Museum Battleships in Drydock 

I would absolutely love a video on the aircraft carriers that are museum ships and what they're doing in terms of dry docking

Alabama is stuck in the mud but Hurricane Katrina’s storm surge managed to lift her 26 feet and set her back down with a 7 degree list to port. I remember seeing her right after the storm and it still amazes me 18 years later.

Texas. I was thankful that her frames were still able to support her. Having been in the off-tour spaces, I was really apprehensive that she could support her own weight in dry-dock.

Just two noteworthy things. First, the cofferdam system used by Alabama and North Carolina greatly add protection from tidal and weather induced movement of the water at the wind/water lines. So not only did it serve as means of on-site repairs, as permanent structures, it serves as shielding from wave action that corrodes the steel. Second, after Missouri left dry dock, special permission was granted to tow her out of Pearl Harbor to open waters where a lot of filming for her scenes in the movie "Battleship" was done.

Not a battleship, but the Gato Class WWII Submarine, USS Cod, left Cleveland a few years ago for some Drydock time, and is now back home on the Downtown Lakeshore again. Fun Fact, the Cod is the ONLY Museum Ship Submarine that has not had access holes cut into it to make it easier to tour. You climb down the same ladders the Crew did when she was in service.

I would be interested in the dry dock history of the other larger museum ships along with the ones that can’t go back into dry dock and why?

I go to University of Az and there is a study room called the Arizona Room. There is a large model of the ship in its Pearl Harbor config. The walls are covered in photos of the life of the crew and ship. I respect the hell out of that room. But I took 2 pics on the model from the front which look so cool.

I concur with others that would live to see info on how the carriers have been dry docked and maintained as many are also from the WWII era. You do such a nice job of pulling that type of info together and putting it in context.

I think the most interesting part of each museum ship location is that those caring for these ships are able to adapt to the environments these museum ships reside in to make the necessary repairs. There is not just one standard solution or course of action to be had, and each can learn from each other's past/present experiences. That type of cooperation is invaluable! Obviously, Battleship Texas is leading the way for everyone right now with a wealth of information....... I'm really looking forward to New Jersey's dry docking and the future videos to be made through the entire process. Lots to be learned!!!!

At the 9:45 mark.....You were wondering how Missouri got a Navy drydock at Pearl Harbor? I am going to bet that 19" round brass plaque sunk into the deck next to turret two had something to do with that....😁

Ha! I made it into this video at 12:35! I was the guy wearing the dark gray T-shirt and baseball cap on the Excalibur crew boat lol

i like the information regarding how the ships are 'displayed'. my home town of Port Huron Michigan has a museum ship that is much much smaller than any of the battleships. the LV-103 is a Lightship that was anchored in Lake Huron as a sort of manned buoy near some shoals just north of where the lake flows into the St. Clair River. it was given to the city in 1971 after decommissioning and it sat in a 'side river' for a couple of years. then it was moved up to the St. Clair River, moored to nothing in particular while a seawall was driven around it as a cofferdam. when it was sealed off the water was pumped out and replaced with fill dirt. it has sat in the same place from about 1974 until a couple of years ago when water levels crested the seawall and actually dislodged it from the dirt temporarily! its open through the summer months and while not as impressive as a BB it is very well appointed with original gear and curated by the Port Huron Museum with former crewmembers as docents. you should come see it next year. call me first and ill go with you

I would absolutely love a video on the aircraft carriers that are museum ships

Ryan yes please, further discussion on what other ships are doing about drydocking would be greatly appreciated

Just love those educational videos. Ryan has improved stage presence over the years. Great. Keep up the good wor

I was able to do a keel crawl when the Coral Sea CVA-43 was in dry dock in Portsmith Va.

USS Intrepid went to the Bayonne Drydock at the old Military Ocean Terminal. Great asset for them especially since they are a busy drydock working on non-commissioned US naval ships.

Yes Ryan do a vid on carriers, and other big ships. Also perhaps a addendum to this vid with more footage of a battleship going thru drydock. Very interesting stuff, thanks.

Hope to see you in the spring after Texas has her new paint on, enjoy!

Thanks, Ryan! Always great content. ♥

Yes please Ryan. An episode on the Museum Aircraft Carriers and their dry docking or not would be good please

Great, great video! Love this entire drydocking series.

Ryan, I watch almost all of the videos you post on the RU-vid channel and I have to say as a lifelong naval enthusiast I really appreciate the detail you go into even in what some would call the mundane aspects of running a museum ship. I am leading a two week ride next summer from my HOG Chapter on what I am calling The Great Museum Ship Ride and we plan on starting with the USS Lexington and then hitting every major museum ship along the gulf coast and then the Carolinas before making our turn back after visiting the USS Wisconsin in Norfolk (wish we had time to take in the USS New Jersey as well but it isn't in the cards so that will have be another trip that would then include seeing the USS Massachusetts). I have a suggestion though and that would be for all of the museum ship organizations to band together, one for mutual support but also to allow individuals or groups to visit multiple museum ships at a discounted rate compared to adding up the individual admission fees. Think of it like a Golden Eagle Pass for the National Parks but instead for the major museum ship. I hope you took the time to read this and I wish you the best in getting prepared for going into dry dock. Keep up the great work and I look forward to watching more of your videos!

For Wiscoinsin, yes the Norfolk Naval Shipyard is busy and Navy owned, but the civilian owned Newport News Shipbuilding yard just across the bay that has multiple drydocks that could accommodate an Iowa-class ship, only issue is that it is also pretty busy building Ford-class carriers and refurbishing/refueling Nimitz-class carriers.

Definitely would love to hear about the Intrepid dry docking.

They brought Missouri up the Columbia River in 1997 and moored her in Astoria for a few weeks to kill the marine growth before being towed to Pearl Harbor. I had a blast seeing her again. Actually saw her in Pearl Harbor in 2021.

Yes...other ships' drydocking experiences would be interesting

I wonder if any ships have considered a sort of permanent berth inside a drydock? Something like HMS Victory which is in a historic drydock, only kept afloat. The blocks could be kept in place below; perhaps even the gate sealed shut, but the ship would be properly supported by water. When work was needed, the cost of drydocking would be pretty much limited to pumping the water out. The drawback is that these ships look so much better "unfenced"; like they're ready to put to sea when needed. It's hard to appreciate the scale of a ship when looking over a wall.

This is one of the best videos 👍 you have done.

You guys have been doing a lot better than Texas and most other battles ship

My son and I toured USS TEXAS in drydock last May. It would be great to do the same with USS NEW JERSEY.

G D BLESS THE BATTLE SHIP TEXAS,, THANKS FOR YOUR MEN AND WOMAN WHO SERVED THE USA... AND LEARNING FROM YOUR DRYDOCK NOW!!!!

GREAT presentation !

Just visited the Yorktown. Still pumping out the oil. Lead hand said it will take months. Last I heard, USS The Sullivans coming here to Canada for much needed repairs. Glad we could help.

Another great informative video

Can't wait to see the drydocking process, New Jersey returning home for a little hibernation.

It's interesting to hear about the differences in how our museum battleships are being maintained/conserved. Kinda surprised to hear Missouri is the only Iowa to have drydocked. Wilmington NC has been taking direct hits from hurricanes too in recent years.

The 4 Iowas and the other ships are in fairly good shape compared to texas but they all are a generation newer than Texas as well

If I'm remembering correctly USS North Carolina can't be drydocked because she won't fit under a bridge build since she was put in place. The cofferdam is only way to get her high and dry to repair the hull.

That thumbnail... lol. As another "not short" person, I understand the concept of stuff around you seeming small. Then when you get around something truly massive, you finally get to know what it's like for the rest of the world. BIIIIIIIIIG HULL!!!

Hoping you might consider a video showing the longest path one would have to take from a battle-stations position on Battleship New Jersey to safety in the event of an abandon ship order. Consider also including a video showing the most complicated path, but not necessarily the longest path to safety for an abandon ship order. Possibly add color illustrating similar long or complex paths known with other ships.

I love this channel

Heavy Cruiser USS Louisville was the first large warship to be built in a drydock IN Bremerton, WA. - launched on 1 September 1930. Cost - $11,100,000.

A coffer dam designed to be converted to a graving dock seems like the best long term plan for preserving the ship indefinitely. Eventually you just have to get them out of the water.

I love this channel and would love to take a tour of "Texas" in drydock with Ryan, hes an awesome curator!

Great video! I would love to hear more about the Carriers, specifically Yorktown. It isn't your focus, but any websites or channels with information would be appreciated. As a board member of a tiny museum, I want to thank you for all you do. Your videos have helped us focus on what we need and how to move towards those goals. As an introvert, you have helped me break out of my shell in the museum. Yeah, there is a tour, but people respond when you are passionate about "weird" stuff. Take care, and happy hunting!

I'd be interested in how Patriots Point maintains Yorktown. I'd hate to see her in the state the Clamagore got to. I wish their youtube channel was as great as this one. Ryan is a great host, but of course everyone knows Libby is the magic behind the scenes.

Definitely interested in more drydock information. For me I always want to know what NJ known scope is going to be. I would also like to hear how it relates to the other museum ships (drydocked or not). I realize this period is to ensure hull integrity more than anything else BUT what non-hull related efforts (if any)are planned. Cheers!

you rarely mention the Intrepid.Not a BB but from the same era. They dry-docked about 10 -15 years ago, with some help from the Navy in getting it out of the Hudson River silt. What work did it require, what shape was the bottom in after all those years in the (saltier) Hudson.

Definitely interested in seeing a video about aircraft carrier drydocking and preservation.

Please, Ryan! Be interesting to see the difference between armoured ships and others.

HMS Victory and IJN Mikasa are even farther down the line and are set in rocks and concrete - hope for hundreds of years as memorials for all the US battlewagons!!!😁😁😁great job keeping this big ship in such decent order !!! Victory is still in commission!!!

I was just happy that I knew all 8 museum battleships!

If there are a limited number of drydocks to fit the battleships, I can't imagine what Yorktown , Midway and the rest of the Aircraft Carriers are going to have to do to get a drydock slip they probably will have to get into a Navy dock due to the limitations of slips.

Interesting to hear what goes into preserving one of these ships

Thank you

To quote Ryan, "it's a higher initial expense, but a lower lifetime expense." He was speaking about the cofferdam surrounding USS North Carolina, but the same holds true when purchasing an electric vehicle. They usually cost more up front, but are cheaper to operate than a gas vehicle.😂

I'd love a video of the USS Hornet CV12 and also the SS Jeremiah OBrien who just went into Drydock sat the end of the summer

Can’t wait for NJ to get the dry docking she needs. I wish all museum ship organizations around the country had the support to do major projects like this. I’d love to hear your thoughts on Salem and what her future could be with her very limit support.

I’d be interested to hear if there’s anything you can learn from the recovery and restoration of SS Great Britain or the preservation of HMS Warrior, as those are about as old an example as you can get for iron ships.

Yes it would be very interesting to look especially at the carriers and their experiences in dry dock. I really do wonder about the approach taken by Alabama and North Carolina. Sitting those ships into the mud seems like it’s begging for trouble. I get that corrosion is slower but it can’t be non existent. Which means if and or when a day of reckoning comes for those ships it’s going to be ugly.

I know its not a battleship, but historically...it surpasses the battleships... love to hear your take on the presentation and such that USS Constitution does.

I suspect the US Navy/ Department of Defense higher ups might have decided that politically it would be better to allow the USS Missouri museum to dry dock at the Naval Shipyard than for the museum to tow BB-63 to California for dry docking, even if the tow was uneventful. The US Navy would have suffered negative publicity if anything had happened during the tow. Some media might also have accused the US Navy of wasting money since there was some dry docks capable of handling the USS Missouri at Pearl Harbor - even though the ship is in private hands at this time.

Hell yes more! Facinating to see the metalwork. Are those canteen tables a later addition? They look like they were built without consideration to weight, which is mad given its the phase after the naval treaty

Coffer dams also lock the ship in place so that I cannot break loose. Great idea.

Ryan contacting dry docks like destiny's child : say, can you handle this. My ships to boitylicious for your dock.

I love to hear more about the aircraft carriers

Missouri is at Pearl Harbor. It is in the Navy’s best interest to keep her safe.

Carriers definitely!

Thank you Ryan for another great video. Would you be willing to provide a bit more information on USS Massachusetts drydock history, how many procedures, locations? Doesn't need to be too detailed as I'm sure you're a busy guy!! Thanks again Ryan and keep up the good work! Mike L.

Love all the historical details. I know you talked a bit in a previous episode about the different types of Drydock (ie graving docks, floating Drydock, synchro lifts, marine railways). I would be really interested in a bit deeper dive into the old Navy Floating Drydock and there use during WW2 especially the “self docking” style where the ends can be removed and then used to float the center section for maintenance/repair or go inside the center section and be raised them self. I know that they exist and their function but there is very little info out there on them. Is there photos of historical records of these “vessels” doing their own self dry docking. Was this functionality for resiliency in case of war damage as I thing that some may have been moved closer to the action for emergency repair of damaged vessels or at least were capable of this. Or was it just to allow for basic self maintenance. Would really love to hear a bit more on these unique vessels.

At 1:03 I believe Texas is closer to 30 years older than New Jersey. Laid down in 1911 and commissioned in 1914..

Hello, drydocking is good. Let's see more videos. It's the U.S.S. Missouri and the Navy had best provide for her drydock needs as necessary at Pearl Harbor. " Hey! "

Id be interested to see any dry docking video, especially an aircraft carrier. It would be very interesting to see a cost breakdown of dry docking a ship. $18 million, you say? What is the bulk of that expense? Labor? Parts?

Hey Ryan, have you all looked at what the Canadians are doing or have done? I refer in specific to HMCS Sackville, the only remaining Flower class Corvette. While a much smaller vessel than you're dealing with they are a "northern" ship like you guys, perhaps more so. I think when they dry-docked in 2013, they did it with the help of the Canadian Navy.

I would like to know about the USS Midway. I have been on her several times and was wondering how one would dry dock something like the Midway because she is the only ship of her class. My second would be the USS Hornet as I live near the area and can visit the ship at any time

In the 1983, I saw the Cutty Sark (the last surviving extreme clipper sailing ship) in England and it is still there today In was basic in a dry dock as a museums. As much as I like see the ships in the water, I think that a wet coffer dam set up or even a permanent dry dock make the best sense for the long term (decades or centuries) preservation of these ships. There will come a point where you can't afford to repair the ship due to too much metal corrosion.

"I'm still not sure how they were able to convince the Navy Yard to allow them into one of the dry docks at Pearl Harbor"... there are few things more effective than dangling the budget in front of a admiral. I'm sure some senator asked if the Navy really really wanted that shiny new toy. The admiral said it was necessary, so the dry dock suddenly had time available. If somebody knew committee assignments from back then you could probably narrow down what senator or congressman it was.

I'm sure the Missouri was allowed in the Navy drydock because that ship hosted the Japanese surrender. That is a part of history that MUST NOT be lost.

Very interesting. I remember the Morgan in Mystic was grounded and subsequently reflated. The coffer dam-grounding solu 13:42 tion sounds very interesting, but …. When they drain the enclosure I can’t see how they can add much (if any) blocking. All that weight on the keel? And the portion of the hull in the mud never gets treated (as you point out, it’s less subject to its environment). Any references appreciated.

Concerning USA museum ships. With all of the naval museum ships we have, how big of a naval force would our museum ships be compared to other countries current active navies?

I'd love to see a video of Wisconsin getting inspected and worked on by those under water drones

Ryan, were you at all involved in the overhaul of the hull of Sloop of War Constellation? The one time I was able to visit her in 1975 she was in sorry shape with her hull sagging and twisting, leaking very heavily with timbers rotting. Do you have any insight on the scope of work she was put through, the work that saved her from sinking at her pier?

Can you build a hybrid cofferdam where the ship is still floating and not settled into the mud?

Might be worth a contrast with 'The Sullivans' (dd-537) and what happened to her in a future episode.

Good thing there are no museum ships in Southern Puget Sound where the daily tidal range is about 16 feet and the extreme tidal range about 22 feet.

might recent developments in ramjet artillery shells be behind bring the new jersey back with it's big guns?

I was wondering if museum submarines are treated the same in dry dock?

So, with a cofferdam would it be worth the extra expense to have a system to deoxygenate to water filling it to reduce corrosion?

Hello from Youngstown , Ohio. Do you have a guess as to when the ship will be drydocked? Also, may I ask how long the ship will be there? Thank you!

Is there footage of the robots cleaning the bottom of the ship

interesting question, would it be possible to build a full scale model of Bismarck or Yamato although not as much armor and no engine but still similar to the original and use for a museum ship

What is Lexington doing being on the Gulf as they are?

6 years ago I went on the USS Yorktown at Patriots point. Her hull at the waterline was encrusted with growth. Are there any plans to remove this marine growth. Trevor Piper Winchester UK

Are there any dry docks in Pearl that aren’t navy? Couldn’t imagine moving here to Washington or Cali.

Do you ever have "Paint Party Weekends"??? Couldn't do dangerous parts of the ship, but anyone old enough to hold a paint brush could help, and maybe get some behind the scenes looks as well ;-)

What is the largest museum ship? Is it New Jersey or one of the aircraft carriers?

When all else fails when it comes to preserving museum ships you could always preserve it like the USS South Dakota Battleship Memorial.

I would love to see a story on the LEX.

Love your channel.... but are those McDonald's tables? Who manufactured them? It must have been late 70s early 80s because I recognize them.