Veracruz

Traveling into Veracruz, I spied this ship and my liberal friend knew there was no way to avoid letting me have my moment with it. So she took her dog for a walk and I paid a visit to ex-Guanajuato, former Gunboat C07 of the Mexican Navy.

Laid down in a Spanish shipyard in 1934 and accepted by Mexico 1936, this 80m long ship could accommodate 230 soldiers and up to 40 horses in a special stable in the aft superstructure. She served with US forces during WW2 and was modernized and refitted in a US Navy shipyard when Mexico joined the war. She served for several decades until she was finally struck in 2001 and turned into a museum.

But typical of so many things in Mexico, she was neglected into ruin and though she looks good from the bow, she's actually sunk at her berth and sitting on the bottom, a stern view shows that her machinery spaces are now all underwater and she's no longer open to the public, travel websites notwithstanding.

The Veracruz nightlife is another matter. Both the waterfront and city center come alive at night and we were staying right between them so we sampled both.

Of course being Mexico, you need to get used to seeing the Mexican Marines patrolling, because the narco gangs are never far away and no one else with a uniform and badge is trustworthy enough to police important public spaces like this one.

Tall Ships!

Long time, no post, I know.

To quote any one of a number of my neighbors: "You see, what had happened was..."

Anyway, last weekend was a long birthday week-end. I had friends collect me up to take me out to celebrate on Friday...and on Saturday...and Sunday...and each night lasted until around zero-dawn-thirty, so by Monday afternoon, I was pretty much glad that birthdays come around just once a year. and it was different groups of friends each time, so each of them only had to stay out and play too late ONE night, but I got all three. And it was also French Quarter Fest, so there was that.

It was fun times though, at least the parts I can recall.

I've also been having major problems with this computer at home, and it's probably ready for a replacement. And since I can't blog from work any more, it severely limits my online presence when I can't get onto the internet or open files without a fight.

But like I said...anyway...

This week-end was the beginning of Fleet Week, and we've got a few Tall Ships and an LHD here for the tourists to see, the USS Kearsarge.

Yesterday I went aboard Kearsarge. I'd have liked to get a better profile shot but she was pressed up against the wharf so close that I couldn't get the distance I needed to shoot her broadside. We all queued up to go aboard, and we got marched into her lower cargo deck to see some vehicles inside--trucks and Humvees--and then we went up to the flight deck to see some heckiflopters and an Osprey, which I was impressed by.

Sea Cobra. AH-1W

Osprey cockpit. All glass.

And heckiflopter controls, which transition to fixed-wing input when the engines pivot forward. Lotta computer help required.

The steamer Natchez passing by...and the Coast Guard made darn sure it didn't get too close to Kearsarge.

But Kearsarge can probably defend herself against excursion boats just fine.
RIM 116 Rolling Airframe Missile launcher Ship has 2.

Phalanx CIWS. Ship has three.

She also has some small arms, and those were out for display on the way out. A Marine was nice enough to ask me if I wanted to handle the M-240B machine gun when I expressed some interest in it, and then he turned his back on me to talk to someone else. Mistake. Big mistake. I immediately disengaged the barrel assembly and pulled it off. He heard the barrel assembly come out and whirled around. All I could do was grin and say: "Hey, I think this broke!"

Hell, I was leaving anyway.

Saw some of the tall ships too.

Then it was dinner and a walk home. Meant to go back out to play after a short nap, but the short nap turned into 12 hours of deep sleep. Guess the work/play regimen is catching up to me.

Sad end to a noble warship

So I was driving across the industrial canal the other day when I happened to catch a glimpse of a ship moored at the Lake Ponchartrain end. Lots of ships here, being one of America's largest seaports, but this one, what little I could see of it, had the sharp prow and superstructure of a warship. Those are NOT common here.

So yesterday I did a bit of exploring and found myself at the gate of the EMR scrap yard. I could see the ship back in there, but how to get to it? These places typically have pretty good security.

Sure enough, not two minutes into me reconnoiter, I was approached by their security guard, who wanted to know what I was doing there. Well screw it--I'm already blown, so I tried something new: I asked him about the ship. He said that it came in a few weeks ago for scrapping and that it was a "Desert Storm ship", but he didn't know anything else about it. I asked him if I could take a look at the ship and he threw me a bone and let me drive inside their outer fence to "turn around" so I could leave.

And I got these shots.

Coming home, a little internet snoopery turned up the information that this ship is the Ticonderoga-class cruiser, ex-Thomas S. Gates, (CG-51), being scrapped by EMR here in the city, the last of five warships that they were contracted to dispose of.

A sad end to a ship that only served for 18 years.

More on ex-Thomas S. Gates here.

USS Drum

You know that you're in a bad neighborhood when you wake up in the morning and you find your submarine up on blocks.

Battleship Park in Mobile, Alabama doesn't just have a battleship...They have this wonderful Gato-class fleet boat: USS Drum (SS-228).

Last time I saw Drum, she was still in the water. But two hurricanes and seventy+ years since her last war patrol have done a number on her, so now she's up on these concrete supports.

If nothing else, she's safer here...and visitors get a great look at her props and rudder as well as her stern tubes.

Up on deck, she's looking good. Got a 3"/50cal. deck gun and a 40mm Bofors Anti-aircraft gun forward.

There's also a 20mm Oerlikon gun on the after deck of the conning tower.

Going down through the old torpedo loading hatch brings you into the forward torpedo room, with six of her ten tubes await fresh fish. Back in the day, these subs sailed with 24 torpedoes, sixteen up front here and eight in the aft torpedo room where she had four tubes. Several of the crew got to bunk in these compartments too, sleeping above and below the torpedoes.

Leaving this compartment via this hatch, you find yourself in the forward section known as "Officer Country".

Here's the Officers' Wardroom.

Officers slept two and three to a small compartment except for the Captain, who got his own small compartment. Since they were all glassed over and the corridor itself was cramped, I couldn't get an angle to take a good shot of any. I did find this memorial to Howard Gilmore though.

Commander of Growler, he was machine-gunned on the bridge and wounded during a surface action in which Growler had rammed a Japanese vessel and destroyed 18 feet of her own bow. In the heat of battle he gave the order to dive, knowing he couldn't get off the bridge. The sub dove away beneath him and was saved, but Commander Gilmore was lost. He sacrificed himself for his boat and crew. Now there was a MAN. And yes, he was awarded the Medal of Honor...posthumously.

Another hatch...and the control room beyond.

Control room.

Helm (or "steering wheel" to civilians, landlubbers and brown shoe types.)

Diving planes. These control the pitch of the bow and stern.

Alarm switches. (Hey Old AF Sarge...remember these?)

"Christmas Tree" board, with two lights for every hatch and vent. Green meant closed and red meant open. Gotta have a whole green board to dive, meaning a lot of people in different areas have to work fast to close a lot of things off when the dive horn sounds.

Helm again, and plotting table.

And because I'm retarded or something, I got no pictures of the crew's mess. But click on submarines here to see pics of the insides of several other fleet boats that are laid out pretty much the same.

Cold storage beneath the crew mess.

Next was a bunk space for much of the enlisted crew--just stacks of racks--but most of them were out for some display stuff. Again, no pics for some reason. But then it was tie for the two engine rooms, and I like to think I made up for it.

Four Fairbanks-Morse engines, originally designed for railroad locomotives. These two are in the forward engine room.

And this hatch leads to the after engine room.

Each crew member got one locker like this for all of their stuff--spare uniforms, personal effects--everything.

Through another hatch, and you're in the electrical compartment.

It's back here that power is shunted from the four big diesels up front to either the battery chargers that put power into the 252 batteries below the decking or to the two electric motors that actually turn the propellers (or a combination of both). That's right--those four huge diesels just generate electricity for the electric motors that actually turn the screws. On the surface, the electric motors take their power fro the diesels. Underwater, they get it from the batteries. But either way, the subs motors are electrically driven. And here's the panel where it's routed.

By the way--this area and the engine rooms were so loud that most crew members who served in them suffered permanent hearing loss to some extent.

Next we come back to the aft torpedo room. These subs could and did fire shots from both ends.

And how is this for tight rack space?

USS Drum. A great memorial to the heroes of the "Silent Service".

Go to Battleship Park and see her if you're in the area. And let me know--I may just join you.