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ORIGINAL: Chickenboy


ETA: Anyone have interior pix from a 'real' Cleveland-class Cl for comparatives? Would be interesting to see how much more or less congested this thing is vs. real life. I think it's obvious that the shape is consistent with RL, as were the portholes / porthole fittings. What about the rest?

Not a cruiser but a WWII DD bridge.

Port side showing engine order telegraph.

Aft bulhead showing alarms, monitoring panels, comm curcuits, etc.

Starboard side showing part of the wheel, radar repeater, the chart table I think, and the WT door out to the starboard bridge wing.

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

in Plan 5, the title of which is "Bridges", the space in question is not called the pilot house but the _____ Bridge. It is the same space because it shows port and starboard gyrorepeaters, which are in the same space as the wheel. The word above "Bridge" is smeared and faded. I make it out as either "Open" or "Main", with Open more likely.

I see it as Open Bridge. That's actually the level above the pilot house. If you refer to the photo upthread, the two round buckets hanging off port and starboard, circled in the photo, are the Mk 51 mod 2 directors for the 40 mm AA guns. The Open Bridge is the open area just below the main battery director, which has the radar antenna on top.

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

Starboard side showing part of the wheel, radar repeater, the chart table I think, and the WT door out to the starboard bridge wing.

What is that cabinet with the U-shaped "handles" to the right of the WT door?

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake

What is that cabinet with the U-shaped "handles" to the right of the WT door?

Here's a different angle on it. That's a cabinet looked at end on.

I'm not sure this is a chart table. It's small, and they normally are arranged so several people can lean in from all sides and discuss. With the light on the gooseneck I think this might be the quartermaster's work station for the deck log and other logs. Could be wrong there. The racks below are labelled, but I don't know if they're for charts, log books, or what.

The horseshoe things are a set, and have thumbscrews on the ends of each arm. They look sort of like vises, or some kind of securing clamp. I don't see anyplace on the table they'd fit or be needed. Stowing them out in the open like that suggests they were needed frequently and needed to be at hand.

Could they be for stowing things - in? For example would a round protractor or some such thing slide into the horseshoes and be ready for easy access?

B

ORIGINAL: Gunner98

Could they be for stowing things - in? For example would a round protractor or some such thing slide into the horseshoes and be ready for easy access?

B

Maybe, but then why the thumbscrews?

I looked around the Web a little and it seems this was the chart table. The charts I'm used to wouldn't fit, but WWII charts might have been smaller. Every USN bridge I've ever been on since the 1960s also had an articulated plotting arm device to quickly draw in lines of bearing. Stand-alone parallel rulers are still used by bystanders, but the QM keeping the chart saves a lot of time and is more accurate with an installed arm. I thought these were in use in WWII, but maybe not until the end.

This is a photo of what I'm talking about. There are different models and designs, but they all do the same tasks.

ORIGINAL: Gunner98

Could they be for stowing things - in? For example would a round protractor or some such thing slide into the horseshoes and be ready for easy access?

B

Also add that these DD photos look like they're either at fitting-out or before an inspection. This bridge is pristine, not lived in. No paper, no books or manuals, no coffee cups, no butt kits. So something might have been mounted in the horseshoes, but wasn't there for the picture.

Edit: Read the intro to the page and these photos are at fitting-out. A lot of gear has not been installed or loaded as yet. For example, battle lanterns.

I sent the photos to my dad who served in WWII-designed DDs and DEs beginning in 1950. He said these horseshoe devices were not present on his ships in that era. But he had an idea that they might be stowage frames for the battlestations helmets for the OOD or Navigator and the helmsman. The thumbscrews might allow for helmet size adjustments.

He said he would forward the pix to a friend who served in a CA during the war and see if he had any ideas.

Second reply from my dad. If you have a question, ask a veteran. [:)]

He was a sonarman in DDs BTW.

"Second possibility. There is no storage shown for the "hoods" for the radar repeater for night and day use. Could be two - - - one for daylight shielding and one for rig-for-red night use.

I looked at the pictures of the SONAR room. This reel was supposedly shot in 1944. The "Tactical Range Recorder" (TRR) shown in two different shots was classified SECRET at that time and should have been covered. It was used to space the depth charge patterns when attacking a submarine. Only an Officer was allowed to man this equipment. I can't identify the sonar stacks (possibly QBE or QBF). The scope shown was like a radar "A" scope and showed range to the target (measured time elapsed from transmission of active pulse to reception of echo)."

He's referring to the over 800 photos of the interior of a Sumner-class DD here:

http://www.navsource.org/archives/05/interior.htm

I don't know of a more complete collection of photos of the spaces in one class of ship, including habitability, engineering, weapons, and sensors/comms. This collection really shows what a modern warship of the time looked like to the crew. If you want to know how they loaded 20mm magazines, it's in there. Plus everything else.

That is an amazing set of photo's, thanks for sharing. Really brought back some memories.

ORIGINAL: oldman45

That is an amazing set of photo's, thanks for sharing. Really brought back some memories.

Being the touchy-feely kind of guy I am I spent a lot of time looking at the galley, berthing, and especially the heads. Give modern sailors an open trough to crap in and see how many enlistments you get! [:)]

Those U-shaped brackets were for stowing helmets. Probably the sound powered phone talker helmets.

We had shower curtains in the heads, so it wasn't too bad. Then they added women onboard and things got changed, a lot. [8D]

ORIGINAL: oldman45

We had shower curtains in the heads, so it wasn't too bad. Then they added women onboard and things got changed, a lot. [8D]

We had stainless steel phone booths, with doors. If you were claustro you were out of luck. But you wouldn't have been on a sub anyway I guess.

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

ORIGINAL: oldman45

We had shower curtains in the heads, so it wasn't too bad. Then they added women onboard and things got changed, a lot. [8D]

We had stainless steel phone booths, with doors. If you were claustro you were out of luck. But you wouldn't have been on a sub anyway I guess.

Sounds about like what we had on the Charlie Deuce... but, no doors.

ORIGINAL: RevRick

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

ORIGINAL: oldman45

We had shower curtains in the heads, so it wasn't too bad. Then they added women onboard and things got changed, a lot. [8D]

We had stainless steel phone booths, with doors. If you were claustro you were out of luck. But you wouldn't have been on a sub anyway I guess.

Sounds about like what we had on the Charlie Deuce... but, no doors.

The doors were very solid, about an inch thick and full of insulation. Door handles and brass latches. There was an air grille about four inches square with louvers at neck level (Well, my neck.) You needed to crouch down to try to peek out before emerging else you could really de-nut a shipmate who wasn't alert. All the heads had the same design: crew, goats, officers, and CO/XO. I think it was so the heads could be very small footprints and still no splashes escaping on guys at the sinks.

When some guy went Hollywood and the COB caught him there would be a metal bar impacting the shower booth. Like being inside a bell. (Not when we were alert or mod-alert though. Then the offender got TDU-duty or "s**thouse mouse" rotations. Those might be sub-only things.)

I had not seen the word TDU in forever. As a tech writer I got to go down and watch them overhaul a TDU. All I could think was wow when they had to torque bonnet on the the body. I don't remember the foot pounds required but there were two sailors in the hole cussing up a storm trying to get the torque converter on the nut and still have room to move. Made me glad I was a Hull Tech. My other favorite job to watch was when they replace the seats on the BFV valve.

Brain bucket holders...I'll be damned.

Does "going Hollywood" mean what I think it means?