In previous videos, we've discussed turret and loading operations, the movement of ammunition from magazines to the guns and even the construction of gun barrels and powder charges. All that is left is how to fire a loaded gun.
Excellent work! You are one of the most underrated challenges ever. You're ability to explain the complex equipment in a clear and concise way is invaluable to us. Thank you!
Concise and informative as ever Tom, your graphics to explain how the systems work are superb 👍 I’m very much looking forward to the move and seeing the repair work underway
Excellent explanation, especially for electric firing. I had assumed a solenoid driving the hammer. Had not thought of using a hot wire. In the case of the triple turrets in the Pennsylvanias that we were discussing some days ago, there would be no way for the plug man to be out of the way when closing the breech, due to the bottom hinged plugs and lack of room between the guns.
The duties for the three plug men in a Nevada or Pennsylvania triple gun turret were very different from those on Texas. The following was taken from a 1927 gunnery drill manual. From a position below the gun, they opened the breech and locked it in the open position, inserted the primer, then unlocked the plug once the gun was loaded and tray removed.
Another great video! Thank you for your detailed yet very clear explanation. And, good luck to you, the rest of the ship's company and the TEXAS for the great move to the floating dock in Galveston, which should be complete about this time one week from today.
Great videos, thank you! I watched all your films on loading and firing the 14" guns. I was just amazed at how labour intensive it was with so many men handling powder bags and shells all the way up from the magazines. I guess a modern ship would employ more mechanical handling and automation.
Tom, thank you for all your sweat and hard work to produce these videos, once again a great video!!!! Should be must watch in high school history classes!!!!
love your videos Tom, you'll have to do one about yourself and cover your own history, just so we can learn a little of you this was something i wanted to do when i was involved with an aviation museum, we had many pilots who flew all kinds of aircraft of the Cold War period, i often wanted them to give us an account of what they did because once they have gone, their story and their anecdotes would be lost forever, i often heard them telling their tales to visitors, and realised it be a shame to lose that as it gave more depth to a subject, at least some stories could be repeated to keep their memory alive as well as those who used these machines, the history continues as with Texas and her current crew of volunteers, not only service men and women who served onboard but also the past and present volunteers story can be told and what they did and do, everything that goes on with Texas, the dry docking and the repair work, the teams of folk doing this work is all part of Texas's ongoing history, needs documenting and on display for the public as we have here on you tube - Tom your a very important part of this documenting how she worked etc - and you speak so well too, many thanks, from the UK
Tom another fantastic in depth video thankyou for keeping battleship texas's mechanical and engineering history alive and teaching everyone why this ship is so unique marvel. Will you be on the ship for the move and also will you be doing videos when she's in dry dock.
I will not be on the ship during the tow. As much as I would like to be, there are several very good reasons for me not to. However, I plan to be watching from shore! Yes, I plan to continue making videos about systems and procedures. If by wild chance I am allowed to go on board while she is in dry dock, I may try to shoot something, but only if given permission to do so.
Thankyou Tom totally understandable hope you find a good spot to see her from. I live in the UK not far from porthsmouth and have heard stories about texas from my grandad who was at normandy. so always had an interest in texas and your videos bring it to life. hopefully i can get to watch the live feed of the move around work.
@@tomscotttheolderone364 Enjoy watching her from shore, that will be amazing to see her on the move. I'll be working, so will watch on the live stream. I hope you get permission to board her in the drydock, would love a video if you do.
The Battleship Texas channel just posted a 30min video of a crane moving... I told them they should just give the whole thing to you Tom! Hopefully the move goes well.
Thanks, but they have a much better handle on this than I do. However, I was standing in a position above and behind the camera at the bridge earlier. We were sprucing up the bridge for the channel pilot, Coast Guard and contractors who will be stationed there during the tow.
I had opportunity to visit Texas about ten years ago. I remeber noticing the firing locks were missing from both guns in the one main battery turret I was able to see as well as the 5" guns. I'd hoped the locks had simply been removed for preservation or storage or something. Too bad they're not with the ship anymore.
What amazes me is how so many separate systems were drawn by designers, draftsmen and engineers with pencil and paper on drafting tables and they all fit together as they should. The ship was the most complex thing in the world when it was built. When taking deep tours of the ship the small margins for error become very apparent.
Please forgive me if it's already been covered, but have you done any videos covering the Main Battery Fire Control position at the top of the foremast? I've always wondered what it looked like in there (or the other battleships that featured this type of fire control), but have never seen it covered.
Sorry, but I don't have plans to address the main battery fire control positions. Other than uninteresting things like a telephone jack panel, the Navy removed all equipment from it when the ship was prepared for donation as a museum in 1948. All that is left are empty compartments that are in need of repair. While we have a World War II equipment inventory that lists the major items in it, we don't have any drawings that show other important equipment or room layout. I also have not been able to find any documentation that gives detailed descriptions or operating procedures for the director. For those reasons, I would not be able to give a decent description of the position or its operation beyond simply guessing.
Tom, I really miss the video's you were doing. They were incredibly informative. I saw on another channel for the USS Iowa a video explaining how to manually lower the guns in one of the 16" turrets. They were having to dis-engage a holding pin in the gun elevation mechanism before moving it, in similar fashion to the turret locking pin that you had shown in one of your video's. Does the Texas also have a locking pin for the guns like this?
Thank you for your kind compliment. I am not aware of any locking pin for the elevating mechanism, nor am I sure why one was needed. The stresses on the elevating gears are entirely different than on the training gear and the loads are far less.
I am guessing your fire control computers were salvaged by the Navy at some point for parts for the surviving classes of battleships? was it the same computer the Iowas used their whole carrers?
The range keepers on Texas were Ford Mk 1, Mod 11 (Hannibal Ford, not Henry Ford), while I believe those on the Iowa class were Mark VIII. Texas' range keepers could do nothing more than provide a decent firing solution that was displayed on needle matching receivers in front of gun pointers and trainers. They used that information to aim the guns from their positions in the turrets. The Mk. VIII was far more capable. It could not only incorporate other additional variables, like the Earth's Coreolis effect, it could also automatically aim the guns through the use of servos. I have heard that the range keepers, the stable element and the directors located in other positions on Texas were removed due to their weight, but I cannot confirm that.
You are right, it is better lose 2 guns instead of 3. However, there were major benefits with a 3-gun turret that made their use unavoidable. The 5 turrets on Texas and 6 turrets on the prior Wyoming class were somewhat sarcastically called turret farms due to their shear number. By going to 3-gun turrets and eliminating one of them, you lose some gun protection, but you also lose the weight of the extra turret and barbette. The equipment and powder magazines required to feed it are also lost. Also eliminated is the need to protect those magazines with armor and the space all of that occupies. The typical result was overall weight savings of over 2,000 tons. The designers used those savings to improve hull and deck armor over what remained for even better protection. So while you increase the possibility of losing an third gun in a turret hit, you have also increased overall protection and defensive strength of the ship. They went back to 2-gun turrets in later Colorado class built in the early 1920's that used 16" guns. The tremendous weight increase of those guns, turrets and ammunition storage required going back to 2 guns since the ship hulls didn't increase enough in size to provide the buoyancy needed to support a 3-gun design. It wasn't until the 1930's that ship size increased enough to support 16", 3-gun turrets.
@@tomscotttheolderone364 Never thought of all of that, Really appreciate the explanation...no wonder they never tried the 18” haha....Although Ive read about a Tillman class ship, cant remember if it was US or UK design but i think they proposed 18”....a 14 or 16” shell hitting the decks towers or turrets had disastrous effects anyway, but ya gotta hit the ship first 🎯 Thanks again!
