Steering the Battleship
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- Опубликовано: 4 янв 2021
- In this episode we're visiting the four different places on board the battleship that the ship can be steered from.
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The importance of the armored conning tower was demonstrated with the USS Texas as she was dueling with shore batteries off Cherbourg. Capt. BAKER had just gone into the Conning Tower when a German shell glanced off the top of the armor. The subsequent explosion destroyed the steering station on the Bridge above killing the helmsman. Control was assumed by the helmsman in the armored conning tower.
There had been some debate about removing those armored conning towers to free up topweight for the constant accretion of additional anti-aircraft guns, but South Dakota's Captain emphasized the importance of SoDak's conning tower in his and his bridge crews' survival in their encounter with Kirishima. After his after-action report was circulated, the conning towers were left alone. :)
@@mrz80 could you summarize the greater points of his AAR?
@@paulloveless9180 What I found ... "In spite of these numerous shell impacts, South Dakota received only superficial damage. The Japanese shot high with many overs, and most of the enemy rounds fragmented during impact, rather than from detonation. The ship’s armor withstood the 14-inch hit, and a number of the 8-inch and 6-inch shells entered the ship without exploding. One 8-inch projectile ripped through five structural bulkheads and careened into the shield of 5-inch mount No. 2, knocking off the rear door without detonating. Gatch afterward reported that the armor encasing fire control and the conning tower, despite criticism from opponents of the design, who agitated for the removal of the steel because of top hamper, saved the sailors manning those stations from being “destroyed.” The battleship never lost steering or engine control, and the Japanese fire did not measurably impair the ship’s strength, buoyancy, or stability. Men temporarily plugged breaches in the plating above the waterline with mattresses, pillows, and clothing, and drove wooden plugs into smaller holes." From the Second Naval Battle Of Guadalcanal www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/s/south-dakota-ii-bb57-1941-42.html
@@AlanZukof wow thank you for that and the link!
@@paulloveless9180 you had a great question, I got curious lol
I stood many a watch in aft steering, which was ALWAYS the mid-watch. Usually 15 minutes or so into the watch the 0-4 level bridge would switch steering control from "bridge to aft steering" over sound powered phone. There was always flood water sloshing around just aft the helm. I always thought that was by design to keep it cool as it was always hot down there. But, after steering for about an hour we'd send steering control back to the bridge. Best part was the mess decks was right above and the vending machines. Twix candy bar doing the balls to four and hit your rack, no duty topside until noon.
As an OOD, when I was on the mid-watch, I'd move steering control around to all the manned stations, partly for practice and partly to keep everyone interested and alert on a slow watch.
@@duanem.1567 how is steering control moved? I've watched a bunch of the videos but haven't been able to figure it out
@@iwantmyvanbackIf I recall correctly, someone on watch in Central Station on the 3rd deck off of Broadway had to move it with a set of switches located there.
The Iowas were the only USN battleships with two steering stations in the superstructure. I've found WWII era documents that state that the primary reason for this is that the Iowas were the first design-built BBS with air search radar. Apparently the first generation sets had a distance limitation between the receivers and the display units, so the displays were placed on the O8 level. The conning station there was for the command staff during air attacks so they would have close access to the displays.
As far as the modern use of the four steering stations, during the 1980's refit of Missouri, the steering gear and lee helm in central station was removed, but the steering unit cables still routed through there. When shifting steering cables, central station still had to be involved in rolling barrel switches into the correct position.
As far as the typical uses of the O4 and O8 bridges on Missouri, the O8 bridge was only used in the restricted maneuvering situations of entering and leaving port. The O4 bridge was used the rest of the time at sea.
The helm compass repeaters on Missouri were not repeating the old master gyros shown in the video, but by the WSN-5 inertial navigation sets that were installed for the Tomahawk Weapons system. In the O4 level station, there was also a small independent gyro as a steering backup to the WSN-5s. And for the ultimate in backup, there was a magnetic compass station just forward of the forward missile deck that has communications with the steering stations via sound-powered phones.
in my humble opinion Ryan is a national treasure because of his intimate knowledge and passion of the subject matter. Please carry on sir.
" oh shit Nick Cage is coming for me!" - Ryan
I once was required to make a stepped key for the rudder shaft to the quadrant for a ship that had sheared its key. It was an interesting job. After taking the measurements and the offset between the two keyways, I went bake to the shop and machined it. I don't remember if I was there when it was installed but, I do recall it was a good job and worked out well.
Missouri kept its O-8 level CO sea cabin in the 1986 reactivation. The CO never used it; he always slept in the O-4 cabin at sea. It was a small space, with just a bunk, sink, and a small desk. Most importantly, it had a TV connected to the ship's CCTV system. Junior officers used it in evenings at sea to watch movies. We more more comfortable up there sitting on the CO's bunk, than in the wardroom, which usually had a bunch of more senior officers hanging around, controlling what was on TV and wondering if the JOs didn't have some work to do. We manned the O-8 level bridge during General Quarters and Special Sea and Anchor Detail (entering and leaving port), but it was just a backup to the O-4 bridge and we never conned from there. The O-8 bridge was my Sea and Anchor Detail station and it was fun because it had a great view and we weren't very busy up there.
You weren’t kidding about how spacious your aft steering room was, I can’t even stand up in ours!
I love the learning about the technical operations of the ship. All we see of battleships are the big guns, but there are tens of thousands of details that put those guns into practice. This has been my favorite video so far of the 10 or so I’ve watched.
It is one of the reasons many claim these are the most complicated machines designed by man
Even for a total landlubber like me who is fascinated by lowa class battleships, these detailed vignettes from Ryan are amazing.
The sound is so much better with the microphone.
I concur with RogerWilco. The new microphone is providing better audio quality inside.
I suggest the use of a covering to reduce wind noise when filming outside. That has been significant in so of the other videos.
But the sound still isn't 'good' :(
We do film inside of a battleship and not in a studio like many other people do, its never going to be like those channels, but the sound of the battleship is well loved by many people.
@@BattleshipNewJersey Really appreciate the audio upgrade. It wasn't the echo so much as some of us that have been blown up don't hear so well without the voice coming through better than the echo. I would watch either way, nothing against the other Iowa You Tube Channels but your crew has made a lot of good content that spans more than just the New Jersey. Thanks for all your team does 😉.
@@txm100 There's always some snowflake crying over the audio 😄
the 2nd position could be really useful when coming to dock
Weve also got a spot on the 05 with a voice tube into the conning tower so a river pilot or whatever can stand there and direct someone down below . But the 08 level is also good for that!
Your Battleship New Jersey productions are amazing, 110% interesting, and stunning! And who back in the day, came up with all this engineering and who could build these monster ships.
I really enjoy these videos. I used to volunteer on an aircraft carrier and victory ship, but can no longer do so. It is nice to see the workings of a battleship.
In the film ‘Battle of the River Plate” (Graf spee battle), there was a great scene where Exeter’s steering had been so shot up that the manual wooden wheels to the rudders, turned by 5 men at a time did the steering, while the captain controlled direction via a chain of men. Much superior in NJ. Texas still has the wooden manual wheels
I have visited the New Jersey and the knowledge gained from the videos make me want to return.
What a gem of a channel. Glad to have randomly stumbled upon it. When I get a new job I'll consider donating.
Thank you for including a plan of the ship and were you are on it . It is a great help !
Loving these videos. Was due to visit the Battleship last August from London and you can guess how well that went. I love Ryan’s explanations and he gained much more respect from me, having crawled the 16” gun. Will be visiting some future summer, when times allow.
My father talk about steering the U.S.S. Makin Island from the bridge and the engine room. On the bridge he turn the wheel two or three clicks too for and over compensate. The C.Q. calls out "Mine your rudder sailor" The next morning the Navigations officer took him to show him the map, and the ship had did a zigzag.
When my father was assign to the steering in the engine room, it was a test and training. There was also a cot down there for what ever reason, except my father thought it was a good time to take a little nap while nothing was happening yet. "You got it " he heard them call. Immediately trying to shake the sleep from his eyes he jump up to grab the wheel.
It's hard to imagine living and working in this noisy, confined, alian environment. Most of the spaces obviously have neither natural ventilation nor light. Watching these videos just increases my respect for the men who sacrificed so much to keep these ships running and on mission.
Awesome Videos Brother! I spent many 6 hour watches in Port n Starboard After steering on the USS Independence. Brings back memories. .The Midnight to 6 seemed to drag on forever. Thanks
Ryan, I say this with the utmost respect. You greatly resemble the beatnik scrapyard owner from 'The Iron Giant'
Really been enjoying all of these videos. Your knowledge on the subject is inspiring!
thanks for the Tour, Impressive Ship
Great information. Well presented. Very interesting. I'm retired USN, and just had the chance to visit the USS Missouri in Pearl, where, incidentally, I was stationed for most of my 20 year career. I saw the Missouri towed in from outside Bldg. 39 on Ford Island. The videos are great. The ships are beautiful and truly some of the most impressive things I've ever seen.
I have visited many ship museums but honestly had never considered putting New Jersey on my list. Thanks you your videos I now have to plan a trip to Camden. Thank you for all your good work.
Make sure to say hi when you do!
I see you improved your editing (adding a red location dot to the diagram) as suggested in a previous video. Helps a lot, thanks!
Its a great addition!!! Id thought the same thing!!!
As I recall, the armored conning tower only holds the Helm and Lee Helm sailors, who don't need to see where they're going. The pilot house for'd of it is where the OOD and JOOD and occasionally Captain would stand watch. They'd give orders to the Helm and Lee Helm through those ports or maybe even over the squawk box. During battle, maybe the OOD would be inside the armor, but would rely on lookouts to report obstructions, etc.
I love how redundancy is built into these ships. They sure can take a beating!
It was one of the reasons US ships damage control was so good in WW2.
They were designed to duke it out with enemy BBs. Nowadays, the entire strategy is never being seen and taking out the enemy before they ever know you're there. Great, if it works. If it doesn't, you're dead, because the ships no longer have armor or redundancy.
Ryan, when you mentioned that the conning tower armor is class 'A', it got me wondering about the classes of armor. Could you do a video explaining the classes and their properties?
We will add it to the list!
class A is face-hardened, class B is not.
On a tour of Iowa a while back, I remember hearing that “we” can’t make Class B armor anymore, but I don’t recall the reason. Is that true?
There is a channel called Drachinfel that did a video on naval armor through history that is pretty good. He talks about the various armor compositions, heat treatment methods and what combinations would be effective in differing circumstances.
Considering the availability of large hydraulic presses and the residual knowledge of face carbonizing/quenching, it would not be out of the question to manufacture modern battleship grade krupp steel plates in 12+ inch thicknesses. If anything the advances in the understanding of metallic microstructure behavior would likely lead to a superior product than could be achieved in the 1930's. If I remember correctly the biggest hurdle in the manufacture of such plate was a combination of moving the darn things around and the production of equipment that could forge them into the required dimensions.
I would be interested to know if advances in metallurgy in the last 70+ years have made the armor used on the Iowas obsolete. I have also heard that finding people that have experience/know-how in welding 12+ inch armor plate has become challenging.
Really enjoy learning about battleship details. I was a submarine guy (USS Seawolf SSN 575 & USS Parche SSN-683) and am fascinated by the size of everything. Keep it up! BTW, you're a tough man to shinny up the 16 inch barrel. I think I would have passed on that one. Cheers, Karl
Never heard of a gyro repeater before. That's really cool!
This is so much better now! Thanks
Yes please do continue making videos.
Love videos on these fantastic ships! They are the pinnacle of the battleship design philosophy and they sure look it. It is a shame we cannot visit many of the contemporaries of the Iowas these days, with all the Japanese, British, French, German and Italian ones either sunk in action or scrapped after the war.
Great work Ryan, keep them coming!
Great video series.
Shocker moment: voice tubes are still installed in certain locations on modern ships. USS Iwo Jima for instance has one leading from forward lookout into the pilot house. A ship commissioned in the 21st century still using tech from the 19th. =)
I'm curious about the voice tubes... like how loud do you have to talk to be heard at the other end?
@@John73John really depends on the background noise level. Foreward lookout is open and looks over the flight deck, so during flight ops it was useless. Otherwise, it worked decently well: open weather cap, smack pipe until the other end "picks up", communicate. :)
@@YaivenovThanks
Really enjoy your videos.
Great job...love it.
very well done, thanks for putting this information out there
Missouri's Captain was conning the ship from the O8 level when the infamous Thimble Shoals grounding took place. :)
As always, really cool. Thanks for sharing. Keep up the top Notch Work
Thanks for another interesting video 👍
I like the improved version. Good job.
I am so looking forward to touring the ship after the Covid situation has passed.
Like every video, you made a nice video again. Thank you for teaching. Thank you for uploading.
THANK YOU! I was just wondering about steering positions a couple days ago but hadn't gotten a chance to ask.
Unless I'm mistaken about the Iowa class and USN procedures, the actual visibility from the steering position is irrelevant. The helmsman is only concerned with maintaining course, it's the officer who has the ship who tells the helmsman how to steer, and this officer would often be somewhere entierly elsewhere than where the actual steering wheel was, depending on what's going on - usually the outdoor bridge, but after WW2, enclosed, unarmoured bridges were more common due to nuclear fallout concerns.
This is still true today. The helmsman is not supposed to be looking anywhere but at his gauges or read outs. Other wise he would get a sharp rebuke “Mind your helm!” From the officer who has the conn.
@@lindabergeron1881 what is the difference "quotes having the ship" and " having the conn"?
From Star Trek I'm used to "you have the conn Me. Sulu." But I recently saw on the Australian show Sea patrol "XO you have the ship".
David Bober's channel has an original 1940s admiralty instructional video entitled "duties of the helmsman", which explains the steering procedures.
i want ryan to climb through my window someday and whisper in my ear "hi im ryan szimanski battleship owner"
A 16 inch diameter window...that's also 50 calibers long, lol.
:D
Informative video. Thank you.
The videos are excellent. Yes, keep making them!
It's unfortunate we don't have "Smell-o-Vision". The smell of hydraulic fluid and other greases in aft steering will truly give you a sense for how miserable it is back there. Oh, and then there's the heat when it's actually operational!lol! And yes, I have stood a few aft steering watches while getting my qual's.
After steering had the best ac on the ship because the steering gear and associated equipment needed to be kept cool. The ship I was on we had 3 people in aft steering for sea and anchor detail, unreps and what not. There was a BM, a MM, and an EM. Low man on the totem pole got stuck wearing the sound powered phones and stay awake. Other than when the bridge shifted steering to after steering to check the rudders, there was nothing to do. There was what was called 'white noise' from the motors that was guaranteed to put you out. This is why one person had to stay awake.
Thanks Ryan
Well done, thank you.
Love it! Happy to have the remake, hope you'll consider keeping the earlier versions as well to preserve the history of the channel as it evolves.
If I may ask what may be a naive question ... how are the steering stations actually connected to the rams to steer the ship? Is the connection electrical, hydraulic, or even some complicated system of cables and gears?
Electric
@@BattleshipNewJersey I would presume the rear steering was hydraulic only? (Other than electricity that's spinning the motors that turned the hydraulic pumps.)
Keep up the good work
I love you’re vids on these old ships
Redundancy galore 😁 Amazing Ship . Great video 👍
Thanks 👍
I would like to see if you could do a video on the magnetic compass at midship. When I toured your sister ship Wisconsin, we got to see this. Although they didn't go in depth about it. I did find it interesting as to how the use of non magnetic materials were used in this area as well. Thanks guys. Loving the videos, keep them coming please.
Really enjoyed the video! You guys do a great job!
All your videos are great thx
Love these videos.
In case of complete power failure, there are also typically hand-powered hydraulic pumps, and in case of complete failure of the hydraulic system as well, a block and tackle is used. I don't know about the battleship itself, but on every ship I was on, that was the case (two LSDs, an AD, and an FF.
TY, great job.
Yes, more. Very interesting.
My father was a QM1 on the USS Washington during WWII. He described occasionally being assigned to aft steering. He mentioned the ability to steer the ship with hand operated hydraulic pumps.
Yes, but even on a Fletcher class DD those hand pumps were hell on the crew, during the Battle of Samar at least one of the Fletchers had to resort to that method of steering and even the burly crewmen could only go for 15 minutes before they where exhausted and had to switch out, they also couldn't keep up with the Captain's steering orders as well.
I think if you needed to steer an Iowa class that way you would probably put the rudders to ahead and just adjust the speed of the outboard screws to cause an "off center" axis of thrust
@@can_hauler No ability to steer "manually" on the Iowa class. Just too large a rudder!
really interesting to see how it works thanks for the videos!
STRONG WORK
I suppose the safest spot on the New Jersey, is the back seat driver. Lol
Yep. Steering is important. Remember that it was a torpedo to the rudder that crippled the Bismark. Great ship, badly protected rudder system.
All that Krupp steel couldn't save her.
no protection would have helped. what would have helped is 4 propellers so you can steer with those over the stuck rudderblade.
@@geofffikar3417 all that steel forced the fleet pummeling her to do so for many hours and land some 400 shell hits, though. 😉
That is one hell of a tie rod at the end
Excellent job sound is much better love this content !
Ryan, your presentation is getting better all the time.
Thank you youtube algorythm for suggesting me this channel
I hate it when people use Clickbait to get people to watch their videos but for this I think you should look into it. I look forward to taking a tour. My wife’s grandfather served on the Texas. Clifford Trevor Reynolds.
"Four steering stations."
......forgets aft emergency steering. 😁
My understanding is that armoring conning towers fell out of fashion because placing that much weight high in the ship was potentially destabilizing and could harm her ability to recover from a roll.
He stated this in another video, long with that a shell hitting the outside of the conning tower, even if it doesn't penetrate, is probably going to kill everyone inside anyway. So you might as well as save the weight.
@@ThePTBRULES well makes sense, if you can't see anything anyway might as well steer from deep in the belly of the ship
@@ThePTBRULES, per the Wikipedia article on it, hits to the conning tower did kill its inhabitants.
I stood throttle s on dd830 good video s
Awesome video! I've seen the 04 level and Central Station spaces in person many years ago, loved seeing the 08 level and aft steering spaces too. I was thinking about the USS California while watching this and wondering (post rebuild) if the primary space where that boat was driven (while not at GQ) was in the foremast?
In every ship I served on the Helmsman (an enlisted sailor) turned the wheel as required to stay on a certain course. They were not to steer the ship by their own volition only follow the course change orders as issued by the Officer Of The Deck or Captain if he chose to issue a course and/or speed change. Speed changes were handled by another enlisted sailor next to the Helmsman using the ship's telegraph and his name was the Lee Helmsman. On modern Navy ships the Helmsman actually is seated at a console on the bridge and cannot even see over it to see where the ship is going. The Officer Of The Deck stood next to him looking out where the ship was going issuing course changes. Instead of a huge ship's wheel the console the Helmsman was seated at had a 7 inch diameter representation of a traditional spoked ships wheel to steer the ship and a throttle slider to issue speed and direction changes. As technology developed in the Navy more and more manned positions were eliminated reducing the size of the crew.
The real old school is to order rudder angles to the helmsman.
I'm a new subscriber and very happy be. Very interesting segment and keep up the great work that you do...
Russ
Welcome aboard!
@@BattleshipNewJersey Thank You... I am an Air Force Vietnam Vet and was stationed at Tuy Hoa, in 1968, right on the coast line and remember occasionally hearing those 2500 lb shells flying over head. It was an awe inspiring event for me. I was an Air Policeman helping to guard the base at night..... A year I have always remembered with Pride. Russ
I expect the meteorological office was added at some point after 1944, so that captains and admirals couldn't just sit in their offices and insist they weren't sailing through a typhoon.
Another awesome and informative vid. This videos raise more and more questions about the Iowa Class. Did all the hydraulic motors and actuators use just one fluid/oil type to keep things simple or where there different hydraulic fluids like one specific type for the turrets and guns and other fluid types for other things?
As I recall, we had the same hydraulic fluid for all "my" systems as A Gang Officer. These would include steering, anchor windlass and the FAS rig tensioning ram. But I'm unsure if the fluid in the guns, 5" and 16", were similar. Great question!
Could you do a video on U.S.S. Missouri 's grounding in 1950 at Thimble Shoals ? Thanks.
I watched one on another site. Was quite informative. Can't recall where on Utube
Check this out ruclips.net/video/hXdfoTXsXl8/видео.html
That event keeps coming back to mind lately in the face of Evergreen Lines stuffing up another one of their ships in shallow water, this time Chesapeake Bay south of Baltimore. :D
In the book "Strike Able Peter" which is about the grounding of the Missouri, steering was in the process of being shifted from the 08 level to the 04 level just before she ran aground. The helmsman is quoted as reporting that the rudder were responding sluggishly as she burrowed into the mud.
Chief Engineer earned a commendation for shutting down the engines and closing all the seawater entryways on the hull as soon as he realized they were grounding. His quick action probably saved Missouri's power plant from catastrophic damage.
My first ship was USS Tulare (LKA-112) In after steering it not only had the hydraulic steering motors, but manual pumps for our single rudder. I was told it would take 4 to 6 men between 12 to 20 turns of the manual pumps to move the rudder 1 degree. Tulare was essentially a converted cargo ship to carry amphibious units. I really doubt that a BB would have something like that.
Have you been in contact with Drachinifel? He does this very sort of thing, though not centered on any one ship. I would love to see you two collaborate.
Yes please!
I'm planning on a visit soon, maybe next weekend. I took my son to the USS Slater and now I want him to see the Battleship so he get's an idea what Taffy 3 faced.
Thank you for the red dot.
awesome ty
Thanks for your hard work Ryan. The videos are an amazing look into the technology of the past.
A request - you mention armour thicknesses. Could you please do a video showing us the armour thicknesses in various parts of the ship, and maybe take a hard rubber hammer with you and tap the hull so we can hear it (I’m thinking of the sailors tapped at Pearl and their attempts to get help).
In the video on starting the engines you mentioned a Nee Jersey Zippo lighter, but I couldn’t find it in the store. Is it no longer available?
Man I spent many hours at the helm on the Whisky Punch!
Could not see a thing from inside that hot a@@ room! The the conning officer would holler outside Helmsman come starboard bearing one-six-zero degrees
Helmsman would repeat what he said and start bearing starboard till shop rested at 160 degree, he would then say conning officer ship is bearing 160
Great memories!
87-91 BB64 Plank owner
On some ships, there was a block and tackle system that could be set up and used as a last resort to move the rudder. Does New Jersey have such a setup? I am guessing it does not because of how massive the rudders.
No, she doesn't.
The LST does
I was on the LSD29 in 63 and one of my tasks during GQ was to man a manual hydraulic pump, along with three others in order to steer the ship if all-electric power was lost. We were able to move the rudder when the ship was underway with slight power to the propellers.
Good video guessing the crew never had to practice manual rudder maneuvers using chain falls.
Grandson: grandpa, what coolest thing you do when my age?
Grandpa: i steer battle ship, big battle ship
Were the Iowas the first class to use electronic repeaters? That must have been pretty new technology.
You mentioned the gyro compass repeater, but I guess the signals from directors and the steering signals were also transmitted to repeaters / servos.
Is the wiring for these repeaters also redundant (e.g. running through both sides of the ship)?
Second star to the right and straight on 'til morning.
Flank Speed for Pearl...I got a dame waiting for me...
No new battleships were designed without conning towers.
The ones that were considered for removal were on the older WW1 era ships.
Agreeing with some other comments here - how were the various steering positions connected mechanically? And, what was done mechanically or electronically when the con was passed from one position to another?