About the ballast; why doesn't the ship use solid ballast to keep the ship level like sandbags or even 'sell' disposal of scrap into the holds for ballast? VS pumping water in & out? Just wondering for the reason for/against such an idea.
A few Questions, Sir... How many Curators does it take to fill the Fore Peak Tank? Will there be a Curator-Keel-Hauling Ceremony in Drydock? What is the range on the RS-4 Curator-Surface-Search Radar? Hey, Ryan - when you get her restored - can we borrow your Boat? ;) :) Seriously though - Respect for all your efforts.
@@jerextalan you want to be able to move ballast around. If the ship takes a hit you might need to counterflood to keep it from rolling over. It's a lot easier and faster to move liquid ballast around than solid ballast because pumps can do the work instead of people lifting and moving sandbags.
If I remember my antenna/terminology, that big piece attached to the waveguide is the Feedhorn. Spent a summer as an amateur techie with 6' thru 12' dish antennas, and helped get a Canadian contract for Solar Panel Charging of Primary and Secondary Batteries at the Northern DEW line stations (Diversitel Communications, on Collonade Rd. mid 80's)
@@rileyk99 on top? Mine's been in the basement, no wonder I get lousy reception. Although, I'm fairly certain that no aircraft will sneak under my radar. Well, if any do, I suspect it'll be safe enough to ignore them.
From 1987 to 1991 I was the Director Of Operations Plans in the North East Air Defense Sector. Many times we launched fighters to intercept Soviet TU-95 aircraft entering the North Atlantic. One night we not only were data linked to an E-3 which I sent with a pair of fighters and tankers to intercept, but we data linked to New Jersey and saw her air picture from that very radar you are removing. We used to help track the Bears and affect an intercept.
@@Andystuff800 of course its non-functional, but you'd have to explain why you think the Navy would remove an obsolete antenna and who would pay to make an exact 1 ton replica. Pretty sure its exactly the antenna that was on the ship when it was decommissioned.
@@Andystuff800 The system is deactivated, but the antenna is the same one. The point is not the equipment but the fact we linked to the New Jersey's air search radar and used it to maintain track on a TU-95 over the North Atlantic far outside land based radar range. This was a big help while we were waiting for the AWACS fighter team to get within radar range.
@@Ganiscol that very radar is still in use on some warships that are in service. Big Navy's considering upgrading the electronics, which should allow a modest reduction of crew, as those men won't be needed to wind the old equipment up several times a day. OK, they are considering upgrading the electronics, but nothing is wind up, they have squirrel cages for EM's and the occasional misbehaving ensign to run on. The most current revision has seven components to the system, the antenna being only one and well, trivially replaced if necessary. During decomissioning, all of the electronics would be removed and a fair amount of its wiring would be chopped and ripped out. Recommissioning or refit, a lot of wiring, if not all gets replaced. Learned that from the Forest Fire's last refit, where the Navy ordered a ludicrous amount of multiple types of war, next day air to the yard - with the vessel not due in port for at least a month. When I asked the company owner why he juiced the price so high for the government, he explained that at that time, the government frequently took up to a year to pay. Yeah, worse a hell of a lot of hats over the years! Including the one in my avatar, which kept me from choking to death on dust and sand.
I knew how big it was and somehow it's bigger. Goes to show how much radar tech has advanced. They don't make them that big anymore, not that i know of. :))
A big hats off to Magic Spoon for sponsoring this. It takes a ballsy company to stand with anything military related in today’s super thin skinned environment. But, they did! I would buy Magic Spoon products today if not for being on a fixed budget now.
I think it is written in law somewhere that if you live within a 20 mile radius of the center of Philly, you must wear your beanie exactly as shown by the curator in this video. 😂
I’m absolutely fascinated by watching “Battleship New Jersey museum curator Ryan Szimanski’s” transformation into an influencer. In several years you need to do a reaction to these older, very cringy, but very cute and adorkable videos. 😂❤🎉
Our version was similar , an awkward lift to get level for bolting down . Even though it's not going to be used again a good idea to make sure the waveguide is sealed whilst the antennae is dockside .
On the mountain top behind our neighborhood, was the New Almaden USAF radar station it operated until 1980 as part of the Norad / SAGE early warning system. Was quite the impressive site. A 4-story concrete cube supported the 85 ton AN/FPS-24 Radar antenna. The antenna was 125' across and had 4-100 Hp motors to rotate the 85 ton monster. Normal transmitting power was 5 megawatts (yeah) and could be cranked up to 7.5 megawatts in war time. I was lucky to have a live tour just before decommissioning, including the command center. It was impressive technology considering 1980. The antenna was removed during decommissioning. Now it's a hiking park. The local agencies wanted to demolish everything, but there was a huge public outcry to save the cube. It's still there but gutted. There's only a couple packs explaining what the cube is, but dozens of packs explaining the wildlife and native people. I found that saddening.
Hope you're planning a DVD of the entire process of getting ready for dry docking, trip to PNY, repairs done and return home trip as part of fund raising for project.
I definitely want to see a pretty detailed before and after the ballast is added. I'm used to seeing the Iowas as they are now so the added ballast is sure to be a noticeable change.
Seeing BB-62 get floated underneath the bridge and into the drydock will be quite the sight, but for me the actual draining of the drydock and getting a clear picture of the work ahead is the most exciting to me. After all, that will set the tone for the rest of the drydocking period :)
I'm looking forward to seeing you guys disconnect from shore power, although that's probably going to be the very last thing you do. It will be interesting to see what parts of the entrance you have to move to allow the ship to move, if you have to move anything that is.
Now that the SPS-49 antenna structure is on the ground for the drydock time, it would be a good time to find & attach the IFF bar antenna that goes across the end of the waveguide/feedhorn support.
Ryan, I'm hoping for a live feed of the whole project, if possible. Quite a few years ago, Roadkill did an engine swap, at the PRI event. Still here on the 'Tube. steve
Your videos have been so educational, and interesting. I probably won't be in your part of the world anytime soon, but if I find myself there I will definitely book a tour. In the meantime I really appreciate you and your educational content. I donated last year and just donated again. Good luck with the drydock project!
I cant remember what the foward structural element is called but the triangular peice the wave guide goes to is the Feedhorn. Also on most antennas you will see a horizontal bar looking antenna attached under the feedhorn , that is the ships back up IFF antenna.
Our Lynx did a fine job of chopping off the top of the IFF transponder once, few feet down and the radar would have gone Forward protruding part is the horn
Hey Battleship New Jersey: You should do a video on the yardarms. Like, what they are, what they were on sailing ships, what they are used for on /New Jersey/, etc. You can probably use some of the raw footage from this video.
A question i have is, what are some of the safty precautions for moving and drydocking BBNJ? Will the bridge be closed down, or will it be open to the public while moving it under?
When you have other parties working on jobs like this, ask them for their reactions. I'm a regular IT guy but when you'd have me do my regular boring IT stuff on board a battleship (we have tons of those here in the Netherlands) for a day I'd be telling all my friends and family about it for weeks.
I am so enthralled by the whole process! Maybe a dumb question but, is New Jersey _perceivably_ more stable with the top weight you've removed? Will it be more so undertow?
"Thank God." "Yes, thank God, Vetterson. And I'll thank the Electric Boat Division. That covers us either way." My favorite quote from Ice Station Zebra
I assume this goes the same for the New Jersey. But I heard if they Turned on the Battleship North Carolina's radar it would blow out the Wilmington airport radar system.
Love watching all your projects, but I want to know if you are planning to "weigh the ship" so to speak while in dock? And please show us how that is done. We know you don't actually weigh the ship but the water it displaces right? Plus all the rigging you removed previous to going to drydock. Never had explained how that is done. Please Ryan do a segment on this.
Could you explain more the potential impacts of ballasting the ship with water (corrosion?) and what kind of clean up you will have to do later when you drain those tanks again?
Unlike when the ship was in service, since they are docked in a river they can use river water for ballast. Fresh water is less corrosive than sea water and you might be able to put in an additive to control the Ph level of the water to 7 or 8 ( 7 is neutral, neither acid nor alkaline, 8 slightly alkaline) this could reduce any corrosive action even further. Another thing to consider is since it was designed to operate at sea, the ballast figures were calculated for salt water, so the ship sits a little deeper in fresh water due to less bouceny.
Good that this is coming along. You mentioned 2 months of yard period. Curiously, how is Battleship Texas affording the bills of her being in the dry dock for as long as she has and for longer?
The State of Texas has (according to the Battleship Texas Foundation website) given $60m for their dry dock work as opposed to the $8m - $10m that I believe Battleship New Jersey Museum & Memorial are looking to spend.
Screw that. My ears get cold. My cap gets pulled down over my EARS!! USN, 68-74, ETR-2, NAS Miramar, 70-74, I fixed GCA RADAR and TACAN. I've climbed a number of towers, including the 120ft amateur radio club tower at Treasure Island, K6NCG in 68-69, and worked for Motorola in the mid-end of 90's, and a few other ham towers in between. I'm 75, and would still climb my own tower if need be, but there is not much up there, anymore.
Great job with the radar! Sorry if this was already covered, but have you confirmed that the entire hull is floating? Has a diver verified that none of the hull has been silted in, or is there another process for addressing this?
With the 16" guns exposed to the weather, what kind of provisions are in place to prevent rainwater from entering the breach and rusting the barrel and perhaps even running into the turret and machinery? Thanks in advance!
Im pretty sure the part of the parabolic antenna that protrudes is just called the support arm or boom for the actual antenna. Thankfully not some annoying acronym
On the question of "How long is a Curator?" 1meters 83 0r in Equestrian measure= 9.8 hands Or 0.000987 Nautical Miles In a more colloquial measure, 1.0746268 Smoots.
How important is it to make sure you get the ship in the same exact spot when you bring it back? If so, do you have a process in place to make sure it is?
