Floating Drydock, Ship Lifts, Fleeting, and Graving Docks

In this episode we're talking about the logistics of how a drydock works.
To support the battleship's efforts to drydock, go to:
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For the most recent updates to the project, go to:
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[@alanjameson8664]

If I am not mistaken, the drydock that accommodates HMS Victory is the oldest dry dock still in use, and the floor is below sea level-- which qualifies the crew for submarine rations.

[@petermichaelgreen]

I have no idea about crew or rations, but Victory's drydock was walled off soon after victory entered it.

[@DavidSmith-cx8dg]

In Portsmouth we have several graving docks and locks . The oldest have doors and are no longer in use , some are home to museum ships but most have caissons of various types .Interesting structures as they have to have the buoyancy control of a submarine and fit securely . Some form part of the road system . Locks have a caisson at both ends to allow ships to transit . An advantage is road access and permanent shore services . Docking is a long process and I'm glad Ryan is explaining it and there is a tried and tested plan for New Jersey .

[@Enigmavyibs]

My apologies if I am mistaken but , is this the shipyard in Portsmouth NH ?

[@DavidSmith-cx8dg]

Sorry I should have said , Its Portsmouth Hampshire UK .

[@Enigmavyibs]

​@@DavidSmith-cx8dgok...thank you 👍

[@gl309495]

Back in the 60's USS Ajax went into drydock at SSK shipyard in Sasebo Japan and WHILE we were in drydock The shipyard EXPANDED the dock to more than double the size we went into. The bow end was dug out about 50% longer and the port side expanded about as much. A much larger caisson was excavated and installed outside the original and connected to the port drydock side. The end result was a dock that could fit 100K ton + size tankers that SSK was building. It was a very impressive earthmoving project. When we left they filled the new dock, floated the old caisson out and then floated out Ajax.

[@mattw5840]

I love this channel. The curator is a consummate professional

[@chrisserfass8635]

There are quite a few of interesting pictures of RMS Olympic in two different types of dry docks. But it's interesting to see ships being in drydock.

[@bomba1905]

Hold on a sec, that's not a bear

[@TimPerfetto]

faulty syllogism

[@cleverusername9369]

Not with that attitude

[@TimPerfetto]

@@cleverusername9369 You are aware possibly? Ok

[@Tuck-Shop]

Bearly counts towards bear week..

[@BattleshipNewJersey]

Bear Week ended on Fat Bear Tuesday.

[@JVoltCUAF]

i know its difficult but is there a chance that the museum can live stream or put up web cams for the drydocking process? this video makes me wanna watch the entire project.

[@hendoman100]

A time-lapse would be cool for those of us who don't have that much time, too, or who are in different time zones around the world.🙂

[@BattleshipNewJersey]

We will video the drydock process like crazy. I don't want ot make any promises on the exact process yet, but we will post a ton of content for sure.

[@abrunosON]

@@BattleshipNewJersey based, documentingmaxing and historianpilled

[@mikeL5183]

The marine railway style dry dock is still in use in New York. The Lake George SteamBoat Company uses it for their boats, right on Lake George. I'm still trying to figure out how to visit the Iowa. I'll be at the San Pedro cruise terminal for my 4th time in January and have yet to visit that ship. I just have to figure out storing luggage while I tour it...

[@northernmetalworker]

I work at a shipyard that has a perlson shiplift as it's method of lifting boats. It also has rails and a transfer carriage, which allows someone to shift and store vessels in various locations. Super cool.

[@MrTylerStricker]

Will be fascinating to watch the dry dock work being done!

[@danielayers]

Yet another interesting and informative video. Thanks Ryan & Libby!

[@dannyhonn973]

Interesting. You always explain things so anyone can understand. I dont think you'll ever run out of material to discuss

[@ronaldmiller2740]

HI RYAN ,, MY SON MAX AND I FIND THE OLD VIDEOS AND INFO. INTERESTING THANKS ALL THESE MEN PULLING THIS GIANT SHIP IS AMAZING..THX.

[@billweare2146]

Thank you Ryan. I learn something every time I watch one of your videos.

[@firstnamesurname6130]

Will there be a video on the coatings used on the hull? I think it could be really interesting

[@mammutMK2]

I get that you need to bump her once...but a second time just for one block it absolutely insane. Having over 300 blocks (sounds a lot, but for a 45000 ton ship it's 150 ton per block) it's worth to find that -1...the expenses for the second bump just for one block, you could literally gold plate that area if you find it and manage to do it with one bump, and still save money.

[@tylerdurden2644]

Fleeted my ship twice. It is expensive and time consuming. Those blocks are not moved by hand so equipment must be lowered in if you change the plan past just the painting equipment. Better to fleet once then twice though. Best of luck and good planning saves the day.

[@stephenbritton9297]

Don’t forget, the Cassion is flooded to seal the door and pumped out to be moved! Also, I’m surprised they are using underwater drones along with or instead of divers for positioning these days.

[@johno9287]

All aboard the marine railway!

[@gonebabygone4116]

Glad to see she's getting a spa day. I hope to actually visit before my time is through.

[@michaelguerin56]

Thank you. It was obvious to me that a ship would have to refloated and moved forward or aft, in order to complete hull inspection, repairs and painting but now I have the terminology.

[@gregrich91]

I was in the area for camping and convinced my friends to check out THE uss Wisconsin! Thanks to your vids I was able to explain how the fire controls worked and fun facts about the 16" guns =D

[@tsufordman]

Gulf Copper is using blocks on Texas that contain a portion that is made of sand filled boards that can be used to remove individual blocks one at a time and reposition them without refloating the ship. It is not as big of a ship as New Jersey, so maybe not an option.

[@ranekeisenkralle8265]

Interesting. I didn't know that.

[@elijahwerner6130]

I was just on the verge of asking if Texas was going to be fleeted at any point- under the circumstances moving the blocks is probably a better option for Texas.

[@aalhard]

Best fortune in your fleeting. I helped renew the Washington Obelisk on Kings Mtn, finish it once you start. Get that hull beautiful!

[@davidepperson2376]

Outstanding

[@christophercripps7639]

I seem to recall the plan is to drydock in #3 in Philly. I know it well from having been there in the early ‘90s during the carrier life extensions.

[@18robsmith]

Thanks Ryan. Have you ever heard about tidal graving docks? These are most often used for small vessels and consist a series of balks of timber sitting on a suitable beach on a tidal river or harbour. Obviously only of any real use for jobs that can be done during the a low tide. I don't think one would be of any use for the work you have planed for New Jersey.

[@user-kd4ir7dk1s]

Best of luck to you from SS Red Oak Victory, AK 235

[@alexwood5425]

Yes, do it properly. You can only use your corrosion allowance once!!

[@frankbodenschatz173]

I agree with the move once theory Ryan and Libby!

[@akdonlh9924]

Get her painted up a refitted we are going to need her soon

[@80b]

The Texas has those huge docking structures built into the hull they used to line the ship up with the dry dock. Sorry I forgot what they're called. Does New Jersey have anything like that to help the dry docking alignment?

[@johnm7249]

Sorry your bear lost. Better luck next year.

[@magnemoe1]

Seen the railway style lift been used on smaller fishing crafts and yachts, not an boat anymore but tiny for an ship.

[@dukeofgibbon4043]

The floating gate is how the new Panama canal locks work.

[@rowejon]

I've done it & made the mistakes. It was stressful docking a meer 72ft flatbottom.

[@nathanfisher1826]

Great job

[@user-nu9hu4gc1h]

I understand you can't move the ship under its own power but if you could, how many people would it take to cover all the places on the ship that needs to be covered (deck , navigation, bridge, engine space and any other spaces needed for the move to drydock)?

[@benjaminshropshire2900]

I wonder if pumping the water out of the ballast tanks (to reduce the load that must be supported) as the dock gets drained would make any difference to what kind of blocking can be done safely? It's kinda funny that to get *to* the dock you need to make the ship heavy enough to get under bridges but to dock it you might want it as light as possible to reduce stress.

[@setituptoblowitup]

She'll be just fine 🦾🦿

[@FangornAthran]

Actually pulled my submarine into dry dock twice, was an interesting experience.

[@Knight6831]

Yeah we don't want any accidents which happened to battleship HMS Valiant in 1944

[@PraxZimmerman]

Counterpoint: it's currently Wednesday at 4:25pm here.

[@janstransky442]

Could you have a removable blocks to prevent fleeting? Something where you would remove few blocks at a time to do the work without reflooding the dry dock.

[@BattleshipNewJersey]

Some drydockings that is the best plan of action, in this case it is more time consuming and more expensive. When you're doing the work for a year and doing extensive work to each section that is cheaper but in this case its more time consuming and therefore more expensive.

[@dennisyardn1ten238]

Where are the blocks stored between dry docking? Its decades between them.

[@denali9449]

The blocks are owned by the shipyard. While the layout is designed specifically for the New Jersey, they are not the property of the ship. Same blocks are used for multiple ships.

[@robertpoore7604]

Good question

[@tomhenry897]

Used for other ships

[@TheRealGraylocke]

After 'trimming down' and the ship is on the blocks, do you pump out the water in the bow? Or do you leave it in, knowing you're going to have to fleet the ship at least once?

[@someonesomewhere1240]

They also want to ensure the ship is near-level when refloating to exit the dry-dock, so I imagine the water stays in the tanks the whole time.

[@reddo84]

exciting times ! Do the main guns elevation need to be set back down to enter the dry dock? Cheers Jim

[@BattleshipNewJersey]

They do not

[@richardsweeney197]

Mystic Seaport has a marine railway.

[@GardNRailCrucible]

If the money was there and the museum’s contract with the Navy allowed it, would you consider attempting to repaint New Jersey above the waterline with one of the WW2 camouflage patterns the Iowas wore? I had the chance to visit USS North Carolina recently, and they’ve done good work presenting her camo scheme.

[@shubinternet]

They usually try to represent the ship as if it was towards the end of her career in the 90s, before she was mothballed for what we believe is the last time.

[@garywayne6083]

Agree with above - she's not in her WW2 configuration like the North Carolina is so a WW2 camo scheme would be completely out of place.

[@BattleshipNewJersey]

We display the ship was she was at the end of the ship's service, so we're always going to be gray. She's got missiles on her and not AA guns so she could never look WWII. And erasing the later years of the ship that are original to backdate the ship to WWII tells our sailors that we only care about WWII and their service wasn't important. We certainly don't want that.

[@clutchpedalreturnsprg7710]

Hello Battleship New Jersey & Mr. Zamansky, this graving drydock seems to remind me of the drydock in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. If they are the same is there any information that drydock could provide?

[@AJMansfield1]

What sort of coatings are/will be used on the ship?

[@ranekeisenkralle8265]

I do have a question pertaining to this video. Well, two, technically. 1st: How did you affix those plans in the background to that wall without damaging them? I believe to see some strings coming down from above, but I may be mistaken. 2nd: Are those plans part of the regular exhibition - or did you put them up just for the video or for planning the docking?

[@BattleshipNewJersey]

Those plans are copies so they are just taped to the wall. We put them up in our office area just for our use, they will hopefully end up in an exhibit soon!

[@ranekeisenkralle8265]

@@BattleshipNewJersey Would love to visit, but I'm in the wrong hemisphere for that - and a trip to the US won't be in the cards for quite a while yet. Maybe someday.

[@sparkplug1018]

Could you elaborate more on why it cost so much to fleet the ship? Obviously professional divers don’t work cheap and I’d imagine it adds probably another day in the dry dock, but is there more to it? Or are those two things the entire cost?

[@jasonirwin4631]

You'll also need drydock workers to move the ship and moving the amount of water needed to float the ship isn't cheap either. The drydock company will charge for both of those plus the extra drydock time and divers.

[@BritishTeaLover]

Because they have to flood the entire dry dock again, they have to move every single bit of equipment out of the dry dock, and then bring it back in. That's a lot of labour, which is expensive, and takes time, which is also expensive. Reseating the ship on the blocks is also not a fast process, so those extra days involved could cost tens of not hundreds of thousands of dollars just for fees of using the dry dock.

[@rachelcarre9468]

Hi Ryan, how does the ship yard precisely locate so any blocks and control the ship to the correct position?

[@johndoe-so2ef]

I'm going to guess that it's done with the drawing shown in the video and a good bit of math and measuring......

[@rachelcarre9468]

@@johndoe-so2ef And chalk lines on the quayside? :)

[@johndoe-so2ef]

@@rachelcarre9468 probably paint, but I would expect some markings, yes. We've been spotting big equipment like this since the Romans.

[@sammy7388]

Do you know what company made the steel for battle ship New Jersey

[@BattleshipNewJersey]

A lot of it is Bethlehem Steel but it comes from many places

[@sea_kerman]

Is there a reason the blocks aren't designed such that you can remove one, paint the bit, then put it back, one or a few at a time?

[@BattleshipNewJersey]

In some cases you can, thats what Texas is doing, but it comes down to price, whats cheaper to do and whats more structurally sound.

[@elmertudball7671]

I don't understand why the ship wasn't permanently land dry docked rather than repairing the ship like you are now. I would think it would be a lot cheaper and long lasting!

[@JoshuaTootell]

Ships are designed to be supported by the water.

[@jamesretired5979]

Cant the blocks be set up so that they can be removed one at a time and repositioned with out re floating the ship.

[@BattleshipNewJersey]

In some cases you can, thats what Texas is doing, but it comes down to price, whats cheaper to do and whats more structurally sound.

[@notme123123]

Have any curators overseen 2 dry dockings?

[@BattleshipNewJersey]

Ryan's been involved in many drydockings on many ships but for a curator to see more than one drydock of the same ship, thats pretty rare. The folks at Slater od it often enough many of their guys have, same as at Constellation and I'm sure there are others.

[@daniel48young57]

Why is it that instead of keeping the ship out of the water you want to raise it paint it then put it back into water

[@BattleshipNewJersey]

Here's a whole video on that: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qZKbqWWdmJlnbsU

[@harrykilman5634]

Another video where you indicate that there is no way to communicate to future curators what has been done. Last time it was that you could not find the information about what was done to clear the superstructure for the bridge. This time you do not expect a future curator to know what blocking plan you use. I realize that digital records are not reliable since they "erode" and sometimes are in a format that is no longer readable, but might I suggest that there are paper documents that have survived hundreds of years and will probably continue to do so. Print the blocking plan you use and put it in a safe place. Print an index of where various "plans" like this are stored and hand it down during your change of command briefings.

[@joedefedele6380]

I have a theoretical question that is off topic of today's video. This maybe full-hardy and/or illogical but I would like your theoretical insight and knowledge of N.J. Premise: If the Israel-Hamas war escalates that other countries become militarily involved. Would there be a possible consideration of reactivating 1 or 2 of the Iowas? And, theoretically, assuming it becomes an international crisis and the U.S. needed powerful shore bombardment and heavily armored ships, how long would it take to reactive the Iowas and money is NOT a consideration. Thank you in advance for an anticipated positive response. P.S. I am highly curious of a theoretical dissertation.

[@Jimorian]

At this point, you're talking about removing and replacing the entire boiler/steam plant, so even with money-no-object spending, you're talking about an overhaul period of 2-4 years. Getting those things out and new ones in basically require removing the superstructure and then putting it back. Edit to add: If you really need 16-inch guns, it would be far faster to build a new hull and pull a turret from one of the ships to install there instead. New guns from scratch are also a 3-4 year project.

[@mrnoodley]

@@Jimorianall good points… Making new guns might take even longer than you’d think. In a previous video Ryan talked about this a bit. It’s not just a matter of ordering new barrels from a foundry.. Those sort of foundries simply don’t exist anymore and iirc those types of alloys aren’t common either so it might mean building new milling and refining as well. It would require spinning up an entire new industry to support the construction of new naval guns. Same situation for building new armor. There simply aren’t foundries in the US that can make Class A armor anymore. In the end it’s cheaper to just order more cruise missiles

[@dirtdevil70]

​@mrnoodley i mean while we are day dreaming about it...pull all three turrets and add multiple vls systems for tomahawks etc etc. NJ may be armoured well enough to suck up anti ship missiles but the navy wouldn't risk her escorts by bringing the task group in close enough to shore to use the main guns... this isnt 1944 or even 1990 anymore... drones and asm's have made it much more dangerous to operate close to shore..as the Russians have learned.

[@randyogburn2498]

We also don't have ammo for the guns. It would be easier to just blast the enemy into submission with bombs & missiles.

[@Tuning3434]

Pretty sure this question is raised so often that it is covered in one of the FAQ videos where Ryan answers questions with an increasingly less lively look in his eyes.

[@patriotic80]

Please do not remove the propellers . Thats my only concern

[@merlinwizard1000]

94th, 12 October 2023

[@TrabberShir]

6:03 That block sitting on it's corner doesn't seem to be helping much.

[@loosehandle1]

Yes it looks sketchy

[@Enigmavyibs]

With Ukraine & now what's happening in Israel , Who knows.... maybe this drydocking will be more important than we think...😒

[@tomhenry897]

Sorry to hear chunk lost to a girl

[@TimPerfetto]

you better be dry docking I don't understand why you are floating ships and and using hair

[@jasonmurawski5877]

What are you trying to say?

[@TimPerfetto]

@@jasonmurawski5877 The hair has become tangled