USS Ling (SS/AGSS/IXSS-297)Balao-class submarine

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Expand view Topic review: USS Ling (SS/AGSS/IXSS-297)Balao-class submarine

Re: USS Ling (SS/AGSS/IXSS-297)Balao-class submarine

by Dirkpitt289 » Wed Aug 13, 2008 12:14 pm

les wrote:Great photos. Send them to Sean and have them put in the walk around section.
I tried but there were 2 issues.

1) I have too many photos and to be honest the 38 I posted just doesn't do this visit justice.
2) I had a problem uploading the photos. If Sean wishes to move these that's fine with me.

Re: USS Ling (SS/AGSS/IXSS-297)Balao-class submarine

by les » Wed Aug 13, 2008 9:29 am

Great photos. Send them to Sean and have them put in the walk around section.

Re: USS Ling (SS/AGSS/IXSS-297)Balao-class submarine

by MartinJQuinn » Mon Aug 11, 2008 3:06 pm

I've never actually been on board, but she looks much, much better than the last time I swung by (she was closed the one time I attempted to go see her).

Re: USS Ling (SS/AGSS/IXSS-297)Balao-class submarine

by Dirkpitt289 » Mon Aug 11, 2008 1:19 pm

Yeah, its a small rinky dink of a place but well worth the trip if you like subs. They have an exibit in the museum that lists every boat and crew member still on patrol. The cost is ony $7. and you can have kids parties and sleep overs if you want.

Re: USS Ling (SS/AGSS/IXSS-297)Balao-class submarine

by Devin » Mon Aug 11, 2008 1:07 pm

Great photos. Thanks for posting. People keep telling me that I need to visit Ling. I believe I'll make the drive up this summer, since I'm very close by.

Re: USS Ling (SS/AGSS/IXSS-297)Balao-class submarine

by Dirkpitt289 » Mon Aug 11, 2008 1:00 pm

This is the forward escape hatch in the Torpedo room. In an emergency if the sub was no deeper then 100 feet, 7 men would climb in here at one time with their breathing lung. Flood the tube and swim to the surface. To the best of our guides knowledge this was used once in history. And of the 10 men that used it 8 died of the bends.

From where I stood it would be tough to get 4 men in there let alone 7. I guess humans were smaller in the 40's. :cool_2:
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Emergency lights
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Well I hope you guys enjoyed the tour as much as we did. Here is the link to the museum for anyone interested.
http://www.njnm.com/

Re: USS Ling (SS/AGSS/IXSS-297)Balao-class submarine

by Dirkpitt289 » Mon Aug 11, 2008 12:52 pm

Lastly we go to the aft Torpedo room
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Here is the control end of a (Steam Power)torpedo.
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Specs on the Torpedo
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Re: USS Ling (SS/AGSS/IXSS-297)Balao-class submarine

by Dirkpitt289 » Mon Aug 11, 2008 12:47 pm

These are the Engine gauges
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This is the engine control station. If you look you can see the telegraph where they receive the speed orders from the control room. They can also switch to battery power from here.
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Re: USS Ling (SS/AGSS/IXSS-297)Balao-class submarine

by Dirkpitt289 » Mon Aug 11, 2008 12:44 pm

Next we continue aft to the Engine room.

This is just one of four on this boat. According to our guide these were/ are such reliable engines that they still use them today on our nuclear subs as emergency engines. They look like huge coffins
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Engine with the top opened
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Looking down into the Cylinder head
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Re: USS Ling (SS/AGSS/IXSS-297)Balao-class submarine

by Dirkpitt289 » Mon Aug 11, 2008 12:41 pm

Because of the amount of people in the Galley I was unable to get any photos. At the time there was 12 of us in the Galley and half were children and it seemed cramped. When the Ling was in active service the Galley would hold up to 24 sailors at one time.

Next we continue aft to the crew quarters. This boat had a crew of 85 men and each had is own bunk. These photos do not do justice to what it was like to be on this sub.
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Re: USS Ling (SS/AGSS/IXSS-297)Balao-class submarin

by Dirkpitt289 » Mon Aug 11, 2008 12:35 pm

Looking up from the Control Room to the Bridge and periscope
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Ballast Controls
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Re: USS Ling (SS/AGSS/IXSS-297)Balao-class submarine

by Dirkpitt289 » Mon Aug 11, 2008 12:32 pm

The following photos are of the control room

Dive Plane Controls
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Christmas Tree and Flood controls
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Steering Control
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Re: USS Ling (SS/AGSS/IXSS-297)Balao-class submarine

by Dirkpitt289 » Mon Aug 11, 2008 12:28 pm

This hallway houses the Officers quarters
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The Captain's quarters
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Ward Room
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Re: USS Ling (SS/AGSS/IXSS-297)Balao-class submarine

by Dirkpitt289 » Mon Aug 11, 2008 12:26 pm

Forward Torpedo Room. Note the Tube creeper. How would you like to be the guy that has to get on that and go into the tubes? Each tube is 22 feet long. If memor serves me right the Ling carried 16 fish.
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This is the Sonar station located in the rear of the froward Torpedo room. The long silver pole is just one of the sonar ears
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This is the Captain's Head located in the rear of the Forward Torpedo room across from the Sonar station
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Re: USS Ling (SS/AGSS/IXSS-297)Balao-class submarin

by Dirkpitt289 » Mon Aug 11, 2008 12:20 pm

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Stern Deck Plating
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The Deck gun still works (moves, not fires)
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Re: USS Ling (SS/AGSS/IXSS-297)Balao-class submarine

by Dirkpitt289 » Mon Aug 11, 2008 12:18 pm

The guns on the conning tower were called "dry" guns and were removed prior to diving. The main forward and aft deck guns were called "wet" guns because they were non removable.

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Re: USS Ling (SS/AGSS/IXSS-297)Balao-class submarin

by Dirkpitt289 » Mon Aug 11, 2008 12:16 pm

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USS Ling (SS/AGSS/IXSS-297)Balao-class submarine

by Dirkpitt289 » Mon Aug 11, 2008 12:14 pm

Last weekend I took my son and his friend to visit a WWII sub that is local to me. The Sub is the USS Ling which is a Balto Class sub. To save space and time just do a Google search and look at the bio on Wikipedia.

The thing I wanted to add is that this sub might not be around much longer. You see the museum rents the property for one dollar and the owners have decided they now want to develop the property. The museum gets no funding from anyone except its visitors so the cost of moving this piece of history would be very high. First they would need to dredge a path out from where she is. And the other problem is the bridge (Seen from the bow shot) no longer opens. If a new home and a way to move her aren't found soon she could end up being scraped where she sits.

It would be a shame to loose his piece of history. Any way here are my pictures. I hope to follow this up with photos of a Kaiten they also have on display.

Enjoy

Dirk

Looking forward
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Ammo feed for the Bow Gun
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