Calling all Iowa-class (BB-61) fans

[Fliger747]

Chuck:

Perhaps it was you, or someone else that posted a photo of such boat on this thread, I think the Motor mech's were doing some engine work on it. However looking at the profile of the dolly, it might well be for the observation planes. Such a dolly was used when the ship might be carrying a spare or two. Alaska carried four planes and the dolly's were used to wheel them into the hangars. The cradle on the catapult was not removable as it was connected to the piston and a different piece of equipment.

I love to look at large glossies such as the Navy would produce in the ships photo lab because of the great detail that can be seen under magnification. I used to do a lot of air photo interpretation and there is a lot to be seen in a good image!

Regards: Tom

[JackSix]

Hi sailors,

I am just wondering what the deck of the USS Iowa was back in 1944 in the attached camouflage pattern. Was the wooden planks removed and there was the plain steel deck only OR was the wooden deck just painted?

Any idea?

Jack

[steinerman]

Hi Jack,
No, the deck was not removed. Where would they store all that teak? The teak decks were actually painted blue. The USS Missouri had blue decks at the time of the Japanese surrender but during the trip back to New York the deck was holystoned back to it's original teak color by the crew.

[maccrage]

wood stained & metal painted.

IIRC, only carriers used stain, to preserve the non skid properties of the wood. Cruisers and BBs used 20B paint on their decks.

[Fliger747]

Before the surrender ceremony in Tokyo Bay, Missouri's painted decks were stripped and holystoned. The wood decks were attached via nuts and washers over threaded studs welded to the decks. The area over the nut was covered with a wooden plug and finished flat.

Such decking did have a certain degree of practicality, wood was cooler in the tropics and also would tend to reduce the ricochet of steel splinters and small arms fire.

Cheers: Tom

[guest]

Before the surrender ceremony in Tokyo Bay, Missouri's painted decks were stripped and holystoned.

That is not correct. Please see the linked color photo showing Missouri with blue decks during the surrender ceremony.

http://www.navsource.org/archives/01/016346c.jpg

[BB62vet]

I would beg to differ further with "guest" -

His (Navsource) photo shows the 01 Level, not the main deck. I have two great photos of the surrender area in color only one is 82MB in size and I don't have the time to fiddle with it tonight. Here is the other, still a good photo that shows both the 01 Level and main deck:

I believe the photo speaks for itself.

[guest]

Great photo. Thanks.

So it looks as though the main deck (or at least a portion of it) had the blue paint removed, while the 01 deck (or at least a portion of it) was still in blue, and the other decks were ...?

[Fliger747]

Looking at several photos in B&W and color it appears that they may be blue. In the Black and White photos the decks appear as light as the grey of the side of the turret. This could be bare wood or possibly the photographer was using orthographic film (only responsive to blue light) instead of panchromatic film (all colors). Shipboard this would have advantages of developing under red darkroom lighting. Such film would make the blue look much lighter and reds very dark. I don't trust color photos of the ear even slightly as hand colorization was common in the era, especially for something as momentous as the surrender. Some of those would have required a lot of effort, but to get one into LIFE or some such would be worth it.

Interesting question, I'd say maybe, but not for certain.

[ModelMonkey]

Top photo, October 1945, vicinity of the Panama Canal, Missouri on her way home.

The natural wood decks appear distinctly different in this photo than the color of the decks in surrender ceremony photos taken a month earlier.

The 31-star flag is odd.

[Rick E Davis]

I'm pretty sure that USS MISSOURI retained blue decks for the surrender. Remember that there was still a degree of fear of a "Kamikaze" attack by elements of the Japanese military as the USN entered Tokyo Bay and there was a LOT of activity in getting teams ready to go ashore. Marines were being consolidated for going ashore to secure ports. Removing paint from the decks for the surrender was very low on the "To Do" list. The MISSOURI didn't even touchup the hull for this event. The "best" (with the color not too deteriorated with time) color images of the surrender ceremony I have seen were taken by the US Army Signal Corp photographers.

Attached are several images of USS MISSOURI that I have scanned during those final months of the war. The first two show her on 2 September 1945, one an aerial view showing her decks and the other photo shows her well worn hull paint with just a few places touched up. Plus both images show that the day was pretty overcast early. The sun did make an appearance during the actual signing.

The third image is for the discussion a few posts back about "boats" carried by USS MISSOURI. This image dates in March 1945. This image has a lot of interesting details going on. If the date is correct, it was prior to the Okinawa Invasion, and it would appear that one or two aircraft are aloft. Also, I seldom see this kind of detail of the aft deck and with the crane folded down while underway.

[Timmy C]

Any chance it could've been a mix of both? This Youtube video (starting at 11s) shows some rather uneven colouration on the main deck during the arrival into Tokyo Bay. Wouldn't be surprised, though, if they fully repainted it in 20B by the time of the ceremony:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkhVdYg3UZA

[BB63Missouri]

The 31 star flag is the very same flag flown by Commodore Perry when he led the US Navy Far East Squadron into Tokyo Bay in 1853-54.


David

[Rick E Davis]

Timmy,

The footage you reference as the fleet entires Tokyo Bay on 28 August 1945, has poor quality color. The film has pieces from different camera crews spliced together. Some footage further in the film is in better shape.

Note that some of the same "deck coloring" is also visible on the destroyer alongside USS MISSOURI. Destroyers didn't have wood decks. Maybe the task force got rained on entering the bay. I noticed in the photos I posted taken on 2 September 1945, that there were "wet areas" from either a rain squall or an attempt to clean the deck off.

[Timmy C]

Thanks Rick, that makes sense.

[bigjimslade]

I point out that the upper photograph shows an extra 20mm mount has been wedged in at the 02 level. Instead of the designed 2 mounts, there are three.

[chuck]

Double post deleted

[chuck]

Chuck:

Perhaps it was you, or someone else that posted a photo of such boat on this thread, I think the Motor mech's were doing some engine work on it. However looking at the profile of the dolly, it might well be for the observation planes. Such a dolly was used when the ship might be carrying a spare or two. Alaska carried four planes and the dolly's were used to wheel them into the hangars. The cradle on the catapult was not removable as it was connected to the piston and a different piece of equipment.

I love to look at large glossies such as the Navy would produce in the ships photo lab because of the great detail that can be seen under magnification. I used to do a lot of air photo interpretation and there is a lot to be seen in a good image!

Regards: Tom

Hi, Tom. The 33 foot boat sat on a dolly different from aircraft dollies. It is much larger, and had boat chocks on it.

The best I can tell, the cradle on the catapult is removable. There are photos where the catapults are bare, the cradle is not there on the catapult.

The Missouri had at least 2 aircraft handling dollies with caster wheels for rolling around on deck. There is a photo showing the Missouri with 1 King Fisher on cradle on each catapult, a third kingfisher on a handling dolly on deck, and another handling dolly sitting empty next to 1st dolly.

The deck handling dolly can also fit on the track on the catapult. When secured this way the caster wheels hang off the side of the catapults. There are several photos of Iowa class ships showing 2 king fishers or sea hawks were double parked on the same catapult. The aircraft in the front is secured to a handling dolly, which is secured to the catapult. The aircraft in the back is secured to a launch cradle. The photos appear to show the dolly can actually be secured to several different points along the length of the catapult, because the front aircraft is actually seen in different locations on the catapult.

There are photos actually showing 3 aircraft triple parked on the catapult on top of USS Texas�s midship turret.

I am not sure if the handling dollies can be used as a launch cradle as well.

[bigjimslade]

I am not sure if the handling dollies can be used as a launch cradle as well.

I cannot state on this with certainty but from what I have seen of the plans, the answer is "no."

I see in my highly incomplete plan collection is that there is something called a "dummy car" that is distinct from a "launching car."

The launching car slides along [presumably] greased rails. It wraps around the rail so it cannot pull up.

The "dummy car" has dolly wheels but lacks the stopping buffer of the launching car. The wheels dangle over the side when on the catapult. The launching car lacks wheels.

[Fliger747]

That seems a reasonable explanation. The requirements for meeting both criteria would seem to be overly complex, the dolly mode would only require sufficient strength to take the static load of the aircraft. The acceleration and abrupt stop modes require a great degree of robustness. Earlier Battleship catapults used a black powder charge which gave a pretty "active" push impulse. Not certain what the propulsive force came from for the fairly standard Cruiser/ Battleship catapult fitted to war construction. Some information suggests 5" shell casings were used as propulsion.

T