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| Subject: Shipyards
Which Yard builds the best boats?? |
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Master and Commander
Posts: 2191
Location: Port Ludlow, WA (the Olympic Penninsula) | Subject: RE: Shipyards
Obvious answer - welcome Patrick! |
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| Subject: RE: Shipyards
thank you, is that obvious answer EB?? |
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Master and Commander
Posts: 2191
Location: Port Ludlow, WA (the Olympic Penninsula) | Subject: RE: Shipyards
Who has been building (quality) subs for one hundred plus years? |
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| Subject: RE: Shipyards
whoa, thanks for your help, Ive heard from a lot of people that Newport News makes a better quality boat, but then again I am an EB employee working with Newport News |
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Master and Commander
Posts: 1455
| Subject: RE: Shipyards
I know you probably meant submarines. I sailed an EB boat and Mare Island boat. I couldn't tell the difference. Both were great constructions. Now if it's a general question I would have to say Bath Iron Works. In my civilian life as a marine products salesman I've been to every shipyard in the US. Second place would be Newport News. Other mentionables would be Quincy Shipyard, and Bethlehem Steel. |
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Master and Commander
Posts: 1605
| Subject: RE: Shipyards
Don't know about making boats, but the best shipyard I remember from my 1 1/2 reserve naval career was Yokosuka. We made a severe storm trip from Pearl to Yokosuka in January of 1968 to begin WesPac. On the way over the storm tore off our clamshells and we spent the last three days watching waves slam into our exposed piping.
In Yokosuka I watched the yard workers use string with powdered chalk to measure the demensions - no tape measures. We got quick temporary replacements almost over night and then permanent replacement - everything fit perfectly.
Also our Loran C never could be fixed at Pearl. Yokosuka got it working perfectly. |
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Master and Commander
Posts: 1431
| Subject: RE: Shipyards/Loss of Clamshell Superstructure
Same thing happened to Gudgeon in 63. You would think that the Navy would learn something from the previous experiences of other boats. |
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Crew
Posts: 69
Location: Irwin, PA | Subject: RE: Shipyards
They are all built by the lowest bidder.  |
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Old Salt
Posts: 419
Location: Anchorage, Alaska | Subject: RE: Shipyards
My Portsmouth built boat, USS Sea Poacher (SS-406), always got me back to the surface and home.
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Old Salt
Posts: 489
Location: San Freakcisco CA area | Subject: RE: Shipyards
Answering this question is tantamount to starting a holy war ... so I'll refer to CDR Allen's excellent book on the WWII Fleet Submarine -- in it, he placed Manitowoc built boats at the top of the heap for both quality and cleanliness. He placed EB at the bottom, mainly because their wartime manangement appeared to be more concerned with change claims than with progress -- remember, wartime improvement recommendations were coming back with each patrol. EB resisted making changes while Manitowoc jumped on them right away -- even though Manitowoc was a "follow yard" to EB and was, therefore, technically dependent upon EB's design and engineering process. |
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Old Salt
Posts: 489
Location: San Freakcisco CA area | Subject: RE: Shipyards
Answering this question is tantamount to starting a holy war ... so I'll refer to CDR Allen's excellent book on the WWII Fleet Submarine -- in it, he placed Manitowoc built boats at the top of the heap for quality, schedule, and cleanliness. He placed EB at the bottom, mainly because their wartime manangement appeared to be more concerned with change claims than progress --
Remember, wartime improvement recommendations were coming back with each patrol. EB resisted making changes while Manitowoc jumped on them right away -- even though Manitowoc was a "follow yard" to EB and was, therefore, technically dependent upon EB's design and engineering process.
The major drawback to either Manitowoc or EB was --- those damn Jimmies in the enginehouse! Which made Portsmouth my personal favorite. |
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Senior Crew
Posts: 159
Location: San Francisco Bay Area | Subject: Another Shipyard Question
And which yard sank the most submarines? |
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Old Salt
Posts: 489
Location: San Freakcisco CA area | Subject: RE: Another Shipyard Question
A yard that sank a submarine? Ahh, yes, you must mean MINSY ... a good friend of mine relieved as ship's superintendent after that episode and I sat on the Court of Inquiry. Murphy's Law in overdrive! |
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Historian
Posts: 190
| Subject: RE: Shipyards
Actually Boston Navy Yard is tied with Mare Island. That is for boats tied alongside in shipyards. A couple have been sunk alongside in bases. One by the fresh water filling for battery water.
Jim |
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| Subject: RE: Shipyards
Mare Island Naval Base....is it still active? I was born there.....just wondering. |
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Senior Crew
Posts: 159
Location: San Francisco Bay Area | Subject: RE: Shipyards
Mare Island has a lot of radio ads for upscale new housing. |
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| Subject: RE: Shipyards
That is a shame......guess that cuts my re-visit there pretty short.......as in, why bother?!
When people ask you where you are from, I guess Navy Brats do not exactly have an answer......mine is fairly simple......I say, 'I am from all over, I am a military brat" and oh so proud of it!
I have heard all the stories of "oh, every time I made friends, we moved"......"my school work suffered as we moved so much"......"no one wanted to be friends with me as they knew I would not be there long"...." I felt like I never really belonged anywhere and had no real home"......etc., etc., etc.
My answer is.....GET A LIFE! It was an adventure.......every time I came home and saw the trailer hooked up to the rig, I knew the following;
#1. We, obviously, were outta there!
#2. My dad was going to be where ever we were going, so this was a good thing.
#3. I did not have to do the homework that was assigned that day....ha!
dad's girl |
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Old Salt
Posts: 489
Location: San Freakcisco CA area | Subject: RE: Shipyards
>>>A couple have been sunk alongside in bases. One by the fresh water filling for battery water.
Now, THAT had to be embarrassing! I can see the CASREPT now -- "Special Sale on Battery Water - Used Only Once" |
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Master and Commander
Posts: 1107
Location: Tucson AZ | Subject: I wonder how many other PCU 637s had near misses
I know the Seahorse came within a few inches of suffering the MINSY Mudpuppy's fate about 6 months earlier - I was there! The issue was that prior to flooding the bow outside the sonar sphere, a platform was constructed topside, forward of the forward hatch, and lead weights were stacked up on it to maintain fore/aft trim.
Come time to flood the bow, to check for water-tightness of the zillion stuffing boxes on the sphere, and 'someone' from the yard is supposed to compensate by pumping forward trim tank water either overboard or to after trim. That didn't happen properly, but one of our PCU crew noted the odd down angle and popped his head up through the forward hatch for a look-see - to be greeted by the sight of the River Thames less than a foot below hatch level!
And of course, being in new construction there was a slew of hoses and electrical lines going into the boat through that same damn hatch, so absolutely no way to clear that crap out of the way and close the hatch.
Our guy screamed at to idjit yardbird to secure flooding the dome, then ran down the yard guy who was supposed to be compensating via trim adjusts.
I always figured a similar scenario got the Guitarro. There, but for the grace of God ....! |
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Master and Commander
Posts: 1107
Location: Tucson AZ | Subject: Not all of historical MINSY is gone, dg
I haven't been there, but it's my understanding that a lot of historically important shipyard buildings, the famous base chapel with its Tiffany stained glass windows, the Admiral's Mansion, etc. are still there and open to the public.
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Great Sage of the Sea
Posts: 602
Location: Visalia, Ca. | Subject: RE: Not all of historical MINSY is gone, dg
The USSVI Mare Island Base, Vallejo Chapter US SubVets of WWII, and other Bay Area Subvets groups have established the Mare Island Historical Preservation Foundation.
For details, go here:
http://www.mareislandhpf.org/INDEX.HTM |
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Shipyards
Forums-> Submarine Discussion
