Do USS North Carolina next!

Great

I got stuck in Hawaii for two days transiting to a job assignment. I convinced the customer engineer I was traveling with to go visit the USS Missouri. Unfortunately we missed the engineering tour for that day and only got to do the self guided tour. The machine shop there was set up to look at and not go into. Big disappointment. This episode filled in many blanks. Nice job. 😊

Always something interesting thanks

Great video !

Awesome video! Cool history.

I lost a friend to that ship with the explosion that occurred in the Number Two 16-inch gun turret on 19 April 1989.

We have the baby Bullard VTL, its *only* a 24" one, 1925 model. We don't use it real often, but its really handy when you need it. mostly we use it to repair large gears, turn off the teeth and shrink on a new tire before we recut the teeth.

pretty impressive workshop, and you answered the question almost as i was thinking it, here's the workshop, but what is kept in stock, i can well imagine with the amount of machines and engineering staff there had to be some material to use, but i wonder if every ship was stocked out with similar materials, that bronze rod at $50 pretty cool, odd to think that might buy you a pretty reasonable car these days

Yes that is a walk down memory lane for me, and some of it is not a memory, but present day. I was MR2 (Machinery Repairman) 1986-1991 Charleston S.C. SIMA and Bremerton Wa. I have worked on almost everything he show in the video, by that I mean the same vintage equipment, Kerney Trecker mill, Lodge & Shipley lathe, the big drill presses, sheet metal shear and brakes etc.etc. All really first class machines, if taken care of will be around for another 100+ years. Until about a year ago we had one of the Sidney lathes here in my shop at the University of Arkansas, It was built in 1943. We needed the space (for a Haas CNC mill) and transferred the lathe to the Civil Engineer dept shop where it is used currently. I have a 1942 vintage, round column Bridgeport mill in the shop that we converted to CNC use and I use it almost every day. It can still be used as a manual mill as well, but with the ball screws it is not quite as desirable as a manual mill. The Navy machine shops be it land based or tender/battleship are quite a wonder land. In many ways I miss it, though I have been really blessed to be able to continue doing what I truly love, that is (still using some of the same equipment) repairing and making things and teaching young people how to do that as well.

Would it save time and money using a hardness scratch test on worked material before destroying bits? I know I'm way behind but started watching this channel through Tally Ho.

So many vises!! I want to see

Very cool! 🎉

I was on an MSC UNREP ship and had the privilege of refueling Iowa in mid-Atlantic after the 80's refit. Beautiful ship.

Great tour and Mike is a very impressive representative for the ship.

Great tour! 👍

So, if the 16" turret doesn't cut it, the sailors on Battleship Iowa can always use the 36" turret.

Dake is still in business, as of July 2024. Their web site says they stock parts for ALL of the machines they ever made.

excellant tour. thanks for the tour.

If you go to see Iowa (or any BB) plan to spend all day. You will.

It's mind blowing thinking of the expensive to not only build that battleship but equip it with all the equipment and tooling. Could you imagine the cost of all the machine shop equipment and the tooling to support them in 2024 dollars?!

❤️‍🔥

Thanks for the tour!

Great video! Many similarities to a bunch of shops I've been too. My present company has a Bullard and we use it sporadically.

I watched Clarke's video last night and now yours. Thank you for sharing this video.

It is probably far to late but what if you screwed an eye hook into that nut you welded onto the key then use the overhead crane and lift the whole thing by the pin an inch or so off the cribbing then rattle the pin with a blunt air hammer bit.

What a great tour Keith! Thanks for the VIP service Mike!

Great tour!! A couple of years ago I toured the Battleship New Jersey. The machine shop of course was my favorite part of the tour.

Those Stanley Vidmar cabinets were all the rage in the USAF back in the early 80’s. No idea how long they’ve been around.

Saw the machine shop on the USS Lexington in Corpus Christi around 12 years ago on a Scout overnight. They have a program for Scouting which is way better than the typical tour.

Excellent video. I love the shop tours of unusual shops. Years ago I took the Midway tour...and kept getting left behind. So much to see if you take it slow...and nobody is in your way when your the last one out of the space. Smile. Hopefully I can add the Iowa Engineering Tour to the list.

47,000 tons of Vintage Machinery.

Thank you Keith!

Thanks for the tour. Very informative.

IN the 1950s i worked for a farmer , in the shop were two 36 inch adjustable wrenches . We put a ten foot pipe on one to adjust tension on the dozer tracks. Twisted the wrench to the point that if you looked at it hanging on the wall it skinned your knuckles ! It has residded in a deep furrow in a cornfield for sixty plus years !

Great video. As your in California, you should venture north and see Tally Ho in Washington State.

Hi Keith, What a great tour of a space that helps giving us the freedom we all enjoy to this very day. AS a retired Marine Enginere visits like this take me back to the days I serviced our ships up here in the land of the Canuck, Sure takes me back to the good old days of my youth.

I have a DAKE 75 ton press that came off a ship that i still use all the time Its air over hyd on a scale from 1-10. Its a 10 probly the best you can get

I worked in that shop 89-90 . I was on the last de-com crew. Made a lot of pump shafts on those lathes!! Those machinist mates could do some damage with those adjustable hammers. You’re right with the emblems on the cabinet doors. We were machine repairman. This brings back a lot of good memories. You learn to run the machine underway and learn to lean with the ship as it rocked and rolled. It became second nature after doing it for a while. I was one of the guys that put all of the cosmaline on and in those machines.

Giant steel ships are very amazing things.

A friend who works for Metro North at Grand Central Station in NYC. Gave me a tour of the machine shop in the lower exclusive areas of the station. In it was the same lodge and Shipley lathe as on the Iowa. They said it was on a sub but I said it probably a battleship that was scraped in the late 50s or early 60s,as USS Washington, Indiana, South Dakota was. Great video Keith Thanks, Jim.

Thanks for sharing enjoyed Hope you enjoyed the summer bash. Enjoyed Clarks video

I didn’t recognize Keith without his blue t-shirt and apron.

Love that Sidney Lathe. I have one almost restored

Aww... he didn't mention the one thing most others never have to think about. A 5 inch gun ammunition hoist going through the middle of your shop.

Hi Keith great tour thank you for the information on the Iowa. I remember many years ago that a friend amd I visited the Iowa in approxiamatly early eighties when she visited Portsmouth here in the UK. My friend was a veteran who served in the D Day landings and was fascinated by the ship and for comparison to our battleships of the time. Thanks again.

Thank You Keith and Mike, for bringing us along. Very impressive shop. Time to make an effort to visit this on and the whole ship. I've seen the shop on the Midway it's not as big but very nice as well. Sure looks like you had a great time. 👍👍

I wonder how much the ocean tossing the ship around affects the accuracy of the machines...?

Years ago I got my degree from the University of Missouri. They had a craft studio for students to use, including a full woodshop. The legend was that their table saw was from the USS Missouri (sister ship to the Iowa), but no one really believed it. However, it was an Oliver 270! Maybe it was true!

amazing that the tooling and small stuff didn't disappear to other ships or shipyards that needed it.