guns. I'd love to see her go down the bay again.
Of course I had seen hawsers in pictures and TV/movies and knew what they were and what they were for but the first time I ever saw one in real life I looked at my buddy and laughed, "Now THAT is a rope."
At 7:10 the aircraft carrier island you see is USS Lake Champlain (CV-39). She was commissioned 2 months before WW2 ended in the Pacific. My uncle was a BM1 aboard her at that time. He spent the entire war on tug boats then finally got to go to war and it ended. He used to pretend he was disappointed about that. 😉
Ryan, I would love to come see the New Jersey but I will never be able to. Instead I buy merchandise and help a little here and there. I need to get a new CDR-CAPT ball cap. Mine is wearing out. Of course I have the plain and admiral's versions. Next I'm starting on patches.
Thank you to all of you there at BB-62. Great job.
Can New Jersey still steer using her own rudder?
I.e. when under tow is all the steering from the tugs or does the ship contribute to steering with it's own rudder when under tow?
I think rudders are powered by the banned equipment, so no.
I doubt they could and also think it may be a bad idea. My guess at the low speeds of a move like to drydock the ships rudders would be near useless or very slow responding. Better to let the tugs do the steering, they know how.
Ryan, other than New Jersey, are there plans to move the other Iowas in the near future? Other Museum ships. I live about 20 minutes from the Massachusetts, and 10 minutes from the Salem. Both are amazing.
I'll be there in the Waverunner when the NJ is moved! I bet a whole fleet of small boats joining her on the short journey.
Great site, great video and super informative info. The
I saw Iowa being towed out to sea under the GG bridge in route to LA.
I toured the USS New Jersey way back in the 1950s when she was stored in Bayonne, N.J., along with the USS Franklin....Then in the 1990s, shortly after Desert Storm, I was driving south in Philadelphia past the Navy yard where all four Iowa Class battleships were anchored at the same time....I didn't have a camera....What a bummer.
We have all read about be-calmed sailing ships being towed by crewmen rowing with the ships boats. Do you think it would be possible for the NJ ships boats (if all six are working) could move her? How many rowed boats might it take?
Have u ever did a video on the museum ship Hoga . The tug boat that saved or helped saved at a minimum 3 ships during the attack. She even pushed the sinking USS Nevada in to safety of soft sand so the battleship wouldn't block the cannel when she made her famous run to open ocean during the attack.
I'd definitely come out and watch you tow the ship if I was able, obviously given the scope of the project there will be ample notice so for me personally it's something I'd love to do
When I was stationed in Panama after Operation Just Cause I was luck to witness a US Navy submarine being towed through the Panama Canel somewhere I have a photo of it under the bridge of the America's
I would assume most people see tugs as the ones in a harbor, aren't there sea going tugs that are the ones used to make such moves because they way they are designed?
You are quite correct. Sea going tugs are bigger and much more horsepower. Most sea going tugs are used to tow sea going barges, basically vessels with no propulsion but the size of medium ships. Also a lot are used to move offshore oil platforms.
id say the last minute of this video is my fav
What does the ship need to be drydocked for? Cleaning, painting, or just maintenance?
Ryan, has Hollywood lined up a movie to be shot during the move to drydock? (For those who don't know, part of _Battleship_ was filmed when BB63 moved to drydock.)
Watched her come into Philly, moored along side of USS America CV-66. Everyone had signs, Camden or Bayonne
After you get an unpowered ship moving, how do you get it to stop where you want it to stop? Thinking that opposite to the tow there's a lot of taut lines and tugs that had been pushing are now in max reverse
Exactly tug power to stop it. You would approach very slowly where you want to stop after beginning to slow forward speed plenty early. Now imagine out at sea one tug towing a ship the only way to stop there is by gradually slowing letting the momentum bleed off the ship.
I wouldn't miss getting to see her move into drydock!
I would love to make a trip out with my young boys when Jersey goes to dry dock. From the midwest a lot of logistics have to fall into place but with enough notice i would do it!
I can believe you might get 1000 tons moving a slight bit dockside in a zero knot wind BUT 1) there is still 50,000 tons of mv, momentum and 2) there is still wind speed^2 x drag coefficient x cross section area (skipped fluid density). And 2 might get big. Then, there is 3) ... water is heavier than air and we can do the same calculation with currents and I bet at times that is bigger yet. It would not surprise me weather and sea conditions might strain even a good sized sea tug at times. In the canal, any significant velocity would mean a big momentum. If Ryan was there sticking a foot out to stop USS NJ, I expect to see only a stain on the lock gate.
The ex-Kittyhawk is currently under tow by one tug all the way around South America to Brownsville for scraping
I went aboard the Missouri in Bremerton with the New Jersey right next to it.
I sure would like to see it!!!!
Given the number "3" I guess drydock no. 3 is not the only drydock there. What is the reason you hope to put her in this drydock again instead of any of the drydocks?
The timing of towing New Jersey through the Panama Canal because of the turnover in 2000 seems off, because I’ve seen a picture of Iowa squeezing through the canal in April 2001.
it doesn't take much to move a ship by itself on the water, but surely to speed it up or slow it down, or if you need to change directions, you will need a lot of force to alter the ship's momentum
not to mention, even though there are no sails on the ship, the wind could still push the ship around, and the tugboat will need to have enough power to compensate for it
Oh after watching a hundred+ videos I didn't know Ryan ran marathon! cool!
I've wondered about all the Navy contract limitations and wondered...back in the day what the non Iowa's had in their contract. Since they can go back to the late 40's. Back then it might be, "Hey, if you find any 14 inch shells laying around, try to be away from the house before striking the match."
What were the antennas for on the O11ish in this video?
need to see this bit of history
That hawser- design is weaker that the tug's tow wire or the ships anchor chain (will be attached to this let out some) . A Good Sized tug will have two cylinder EMD 645 diesels - generate 7 to 9 thousand Horsepower, bollard pull near 100 tons, and could probably move the NJ around easily at 6 to 7 knots in open water. Surprised Ryan is not yet selling tickets to ride NJ from Camden to the Drydock. So from the story the NJ has had cosmetic surgery on her (Bull) Nose.
A lot of the WW2 subs have restored at least one of their Diesel engines and ran them. I’m not sure there is a prop on the shaft. They’ve actually towed a few for movies. There are good videos of the Cod being side pushed between Cleveland and Erie. The Diesel engines on the subs are still more or less currently technology and much simpler than the steam plants on the larger ships.
The USS California, BB44 also slid out too fast at her launch and got stuck in the mud!
You mention the width isn't exactly known as such, would it possible with laser measuring/scanning to do so? Although as a museum I suppose the cost is something that is probably used elsewhere.
Should they wish to, the actual width of the New Jersey could be measured down to fractions of a millimeter.
The chance to stand on deck while moving would be somthing!
All the level 1 parts required for steam propulsion are not there.
A while ago I was watching one of your premieres where you were talking to someone about the USS Clamagore in the chat. It struck me as odd, how quickly you dismissed the concerns about the ship and said that Patriots Point was doing everything in their power to take care of it. For whatever reason that really stuck with me, I think part of it was because I've been down to the Patriots point several times in my life and I had always seen the ship in a perpetual state of worsening decay. This morning I was shocked and just incredibly disappointed by a news article I found on CNN saying the ship would be sent for disposal. In all honesty it feels like the museum has deliberately neglected Clamagore for a long time. When any attempts to help or save the ship were made they were just ignored or dismissed. I just hope you can understand how frustrating this is.