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Praetorium Honoris

Sunday, March 12, 2017

Old Ships, Navy Museum Part One and a Half

USS Olympia
Just a quick Sunday post. I'm still recovering from the excitement of the past couple of weeks and had to get up early on Saturday to get a safety recall done on my Honda Element, Big Girl. She's still providing valuable service 12 years after The Nuke bought her as a soon-to-be Ensign in the naval service.

Speaking of The Nuke, she got to wear the golden oak leaves of a lieutenant commander this weekend while on reserve duty. Yes, she managed to tweak her big brother, The Naviguesser, who got out of the Navy some years back as a lieutenant. As she put it, "I just want to stay in long enough to outrank my brother!"

Mission accomplished.

While I'd rather spend my Saturday morning some place other than the Honda dealership, they've done a good job of keeping Big Girl up and running over the years. I have no complaints with Honda. The Naviguesser, as an almost-Ensign, bought his first car, a Honda Insight, way back in 2001. She's still running though he no longer owns her, she went to his next door neighbor.

An Insight just like the one The Naviguessor used to drive, same color too. (Source)
Now the Insight is one of those hybrid vehicles, an early example of one of those. I drove her from Little Rhody down to Norfolk back in the day and while low to the ground, she was comfortable and sporty to drive. Well, sporty in a good way. She had all the oomph needed for the interstate and got around 50 miles to the gallon. Not bad.

When she was just past her warranty expiration her main battery gave up the ghost. Kind of an important, and expensive, piece of a hybrid. His local dealership out in California wanted big bucks to replace it, Honda USA said, "Belay that, we'll pay for it."

So yeah, I kinda like Honda.

Anyhoo...

I was up far too early for a Saturday and was out gallivanting in the D.C. area last weekend. The weekend before that was the end of The WSO's visit and I was a bit wore out (in a good way) from playing with the grandkids. (Where, oh where do they get that energy?)

So yeah, I'm a bit tattered and torn up from all the excitement. Which means you'd get a rather semi-coherent post if I didn't have pictures of all those ship models from the Navy Museum. Enjoy. I'll be back on Tuesday but never fear, Juvat will, as he always does, entertain and educate you on Monday.

USS Miantonomoh (BM-5), a fine example of a monitor-type ship.
USS Baltimore (C-3), fourth of six ships to bear the name. A protected cruiser.
USS New York (CA-2), the second armored cruiser in the Navy. The first was the USS Maine.
Oddly enough, New York entered service before Maine.
A view of USS Olympia from her port quarter.
USS Salem (CS-3) a scout cruiser and the first Navy ship to bear the name of Salem, Massachusetts.
Home of the witch trials and, did you know, the name Salem is a shortened form of Jerusalem.
USS Brooklyn (CA-3) the U.S. Navy's third armored cruiser. (Second ship to bear the name Brooklyn.)
USS South Carolina (BB-26). While not as old as some of these other ships, gotta love the old basket masts.
Samson-class destroyer (I think), I didn't catch her name. An old WWI "four-stacker."
USS Panhay (PR-5)
Sunk by Japanese aircraft on the Yangtze River, 12 December 1937. Yes, 4 years before Pearl Harbor!
Dynamite Gun Cruiser USS Vesuvius
In theory, the Vesuvius could fire thirty projectiles consisting of five hundred pounds of gun cotton, dynamite of other high explosive in thirty minutes. The projectiles were fired from three 15 inch guns using compressed air, hence the name "pneumatic guns". The compressed air would create less of a shock on the projectile than would a normal explosive charge and would therefore have less of a tendency to prematurely explode the projectile, which generally carried nitrocellulose and nitroglycerin. (Source)
In case you were wondering what a "Dynamite Gun Cruiser" was. I know I was!

Yacht Corsair owned by J.P. Morgan, served as USS Gloucester during the Spanish-American War.
And because Murphy wanted pictures of the Museum's other Corsair...



And for Shaun, because nothing says "Get off my lawn" like a submarine's deck gun...



See you Tuesday!




I keep forgetting to mention that Olympia still exists and is in Philadelphia. The caption to the opening picture is a link to their website. Thanks to a couple of readers who pointed that out!

32 comments:

  1. I've been reading your blog for several months now, great stuff! You might want to remind your readers that the USS Olympia is still afloat in Philadelphia. They even have a facebook page.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Added a link, added a footnote. Why did I forget to do that initially. I blame the perils of age.


      And thanks Jack, welcome aboard!

      Delete
  2. It would appear that they don't want anyone playing on the 5"/25 Wet Mount. They have removed the training and pointing wheels. The handle grips seem to be missing on the 3"/50 Wet Mount, too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The placard says you can sit on the gunners' seats but not to climb all over the gun itself.

      Also, I could not find the ready ammunition locker. What if the museum gets attacked?

      Delete
  3. Any history on who makes all those models?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Naval Sea Systems Command has, since 1883, has a program of obtaining and constructing ship models. Their website has the story. As I understand it, they own the models in the museum.

      That's the extent of my knowledge, but it's an interesting topic!

      Delete
  4. Excellent models, but they'd be better if they were built inside of bottles :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Do they even make bottles that big? (He asked with his tongue planted firmly in his cheek.)

      Delete
  5. Nice post. Especially the Corsair ( the ship was kinda cool also). Im sitting on the train from London to Edinburgh, having a Guiness and enjoying the scenery. However, second day of the trip. Traveling with two women, BOTH of whose luggage was left on the ramp in Austin. Mine made it just fine. I offered to share items of clothing, they turned me down for some reason. Bags are supposed to meet us in Edinburgh. Lord, I hope so!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh Dear Lord. I'm sure one Guinness won't be enough.

      Have fun! (Once the ladies' bags show up, I'm sure you will.)

      Delete
    2. Glenlivet for lost luggage.

      :)

      Delete
    3. Sarge, Lex would like the modification to his motto.

      Delete
  6. This is very neat! This may be a stupid question, but I'm gonna ask it anyways...Can the general public go to the Naval Museum?

    and congrats to The Nuke on outranking her brother!:)

    While I drive a Chevy now, I had a Honda Accord which I got 4th hand from my uncle. He had bought it, gave it to his brother after having it for a while, brother drove it until he died, when it reverted back to Uncle who drove it for awhile again and then heard about an accident that totaled my new Nissan Sentra (my husband hit me...by accident). Uncle called me up, said "are you interested?" "Sure, how much?" Reply "Gas to come and get it" He lives in CT, I was in eastern NY. Two hours later we were signing the pink slip. I drove that car for 60,000 miles (it had 150,000 miles on it) and sold it to a 16 year old for a fixer-upper...some plate in the transmission was bent and shifting was becoming more adventurous then I was comfortable with. Last I heard, which was a couple of years ago, it was still on the road. Fun to drive, reliable, and comfortable. It was a great car.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The public can visit the museum but there are things you need to do first. You can get more information on how to visit here. See the second paragraph for civilian access to the Navy Yard.

      I shall relay your congrats to The Nuke.

      I have known certain makes of car to hang around forever. Honda is one of them. I love mine.

      Delete
  7. I really got an eyeful of the gatling behind the Olympia. I wonder what cal that is?? Looks huge.

    Great post! I love the models. I havent' lost anything in DC, so I doubt I'll be up there.... ever.... Thank you for attending these fine places for me.

    Hey Juvat! My son and daughtinlaw just left Hadrian's wall and Scotland last week! 2nd wedding anniversary. Keep warm.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hotchkiss Revolving Cannon, in 37mm (IIRC) though they made them up to 53mm as well.

      I need to revisit to get all the details on a number of exhibits. So much to see!

      Delete
  8. Another great post Sarge. Great to see Big Hog portrayed like that. Part of my personal history, as it were.

    Thanks for the gun pics, too. I'd love to have the Hotchkiss. It might even be the 3-pdr/47.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Now you must tell us how Big Hog is part of your personal history.

      So, you like the "get off my lawn" guns. There will be more...

      Delete
    2. My first squadron was VF-84 which carried on the VF-17 lineage. I was chuffed as hell to get VF-84 out of the gate as VF-17 and the "Bones" were favorites of mine from an early age. After we got back from almost stopping the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor I had an even deeper appreciation.

      Delete
    3. D'oh. I should have remembered that.

      "Two Mitsubishi A6M Zeroes in mint condition..."

      Delete
    4. To paraphrase Captain Yelland, we was doin' unauthorized rain dances all over 1941! :)

      Delete
  9. Good ones, but where is the picture of the rack of cutlasses? :-) I know they're there!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rack of cutlasses? I missed those.

      I need to go back. Soon.

      Delete
  10. Thanks for the post and pictures Chris. Great as usual.

    Paul L. Quandt

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thanks for the Chance-Vought fix...I needed that. I forgot that it was done up as J.T. Blackburn's "Big Hog". He was The Man, for sure.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Did you check out the railroad gun in the park on the Potomac side?

    Don't know if they're still there or not, but NAS Kingsville used to have a collection of revolving cannon and other old naval artillery around their mast.

    Shadow

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, the railroad gun, I saw it but not up close. We only had about 90 minutes to explore the place and that day was a bit chilly.

      The wind off the Potomac wasn't helping matters.

      Another reason I need to get back down there. As my daughter works at the Navy Yard, I get to visit frequently. Rest assured, when it happens, I will report back.

      Delete

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