The USS North Carolina

Wilmington, NC N34.13 W77.57
November 21st

(p.s. Jenny typed in this blog for me after the fact. Thanks, Jen.)

Today I spent the whole day touring the Battleship North Carolina. Libby wasn’t interested, so she went shopping instead.

The NC was launched in 1941. It is one generation older than the Ohio class battleship. It is therefore the penultimate battleship design. Like the Ohio class, it has nine 16 inch guns.
Unlike the USS Wisconsin that I toured in Norfolk, the NC allows visitors to tour both above and below decks. The USS Texas though let me explore almost anywhere.

I got a lots of nice pictures. I will have to wait for my PC to get fixed before I post them. For me there is a picture of me sitting in the captain’s swivel chair on the fridge. For Jenny and Christian, there are shots of the bakery and the galley. The NC galley served 2000 meals in 50 minutes. For my friend John F. there is a picture of a G.E. reduction gear. It is driven by 5970 RPM cross compound G.E. turbines and the output is a propeller shaft at 297 RPM.
To entertain myself, John U., and Paul D., I took great pictures of the analog computers used for fire control. All three of us would have loved to design those babies. For my son John, the armory, there are shots of the 16 inch munitions . I also took a shot of the block and breech block of a 16” gun. Whoa, that's serious iron!

Libby and I were born in 1944. We are not boomers, we identify much more with the war generation. Myself, despite my love of digital computers, I wish I could have been 20 years older so I could have served in WWII with WWII technology. I feel most at home with the objects, the culture and the technology of the 40s. I guess that makes me an old fart wannabe.

Anyhow, it made a very enjoyable day.