Investigating The Hull Leak From Underneath the Battleship

[@phillipbouchard4197]

I just returned from my Drydock tour and had a great time walking down the starboard side of New Jersey and going under her as well. What a huge and imposing ship she is. I saw the same thru hull cover Ryan was discussing and heard from our Tour Guide that there could be as many as half of the covers failing the pressure test. Therefore my guess is going to be 80.I was able to meet Ryan and found him to be very friendly and clearly dedicated to preserving one of our greatest Battleships. Also a thank you to Libby, all our Tour Guides and the Yard workers at North Atlantic Ship Repair. Keep up the good work.

[@ronyoung3623]

My wife and I went on the tour today. Great time! Fun to watch these before and after the visit and able to see it in person.

[@34scot]

I served on the Big J during Decom, very sad time in my younger days. I walked under her keel in 91 and might I say she is looking good after 33 years, Ryan and Libby thanks for sharing these videos. I know yard work sucks but stay strong.

[@kristinfitzgerald1889]

Why were they sad times just wondering??

[@34scot]

@@kristinfitzgerald1889 Because I didn't want the Big J mothballed.

[@34scot]

@@kristinfitzgerald1889 I also felt crossed by the Navy back then. I felt the Big J should have been sent to DS1 with the Whiskey. The Big J was in better condition than the Mighty Mo, all that being said I just missed the Big J after going to the Mo!

[@stephendavis4241]

Ryan, I've been following you for a couple of years now. Your unique way of providing detailed information about each nook and cranny that you are highlighting along with the visual make us feel like we are right there with you. Your presentation seems more than just a tour guide, its more like a good friend telling a noob into the gang all the good things we didn't know. Thank you for your research and effort to provide us with the history of this glorious ship! Keep her afloat, and may GOD bless her crews going forward.

[@Biker_Gremling]

Ryan be telling us all the Quirks And Features of the battleship a video at a time.

[@awesome12q]

And this is the whole story. I WANT to come see the battleship in drydock, but I'm 2000 miles away. But someday I WILL come to see it. It's like when they first moved the New Jersey a few weeks back someone was doing maintenance on one of the bridges it passed under, filmed it and posted it to reddit. OMG, they are moving the New Jersey, here it is! I'm WAY too invested in this. Thank you Ryan.

[@marcush7688]

I was thinking the same thing... Keep up the good work!

[@flashbazbo3932]

Battleship NJ is lucky to have a dedicated person like Ryan trying to get the word out about their amazing resource. He is getting very good at making videos.

[@ghost-cs8jy]

Let's get serious here. Without Libby's film-making magic he would just be a crazy guy talking to himself.

[@mikesheehan4470]

When he's talking about the valves I realized it's probably the first time I've heard someone say there's tons of them and it wasn't an exaggeration

[@billping2633]

I thought fixing a leaky drain plug on a car was expensive.....🤣🤣🤣 On Battleship New Jersey it cost millions. All joking aside, it is very cool to see the ship in the drydock. Ryan thank you for all your hard work.

[@THE-RECKONATOR]

A historical note to signify today for Ryan and his team is the fact that currently USS New Jersey is in dry dock at the same time as the oldest commissioned vessel in the US Navy, USS Constitution! Only 10% of the ship is original but a portion of that happens to be it's entire keel. USS Constitution is still in service with the US Navy and is manned with approximately 80 US sailers along with civilian craftsmen under contract

[@shavenyak1]

If I recall correctly, it's also the only active duty navy ship to have previously sunk another ship.

[@chernobyl68]

@@shavenyak1 hmmm... surely we sank something in the two gulf wars, and that ship is still around...

[@judsonkr]

Sailor. Not Sailer ffs.

[@wtmayhew]

@@judsonkr I’m betting auto correct nailed the writer and changed it to “sailer.” If I had a nickel for every time auto correct got me…

[@TzunSu]

@@wtmayhew Why would autocorrect correct a word into a not-word?

[@DavidSmith-cx8dg]

The box blanks look very well designed and substantial . I think Ryan may be right , although if any more are found to be leaking it probably means the valves are still watertight , or some may be in inaccessible places to check from inboard . It's amazing how much planning and engineering went into making these ships survivable .

[@coced]

It surprises me every time, how well i can focus on a video of a ship not floating

[@mm3mm3]

Ryan and Libby deserve a raise for all of the great work that they do 😊😊😊😊😊

[@concretefarmer3085]

That was a great blankety,blankin episode

[@bobbeazley2502]

Thank you Ryan for your work and info. I just did the dry dock tour today. WOW! I’ve been in the ship twice when in Camden. Being in the dry dock and the views of the ship GIVES a whole other sense of how big the ship is!!!!!!!

[@wurlyone4685]

One question I have, which I wonder if you could address in a video during dry dock please, is are the navy going to come and view the hull while shes out of the water? We know they long sice stopped doing the periodic inspections that are listed in the agreement where the ship was given to the museum, due to lack of resources (Ryan addressed this in a video ages ago) but obviously looking at the underside of the hull is a once in 30 year opportunity, sp are they taking up on it?

[@R.J._Lewis]

A very good question. Commenting for follow on answers.

[@davidduma7615]

I am going to rent an Admiral costume and go down to the drydock and demand admittance.

[@garywayne6083]

He said recently in a reply that the Navy has little interest in this event, although the historic branch is probably pleased.

[@charlesmaurer6214]

Not staying here to wait but am currious how she rode out this morning's shake on the blocks, would like a cam shot durring the 4.8 quake. Don't think I would want to be under her durring a quake either.

[@BattleshipNewJersey]

Didn't even notice

[@POVwithRC]

​​@@BattleshipNewJersey OK, so, hear me out, video idea. What is the recovery plan if a ship like Jersey falls off the blocks while in Drydock? Might be fun to hear from the operator about contingency plans. The insurance claim alone 💀

[@MartysRandomStuff]

@@BattleshipNewJersey Seems like people felt it much less along the river, I'm a few miles inland and my house rattled for about 20 seconds, people I know close to the Delaware river didn't feel it. I thought at first it was road work being done, felt like someone running a big steamroller in vibrate mode near my house (about 10 miles from the dry dock where the ship is).

[@pizzaivlife]

@@POVwithRC that was actually a pretty common problem during WWII. I think the answer most of the time is to refloat and get it back on the blocks, but obviously that depends on getting enough of the hull closed up that she will at least float, depending on how extensive the repairs were

[@chernobyl68]

love how the news is making such a big deal about the eastern quake today but not the same size quake in california like yesterday

[@RustyCrankshaft]

Took Ryan's tour last Saturday with my brother and it was worth every penny. Very cool experience.

[@brucelytle1144]

I remember seeing an LST in DD-3 back in 72. It looked like toy boat in a bath tub! I was told that it could hold Iowa & Wisconsin, (bow to bow) which were moored near by at the time. Thats one big drydock!

[@wastelander89]

The coolest part is the 16 inch guns im so thankful that she is preserved for us to see. Thanks to everyone helping with her preservation

[@Eledore]

Video idea; go over a deck plan and point at equipment and where there water feed and exhaust are. This should give some idea how the piping works, how tangled they are and how many openings there are. As right now we have no scale of proximity of the holes or the abundance of them. (Don't need every hole, but just to give a idea)

[@patrickcoakley1328]

You are a great asset to the Battleship Museum!!! These are great videos!!

[@harveywallbanger3123]

"Ryan Szimansky! You get out from under that battleship before it falls on you!" -my mother, beyond the grave

[@RandallSchwed]

Ryan, a great communicator and curator. 🏆

[@berzerkskwid]

Thanks to our tour guide (I think he said his name was Andrew?) who did an excellent job of explaining stuff, especially when we got up to the bow and could hear him over the machinery working on the stern. Didn't expect to climb under the keel, definitely a highlight!

[@thereissomecoolstuff]

Love these dry dock breakdowns. If other museum ships don’t hire you Ryan to narrate their dry dock.they are leaving info on the table.

[@wookychewbacca5184]

Once again Ryan, Thank You for another informative video, I had seen the boxes sticking down with the lift rings but didn't know what they were. I had figured, incorrectly it seems, that the round, flush, plates were the blanks, with much less drag while underway and that the boxes were some sort of scoop for water inlets or discharges, again while underway. I'm glad that this repair, I saw the video where you went condenser diving, seems as easy as it is and hopefully this will be the only one

[@ytlas3]

The round holes on the side of the hull which you showed a picture of the yardbirds (Shop 71, Equipment Cleaners) climbing in and out are referred to as "Sand holes" There are dozens and dozens of them that were cut into the hull as needed over the years, then blanked back over. I'd be surprised if New Jersey didn't have more sand holes cut into her hull during this yard period

[@billcattell5520]

I believe 71 Shop were the painters and sand blasters. 72 Shop included the tank cleaners.

[@ytlas3]

Shop 72 were the Riggers and Sail Loft. I don't remember Tank Cleaners, but I believe they were also shop 71

[@billcattell5520]

@@ytlas3 Shop 72 also included the tank cleaners.. Their hard hats had “72E” on it. The workers in the photo are the painters and shot blasters. The holes in the bottom of the ship were at the bottom of the void and fuel tanks and weren’t cut out until the tanks were cleaned by 72E and gas freed by 99 Shop. 72E workers cleaned the bilges in the machinery rooms and other spaces.

[@ytlas3]

Shop 71 Equipment Cleaners were the lowest pay grade on the waterfront. They did manual labor jobs. In '90 one of the Sprucans came in with lead based paint in the bilges. On graveyard we set up an abatement enclosure, but later when we went to check on it, X71 Equipment Cleaners were needle gunning the bilges without PPE. We tried to get the X71 supervisor to stop it, but he told us to "drop dead" The graveyard Gas Tester shut down the space. My buddy, an X71 Equipment Cleaner supervisor ended up replacing the other supervisor on graveyard. I dug out my LBNSY "Our Finest Years" 1943-1997 book and I had forgotten that the Divers were also in X72. X72 also had Pollution Control (I worked on the small boats for about 6 months) I remembered some of X72 supervisors pictured and I don't think they were Riggers, so I guess they were Tank Cleaners. Eventually I think X71 went with greyish hardhats(?) so they wouldn't be confused with X72

[@ytlas3]

@@billcattell5520 Oh, also at 5:26 of the video, two guys on the left are blasters. (notice the tape around his hood. It's to keep it in place while he wears his air fed blasting hood.) The guy with the 8710 3M paper respirator is an Equipment Cleaner. They all worked out of X71.

[@ChristopherHathcock]

Ryan thanks for drydocking videos since I can't make it in person due to living in Missouri and health issue, almost recovered from blood clots in my lungs in October and nobody was sure I would live it was that bad.

[@xeonmainframerx7]

I'll be there to see myself on May 12th!!!! I can't wait

[@mikes7639]

Its called a insert the round flush plates in the hull usually its welded half way at a time so it doesnt crack

[@BonesyTucson]

So cool. I love getting to see this sort of thing, that very few get to see. Thank you again!

[@glf001]

My guess is that you will have to repair 3 blanks. I love watching these, you do a great job!

[@phillyphakename1255]

I'm thinking 3-5. There's gotta be some which are a little sketchier than they want if it's gonna last 30 more years.

[@GordonjSmith1]

Wonderful vlogs! I learn so much every time I watch one.

[@mastermariner7813]

That hull for 80 y/o is in remarkably good condition. Very few pock marks that I can see. The coatings and then being in basically fresh water have really kept the hull corrosion free.

[@bigstick6332]

Wondering if the box cover metal has thinned and if there is any concern for it lasting another 30 years even if any current leaks are repaired and they are not outright replaced.

[@haupt.thomasschneider7968]

Will the pipe plug constitute a dissimilar metal moving forward?

[@chernobyl68]

love your videos Ryan, NJ has the right man at the helm while she waits to be recalled.

[@jth877]

How much pressure is put into them? If you put in at least 50psi, I'm making a guess at 5 blanks.

[@trryhin]

Interesting to see the box blank and the different ways the blank off the holes in the hull.

[@MikeShea-bj6ij]

These videos are absolutely wonderful! I'm betting there will be 2 more blanks to fix. Just a guess...lol

[@Loyal-ey2eq]

Ryan where is the link to the older video of the other side of the blank leak in the condenser?

[@stevecooper2873]

I understand the rationale for box blanks, yet I wonder if moisture trapped in that new void would make for corrosion internally.

[@Cageey1117]

Thanks Ryan.

[@bentboybbz]

I've seen welders perform work that was airtight with mixed/unknown metal and fairly dirty unprepared surfaces, they didn't look perfect, but I've seen pretty welds that leaked and didn't penetrate fully either, but they sure were pretty, I've tried welding myself, and it's definitely something you don't learn from just information, you have to have experience, there are tips and suggestions to help but...

[@ApolloTheDerg]

Ima booger weld a battleship

[@emmabird9745]

Hi Ryan, facinating. You add to my knowledge with every one of your excellent videos. If you have to replace one of those box blanks, then you have an artifact to display (above water) in the ship. Just a thought.

[@oldtugs]

1:13 Boiler feed water is never cooled, it is always heated. A condenser removes heat from exhaust steam to change its state from vapor to liquid. That liquid becomes boiler feed and is heated at every stage thereafter.

[@Mongo63a]

Glad to see the earth quake didn't shake the ship off its blocks or was it just the ship settling in the dry dock that caused the earthquake?

[@Knight6831]

That would have need the quake to be far more powerful and and score a close hit to the area to do New Jersey in like a quake did IJN Amagi

[@TheShootist]

how old are you? did you grow up in the same world I did? have you ever heard of a 4.8 magnitude quake hurting anything?

[@joefin5900]

We typically did hull plate thickness readings using UT on all of our drydock work. Did you guys do that on BNJ?

[@1lilfarm]

Ryan, are they doing any UT thickness testing on the hull. I would think that even if a blank/cover plate doesn't leak, you would want to know how thick it is to determine the remaining life. 👍👍👍

[@PatrickAllen-n7w]

Can't wait I have a dry dock tour tomorrow

[@andrewfletcher5584]

Wish I had time to come out while she's in drydock but won't be out till July so hoping to see her then. Love the videos, Ryan!

[@markgordon2260]

Thanks for a fascinating and informative series. I am steadily going through all videos... What has helped has been being able to look at the "book of general plans" (that you pointed to in another video) whilst watching. Helps put things in context. Cheers from Oz.

[@DH-MQ]

Thanks Ryan and team, fantastic presentation of this historic undertaking. Is that the armour belt a few feet above Ryan’s head?

[@patrickcoakley1328]

The condensers cool the exhausted steam. This gets added to the boiler feed water and onward to the boiler feed pump.

[@russellhltn1396]

Where the link to the video on the repair for the condenser? I've probably watched it, but need a refresher now that it's been mentioned.

[@gregoryhumphrey2831]

Boiler feedwater is not cooled. From the feed bottoms, it is drawn into the condenser via vacuum or pumped into the DFT. The condenser condenses steam, it does not cool feedwater. The “salty residue” as you call it from the evaporators is called brine.

[@paulreuter7763]

Ryan your and crew/stall are doing 4.0 job. When will you remove the anodes. I have tour on 14 April . Would like to buy one or two . Any idea how much you will be charging for an anode

[@haljames624]

Thank you.

[@davidduma7615]

The only leaks are from the yardies who were down there during the earthquake. Today's video will be delayed while Ryan goes out and gets a new pair of shorts.

[@jbeckley6849]

Ryan wears brown pants so no worries.

[@kman-mi7su]

Yeah, if someone was under that thing during the quake, I'm sure they need to change their shorts.

[@Odin029]

@@kman-mi7su You have to be philosophical about these things. Whether you were under a 400 ton vessel or a 40000 ton vessel, the result would be the same if it fell on you.

[@aserta]

@@Odin029 At the extreme, you die in your home or under a historical ship LONGER than her sisters and measured in curator sizes... ? Plus, you'd have the distinction of being the only person squashed by a battleship.

[@yodawg3469]

That was a mild quake,come out here to the west coast.

[@PaulCyclist]

Love the details on this plates.

[@wurlyone4685]

I'm curious what thickness metal are the box blanks, compared to the hull?

[@aserta]

A heck of a lot less. Probably 5 mm plate or US equivalent, rather.

[@bertiewooster3326]

🎉​@@asertayep with good Chinese monkey metal as well.

[@adrianames8590]

Do you have to replace the packing seals on the propellor shafts and rudder shafts?

[@briand01]

NJ is in suprising good condition considering how long since last drydock.

[@aserta]

4:34 in case anyone wondered... that's how you milk a battleship. Now you know.

[@omniscientgrunk]

Very interesting as always. Thanks for the video. Peace

Thank you for this intersting Video

[@milteewonders]

Crazy “what if” question. With all of these water openings in the hull, with the ship in service, would scuba divers be able to infiltrate the ship through them and which ones would they access?

[@MrJamesBanana]

My guess would be 7 blanks will need some sort of welding, and 2 of those having steel plates replaced/added due to corrosion from the inside. Very interesting seeing how small the hole actually was. Looks like it could had been "fixed" by a diver putting a chewing gum into it. If attempting to fix leaks while the ship is in the water, would it be possible to pressurize the affected blank with air and have a diver look for the bubbles?

[@viewfromrowb]

In 15 years of building boats for the Navy & Coast Guard this is the first time I’ve heard the word BLANKS. We would just say INSERTS.

[@josephgooch1451]

It’s like checking a leaking tire…. but it’s your battleship.

[@peterfarrell9187]

Ryan you must regularly speak with other curators of other museum ships especially the other Iowa class. Must be fun to talk of your issues with USN#62 compared to the others. I guess you guys meet occasionally to discuss your ships.

[@sirboomsalot4902]

Yeah, he’s said they talk to the other museums all the time, especially Texas and Missouri since they are the most recent to drydock

[@phillyphakename1255]

They have the annual museum ship conference, but that's pretty much the only scheduled get together. Phone calls as needed, Facebook groups, etc makes up the bulk of the communication.

[@robertgarrett5009]

He was promoted a couple years ago to the head manager of historic museum ships. So he's already the big cheese.

[@buggyduggy2431]

Please tell us about the thickness of the steel in the various areas you are showing. I want to see the main battle armor.

[@AnvilAirsoftTV]

The main belt is internal on the iowas. They’ve done videos on it.

[@truthsayers8725]

granted the New Jersey is larger than the Texas is, what kind of space around the hull, in the dry dock, is there? im thinking im going to need an ultra-wide angle (16mm-35mm) lens in order to get enough of the ship in my photos, to not just be tiny small areas of the hull. one would think, it would have been easier to just jack the box covers up to where they needed to be welded, than adding the eyes UNLESS, theyre used to sling up some line so they can be lowered after the welds cut off... cant wait to come visit

[@philmoore71]

fascinating series

[@nx014]

Ryan of the Battleship USS New Jersey Museum and Memorial - what is the time frame when the anodes that are currently installed on the Big J could be "for sale" on the ship's online store?

[@BattleshipNewJersey]

this week hopefully

[@nx014]

@@BattleshipNewJersey thanks

[@TheFoxEssence]

I heard about the New Jersey earthquake and my first thought was USS New Jersey In dry-dock I hope theres no damage

[@mark351]

Are Ryan and the othe BB NJ staff living on the ship for the dry dock? Would shorten their morning commutes.

[@BattleshipNewJersey]

The ship is only a few miles from her normal berth so it's not really any more inconvenient

[@bajaDave]

@@BattleshipNewJersey Since Ryan’s office is on the ship with no power, etc., what is Ryan doing all day every day? Just hanging out in the dry-dock supervising all the work?

[@robertgarrett5009]

No toilets, showers or water.

[@BattleshipNewJersey]

The ship does have power so there is some work happening on board but also, yes, Ryan is mainly around to supervise the drydock work.

[@mark351]

@@robertgarrett5009 They do have the Delaware right next to them 😲

[@GCTWorks]

Not sure if it has been said outright yet, but what is the general condition of the hull of the ship? From the videos, it looks pretty good considering how long it has been.

[@allensanders5535]

snoop = no bubbles no troubles. as we say in pipe fab shop.

[@stephenlebold9126]

I would say 5 holes needing repair. The leak we knew about and the 4 propeller shafts. Just because of all the weight sitting on one side of the seal.

[@kevinmartin7760]

It is, of course, the test port that s leaking.

[@stargazer7644]

Hey, it tested fine!

[@eb17816]

Will you be able to board the ship while it is in drydock?

[@BattleshipNewJersey]

The ship will not be open for tours until it returns to Camden. We've got drydock tours though, Battleshipnewjersey.org

[@eb17816]

@@BattleshipNewJersey Sorry. I should have specified. I meant the museum staff to check odds and ends onboard.

[@BattleshipNewJersey]

Yes, we can

[@mykofreder1682]

I would think the navy would say, for all intents and purposes the ship will never be reactivated, do what is best for preservation and not easiest to remove.

[@ivanskirchak4935]

They won’t. The Navy never says never.

[@ΣτελιοςΠεππας]

But what if aliens come!?!

[@billjohnson9472]

@@ΣτελιοςΠεππας they keep a few 16" rounds in the ship just in case.

[@robertf3479]

@@ΣτελιοςΠεππας I think Klingons would love American battleships as they are designed first and foremost for combat, all those lovely guns and armor that can take a licking and survive.

[@dutchman7216]

During the active years for Uss New Jersey. Did these blanks cause any drag ?

[@charlie15627]

I wonder if we'll get to see Ryan running a grinder?

[@phillyphakename1255]

Let's not. Stick to your strengths, let the yard guys be yard guys, let the curator curate. He's a storyteller, a preserver, a historian. Not a grinder operator. We have specialization for a reason, people are better at what they do professionally.

[@charlie15627]

@@phillyphakename1255 Oh, I don’t expect him to spend hours grinding rust. I just think that it would make a great thumbnail and get the video a lot more views. All he has to do is spend 15 seconds grinding one little spot and then stop to explain how that’s what’s being done on thousand of square feet of hull. It would make a great video. Plus, visitors would want to see the spot where he worked. 👍

[@danam0228]

Very interesting how the ship draws in so much water

[@notmenotme614]

When a drydock lowers a ship onto wooden blocks, I wonder how they avoid things like the eyelets resting on the blocks?

[@DevonRomero-s1b]

When planning the placement of the drydock blocks, I imagine you had to be very careful not to put one of them under a blank

[@johnjones5354]

I find it very interesting that Ryan said the box blank that he was describing went to a condenser. I would have thought that the seawater intakes for the main condensers would have been much larger.

[@heuhen]

multiple condenser, so multiple condenser, But you don't need a extreme big condenser to produce enough water

[@johnjones5354]

@@heuhen The main condensers cool the steam used in the main engines, and are very large. These are the condensers I assume that Ryan was referring to. They have nothing to do with fresh water production.

[@abyssaljam441]

I wonder if there is a graph of the number of through hull openings per ship type and over the years. Less than 200 seems quite small for a battle ship

[@S_C_C_R]

Can we get some some night time pics of the ship at night in drydock

[@Train115]

You should talk about the fins on the hull.

[@jasonmohorcic7096]

Hey, Ryan Szimanski I wish you will one day you will be a guest on the Unsubscribed Podcast with The Fat Electrician or any of the other guests.

[@craigbinder5560]

I love the idea of hardhat vs. battleship

[@ДжонПартлов]

hey ryan or libby, the line\potrusion\bulge above ryan by about 10 feet and behind him that runs paralell to the waterline is that the bottom of the armored belt? i thought it was internal. if it isn't, then what is this feature? a fairwater line?

[@tankeryankerjim]

So if you don't have Fuel oil (bunker fuel) as balist what is the New Jersey using now?

[@BattleshipNewJersey]

For the drydocking we ballasted with water

[@stevenbryant3055]

Honestly I think you should pull all the blanks so you can inspect the inside for corrosion then re install them, yes it’s gonna be pricier but it’ll ensure they don’t rot through and flood her while the dry dock is occupied it would be devastating if one fully failed while the dry dock is unavailable

[@jamesgates1074]

I really want Ryan to start a video with: Hi, I'm Ryan Szymanski, you may remember me from such instructional video's as, "Mothballing You're battleship"

[@hawkeye5955]

If he makes enough videos, he'll be the next Troy McClure.

[@Plaprad]

@@hawkeye5955 Little known fact. If you play all the B-footage from the videos in order, you get a reenactment of the documentary "Under Siege".

[@alistair1978utube]

learn to spell please

[@brucetheloon]

Since you are pressure testing all the blanks, are all the test plugs being replaced with new? If one has corroded, I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that there are others almost ready to leak.

[@genechronister7085]

Another awesome vid!

[@jerseyshoredroneservices225]

Does the navy have any plans to inspect the ship while it's out of the water? Will they get a report of your findings?

[@BattleshipNewJersey]

Nope