Messages

1

Museum Submarine Discussion / Re: Who is pissed at Batfish?

« on: July 09, 2014, 12:38:52 PM »

Wow, this sounds all too familiar.  Much of the story of the TVA and Torsk has been told already, but the long and the short of it is nearly the same as the situation at Batfish.  For nearly 17 years all maintenance aboard Torsk was done by volunteers of the TVA.    The folks who "manage" the boat have never had a restoration plan other than the one TVA put together.  They provide the lip service about how much our efforts are appreciated, but still said "we no longer want to deal with TVA."  Seems that we became a threat to the management also.  Are all bureaucrats the same? 

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Museum Submarine Discussion / Re: forward escape hatch light

« on: April 15, 2013, 01:01:22 PM »

Torsk has a DC lighting panel on the aft bulkhead of the FTR.  It is on the port side of the watertight door.  All the DC lights in FTR are powered from that panel.  I don't remember if that light is specifically labeled or not.  Turn the ON/OFF switches on the panel to ON until you get power on the socket.

Hope that helps!

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Museum Submarine Discussion / Re: How do you inspect beneath the superstructure to the rear of the sail?

« on: April 03, 2013, 12:58:07 PM »

There are many areas under the deck and superstructure that are inaccessible.  Places that are accessible we get to by entering under the deck through a deck hatch and working our way around, which requires you to be a contortionist.  The area around the induction piping that you refer to can only be looked at by pulling up the deck.  Torsk is in the middle of replacing the deck, so the inspection and preservation is going on when the old deck is pulled up.

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Submarine Related Chatter / Re: 2013 Goals

« on: March 26, 2013, 01:04:18 PM »

Amongst other things, the Torsk crew is working on the restoration of the Forward Main Engine Lube Oil systems, the fresh water and seawater cooling systems, and the motor room bilges.  We are also working on a coffin bunk display that will have a Plexiglas top and contain uniforms, books, and all the other gear that a submarine sailor typically took on patrol.  In the torpedo rooms we are working on see through barriers to keep the visitors from wondering between the torpedo tubes and falling into the flats.  The ladder up to the conning tower is being repainted and the ropework is being redone.  In Radio we are in the middle of restoring our URC-32 HF transmitter-receiver, our TCS-12 HF transmitter-receiver, and the RBS-1 HF receiver and in Crew's Mess we are restoring our SLR-12 (RBO).  So, all in all, we have many projects in the works, so we stay fairly busy.  You'll also find members of our crew shining up the metalwork, cleaning nameplates, and doing general housekeeping.

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Submarine Related Chatter / Re: 2013 Goals

« on: March 25, 2013, 12:32:47 PM »

Torsk is also hoping to replace some of the bunks in the torpedo rooms and Crew's Berthing.  The pipe bunks are gone, taken away after the boat was decommed as were many bunks in Crew's Berthing.  We have installed some bunks from a troop ship, but they were not submarine pipe racks.  We hope to get correct bunks fabricated and installed.  We also have many, many smaller projects that are being worked on.

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Museum Submarine Discussion / Re: Bridge and conning deck pictures

« on: March 25, 2013, 12:29:15 PM »

Want some of a Tench class boat?

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Submarine Related Chatter / Re: 2013 Goals

« on: March 22, 2013, 09:28:13 PM »

Torsk is in the process of replacing the entire deck topside.  Making good progress! 

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Submarine Related Chatter / Re: Mystery Sub

« on: March 19, 2013, 12:14:18 PM »

All the U-boats taken back to the States during and after the war would have flown the American flag.  The German crews were removed and sent to POW camps during the war and American ships towed them here and American crews manned them when they traveled around after the war. 

9

Submarine Related Chatter / Re: Mystery Sub

« on: March 18, 2013, 12:31:01 PM »

Could it be the U-505?

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School of the Boat / Re: School of the Boat 5 Mar 13 (DC POWER)

« on: March 15, 2013, 12:01:37 PM »

Actually, Darrin has a point.  Aboard Torsk we use an electric, store-bought skillet, and electric, store-bought slow cookers to cook and keep food warm.  We also have a microwave in the Aft Battery Well. When we need to boil a lot of water, like for spaghetti, we use one of those gas powered turkey fryers up topside.

I remember that strip ship quite well.  The MaKay is still over on Chesapeake, I think.  We were not allowed to actually install it.  You know who denied it because the ship was a Park Service-owned vessel and supposedly he needed permission from them first.

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School of the Boat / Re: School of the Boat 5 Mar 13 (DC POWER)

« on: March 14, 2013, 12:49:15 PM »

All I know about the galleys on Torsk and Chesapeake is:

!.) The Navy frowns on using the galley ranges or fryer on the museum subs.  For those of you who served time on the boats, you know what a huge fire hazard they were.  They required frequent cleaning and degreasing. One of the items on the NAVSEA inspection list is the galleys.  They must check them to be sure they are not energized in any way.  The other problem is ventilation.  You really need to run the exhaust fans to eliminate the odors and smoke from cooking.  This introduces another huge fire hazard.  The grease collects in the ventilation pipes and can ignite causing a burning, smoking disaster  We had a ventilation duct fire on my boat.  It wasn't pretty.  The Navy made all the boats clean out the piping.

As for Chesapeake, we had acquired replacement parts for the range from an old ship in the James River.  Dave and Frank from our crew worked for several Saturdays rewiring and installing the parts in the galley range over on Chesapeake so we could prepare meals for our annual work weekend.  The museum stopped letting us use the facilities (that worked) aboard Taney (our effort were not as important as the income from the overnights).  Restoring those galley ranges was a lot of work, but it paid off. 

Understand that Dave was an Electrician on the boats and he used to do this when he was on the boats.  Most towns have an appliance parts store that specializes in carrying parts for older ranges.  You might check with them for parts such as thermostats, heating elements, etc.  However, before you attempt repair and actually running these ranges, take them out and steam clean the parts, thoroughly inspect and meggar the wiring.

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School of the Boat / Re: School of the Boat 1 Nov 10 (valve line up DIESEL's)

« on: March 08, 2013, 01:16:43 PM »

We ran into a snag aboard Torsk while we were trying to flush the fresh water system.  Turns out the shutoff valves for the fresh water supply to the diesel fresh water cooling system have no valve discs!  Apparently they corroded away.  We need to be able to isolate the port and stbd systems in order to do the flush.  Anyone have spares? 

We have identified all the valves in the fwd engine room's diesel lube oil system and in the cooling water systems.  We have also cycled the cooling water control valves. 

As for lube oil, the sumps for #1 and #2 diesels are full as are the lube oil storage tanks.  We still need to run an analysis on oil quality.  We are in a holding pattern until warm weather returns.  Those engine room lower levels get darned cold in the winter.

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Museum Submarine Discussion / Re: Fairbanks 38D

« on: March 04, 2013, 02:42:46 PM »

The only hand-cranking that I am aware of is jacking.  The engine lube oil system must be run and the engine jacked using a handcrank in ERLL periodically to keep the crankshafts from bowing.  I am an ET, so a EN will have to give you specifics.

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Museum Submarine Discussion / Re: Artifacts Available for Donation

« on: February 20, 2013, 01:16:42 PM »

Rich,

Is the TCS a TCS-12?  Is the RBS a RBS-1?  If so, and they are still available, we'd be interested in them also.

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School of the Boat / Re: School of the Boat (21 Jan 2013) - Plumbing System

« on: February 06, 2013, 01:30:09 PM »

Soooooo?  What did you find?