So this past Sunday, I drove out to Baton Rouge and met up with Displaced Louisiana Guy and his way cool family. Then he, I and his young prodigy son went out to see a WW2 hero--the
USS Kidd (DD-661). Ity's a museum ship in the Mississippi River now.
Or it would be if the river was higher. Think this'd set up a bit of vibration?
She's ridin' a bit high.
We boarded starboard side near the aft 5"/38cal guns. These guns could hurl a 55lb. shell a bit over ten miles.
And here's the inside of that turret, with a cut-away gun. The docent on deck said that I couldn't shoot the gun and for some reason went on a long tear about not flipping switches, pushing buttons or going into off-limits spaces. Why us? He's not even old enough to remember the last time I was here and I'm sure I don't even look like my picture from back then any more.
Depth charges! Here's a 300lb. Mk6 charge, designed to sink submarines.
And here's how sailors set the depth at which the charge would (hopefully) explode.
Here's a more modern Mk9 depth charge, which was in general use by war's end. The teardrop shape helped it to sink straighter and faster.
And here's the galley where the ship's cooks fed 330 men.
During combat, this space doubled as an emergency aid station, which is why the floor was painted red--to help camouflage the blood that sailors lost so that they wouldn't see it and go into even worse shock.
Gratuitous shot of the Mississippi River.
Looking up at one of the twin 40mm anti-aircraft guns.
Looking back from the bow at the two forward 5" guns.
Time to go below.
Here's the crews' mess, which doubled as bunk space.
Racks go up at eal time, tables go under racks at bed time.
Privacy and personal space are not things found on these old
Fletcher-class cans.
The officers had it a little better, but still three of them had to share rooms like this, which were about the size of the typical home bathroom today.
And the bridge, where the sailors drove the boat from.
Looking forward from the bridge.
Another twin 40MM mount
A pair of twin 40MM guns. While electrically-powered, these guns could also be traversed and elevated manually by cranks and me and Displaced Louisiana Kid played at this for a bit. Pro-tip: Wear an old shirt if you do this. The crank mechanism threw lubricant all over my nice white Springfield Armory shirt. Sigh.
Port side, amidships. Looking forward.
Torpedo tubes. Kidd was never modernized after WW2 and still has all of her 1945-era weapons.
Kidd participated in nearly every significant naval action after her 1943 launch date. She was in the thick of things many times, including April 11, 1945, when she was hit by a Jap kamikaze plane on her starboard side. 38 crewmen were killed and 55 more were wounded. That damage sent her back to America for repairs, and by the time she was fit for battle again, the war was over.
The museum has a
Curtis P-40 Kittyhawk outside, too. (I touched it.) It's done up as an AVG Flying Tiger but it's actually a P-40N, which came along after the Tigers had been disbanded.
Still, I want this plane. I would fly the shit out of this plane. And I would reinstall her .50 machine guns too.
And inside, they had this great picture of
Greg "Pappy" Boyington. Now there was a man. I've visited his grave at Arlington National Cemetery many times. He's buried right next to Lee Marvin and Joe Louis, both of whom also fought for America.
Then it was back to the Displaced Louisiana House for some of the best meat pies I've ever had. DLG sure can cook, lemme tell ya!
Gotta give DLG's son credit too...all during our ship visit, I asked him what things on the ship were, and he either knew or made damned informed guesses. Smart kid indeed. His folks did well.
Great day with great people and great food. It doesn't get much better.
