Working with bigger guns - BB-35 Battleship Texas

[David2011]

Over the past couple of years I've been reading and studying the main guns of battleships. In the process, I saw that the Battleship Texas Foundation was using volunteers to help with the restoration so I signed up and started working one day a week. The deck guns smaller than 5" have all been removed and taken to a warehouse for restoration. The elevation and azimuth mechanisms are being repaired and the exteriors of the guns are being stripped, sandblasted and painted to as close to new appearance as possible. The 5" guns will be removed in the coming months and they, too will be brought in for restoration.

The guns smaller than 5" are all WWII additions since battleships had little threat from aircraft in WWI. There are 20mm Oerlikons, 40mm Quads on hydraulic mounts and eleven 3" antiaircraft guns. The mass of these guns is impressive. A 3" barrel assembly complete with the sighting systems and recoil assembly weighs around 3,500 pounds and "a bit more" on the deck mount.

3" Guns:




40mm A-A having paint removed

[Winger Ed.]

Way cool.

I've helped with some museum restorations, but nothing as cool as that!

[elk hunter]

What a great way to experience history.

[farmbif]

you fortunate to be able to be involved in such a project, im not exactly jealous, well yeah maybe just a little bit

[MaryB]

Local WWII aircraft collector asked me to help restore some of the electronics. I did the radio systems in a B25 for him and have a P38 radio coming in to work on. It is amazingly CRAMPED in a B25! I had to have one of his kids shimmy into tight spaces to pull new wiring harnesses(old ones were mouse chewed) for me.

Not from the plane I helped on, owner only allows his authorized pictures...

[MUSTANG]

Looks like "Fun" reminds me of my early days in the Corps floating around on Amphibious ships (for several years I thought the only ship the US Navy has was the Dubuque - known by Marines as "De-Puke"). Found the ships guns on the various Amphibs, Destroyers, Carriers, and the Command and Control Ships the USS Blueridge and the USS Mount Whitney I was on fascinating - particularly the Gun Command and Control features most people never see.

[David2011]

Chipping the paint on the 40s isn’t bad. The needle guns pop the old, brittle paint away easily. All we’re doing is getting them ready for sandblasting. After years in a higher pressure corporate job this is mostly relaxing. There are no finely ground Grace screwdrivers. Disassembly is mostly with impact wrenches and large hammers used delicately.

There are some really precision pieces and one of them is extremely challenging to reassemble. The 40mm Bofors mount is hydraulically driven with a bent axis pump. It was disassembled before I came on board so I didn’t get to see it in one piece. It’s in amazing condition to be early 1940s vintage. It’s been immersed in hydraulic fluid its entire existence. The hitch is that the seven pistons, dog bone and the bronze pump housing all have to line up while holding the heavy (15-20 pound) piston assembly. The pistons are 7/8” diameter and about 1-1/4” long. The entries into the pump are square edges with no chamfer and the tops of the pistons have equally sharp corners. Just getting one piston in is a little bit difficult. Getting them all in has been seemingly impossible.

How in the world did the assemblers put these pumps together by the thousands? If anyone knows the secret, please chime in! I’m thinking of making a small gantry from scrap lumber to suspend the piston assembly so we don’t have to hold it in our hands. Some sailboat pulleys would make adjustments in small increments easier.

[1hole]

A 14" or 16" BB rifle is something that gives serious meaning to "knock-down" power.

[45workhorse]

Jealous I am!

[Winger Ed.]

Just getting one piston in is a little bit difficult. Getting them all in has been seemingly impossible.

How in the world did the assemblers put these pumps together by the thousands?

Like so many other things the factories produce stuff in numbers that are beyond belief-- they had a special tool for it.
If it takes us about two days to put something like that together-- using the special tool would get it down to about a minute.

Maybe that's why the call them 'special' tools.

[David2011]

This is the hydraulic motor that operates part of the Bofors 40mm Quad mount. It was disassembled by someone else with no plan on how to put it back together. It was made in the early 1940s and is in amazing condition. After two days of head scratching, I figured out a different way to try to assemble it and two of us had it together in a couple of hours. There was still a learning curve due to having to fit all seven pistons in and at the same time get the drive dogbone in correctly. The next one should be relatively easy. There are ten of the Quad 40s to restore.

Bronze housing. There is an unbelievable amount of bronze on just about everything. It holds up very well in harsh environments.
The dogbone is in the background


The pistons have to go into the housing while the housing is at an angle to the input shaft (visible in the last photo.)


Pistons and dogbone in place


The assembly was stood on end and the outer housing was lowered over it. Previous attempts were with the bronze piece already inside the outside casting and it was nearly impossible to see and get fingers inside the casting.

[David2011]

This is the platform for the Quad 40 mount. Severe pitting can be seen around the outsides of the two double gun mount locations. Eighty years of exposure and poor maintenance due to limited finding has taken a toll on the ship. The motor at the right rotates the entire platform and can operated by the ship's fire control director or by the gun crew.




Four round clip. The Bofors 40mm guns are select fire with a big semi/full lever on each pair. (Internet photo)



A Bofors Quad 40mm gun on the deck of an unknown ship, not the USS Texas. (Internet photo)

[Thumbcocker]

Just wow.

[farmbif]

that hydraulic pump design is tried and true. ive pulled apart much smaller versions but had no idea how versatile the design was until just now.

[Bmi48219]

Chipping the paint on the 40s isn’t bad. The needle guns pop the old, brittle paint away easily.

I’d guess somewhere in under that paint there’d be some lead based primer?

I saw a video about the 20 mm Oerlikon gun. It was a blow back action with massive recoil spring(s), something like 180 pound tension, way too strong to manually pull the bolt back for charging. There were three ways to charge the first round. The third and final resort was an ingenious solution. A rope or cable attached to the back of the gun and bent over a pulley. The tag end fastened to the gun mount base. By elevating the barrel the cable pulled the bolt back to let a round feed up in front of the bolt. Sure be cool to have the opportunity to fire one.

[popper]

They use a precision tapered 'tool' that takes all pistons at the same time. Cylinders are tapered at top. Used them for missile hydraulics and were run by a solid propellent gas generator. GM AC compressor, power steering pumps and Mercedes 300sl FI fuel pump - same design. We called them wobble pumps. How is the restoration of the Texas coming along? Though it was pretty rusty by now, leaking through the hull. Fill with concrete?
We has 2 3 gun mk15 300 ton turrets.

[lightman]

That sounds like a fun project. Good on you for volunteering.

[David2011]

I’d guess somewhere in under that paint there’d be some lead based primer?

I saw a video about the 20 mm Oerlikon gun. It was a blow back action with massive recoil spring(s), something like 180 pound tension, way too strong to manually pull the bolt back for charging. There were three ways to charge the first round. The third and final resort was an ingenious solution. A rope or cable attached to the back of the gun and bent over a pulley. The tag end fastened to the gun mount base. By elevating the barrel the cable pulled the bolt back to let a round feed up in front of the bolt. Sure be cool to have the opportunity to fire one.

There’s red lead primer everywhere. It’s done a remarkable job of preserving the guns. Unfortunately the Oerlikons were all restored when I started working on the restoration but I drool when I walk by them sitting on the shelves. The 3” guns can be pulled against their recoil systems in a similar fashion but they have to be mounted either to a factory floor or the deck of the ship. A chainfall hoist is attached to a bulkhead to retract the barrel.

They use a precision tapered 'tool' that takes all pistons at the same time. Cylinders are tapered at top. Used them for missile hydraulics and were run by a solid propellent gas generator. GM AC compressor, power steering pumps and Mercedes 300sl FI fuel pump - same design. We called them wobble pumps. How is the restoration of the Texas coming along? Though it was pretty rusty by now, leaking through the hull. Fill with concrete?
We has 2 3 gun mk15 300 ton turrets.

These bores are straight making it difficult to start the pistons. I did a fair amount of measuring with a mic and internal gauges. We decided early on that they had a better way for wartime assembly. The manual, as thick as it is, says nada about disassembly and assembly of the motor/pump.

The restoration of the ship itself will begin mid-summer. At the moment a dry dock is being prepared for a trip from Freeport, Bahamas to Galveston. The Coast Guard wants it in Galveston before hurricane season. The Texas will be towed to the dry dock when it arrives but the CG will allow it to be moved during hurricane since it’s only a one day daylight trip. It’s terribly rusty. The space between the torpedo blisters and the original hull has been filled with foam and there are pumps on board. The original plan was to remove the hull plating and weld on new but later it was decided that the new plating will be welded over the existing plating. There is just too much risk of opening too many cans of worms removing the original plating. The 5” guns will be brought ashore to the warehouse for restoration while the ship is in dry dock. There are still 10 quad 40s, 10 more 3” and six 5” guns to restore.

The ship will be opened for visitors on March 12/13 2022 for anyone that might be interested and in the Houston area.

[jonp]

Jealous I am!

Thats no lie

[popper]

https://battleshiptexas.org/battleship-updates/
We had 4 dual 3" that never even got manned during quarters. 5 rnd clips were carried from the magazine to the gun and sailors had to run fast to keep up firing rate.
Suspect the pumps were contracted and not repaired. Breaking the top edge won't hurt the pump and makes installation of pistons easier.