Heavy Cruiser Discussion

I asked John Noll, from the USS Newport News museum, and got this back:

Hi Neil,

I believe both of you are right. We have the "Underway" wheel in our

museum on the Salem. It is solid brass with a rubber rim. The "Show"

wheel which is wooden and has spokes is on the SSN-750.

John

Probably a wheel off the Newport News. Those things are highly desirable and pilferable by individuals leaving the command. During the 4 years I was on Ranger we had three different wheels. Especially the smaller wheels. I remember seeing sailors carrying off throttle wheels from ship's engine rooms as recently as 1999. But those ships were going through decommisioning. You never know what is going off the ship in all of those garbage bags.

Ship's bells, too. Not the big, 600 pound fog bells (although we had one stolen off the Ranger when we were in Subic Bay, PI in 1974) but the smaller ones used on the bridge and quarterdeck. I don't recall seeing any ship's bells with the ship's name or date on them for over 38 years. One reason for that is that would make them even more enticing to swipe. Maybe this practice is not as prevalent now as it was back in earlier times, but I am sure that it is common enough. They shine up really pretty.

Nevertheless, ships don't always go through their lives with all of their original equipment. And who is to say where the wheel in that case or the wheel on the current USS Newport News came from originally.

I saw two episodes of Pawn Stars where, in one, a quartermaster's long glass  and, in the other, where a Navy chronometer (in the gimballed box housing and with the securing pin installed) were being pawned. I wonder where they originated. This stuff is usually recirculated in the fleet. That is one reason for the NCIS's existence.

 

What wheel is this, then?  http://www.uss-newport-news.com/salem/picture/Tour/Tour_5.html  (Sorry I don't have a better picture.  The wheel is the very round object in the display case.

Her wheel is mounted on a bulkhead in the weapons handling passageway on the USS Newport News (SSN-750).

 

A searat12 thread! I remember him well....

Mine is the USS Newport News. CA-148 Callsign:  Thunder.  She was the last of the big gun cruisers

and will always be remembered for her time on the gun line off Viet Nam and her raid on Haiphong Harbor.

All the best

Ray

In fact, the wheel from USS Newport News is proudly displayed in the ships museum, which is housed in USS Salem, at the Fore River shipyard in Quincy, MA.

FYI, there was an earlier Haiphong raid, too, in May of '72.  It was quite a night.

I have always been interested in a matchup between the Russian 'Peresviet' and the USS Armored Cruiser, 'Brooklyn'....

searat12 wrote:

SOS ain't chipped, or creamed, it's the left over burgers and sausage from the previous day ground up with milk, and flour for thickening, along with some salt a, pepper, and a maybe a few others, slapped on a piece of toast.... Grits, are reconstituted cornmeal, with concrete mixed in for flavor (not!).....

I really wish you hadn't made that post! My stomach just went nuts again with even the thought! Now I need about six or to eight Peptos, and maybe three or four big aspirins. I happen to smoke a couple cigars every week with an E7 mess sargent, and he's informed me that they no longer have good ole green powdered eggs, and now they are yellow. He wouldn't comment on the taste, but just grined.

gary

SOS ain't chipped, or creamed, it's the left over burgers and sausage from the previous day ground up with milk, and flour for thickening, along with some salt a, pepper, and a maybe a few others, slapped on a piece of toast.... Grits, are reconstituted cornmeal, with concrete mixed in for flavor (not!).....

HAH, I thought I read something about grits here. Ya'll must be yankee heathens. Grits is actually "food of the gods" as is chipped, creamed beast on toast.   Rick Martin

Well, it's amazing how classified info builds up, especially when you work in Intel.  I was senior Analyst for 2-62nd ADA, then Senior Analyst at 2 AD for four years, and believe me, the stuff piles up!  Best to burn is all the plastic acetate from the various exercises, and of course, the umpteen million RFI's, intsums and general message traffic.... Just two people with clearances, a steel trash can, a camoflage pole to stir it, and a quiet afternoons burning in the motorpool, or out in the deserrt.... Bliss!  Once I got to much higher echelons and rank, I used to hand out this task to lower enlisted that had been working very hard, and needed a day to sort themselves out (switch the brain off, burn da paper, and stay upwind.....).

searat12 wrote:

Burning classified information was even better, as most people couldn't even come into the area to see what you were doing, let alone pester you about some stupid detail.... and it could last the best part of a day!

we never had anything that was classified for more than a couple hours max. After that it was either destroyed or returned. 80% was comprimised from the start anyway, as there were information leaks all the way to the situation room in the White House.

gary

Burning classified information was even better, as most people couldn't even come into the area to see what you were doing, let alone pester you about some stupid detail.... and it could last the best part of a day!

well as bad as I hate to say this, the best detail was the burning of the "dodoo" once you figured out the whole scheme of things. You did nothing till about nine in the morning, and was done no later than ten thirty. Came back for a relight about four in the afternoon. In the mean time nobody ever bothered you about anything. Later we learned this, and when some pin head came around to have you go do something you just told him you were "the detail." (even though you were not!) How many of us got to be the "pots & pans man" on KP? I once got put on perminate pots & pans.

gary

searat12 wrote:

I can see you were never enlisted......!  I was just going through my references, and it appears all the battleships and cruisers appear to have gone through numerous paint schemes on a very frequent basis.... No doubt this was to keep the sailors busy (in between dodging kamikazes, torpedos, and Japanese shellfire......).  Sure wish I had the Navy paint supply contract for WW2!

Me? Yes I was... I worked for my Army paycheck as an EM and NCO. My remark was very facetious/satirical. And I will second the motion about having those contracts...

searat12 wrote:

I can see you were never enlisted......!  I was just going through my references, and it appears all the battleships and cruisers appear to have gone through numerous paint schemes on a very frequent basis.... No doubt this was to keep the sailors busy (in between dodging kamikazes, torpedos, and Japanese shellfire......).  Sure wish I had the Navy paint supply contract for WW2!

Believe me, it's still a good contract to have, as are the metal polish and floor wax contracts.

I can see you were never enlisted......!  I was just going through my references, and it appears all the battleships and cruisers appear to have gone through numerous paint schemes on a very frequent basis.... No doubt this was to keep the sailors busy (in between dodging kamikazes, torpedos, and Japanese shellfire......).  Sure wish I had the Navy paint supply contract for WW2!

"Area Beautification"... a good way to prevent idle hands and minds from becoming the Devils workshop...

I suppose it is better than painting rocks......

I wondered what they filled sandbags with when there wasn't any sand around...

It's true that the Des Moines' were late for WWII, but they were ordered in 1943, laid down in May of 45, and that would make them a WWII era class I would say.

We have a pair of their brass shells with wooden dummy projectiles at the quarterdeck at my building. They give the junior sailors here something to polish in their spare time.

...And you sir, have never had Army grits!  Even sandbags won't swallow 'em, and they don't give as much ballistic protection as sand!

The Des Moines were good ships, I think my only complaints are that they were not built until after WW2, and they were so large, a pretty good battlecruiser might have been built on the tonnage!

searat12 wrote:

Grits are only useful as a poor replacement for concrete, but not as tasty!

You, sir, have obviously never been served properly made grits. They should be creamy, buttery and are very versatile in their final preparation. You can have savory or sweet and there is nothing like shrimp and grits. Then again, what would the army know about grits, anyway?

 I'm sticking with the Des Moines class for heavy cruisers because of their rapid rate of fire. C'mon, ten rounds per minute per gun times nine guns, that's ninety 8" rounds in one minute!

Grits are only useful as a poor replacement for concrete, but not as tasty!

Gary, I never touched the stuff either... tried grits once in basic and never again....But SOS, as Searat12 said, became a daily favorite! But didn't any old dogfaces here recognize that cadence?

..And of course, the famous Army breakfast of SOS with scrambled eggs is a classic!  I still make this at home when I have a lot to do that day, but wife thinks it's the most disgusting thing she has ever seen...... I used to think the same way until I actually ate it (only five minutes fer breakfast boys, so pound it down!)....

As for cruisers (again!), the Furutaka's and Kako's were good ships for their era, but were pretty under-gunned and under-armored by WW2..... But then, that could be said of most Japanese light cruisers too!  The later Japanese 'heavies' were very serious contenders though....

stikpusher wrote:

subfixer wrote: The reason must be that they are Navy shells and not Army shells. Everyone knows that the Navy is better than the Army..... G.I. Grits and G.I. Gravy, Gee I wish I'd joined the Navy...

My stomach just churned, and I almost had to puke! To this very day I will not touch the stuff, and will not sit at a table where it's being eaten. I can't even stand the smell! I'd eat powdered eggs before I'd touch that stuff again!

gary

subfixer wrote:

The reason must be that they are Navy shells and not Army shells. Everyone knows that the Navy is better than the Army.....

G.I. Grits and G.I. Gravy, Gee I wish I'd joined the Navy...

My favorite Heavy Cruiser is the USS Quincy (CA-39).  My uncle served on this cruiser during the later part of WWII.  The stories he would tell about this ship was pretty neat.  As a Marine stationed on this ship he got to meet the King of Egypt and Prsident Roosevelt.  When they were on board the ship for secret meetings he was there personal bodyguards.  I have done extensive research on this ship.  It was the second ship to carry the name.  After the battle near Savoy Island where a bunch of heavy cruisers were sunk or badly damaged there were a lot of shuffling of ship names to confuse the enemy.  I have a book that was published by the Defense Department back in the forties listing how the names were switched around.  It is fascinating to see how we would try and fool the enemy to have them think a ship that sunk did not really sink etc.  I just wish there were more heavy cruiser models out there.  I Trumpeter has one and there have been a couple of resin ships that are too expensive and I am not experienced enough to attempt the build.

 

 Handsome ship, Manstein!

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