Author Topic: Hello from Lance aka snakeyez!  (Read 59033 times)

Offline Travis McLain

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Re: Hello from Lance aka snakeyez!
« Reply #45 on: April 14, 2008, 07:18:11 PM »
I have 23 days of actual school left, then about 7 days until my graduation, then I am going to Kansas City to visit some family, then I will be coming down to Oklahoma.
I will work my hardest on the escape hatch, however I will not be able to come up as much as I did last time because of the high price of gas this year.
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Offline MWALLEN

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Re: Hello from Lance aka snakeyez!
« Reply #46 on: April 14, 2008, 08:22:57 PM »
No worries Travis...was joking around mostly...although it will be nice to FINALLY meet you.

Will you be staying in Stillwater or Tahlequah this summer?
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing" - Edmund Burke

Offline Travis McLain

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Re: Hello from Lance aka snakeyez!
« Reply #47 on: April 14, 2008, 09:04:59 PM »
I will be staying in Cookson (where my grandparents actually live) its only about 15 minutes away from Tahlequah, I say they live in Tahlequah because most people have never heard of Cookson or dont know where it is.
However I will be going over to Stillwater at least Once for freshman orientation.
"Uncommon Valor Was A Common Virtue" Adm. Nimitz on the Marines at Iwo Jima.

"USS Batfish relentlessly tracked down the enemy and in three separate, brilliantly executed attacks, launched her torpedoes with devastating speed and skill and demolished three Japanese submarines."

Offline Rick

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Re: Hello from Lance aka snakeyez!
« Reply #48 on: April 15, 2008, 06:42:54 AM »
Danny,
Welcome to the board.  I would love to see you down at the Batfish.   We ave a lot of good people down here and a few personalities to boot.  (mine included :uglystupid2:)....   

Rick

Offline Mark Sarsfield

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Re: Hello from Lance aka snakeyez!
« Reply #49 on: April 15, 2008, 08:29:03 AM »
Danny,

  Welcome to website.  I recognize you from Subsim and you probably recognize me, too.  What are your specialties?  Mechanics?  Electronics?  I live in Jenks right up the road from you.  The next time that I'll be heading to the boat is for the reunion weekend on May 10.  You're more than welcome to tag along.
 

Regards,
Mark Sarsfield
USS Batfish reenactor



"If you have one bucket that can hold 5 gallons and one bucket that can hold 2 gallons, how many buckets do you have?" - IQ test from Idiocracy

Offline Darrin

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Re: Hello from Lance aka snakeyez!
« Reply #50 on: June 03, 2008, 09:58:13 PM »
Hi my name is Darrin Singer and I am a former TM3(SS) stationed on the USS Honolulu (SSN 718) and I rode the USS San Francisco (SSN 711), the USS Olympia (SSN 717) and the USS Omaha (SSN 692) and I am also a  former EO3(SS) USNR (NMCB 1, 15, 21) and the USS ly Spear (AS-36) as a MM3(SS) and now currently a Staff Sergeant in the Army. My hobbies consist of working on the USS Torsk (SS-423) when I can get the time and money to make it up there.

Lance this is a great website, thank you shipmate for what you have done in supporting the museum boats..

Darrin

Offline Lance Dean

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Re: Hello from Lance aka snakeyez!
« Reply #51 on: June 03, 2008, 10:13:52 PM »
Thanks Darrin.  Tell a friend!  :)

Offline Mark Sarsfield

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Re: Hello from Lance aka snakeyez!
« Reply #52 on: June 04, 2008, 09:22:07 AM »
Welcome aboard, Darrin.  Nice to see another Torsk guy on here.

Regards,
Mark Sarsfield
USS Batfish reenactor



"If you have one bucket that can hold 5 gallons and one bucket that can hold 2 gallons, how many buckets do you have?" - IQ test from Idiocracy

Offline AVGWarhawk

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Re: Hello from Lance aka snakeyez!
« Reply #53 on: June 04, 2008, 03:32:08 PM »
I wondered when you would be along Darrin!  I will be on the Torsk this Saturday.  Been away for a few weeks as my basement flooded and I was cleaning that up.  I understand Tim is done with his cruises for the minute so maybe he and I can resume  the engine room restoration. 

« Last Edit: June 04, 2008, 03:33:58 PM by AVGWarhawk »
CHRIS GOSSWEILER/USS Torsk Volunteer/You will find me in the engine rooms.

Offline Mark Sarsfield

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Re: Hello from Lance aka snakeyez!
« Reply #54 on: June 04, 2008, 04:42:55 PM »
What kind of work are you guys doing in the engine room?  Are you trying to get one of the engines running?

Regards,
Mark Sarsfield
USS Batfish reenactor



"If you have one bucket that can hold 5 gallons and one bucket that can hold 2 gallons, how many buckets do you have?" - IQ test from Idiocracy

Offline Darrin

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Re: Hello from Lance aka snakeyez!
« Reply #55 on: June 04, 2008, 06:39:22 PM »
Chris, Tim was on the boat last weekend and he should be back onboard this weekend, hopefully......

The engine rooms on Torsk are slowly and carefully being restored, valves and the wiring for the saftey switches (over rev, temp, start, stop) are being restored in preparation for one day starting a engine back up. #3,4 are full of preservatives (since '68) and #1&2 have been rolled over in the last few years on roughly #100 psi. If I remember right #2 is toast (Reserves ran it until '71 and they were pretty harsh on it). Most if not all of the gauges for #1&2 have been restored along with the gauge panels that they are in.

What we need is a Fairbanks/Morse enginmen of ANY era to help us work on getting her ready to run again, while we have Tim to keep us moving along and Joe Roach from time to time there isn't enough enginemen onboard to warrant getting the air bumped up to 250psi (which will require us to buy a BIGGER compressor) and then going through all of the rebuilt injectors and transfer pumps and LO purifiers and the lines to purge out any contaminated fuel or debris. Then there is the daunting task of transfering the old probably bad LO and FO from one tank to another while filtering it and then diving those tanks to clean out the sludge and slime so we can refilter the burned oil and probably bad FO back into there origional tanks.... Assuming that everything works still and we are able to get the DC power situation straightened out (getting Bmore to fix it on the pier) and getting our DC system back to where it can fully take the DC from the pier (should be done by now if not already on Torsk).

Once the previous items have been taken care of we still need to hand over hand her cooling system to make sure that the piping is all still there and not plugged and that we have an access to a water source (our tanks were sealed years ago in the yards) so that we can run the engine for a couple of minutes instead of getting her running and then have to shut it down after the Govenors settle down (those have to be gone through again) and she can run until she starts to get to the upper part of the temp band so we don't burn the bearings or anything else.... This and we also have to pull the air start lines and make sure that all of the lines are contaminate and debris free and make sure that they are all pushing the required pressure to the cylinders for starting it correctly.

Did I mention that we will also have to contact the Aquarium and the Fire department to make sure that they know that we are not burning to the water line because of all of the smoke and crap that is going to come out of the exhaust after not being run for 36 years. Speaking of the exhaust the lines running topside will need to be checked to make sure that they are intact also prior to start up, the intake valves and exhaust valves all work and have been cycled recently, granted the Main induction head valve is barely open and refuses to move, it is not required as long as the hatches are open and the water tight doors chained open.

BTW there is a engine restoration plan in one of the lockers in the engine room that details the restoration of the engines for starting and running..

Sadly I won't be onboard this weekend and I am going to try to push for the first weekend in july to come back up.

Darrin

Offline Mark Sarsfield

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Re: Hello from Lance aka snakeyez!
« Reply #56 on: June 05, 2008, 08:32:49 AM »
All that I can say is WOW!  I know that our engines need the same amount of TLC.  That's pretty much an overhaul.  Since we are land-locked, we really have no intention of running engines, though.

What condition is your #5 back-up engine in?  You could use that to generate DC power (through the maneuvering room cubicle), but diesel isn't cheap.

Regards,
Mark Sarsfield
USS Batfish reenactor



"If you have one bucket that can hold 5 gallons and one bucket that can hold 2 gallons, how many buckets do you have?" - IQ test from Idiocracy

Offline AVGWarhawk

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Re: Hello from Lance aka snakeyez!
« Reply #57 on: June 05, 2008, 02:51:32 PM »
I have seen the locker but there is a lock on it.  I asked Dave about it but he said he was not sure where the key is. Perhaps you have it?  I was looking at it when we had the last Torsk work weekend. Tim hunted me down to help paint the nasty blue Fairbanks into a nice gray :) We just painted around it. I would like to look at the plans. I was a ASE certified auto technician and know what I'm looking at to get a engine rolling.   As far as FER, I'm slowly running out of panels to restore.  Currently I'm pondering the next move on the bulkhead by the crew mess. Plenty to do there. However, I have to complete the snorkel panel.   As far as the engines, it would be something to get them to fire up.  The aquarium folks will probably run for their lives.   Tim said one engine turned over a few years back.  I enjoy working with Tim.  He has such a love for the engine rooms. Basically, it is just he and I at the moment who enjoy the smell of diesel in the morning.   
CHRIS GOSSWEILER/USS Torsk Volunteer/You will find me in the engine rooms.

Offline Mark Sarsfield

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Re: Hello from Lance aka snakeyez!
« Reply #58 on: June 05, 2008, 03:26:00 PM »
I'm getting addicted to the smell of diesel oil, too.   It's the smell of past victories. :)  We volunteers and reenactors are pretty much the ones to carry the torch, now.  The WWII vets are almost gone and someone has to tell their story.  Thankfully, the 50's and 60's vets will be with us for a while longer.

Regards,
Mark Sarsfield
USS Batfish reenactor



"If you have one bucket that can hold 5 gallons and one bucket that can hold 2 gallons, how many buckets do you have?" - IQ test from Idiocracy

Offline Darrin

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Re: Hello from Lance aka snakeyez!
« Reply #59 on: June 05, 2008, 05:58:28 PM »
Mark,
while it sounds like a complete overhaul is required to fire one diesel up it actually isn't, most of this is nothing more the Preventitive Maintenance that hasn't been done in a few years.. All of the injectors are rebuilds from F/M and the LO Transfer Pump were rebuilt 5 years ago and the Priming pumps were gone through and rebuilt and re-installed. The fuel lines will also need to be pulled and purged because of them having a little FO in them. For the air lines and FO lines they are relatively easy, pop them off at the block and then roll the engine over and blow ALL of the crap out of the lines, this will take care of whatever condesation that has formed inside the lines.

IF our seawater chest is fully blanked off (it was supposed to have been done in the '97 drydock) then we will have to go to an alternative method to bring in cooling water for the engine.  The only thing that it takes is a want and a desire and dedication to make it happen, in the early days of Torsk Volunteer Association (TVA) we had dedicated enginemen and contacts with F/M who came up and worked on her from time to time and did a LOT of the work that I have mentioned in the previous posts about getting the engines running again, back then there was a number of people who had the dedication desire and the want to make it happen but as time went by people faded away and the desire is still there but not the people with the "proper" training.

BTW TVA has loaded a LOT of batteries onboard for various DC loads one of which can be the DC voltage required for the F/M and they are getting them installed and ready to run.

Now for those who have never been to www.hnsa.org please go and review the tech manuals online and review the restoration procedures that they have set up, we are here to PRESERVE our museums and restore them to a time line of her service history. While some of you don't have to worry about NAVSEA coming down and inspecting your boat from top to bottom to make sure that she is still safe and watertight (for those still in the water) and that you have not restored her to go back to sea on her own or able to fire her weapons systems again without their permission. the HNSA website like I mentioned earlier is run by Rich Plekney and he as taken the time to scan the WWII configuration manuals from the USS Pampanito and he has also acquired other tech manuals and scanned them and put them online, this is FREE to all who want to use them.

Chris, you have one of the best teachers onboard IF you can get him to help you learn his job. Tim has cancer and we don't know how long he has and IF I was closer to there I would have been bugging the living hell out of him to teach me how to be an enginemen, while it has been a LONG time since I ran a F/M right now I couldn't without the book and knowing the tollerances on some of the parts you need someone there to help you as you learn the job right. I could teach you out of the book how to rebuild a 38 1/8D but I don't know any of the little tricks to make the jobs easier and with a lot less blood on the deck. My advice to you if you haven't done it already go and download the submarine manuals on HNSA and pay particular attention to the Air, Hydraulics and of course the Diesel blocks. I have full copies of Torsk's hydraulics that were hand over hand and then put on paper, I may have her Air systems also on hard copy, those also were done hand over hand before ALL of her air banks were brought back online. 

You my friend have a daunting task ahead of you IF you want to take on the task, OR you can restore all of the gauge panels on the boat and paint all of the bulkheads and other equipment on the boat OR you can take the experienced Engineman that works with you on a semi regular basis and try to learn his job and when Tim and Joe Roach (joe btw has gone to Sonar Div) are gone we won't have any dedicated Enginemen onboard, there is one more but he wasn't there at the last Work Weekend, "Stash" was MIA for the first time since TVA started and I haven't heard anything about how he is doing in the last year or so, he btw was one of the two or three that rebuilt most of the pumps and other parts for the #1 engine. 

Take it for what it is worth, you can do whatever you would like to do on Torsk and I can think of a hundred jobs in the Torpedo Rooms that need to be done and I WILL show you how to be a TM (granted you and I will be learning a WWII tube system together) but I will show you how they work and what needs to be done to restore the rooms OR like I mentioned earlier you can breathe new life back into an engine that has set idle since '71 (a couple of months before I was born).  If you haven't noticed we no longer have the WWII vets coming down and working and giving tours and telling us their sea stories of when Torsk and others were the kings of the sea and we don't have a whole lot of 637 sailors or previous nuke sailors coming down to help us either.  It's your call Chris on what you want to do and you have shown that you want to work your ass off and try to restore those engines so they can once more come to life, take the initiative and make it happen. IF you don't want to do that then Frank and I will show you how to be a TM or you can ask Dave or Mike how to be an electrician OR get with Chief Bill and learn how to do his job. Once Chief Bill goes we will have no one to work on the IC stacks or someone that knows how to keep them and the other god help me for saying this "antiquated" electronics onboard. As for the keys to the locker in the FER ask Larry "torksdoc" for the key, he may have it on his key ring or he knows who has it and can try to get it for you.

Mark to answer your question about the #5 diesel it was REMOVED during a shipyard period in the late '50s or early '60s, so we have no "dink" onboard to power her up without bringing a F/M back online.