Nice video tour of the inside of the big gun turrett of an Iowa class battleship. It's amazing how small some of the areas are, the steps needed to load the guns and how they are fired.

It's a place few will ever get to see.






Link to original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgCNHFujWdQ

Thanks for posting this. The marvels in engineering of the Iowa class never cease to amaze. I took a tour of the Missouri and was absolutely awestruck.

Cool. I did crawl around the USS Alabama. The turrets were open from top to bottom, top was really tight and entrance unmarked, not sure if I was supposed to be in there.

Interesting. Too bad they didn't show the sofa bed, vending machines, and ping pong table inside the turret.

I remembered when I was a sailor scurrying through hatchways and ladders and wondering how long it would take me to go through a small hatchway now. LOL

My Dad was on the Iowa in WWII, now he is 94years old and still going strong. I got to tour the New Jersey (same type ship) a few years ago. We were able to get inside the gun turret on that ship. Very interesting, and not much room to move.
Rod

Really cool...I've explored the USS Alabama several times - love those old ships!

Paging member feersum dreadnaught!

Ha ,thought for a second,we done got to be old men and much larger [fat] these days.
Was a time we ran up the ladders,put one leg thru and ducked down at the waist with the speed of a jack rabbit before the hatch got closed.
If I could squeeze into my dress jumper someone would have to pull it off,hell that is wishful thinking,that thing shrunk decades ago.

If you ever get a chance to get to Norfolk VA, you can tour the USS Wisconsin. Tour includes most areas of the Turret and is a great tour. My son and I have done the tour several times including an overnight stay.

quote:

Originally posted by sig sailor:
My Dad was on the Iowa in WWII, now he is 94years old and still going strong. I got to tour the New Jersey (same type ship) a few years ago. We were able to get inside the gun turret on that ship. Very interesting, and not much room to move.
Rod

I was also able to go into the turret on the New Jersey BB62 several times when we stayed on the battleship with the Boy Scouts. Also go to get into the 5" turret manned by the Marines on the New Jersey. Some pretty thick steel on that class battleship.

I love crawling over/through battleships. I've toured the Massachusetts, Alabama, North Carolina, and Texas. I go every time I'm anywhere near one of them.

I think only North Carolina allowed me to go into the magazine - that was really cool. Every ship is different, in that they allow/prohibit access to different parts of the ships. Of course, this makes sense, as these were not built with OSHA standards in mind. It's funny, but they could allow access to 98% of the ship, and I would obsess over the 2% that I couldn't go into.

Some ships had all 3 main turrets (not Texas, obviously ) open, and I would go into all three. I know Turret 2 and 3 are exactly like Turret 1, but I'm OCD that way. I actually got into two of the Mark 37 AA gun directors on one of them. The doors were open, and there wasn't any sign that said "Do Not Enter," so up I went. They were HOT, dirty, dusty, and probably had rat turds and/or asbestos all over the place, but it's probably the only opportunity I'll ever have to do so.

It's funny watching movies and recognizing stuff from them. The Alabama has a big yellow girder welded into a long hallway (through water-tight doors) that they put there for that stupid "Under Seige" movie. I was watching "Battleship" recently, and they clearly show this same hallway (yeah, stupid movie, but I don't care - IT'S AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!).

I've been on the North Carolina several times, and it amazed me how tight everything was. But once I went on the sub docked at Charleston, the North Carolina looked roomy.

I was fortunate enough to do a "hard hat" tour of one of the last dreadnaughts. The U.S.S Texas is berthed at the San Jacinto Park.

We were all over and into that vessel and spent an entire day exploring (guided). What a thrill! We did get in to the tight spaces of the turrets which was very cool to see how the projectiles and powder charges were delivered and loaded!

https://battleshiptexas.org/

This message has been edited. Last edited by: TomS,

Cool video. I don’t know what it is about battleships, and why they still provoke such nostalgia today. These ships were obsolete before their keels were laid, decades before my birth, but I still love them. They’re the pinacle of guy’s toys, turning money into noise and smoke.

Pretty good tour - brings back lots of memories. amusing to see him in tyvek coveralls and gloves to go inside the turret. hydraulic fluid is nothing compared to some of the greases used on topside winch lines.

some additional great info here: http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_16-50_mk7.php

and perspective - the primer for a 16" 50 is in the middle, between a .458 win mag and a 45/70. Electronically ignited, it sets off a "primer patch" of blackpowder attached to the end of the ~100 pound powder bag, with 6 bags per shot. cylindrical powder grains, about 2" long and 1" in diameter...

Wonderful ships!

Thanks for the video.

I have toured ALABAMA BB 60 a number of times. My son and i have spent the night aboard ship in crew berths while he was in the cub scouts. Pretty cool experience to explore the ship and its deep turrets when it's quiet at night and no crowds around.

quote:

Originally posted by Hound Dog:

It's funny watching movies and recognizing stuff from them. The Alabama has a big yellow girder welded into a long hallway (through water-tight doors) that they put there for that stupid "Under Seige" movie. I was watching "Battleship" recently, and they clearly show this same hallway (yeah, stupid movie, but I don't care - IT'S AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!).

uh, yeah - that yellow girder is actually a thing. the longest passageway on the ship is called "broadway" - it connects all 4 engine rooms fore to aft. When you need to move the occasional heavy thing around, there is an electric hoist on rollers. you have to bolt in sections of beam when you need to get through a water tight door, then remove it so the door can close when you go to general quarters.

a look down broadway...

I’m just glad I don’t have to keep that ship painted.

quote:

Originally posted by sigcrazy7:
Cool video. I don’t know what it is about battleships, and why they still provoke such nostalgia today. These ships were obsolete before their keels were laid, decades before my birth, but I still love them. They’re the pinacle of guy’s toys, turning money into noise and smoke.

Well, the Battleships completed in WWII were 'obsolete,' but we didn't know it while they were designed/ordered.

And "obsolete" does NOT mean "useless." We had to keep battleships because our enemies did. They were STILL dreadfully useful, even though they were surpassed by the aircraft carrier groups as the 'main strength' of a modern navy. The German battleship Tirpitz (hiding up in a Norwegian fjord) kept the main battle fleet of the UK and US Atlantic Fleet 'tied down' until her ultimate destruction. After she was gone (the last German BB), those battleships were transferred to the Pacific. They still did great work as AA escorts (where, of course, their main armament and most of their armor were wasted), and shore bombardment (where their main guns were VERY useful).

I think only the Brits and French kept BBs after WWII (the Brits, IIRC, spent so much on the HMS Vanguard that they used her to 'show the flag' until her final retirement) (the French finished one or two (Jean Bart/Richelieu) into the 50s, again, IIRC).

quote:

Originally posted by feersum dreadnaught:

uh, yeah - that yellow girder is actually a thing. the longest passageway on the ship is called "broadway" - it connects all 4 engine rooms fore to aft. When you need to move the occasional heavy thing around, there is an electric hoist on rollers. you have to bolt in sections of beam when you need to get through a water tight door, then remove it so the door can close when you go to general quarters.

Oh, I did not know that. I think the tour guide told us it was installed for the movie. That didn't make that much sense to me at the time (marring a historical gem for a stupid movie).

quote:

Originally posted by feersum dreadnaught:
Pretty good tour - brings back lots of memories. amusing to see him in tyvek coveralls and gloves to go inside the turret. hydraulic fluid is nothing compared to some of the greases used on topside winch lines.

some additional great info here: http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_16-50_mk7.php

and perspective - the primer for a 16" 50 is in the middle, between a .458 win mag and a 45/70. Electronically ignited, it sets off a "primer patch" of blackpowder attached to the end of the ~100 pound powder bag, with 6 bags per shot. cylindrical powder grains, about 2" long and 1" in diameter...

I was going to say, there are probably two of us on here who were fortunate enough to be in a turret durning live fire. Feersum and myself. I worked on the Phalanx CIWS 20mm system, but since I was in the same department as the gunners mates, I got to hang out during some live fire. Pretty much everybody un the department had to handle ammo during onloads and offloads. Those are some memories that will last until the end of my days!

quote:

Originally posted by arfmel:
I’m just glad I don’t have to keep that ship painted.

That's why there were so many people aboard!

(not really, they crew numbers were such that if the crew took significant fatalities and injuries the ship could keep fighting. WWII Crew: 134 officers and 2,400 enlisted)