Nice find there Rick!

[Shipwreck]

Here are some other photos.  One shows some small parts that we pulled from on eof the cosmoline batches.  the parts look incredibly new.  But what are they??

[Darrin]

The bottom pic is a realitively easy one to identify, that goes from the inner breech door to the weapon.. On Torsk we have the same cable just wrapped inside of the breech door waiting to hook a weapon or test set up to.  The upper pic?? don't quite know what that one is of but IF I had to guess it is an adjustment tool but again I don't know for what.

[Darrin]

Cleaning the Torpedo Tubes.....

IF you are serious about opening a tube and putting it on display for the world to see you have a good bit of work that has to be done before you can get to that point especially if you have scaling/corrosion/green nasty stuff and yes a good bit of cosmoline in your rollers.

Where to start??   
1. Is the tube going to be open for display which means you will need to light the tube.. Remember the tubes forward are 21' long and 21.125" in Diameter so that is a pretty descent distance that you have to light which means that white christmas lights don't work too well

2. Are you going to be loading a weapon into the tube for display? because if you are that makes life simple because the only thing you really have to do is clean the Breach Door (Bronze btw) and then get your rollers to work some what. And make sure that the stop bolt is in the load position and that your depth/course setting mechanism is not extended into the tubes.

So assuming that you are going to open a tube up for display and you are going to light it so that the tourist's can see all the way to the end where do you start....  The first place is at the Breach Door (AGAIN it is made of BRONZE) so you need to take care when cleaning it,  a wire wheel on a drill works well but you need to be carefull not to burn anything into it due to the heat of grinding on it.

Once the Breach Door is clean and you are happy with it seal it with some petrolium jelly/grease..  The next step is to make sure that the vent valve is OPEN and you can put some air into the tube while you have a person in inside cleaning.... Make sure that when your person is cleaning the tube that they have a mask/resporator on while they are cleaning the tube because you may have to take the wire wheel/tooth brush inside the tube to clean the corrosion/barnacles/other debris off of the inside of the tube. And of course they need to have a good light with them when cleaning the tube for the first time, once your tubes are clean the process becomes relatively easy after that and requires less labor/maintenance.

IF you are able to use a pressure washer on the Batfish/whatever boat, something to remember is can you remove the water from the bilges?? because it may be easier to use a pressure washer to break the crud loose then going into the tubes with a wire wheel and grinding for a few hours. Make sure that IF you are using a pressure washer you have the angle on the boat so that the water WILL drain to the drain valve, this will ease in removing all the water/debris in the tubes as you go.

Once the decision is made about a pressure washer or a wire wheel you will need to start cleaning at the MUZZLE Door and work your way back to the Breach Door.. The reason behind this is that when you clean your tubes you want to be able to bring all of your trash/debris to the Breach door so it can be swept into a bucket or whatever you have.

Regardless which way you go it is going to be a few long days for the TM Division in regards to bringing the tube back to being presentable once more.

Again here is the link to the Torpedo Tubes section of the Fleet Submarine Manual...  http://www.hnsa.org/doc/fleetsub/tubes/index.htm

[MWALLEN]

If you will note inthe photo below, there is a painting of the Rising Sun Flag image on the inner door.  At first we got excited as this painting was only on two of the original doors (tubes 1 and 2 doors being retrofitted in the 50's).  Numbers 5 and 6 are below the waterline and the ground level.  We were unable to open them as we believe the outer doors may be open preventing the inner from being opened.  So we couldn't see their inner doors.  Our reason for excitment was the question - what if these were the tubes used in the Three Japanese sub kills?  But we found the same painting in all of the Aft tube doors too.

I'm a little late on this, but I've been busy.  As for the Rising Sun paintings, we found them years ago on a few tube doors, but like you we didn't open them all.  To answer your question on tubes vs. kills...here is what I have:

Patrol 4, Attack 3, Tubes 7 & 8 - Destroyer Samidare

Patrol 6, Attack 3, Tube 2: RO-115
Patrol 6, Attack 4, Tubes 1, 2 and 3: RO-112
Patrol 6, Attack 5, Tube 7: RO-113

Note: On the RO-112, the torpedo from tube 1 hit and destroyed the Japanese sub, torpedoes from tubes 2 and 3 were believe to hit debris from the initial explosion.

Hope this helps,

Mark Allen

[JTheotonio]

  I'm getting late on this also. 

Cleaning a torpedo tube by hand is messy, lengthy, process.  But the most important thing to keep in mind is that it requires a relatively thin person who is not afraid of very tight spaces.  As Darrin said the tube is just a hair over 21" in diameter. So if you have a 38" waist you might be cramped just a bit.  And if you use the creeper the space get a bit less for you to work in.  Like Darrin says - start from the muzzle end so you can bring all the gunk out with you as you clean.  Even with a respirator I sure like to have a fan or something to keep air circulating in the tube.

There's nothing prettier than  21" Submerged Torpedo Tube Mark 32 to 39 cleaned and open for inspection by your visitors.  But then I'm partial to things in the torpedo room anyway.

As a young torpedoman I weighed in at 137 lbs back in the old days - guess who did most of the cleaning and tube inspections? 

[FwdTpdFranklin]

Hi all!
I see I am also late on this convo...
As far as cleaning the tubes go, I imagine ill be the one doing most of it and GLADLY SO! The same day we made "the discovery" in the tubes I had snaked my way to the end of tubes 1 & 3 to pull the rollers, but like previously stated the grease inside the tubes has over the years, gathered in the bottom of the tubes and even better, all around the rollers making them danged hard to work with, especially in such cramped spaces. 
   
   Like John said, a fan would be nice as when I clambered out of the tube after about 20 min inside back in august i was literally dripping with sweat, ch when added to the massive amounts of grease makes a LOVELY coating of...well...something on clothing and skin which is near impossible to remove.
Cant wait to see the old girl again, been since early august. Might make a trip down this coming weekend.



     Travis

[JTheotonio]

Travis - don't forget as you try to cut that grease you may start to get mild toxic fumes which is an major reason for the fans.  Your body will block some of the air being blown into the tubes so you need a good volume of air being blown in.

You might want to see if you can blow some air in using some flex tubing - cloths dryer type is cheap and extends a long way. This way maybe you can get some additional air being blown past your body.

Gilly will cut that grease - of course ya just don't give up that much Gilly even for a torpedo tub.  LOL

Good luck.

[Tom Bowser]

As an old Machinist Mate, I wiegh in at 145    and my prefered cleaning fluid is diesel fuel. It has a pleasent odor and will cut the tube grease or gunk real good. I definetly reccomend an air supply. Good luck and have fun.
Tom

[JTheotonio]

  I recommend a bit of diesel in your SOS and eggs.  Yum!

[Tom Bowser]

No, that is where you put gilley, Torpedo men always get it backwards. 
Tom

[JTheotonio]

  Well that goes without saying.  But for true authentic diesel boat cooking you need a hint of diesel in your food and coffee! 

[Darrin]

I dove Tube #8 on the Torsk over the weekend trying to clean out all of the debris and junk from being flooded for 20+ years and having dessicant packs inside and other who in the he!! knows what. 

Being the good TM that I thought I am, I had gotten out a protective suit and a mask and armed myself with a scraper and foxtail and in the tube I went.. Again knowing that there were some not so nice things in the tube that had not been cleaned since '71 I also made the point of having someone standing by to make sure that I was still breathing and moving and I was glad because I had done so because the tube as you all recall is 22' long and partially full of desicant remains, barnacles and god only knows what and about 8' back from the Muzzle door he asked me if I was alright and I was still good to go and I got about half way back from the Muzzle (remember to start from the Muzzle to the Breech Door) when I asked him how far I was and was told my feet were about 8' from the Breech when I couldn't take it anymore and out of the tube I came.

Having problems breathing inside a torpedo tube is NOT a cool thing.... Remember I said that I was smart enough to have a safety standing by just in case
He knew that I was having problems and as soon as my feet came out he was getting people topside to take care of me and to help me get the gunk cleaned off of me and to do first aid if needed. Once topside I litterally tried to throw up anything that I could while trying to get out of my gear as people started to come to my aid, while they could not due anything to help me they were there to wash the crud off of me and see if I needed to go to the hospital.

Note: while I was in protective gear and a mask, it was not a pressurized mask and that while it would have been combersome it would have been the safest option for me or whomever dove the tube. IF you have a tube that has the same issue and you are able to flood and drain the tube PLEASE do so because it will make the job of cleaning them that much easier and now I have to try to figure out if our musuem will let us do that once more so we can clean all of our tubes out the safe way.

Darrin

[JTheotonio]

I am certainly glad you got out OK.  Important safety tip: It might be wise to see if you can get someone to do some air sampling prior to getting in.  (I just thought of this because I certainly do not want to loose a fellow torpedoman. 

If you are on a creeper it might be wise to tie a safety rope onto the creeper so someone can pull you out.  Darrin was lucky, but I think he was close enough to the breech end that someone could have grabbed his legs.

You might want to have a bucket or two of fresh water handy just in case someone needs to wash off when they come out.

[Darrin]

Thanks John for the concern

One BIG thing to remember is when you have someone in a CONFINED space make sure they know and understand what saftey precautions need to be addressed prior to them entering ANY confined space, please do not send someone into a confined space that is unsure if they can do the job or not because IF they panic inside the tube or where ever it could be disasterous.

Warning signs that you maybe in trouble while in a confined space:
1.) Shortness of breath
2.) Loosing comprehension of distance from the entrance/exit
3.) Feeling like the space is closing in on you when it can't

And like John said, I was close enough for someone to come to my aid if necessary, fortunately that was not needed.

Side note: Knowing the warning signs that you are in trouble can and will save your life in a situation like because they are easy to overlook as you try just to "tough it out" and get the job done so that no one else has to go back and finish the job.

Am I sorry that I stopped half way out of the tube and got the heck out of there???   NOPE, my life is more important to me then cleaning a torpedo tube one more time so that it can be used for storage or as a display later down the road.  Maybe later if I get the tube flooded I will go back in and clean the tube again but who knows if or when that will happen.

Darrin

[JTheotonio]

  Darrin you are more important than a clean torpedo tube - so again I glad you got out in time.!

Dumb thought - I do this on occasions - squeegees - do you think you could fashion some sort of scraper then put together enough plastic conduit to reach 22 feet.  Each conduit piece should be attached using a threaded coupling so you can work your way back and forth as needed without having to handle a 22' plus handle. Then snake to the front of the tube with the squeegee standing on end.  When you get to the end twist to let the squeegee drop down in place and just pull out.

OK I'm not sure what all you are trying to get out of the tubes - the above is intended to pull out a lot of debris and water. 

This might be safer than having Darrin or someone else crawling around inside the tube.  Why didn't the Navy invent a little robot guy to clean torpedo tubes.  You know some thing like Wall-E!