APA project

[Fliger747]

Thank you Phill! Amazing how long it takes to make a few small items, ones that are great in number!

Many of the APA's have what might be a plethora of overboard discharge pipes right at waterline. Is that what these are or are they meant to be bumpers to keep the boats from contacting the side of the ship (and crushing an "passengers" in transit?

Cheers: Tom

[DrPR]

Tom,

I looked at some photos of APAs on Navsource and I see what you mean. I'd bet on overboard discharges. All of the heads, showers, drinking fountains, etc. would discharge overboard just above the boot topping. Also the engineering spaces had discharges.

On the Oklahoma City CL-91/CLG-5 there were up to two dozen discharges on a side for a crew of about 1200. How many men did a fully loaded APA carry?

Since the APAs would be lowering boats over the side the discharges probably had covers or rubber "L" fittings to direct the discharge downward. Wouldn't want someone to flush a toilet into a boat alongside. Cleveland class cruisers didn't have them during WWII, but they were added with the CLG conversions.

Phil

[Fliger747]

Missouri, which I modeled in her 1980's configuration features a number of these. A fully loaded APA had about 2,000 on board, a lot of scuttlebutts! Interestingly the Kingposts were hollow for ventilation. For a medium sized ship, a need for a large distillation plant.

Cheers: Tom

[Fliger747]

Then there there are these items. Looking more like something to attach nets or something else to rather than discharge pipes?

[DrPR]

I'm not sure what "items" you are referring to.

However. in the picture I do see "split pipe" drain covers and the associated "D" shaped pipe bumpers to protect them. See the attached picture. The drain covers were made of pipe split down the length and fastened to the side of the ship. This prevented overrboard discharges from spraying out onto docks or boats alongside.

These features were not on the USS Oklahoma City CL-91 during WWII, and I don't recall seeing them on any other WWII ships. They were added during the CLG conversion in the 1950s. So check the dates of the photos you are looking at to be sure they represent the date that you are modeling.

Phil

[Fliger747]

Thanks Phil, that seems to clarify the D bumpers part. During the war the Haskell's from the photos I have seen were usually equipped with these pipes. From looking at the interior arrangements it would look as if much of the pipe must run along the interior of the ship and exit near the water line. Missouri has a few of these post war but have a longer exterior run to avoid piercing the armor belt.

[Fliger747]

A start on the fiddly bits ( A technical term for standing and running rigging parts)

[BB62vet]

Tom,

Nice "fiddly bits", btw!!!

I'm doing a bit of research on what those side pieces might be - will post if I find anything!

Hank

[Fliger747]

Thanks Hank!

These ships had some fairly unique features, especially post war when everybody seemed to have some idea of modification.

Cheers Tom

[BB62vet]

Tom,
On the subject of those overboard discharge pipes close to the waterline - from what I've seen in photos of other auxiliary vessels (AP's, esp.), it appears that many of them had waterline level half or split pipe covers - as Dr. Phil pointed out in his post. I didn't see the "D" shaped bumpers, but the covers were visible.

Hope this helps,

Hank

[Fliger747]

Thanks Hank!

Not been doing too much work on the project for the last few days. House project, removing the gutters, painting eves and fascias, then a rattle can paint overhaul on the gutters before re installing.

It's another some do, some don't situation! My current guess is that some pipes have covers, some don't. The LCM's were stowed on the # 5 Hatch and probably loaded the largest items there. I have seen "bumpers" on those pipes. I will look at as many photos as I can to see if there is a correspondence between the boat loading stations and the bumpers.

Cheers: Tom

[DrPR]

Here are a couple of close-up photos of the split pipe drains on the USS Little Rock CG-4 museum ship. As you can see, some of the drains did not have the "D" shaped pipe bumpers.

I have numerous photos of the OK City over the years that show different numbers of the "D" bumpers along the sides. In some cases the remnants of where they were attached were visible. Looks like they occasionally got ripped off of the hull, probably by collisions with barges, piers or logs alongside piers that served as bumpers to protect the piers. Sometimes the split pipe drains were missing and only the mounting studs remained.

Phil

[Fliger747]

Thanks Phil!

Those look like actually D shaped pipes, rather than a half cylinder welded to the hull, fairly thin material. Looking at the dents etc they look like they could use some reinforcement right at the waterline.

Cheers: Tom

[DrPR]

Tom,

The blueprints say to split 10" pipe lengthwise to make the drain cover. A separate plate was welded to the open side of the pipe to make the "D" shape. The cover extended some distance above the drain opening in the hull. The pipe wall thickness was 0.365 inch.

They did take a beating over the years. We were frequently in typhoons with 40-60 foot swells. Sometimes the forward half of the hull would be submerged (up to 50-60 feet above the load water line) when we plowed into a swell, and I have wondered if the repeated stresses carried away some of the drain covers.

I have attached the blueprint. Unfortunately, I had to save it at very low resolution to meet the file size limits. But I think most of it is readable.

However, it does not show attachment to the hull plating as shown in the photos I posted.

Phil

[Fliger747]

Thanks Phil! The dimensions are useful. I can see why the "nubs" were used to attach the pipe, much easier to install, repair and replace.

I think the half round styrene I have is too small. I have some small dowel that I'll have to mike to see if it's a good candidate for sanding the back off.

Cheers: Tom

[DrPR]

Glad to help.

MANY years ago I built a plastic model of a troop transport - probably Revell. I thought it was an interesting ship.

Your model is very nice, and an interesting change from another battleship or carrier. The "auxiliaries" don't get enough attention in our hobby.

Phil

[Fliger747]

Actually sitting on my workbench is a Revell APA that I glued together when maybe I was 10? Amazingly it is the Randall, which is the ship I am building. I think the reason they chose that ship was it was the ship in the movie.

I did find that my bundle of small dowels is just the right size though I have to split them in half. I have to now look at photos and see where and what length they are and how many have D guards.

Cheers! T.

[Fliger747]

I built the first prototype drain cover with D rings. Looks like about 25 per side of varying lengths. Thats only about 1 drain for every 25 troops...

I decided the LCVP's are too fat so grinding down the sides and re finishing. That will keep me busy for a while!

[DrPR]

The Randall is the model I built. Mine was history more than half a century ago. Amazing that you still have yours.

Phil

[Fliger747]

It sat in a box in my parents attic for fifty some years. I retrieved it when my sister and I cleared their house out. The hull of my current project sat in their attic for almost as long.