Machine Shop Aboard the Battleship USS New Jersey

I spent time on three different ships but none of them had a machine shop that looked like that! Almost to pretty to work in! It's good to see that some of those old ships are being restored and not used for target practice!
 
That one looks nicer than the one aboard the Enterprise aircraft carrier!! We went on a day cruise aboard it. Of course I made a bee line to see the machine shop.
 
I am your tax dollar at work-spend me wisely(but spend me!)
 
I'd love to love that overhead trolley(among many other of those things!),but,I cannot attach anything to my ceiling with those man made beams in the ceiling.
 
I must suppose that being a WWII ship,the New Jersey had a more advanced machine shop than the Enterprise,which was launched in the 1960's,(If I recall). It had to be a LOT more independent back in those days. These days,it is much easier to fly parts to remote locations,especially to an aircraft carrier. They must have picked up the Bridgeport during the ship's Vietnam deployment.

Nice to see they had such a great shop. Space aboard a wartime battleship was extremely limited. Crew quarters were cramped as extra crew was carried in anticipation of casualties during those times. The same thing applied in the 18th.C. warships.

Now must begin the endless debate: How did they level their lathes? I'll start by saying that the lathes do not have to be "level" to cut true. They must be aligned to themselves. This can be done by making test cuts on metal held between centers until the lathe is making true cylinders after adjustments are made to get the twist out of the bed. Since the ship flexes while at sea,I suppose periodic re adjustments have to be made to a long lathe.

Handling long,heavy bars of steel must have been the most dangerous task if the ship was rolling much. On the Enterprise,metal was well secured in racks so it could not get loose during bad weather. They had more round bar stock than anything else I noticed. Some were pretty large diameters.
 
What a great shop space. All laid out with great tool seperation and adequate room to work. Juat think of all the chips that have been made in that shop and the stories that have been made while the ship was active and deployed on tour. When I was in Iraq, the military always relied on us to make whatever they needed, so we had a great reputation with GI Joe and got to make some way cool things for them to support there efforts outside the wire. Joe would show up and ask if we had one of "these" that wasnt broken, we said no but we can make you one in a bit if you will tell us what it is used for. Joe loved getting his stuff fixed by someone who gave a samn so it was easy to stay busy everyday.
Bob
 
Look on the viewer's right side of the grinder: It has some kind of reservoir on it. I'm not sure what it is for,but I don't think it is missing the tool rest. It is for some different purpose.
 
Nic collection of pics/
Pic #8 shows a Sidney Lathe, the same beastie I own, it looks so much like mine in every way, never know if it is. I do know the Sidneys that were on navy ships had the ancor stamped with the serial #.

Does anyone know what yr these pics were taken?

Paul
 
I spent time on 2 destroyers during the Vietnam war and neither ship had a machine shop like that.

When the first ship returned from Vietnam, it was sceduled for a 5 month overhaul. On the way back from Japan, the captain decided he wahted ice cream. There was an ice cream machine on the ship, but it was busted. I spent 2 days and nights working straight through with another sailor, but we got his ice cream.

When the ship went in to the yards, the skipper called me and the sailor I had worked with up to his quarters and told us both, "you two guys did something for me, now I'm going to do something for you". He relieved us of out duty sections, and told us to be on the ship every day for muster, then leave. Oh, I forgot to mention, the ship's home port was Pearl Harbor.

Life was ruff for that time. Show up, muster, hit the beach.

When I was sent to the second ship, it was for a short timers cruise. I had about 6 minths to go and the ship was on its way to the war zone.

On the first ship, I was the machinist. On the second ship, I spent 3 months working in the machine shop then I got sent mess cooking. They had another guy who had 3 1/2 years to go and they wanted him to learn how to be a machinist.

Well, about 3 weeks after I was sent to the mess decks, there was a problem that the new guy couldn't handle. The chief petty officer sent for me to come down to the shop to do what the new guy couldn't do. I sent word back down that I didn't know how to do that. I was just a effing mess cook. The chief came up himself to get me and told me that id I didn't come down and fix the problem that he would put me on report. I reitterated, chief, I don't know how to do that. I'm just a effing mess cook.

He went as far as taking me to the captain, and I told the captain, sir, I'm just a mess cook. I don't know how to do that stuff. The captain asked me "if you're not a mess cook, could you do it?" I said absolutely sir. I got out of mess cooking duties that day.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top