Hi there all modeler friends,
And thanks once more for your encouraging remarks, that are really apreciated.BB62vet wrote:
I'm not positive, but I think on STODDARD when we were in LBNS for a 6 mo. overhaul (drydock, etc.) in 1967-68 there were available small rectangular shaped non-skid pads that could be adhered to the deck and these are normally what you see on the FLETCHERs of the era.
Hank, I remember seeing these on board my ship in 1984-85, but only indoors, before and after every water tight door. As fot the rest, everything outdoors was non skid deck paintjob.
BB62vet wrote:
Where the solid non-skid walkway is shown (main deck) - that was made up by taping off the area to be coated, a layer of epoxy glue laid down, light grit sand applied to the expoxy and let dry. Then, the loose sand was swept up and the resultant "rough" surface rolled out with black deck paint and then the tape removed. (...) Of course, with time, salt water, sunshine, and so forth all taking their toll on the ship's surfaces, these non-skid areas didn't stay rough all that long.
This is exactly the deck painting process I could witness countless times while in the navy, only that in our case the full deck had the treatment, and the old paint was stripped before to the bare metal, and then the process. It was a job that everybody involved hated, as it was heavy work that had to be done many times under the blistering hot conditions of Rota Naval Station. I remember a couple of guys who had to be taken away by the paramedics after a severe heat stroke.Rick E Davis wrote:
(...) The introduction of the Mk 2 ASW Torpedo launching system (TLS) (using the Mk 4 launcher as seen on USS CASSIN YOUNG) for launching "over the side" the Mk 32 torpedoes (more like a self-propelled depth charge) were installed on many destroyers. Also, there were the PMGL system installed on PacFlt FLETCHER's. The PMGL (Poor Man's Gravity Launcher
) was a fantail drop rail device designed by a yard crew in Japan when the PacFlt was frustrated that they had Mk 32 torpedoes, but that it would take like two years to get the Mk 2 TLS installed on all their destroyers. The Mk 4 launchers were installed in multiple locations on destroyers. The PMGL system was installed mostly parallel to the starboard side 600-lb depth charge drop track and the reload rack was moved forward of the drop track. However, a few destroyers had the PMGL installed on the portside!!
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Mk32 launcher.jpg [ 202.78 KiB | Viewed 1069 times ]
I had no idea what it was, but now the thing is clear, so thanks a lot for the precious information. I will have to see if my ship had this thing on board or not in the mid. 1960´s. What I have not been able to trace is the PMGL. Have you got any picture showing this ???Fliger747 wrote:
Thank you for posting the excellent photos of the anchors on Sullivans, anchors are one of the design construction tasks I am procrastinating about. (...) It is very helpful that ships of an era often had equipment in common so your solutions may indeed be of help to the rest of us.
Tom, I am glad if --after the vast amount of help I have been having from this site for years-- I can be of some help myself.Fliger747 wrote:
It was interesting that the hull had sharp indentations from the anchor flukes, including apparently a patch? I wonder how those occurred? Anchor being flung about in a heavy sea or perhaps kissing a dock or ship coming alongside?
I asume that with such thin plates as destroyers had, indentations from the anchors were (had to be, actually) a common place. I can remember that my ship had a severe dent ahead of the bow anchor, but from the anchor of the CVL Dédalo, (ex USS Cabot), received while getting into port in Rota at too high speed, macho style, crashing into Dedalo´s bow and actually breaking her anchor chain, after what the anchor fell off the hawse hole, and had to be recovered by divers. I don´t know if anybody suffered after this kiss: the officers in my ship did not, as far as I know, and our commander at the time finished his career as VA, so I asume he did not either. You have to break the eggs to make an omelette, was probably the philosophy behind it.
Nice going from across the seas,
Willie.
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