Passing 660lbs of Powder For the 16in Guns

[@atfsgeoff]

"DO NOT RIDE THIS HOIST" I would like to meet the sailor responsible for inventing that rule

[@leftyo9589]

there is always an incident that leads to a sign! lol

[@AsbestosMuffins]

given everything is sized for powder bags I would be extremely dangerous to even attempt to ride them

[@bretsk2500]

I will say that a certain person told me that a certain curator may or may not have ridden that hoist lol...

[@kennethng8346]

Ship full of men in their late teens, you *KNOW* someone did, probably more than one. Sign probably went up after someone got something caught and had to explain it to someone.

[@johnyarbrough502]

@@kennethng8346 Hey you guys! Watch this!

[@kevinkilleen6375]

Just showed this to my 97 year old father. He knew every step. He was a gun capt in1951. Iowa

[@curtismeskus504]

Get him to do a verbal history recorded if he can

[@willardpatterson706]

Yes, please get him to tell his story on video. It should be told and remembered!

[@150DT]

Excellent video! 👍🏻👍🏻

[@tylerarrigoni7700]

My Grandpa was on the Nevada during Pearl Harbor attack then to the USS St. Louis (cruiser) after the attack. He was the pointer on the Number 1 turret. I worshipped that old man. I would talk about battleships constantly for hours with him. I watch these videos and imagine how much fun it would be to have this resource avail when I was a boy with him. Miss you grandpa...

[@ALSNewsNow]

Cool

[@stevencote6999]

The choreography these guys do to work and keep up in general quarters doing rapid firing must have been an impressive show.

[@humanlast1062]

It initially seems like choreography, but each individual person has a singular and repetitive motion. From the perspective of any given person, it is a simple operation: move bag from point A to point B, which is only a few feet away

[@pobvic]

@@humanlast1062 Several feet by the looks of it when the turret is rotated, and carrying almost their own bodyweight in powder. Followed by half a dozen other guys I'd imagine to keep up the loading rate on 3 barrels.

[@dogloversrule8476]

Who cares about the ships guns, if our these guy’s guns the ship would just be a very expensive hunk of floating steel

[@stevencote6999]

@@dogloversrule8476 I believe I understand what your saying here, Without the sailors. This ship is a big pice of floating steel. I whole heartedly agree.

[@dogloversrule8476]

@@stevencote6999 precisely

[@kickingitwiththekerofskys8476]

Aww the memories. I handled powder on occasion, but my main job was the left lower powder door operator of the left gun of turret 3. It got really hectic during the Lebanon conflict where we fired 100's of rounds a day. You talked extensively about the passing of powder through the scuttle, the water bulkheads, and the operation of the scuttle. But did not talk too much about the powder doors red markings nor the operation of the powder doors. Could you do a video about the operation of the powder doors, showing those who never served on a Battleship how the doors open? Do not forget that the red goes toward the red on the powder doors. The painted red part on the powder bags goes toward the red part of the powder hoist. The red part of the powder bag (which you used training bags without the marking) is the part where the finer powder is. They all have to face the same, so the hoist operator does not have to waste time turning the bags around. I enjoyed reliving being part of the gun crew. I was proud to have fought in Lebanon and being a Battleship Sailor from late 1983 until 1990. And then cross rating from a Boatswains Mate to a Cook for another 12 years, and then a Master at Arms for another 6 years. Retiring in 2010. Proud to have served. US Navy. Thank you. You are a great Battleship curator. 😀

[@KentAJDK]

It could be fun having a small camera attached to both a powderbag and a shell, filming the whole voyage though from the depot through the the elevators, etc. ❤

[@Mountain-Man-3000]

I was thinking the same thing

[@Matt-FOr]

Out of curiosity, would y’all do a videos, or at least release a diagram of every space you have done a video on? With so many compartments, I would be interested to see how many y’all have actually chewed through. Great video!

[@user2C47]

This would be good to put on their website. An interactive map where you can see a description of each space, any images that are available, and a link to any videos that feature it.

[@dogloversrule8476]

@@user2C47 that’s a great idea

[@erikterock9071]

This is absolutely one of the best videos you've done. I love these videos where you deep dive into the ship's workings. Ok was wondering if you could do a deep dive into the propulsion system. Specifically, a "cold and dark" startup and show things like where air enters the intakes for the boilers, how the boilers and engines get up and running, and where the steam travels after it's made. Keep up the good work Ryan, your videos are incredible.

[@F-Man]

Ahh, the magical boom dust.

[@AsbestosMuffins]

only on the british ships, US had much better chemistry to its powder as well as significantly better powder storage.

[@larrytomlinson2606]

It would be interesting to see the workings of the compressed air purge after the gun has fired.

[@reubenmorris487]

Would that large diameter 3000 PSI compressed air supply line be responsible for the gun purge?

[@American_Jeeper]

Larry, if you go to Tom Scott's channel, he covers the entire firing procedure on USS Texas, including the air purge, on this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mYe5hIaIYtWAnMk

[@Belly-u2w]

I believe you might see an example of this @18:35 into this video.

[@larrytomlinson2606]

That is much clearer, thank you.@@American_Jeeper

[@SedatedandRestrained]

I would love a video discussing the differences between British and US turret operations, specifically why the US never adopted all the flash hoods and such like the Brits.

[@patrickconfer3592]

The engineering is just amazing and how fast the ships could be built.

[@freedomisntfree_44]

Wish uss Alabama would make videos like you guys as that is my home state. Really enjoy every video that you guys put out and learning about these great ships 🤙🏽

[@aland7236]

Hey Ryan. Thanks for the detailed breakdown on this. Is there any chance you could do a deep dive on what a cold start of the engineering plant would look like? Something like what would probably happen after a long stay in a dry dock for a refit.

[@TheEvertw]

Wow! My suggestion for a deep dive: the process of detecting, designating, prioritizing and aiming at a target! Or the procedures for calibrating the ship's ranging & targeting equipment.

[@AsbestosMuffins]

kind of ingenious to use gravity hoists in the magazines. no electricity to be disrupted or spark, always ready to work

[@brolohalflemming7042]

It did make me wonder about the unload process on the dial indicator though. So what happens if you end up with more bags, or I guess shells than are needed in the turret. I'm assuming the shell hoist could winch both directions, but how that would work for the gravity hoists if that was ever needed. I'm guessing that wouldn't be very often given there are powder stores distributed along the route from initial store to the turret.

[@ghost307]

Gravity never breaks.

[@battleoid2411]

​@@brolohalflemming7042 I would assume they draw from the lower magazine first, then backfill from the top, so eben if you have to unload there's space on the lower deck and no need for sending it back up

[@frasermitchell9183]

Interesting that the breech block swivels up/down. In UK battleships the breech block swings to one side for loading.

[@JP-ex9fd]

Phenomenal content!

[@anothermax420]

Thankyou for the content Ryan! This helped me conceptualize how thousands of men are needed to operate these vessels of war. Brings everything into perspective how so much life can be lost so quickly and the engineering evolved to prevent such occurrences. Mind boggling.

[@theyoinkster8064]

Just saw the USS Massachusetts in Fall River and was curious how this system worked. Love the simple explanation!

[@dale1956ties]

I really like your delivery Ryan. You have a conversational style that's easy to listen to and absorb the info from. I'm also impressed with the level of knowledge you have. It's incredible, really. You either have a vast knowledge or are really good at boning up on an area just before doing your presentation on it. Either way I find it impressive. Thanks for what you do. I enjoy learning about these things.

[@deadeyeglen]

This is an awesome video, Thank you. I reload pistol and rifle ammunition so i thought that I had a good notion of what goes on, but WOW! the amount safety steps blew me away. Would you consider a similar video for the actual shells? I assume the shells are fully assembled once they get to the ship, but it would be cool to see what the internals of a 16" shell are, and how they work together to go boom.

[@pepperman2385]

You should look up the channel for Tom Scott, the Older One. he has several very detailed videos about the projectiles as well as barrel construction. They are 14" projectiles and barrels as his videos cover the battleship Texas but the compositions for both should be basically the same.

[@kevincrosby1760]

I believe that the actual fuse assembly for the shell is separate, with the appropriate type being installed to fit the circumstances.

[@timbowden1680]

@@pepperman2385 The barrel construction video was really well done. kzbin.info/www/bejne/f3u7npaOntGKh5o

[@Maniac3020]

How much powder could a powder passer pass if a powder passer could pass powder.

[@robscott8834]

Great visual and verbal process description, Ryan. There's nothing quite like seeing the various stations and steps involved.

[@Jangocat]

That was incredibly interesting. I've never never seen the loading and use of the powder bags explained to so thoroughly. I've seen the NJ many times at concerts at whatever they are calling the local local music theatre these days. No better backdrop for a heavy metal festival then the battleship. NJ lol. I plan to visit the NJ one of these days, I'm only like 20 miles away, I hope to meet you and absorb some of your knowledge.

[@MakingandBreaking]

I love this! I am brought back to the 80s when my dad would take young me to Battleship Cove in Fall River, MA. I was always fascinated by the powder loading, and this was a most welcome bit of reminiscing.

[@dacomazielsdorf7618]

If you really want to follow a powder bag. Need to talk to grandparents and granduncles and aunts they all worked at inaap indiana army ammo plant. My great uncle was a firefighter grandma and great aunt were sewers they sewed the bags my grandma actually still has a sewing machine and lots of needles from the ammo plant my grandpa was able to get them for her . He was an electrician he rebuilt motors at inaap

[@JakeThomasCreative]

This was so cool! Thanks BNJ curators and staff!

[@jamiecook3966]

For every advancement we make into the future, we leave one behind. Without people like you these almost forgotten monoliths from another time seam almost Alien. With the help of you the memory of this great ship and the young men that served upon her are not so easily forgotten. The same can be said about the Apollo program! Thank you so much for all the time you put into these videos, without you this information would be truly lost to time. I wonder with all of our incredible knowledge we think we have gained do you think in 100 years anyone could figure out how to run this machine? PS My father served on the HMS Duke of York and used to tell me stories. God bless you.

[@mayfieldcourt]

Excellent tour - thank you. One can see how the British Battle-Cruisers at Jutland in 1916 were destroyed by magazine explosions, and how the safety systems on New Jersey were far safer due to that experience.

[@johnnash5118]

My dad served aboard the USS Maryland @‘42-‘46 as a Radarman, it would be great to see the radar station set up and perhaps clips of those stations in action.

[@henriktw4051]

one of the most interesting videos ever. it helps you understand why battleships had such large crews; because a lot had to be done by hand. I'm pretty sure I couldn't move many 110 pound (50 kg oof) powder bags in a row without getting exhausted

[@danielmarshall4587]

"We off load it the fun way".......oh yes. Cheers for another good video.

[@jessicabuckman9675]

Ryan, you do a wonderful job of explaining things. Well done sir.

[@VKiera]

So I have a question, did they have to keep special track of the powder bags with the red dot on them that had the gunpowder to make sure they were loaded in the correct order? Were they stored in a special place?

[@kailashbtw9103]

I think how they fed that many soldiers is fascinating! Have you done many videos on food prep and storage?

[@timbowden1680]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z3nNqph-odB6b9U kzbin.info/www/bejne/h2HIipaBet6eZqc

[@MrKotBonifacy]

_"how they fed that many soldiers"_ - simply, they gave them some food. "GI rations", if you follow my drift... And if anyone of them didn't like it, then "it's a free world, innit? No like, no eat", simple, eh? ;-)

[@kona0197]

I would love to see how the primer is replaced for every firing of the guns. Thanks.

[@bradarmstrong3952]

Just wow! I have admired these battleships since I was a kid, but never knew just how much manpower and coordination it took to create the rolling thunder!

[@davecaron1213]

You have covered many great subjects. You have mentioned the galleys several times and how you are not allowed to use them today. But showing how they prepared 4 meals a day for 2,000 or so sailors might be interesting.

[@gglovato]

I'd like to see a deep dive on the hydraulic circuits of the turret and how the elevation of each gun is done and where are the synchros that send the position signal to the fire computer

[@Stinkfoot1403]

I look at the battleship anew Jersey every day!! Need to check it out.

[@78250windu78250]

Thank you Ryan!!!!

[@Pilotman28]

That was really cool! Loved this full walkthrough of a process.

[@ypaulbrown]

one of your best videos Ryan , in this old man's opinion, cheers Paul in Orlando, FL

[@michaelpatterson3379]

Very fascinating. Thank you for taking the step by step and showing how this was done

[@mmasque2052]

A 19:30 video to describe what took roughly 30 seconds to perform. 9 guns in 3 turrets, ability to fire 18 total rounds in 1 minute. Once you see all the steps involved, it becomes an amazing feat.

[@georgescott7556]

ryan and crew i have learnded more about battleships watching your videos than i have in 50years!! we love all of your videos! watching from missoura!!🤣👍🏻🖖🏻

[@Lost-In-Blank]

Excellent video !

[@31dknight]

Another great video from the battleship. Thanks

[@justjoe942]

Thanks, dude, very interesting as always.

[@leesp2]

Thats a brilliantly thorough walkthrough of the process, great content as always 🙂👍

[@sparkplug1018]

Next you should follow a shell from supply ship to breech.

[@johnknapp952]

The magazines are not going to be unloaded every time the ship enters a port. That would actually be more dangerous. What's not going to happen is the ship will not do any ammo loading or unloading while pier side in the city. The only time the ship will unload it's ammo is when the ship is going to have some yard work or some kind of maintenance done that requires the magazines to be empty. And that is usually done at a Weapons Station that stores ammo.

[@michaelgammel813]

Thank you, thank you, I really enjoyed this one. thanks!

[@rickandrew6397]

Ausome and very clear tour 👏👏👏

[@asn413]

very well illustrated. was always curious about this process. Thanks :)

[@chrismaverick9828]

Another great video! it's stunning to think of how much design time and study of previous systems has to go into the last generation of battleship big guns. It's intricate but sturdy, contains numerous safeguards but still very fast, and really does show that the men were thought of in all aspects of the function. Yes, you need a lot of men, especially for consistent and quick powder passing, but it flows very well when they are trained up and practiced. The USS Salem's auto 8-inch guns are impressive in their design, but I can't say they have the same level of connection that the man-handled guns do.

[@waynesworldofsci-tech]

Big boom! Gotta love the big gun ships.

[@barto6577]

Nit pick.😉 ALL powder bags have the 10 pound Black Powder charge on the back.

[@allenkramer2143]

Great video👍👍 The only thing you forgot was the guns would automatically return to the load position after being fired.

[@king_br0k]

A deap dive like this on the rangefinders and fore control computers would be awesome

[@David.M.]

Thank you, this was great

[@proonguice8386]

Fierce beard dude 👍

[@oldUmanUshea]

always wondered why there was that latent puff of smoke from the barrel after firing. I guessed it was the breech being opened and natural venting taking place. Thanks for showing me why!

[@keiffermcmillan1]

What happened to the center gun of turret two on Iowa, how did that accident occur, and what led up to that incident.. much respect for the professionalism of the crews of all the sailors that manned these mighty vessels

[@NealB123]

The hydraulic ram in that particular gun had a history of malfunctioning. Also, the ram operator that day was inexperienced and had never operated the ram during a live fire exercise. The Sandia investigation concluded that the most likely cause of the explosion was an overram of the power bags due either to human error or mechanical malfunction. The overram compressed the bags and created enough friction to ignite the powder while the breech was open.

[@kevincrosby1760]

@@NealB123 The Sandia "investigation" was a beautiful example of the USN tradition of appearing to conduct a thorough investigation of an incident while scapegoating the innocent and burying the evidence to prove otherwise. The root cause of the explosion wasn't even in the turret at the time. All of the men there were wearing blue dungarees. The cause of the incident was some unauthorized experimentation with projectile Vs. powder load being conducted by guys further up the food chain, and involved some powder which should never have even left the depot, much less loaded. Testimony of sailors on the Powder Flats regarding the non-standard powder bags which headed up the hoist conveniently disappeared. You NEVER hold a man wearing a khaki uniform (Enlisted E-7 and above, officers) accountable when you can blame it on some nameless White Hat doing his job. It is just not done. It's a culture thing. I lived it until I bailed as an E-5. Look to a Gunnery chief and at least one gunnery officer for this one.

[@richcruse2689]

USS Iowa did a pretty good video of that. Both as a memorial to the men, and looking at the incident. Check out there KZbin page.

[@nelsonyurok]

Off topic here. (I have heard this story many times over the years. It never really changed unless you asked for more details.) My father was on the lsd-3 Carter Hall. He got out at the beginning of the Vietnam war after the ship did service in danang harbor. He had a very interesting story about his last voyage home. After leaving Japan the ship blew an engine. Which reduced her speed to about six knots. The fleet having better things to do wished them good luck as they sailed over the horizon. The second engine blew six hundred miles south of adak Alaska leaving the ship dead in the water. Fleet said they’d send a tug…out of Frisco. The ship happened to be transporting a crap load of canvas tarpaulin out of Manila and a whole bunch of Seabees heading home from Southeast Asia. And a typhoon howling up out of the South China Sea. What happened was that the crew and the Seabee’s teamed up to convert the ship to sail. They disassembled the deck Crain mounted on the stern and moved it to the bow. They made a cross piece and a very large viking style sail. They then ran ropes back through the hawseyes to the bow winches. Flat out full tilt boogie the ol’ carter hall could turn twelve knots (with tail wind). She was making over eighteen knots under sail. Passed the fleet off Seattle and made it to frisco. They had grand plans to sail in under the golden gate at high noon. They received direct orders to drop sail beyond sight of land and await a tug boat. He said everyone on board were ordered to not talk about it. Evidently Uncle Sam didn’t want anyone to know how fast those hulls really were. Although his description of its handling characteristics were for to colorful for a KZbin comment.

[@nelsonyurok]

On a side note, I was once able to find a picture of the carter hall in San Francisco with the Crain sitting in the bow verses the stern were it was supposed to be.

[@shawntailor5485]

Wow ! Black powder primer ,awsome

[@johngallus1735]

Wonderful video thank you

[@fyrman9092]

Quite a process from start to finish. Nice video

[@karlsjov]

Yet another very interesting video, thanks for sharing. I would love to visit the ship one day 😊

[@Sorent1993]

A thorough look at the functioning of the breach and the primer setup for the main gun would be cool

[@zodszoo]

Wow! Thorough, thank you!

[@SatelliteYL]

I really wish we had a staff with your knowledge and dedication at our museum! God knows we need it

[@leftfootsam]

“Unloading the fun way” very nice.

[@SomeRandomHuman717]

Although the 2nd official Navy investigation came to conclusion "we're not sure why," (after the first investigation incredulously claimed it was Sailor Clayton Hartwig sabotaging the gun), it's pretty likely that over-ramming the powder bags, which Ryan emphasized you do NOT want to do @17:20, is what cause the deadly explosion in the center gun pit in turret 2 on the Iowa. How the bags were over-rammed is open to debate, but these are the facts that seemed to have combined into a perfect storm: 1. A rookie rammer-this live firing exercise was the first live fire exercise for the sailor manning the rammer station of the center gun; other center gun crew members were also very inexperienced. Hartwig, the previous center gun captain, was assigned to help the center gun crew about a half hour before the firing exercise started. 2. The live fire exercise was using only 5 powder bags, not 6, so the actual total weight of the charge was less than normal, which could lead the rammer man to apply too much force for the weight being rammed 3. There were reports from previous exercises that the center gun's rammer occasionally "took off on its own." 4. The powder bags being used were subjected to being stored at much higher temps than allowed when they were last offloaded from the Iowa when it made its last port call, as described by Ryan @4:33 5. The powder being used was from lots made 1943-1945. Ryan has done a memorial video on the Iowa explosion kzbin.info/www/bejne/bnWZp2dumL2piNE. I think an in-depth video is warranted.

[@birdfeeding]

Thanks, Ryan. That was really interesting!

[@jmac2064]

Great video. Thank you Ryan

[@leftseat30]

Outstanding video as usual, Ryan!

[@brianobrian6637]

This was something different for me. I'm a huge fan of ballistics & firearms. Fairly simple & straightforward yet complex, if that makes sense? Working on the water most of my life, that must be quite the procedure when dealing with ugly seas! Idk exactly what type of weather it would take to have a battleship bouncing up & down (or if that can even happen?) If so I can only imagine the struggle sailors must have to deal with! Very informative video & I really enjoyed it. I like listening to knowledgeable ppl explain things I find interesting but know nothing about

[@danquigg8311]

Watch 'Victory at Sea' - one of the episodes show a CV during a typhoon / hurricane taking green water onto the flight deck. A BB would take water over the bow, too.

[@BonesyTucson]

This is very cool, always like to know this exact sort of thing.

[@EDKguy]

I'd like to see details about the fuse setting 5 in guns system. It has my imagination going as how streamlined and effectively you can down incoming aircraft.

[@ypaulbrown]

proximity fuses, no need to set for AAA......miniature radar set in the fuse......super secret stuff

[@Custerd1]

@@ypaulbrown Indeed - amazing that they developed these things in WWII.

[@gunhog11]

Regarding USS Iowa’s explosion, 1. why did the Capt order the turret cleaned out once the fires had been put out an body recovery made; with parts and such tossed over the side into the ocean and no preservation of evidence being done for investigation purposes? 2. Was the entire turret so-destroyed that the entire turret could never be in service again? As opposed to, say, USS Newport News, where after her explosion, the turret was placed back in use minus one gun?

[@donaldneill4419]

Great video!

[@lonnyyoung4285]

I would like to see how the 40mm guns interacted with their fire control directors (or how any of the guns received information from/were controlled by their respective fire control directors and computers (for the 16" and 5").

[@lawrencehudson9939]

I don't think cordite is the correct description for the powder in the charge bag. Cordite was a smokeless powder used by the British in their bagged artillery and is left as very long strands the length of the charge, but I believe we used a single base smokeless powder that was extruded with perforations and cut to the designed length for its necessary burn configuration and was much more stable and less sensitive to temperature.

[@MarcusMussawar]

the conduit work behind his head at 420 is amazing

[@ammoalamo6485]

Question: I wonder how often someone practiced aiming and firing using the emergency backup controls inside a main turret. I think there is a video with Ryan inside a main turret of New Jersey. I've been inside a 16" turret on Battleship Alabama. It was a tight squeeze to get inside. I have photos, but didn't have anything wider than a 28mm lens for my camera. The optical aiming equipment had been somewhat disabled, but I could peer through the internal optic and see etched crosshairs. Since part of the optical train was missing I could make out nothing but the crosshairs and a blurred image of daylight. There was a computer repeater inside, too, with rotating indicators shaped like a ship viewed from above. I can't recall if I tried to rotate an adjusting knob, or if it had any effect at moving the ship indicators. I can hardly imagine aiming and firing those big guns from that cramped local control space inside the rear of the armored turret. The turret I entered had nowhere near the room of the New Jersey turret in Ryans' video - it had no doors leading into the gun loading aea, as best as I recall from some years ago. I read that Bismark lost the main director control of its big guns pretty quick during its final battle. A survivor was gun captain of the aft local director, but he was unable to keep those systems firing, and made a harrowing escape, leading shipmates through narrow internal passages to reach the deck and go overboard.

[@GordonClare]

Really well done 👏

[@nigozeroichi2501]

Whoa! If you're passing powder you REALLY need to drink more water 🚰 😁 I couldn't resist.

[@dicebed]

So for the crew taking the powder from the scuttles and loading them in the powder hoist - were they just constantly keeping the hoist filled with six powder bags - or were there commands that told them to load 4 in the right gun hoist, 6 in the center gun hoist, etc. Or did they just keep loading the hoist to fill them with 6 bags - just work until all left, center and right gun hoists were filled with 6 bags?

[@BrotherMichaeloftheCross]

The movie Sink The Bismark showed automatic machinery for all these processes for moving and assembling the powder and shells. Did we not have the kind of mechanization?

[@danielasebedo8676]

At 12:35, "HP. AIr 3000PSI" pipe is shown. What is that used for? In industrial systems, high pressure, high volume gases are avoided due to the explosive fail states. Hydraulics are used instead. What could warrant that risk?

[@garywayne6083]

I would assume that's the reserve air used to blow out any remaining embers from the barrels after firing before loading new powder inside

[@marklatimer7333]

Ryan, you mentioned 'magazine flood valves' - how quick would that flood the spaces and what are the safety interlocks to stop accidental flooding?

[@jaybee9269]

Better accidental flooding than accidental explosions.

[@Murgoh]

@@jaybee9269 The guys trapped in the spaces in question would probably strongly disagree. Of course human lives have never meant much to the military, accidentally drowning a few sailors from time to time might be ok. After all the powder will mostly be in watertight containers so no critical assets would be lost, only some disposable cannon fodder.

[@thetokenring]

Have you done a video on flooding a magazine? Where the waster comes out? How fast do they fill? Do the sailors have an escape route? and how do you drain?

[@rachelcarre9468]

Amazing Ryan, you guys never fail us and having followed the channel for over two years, i’m still finding things out. I have two questions maybe you or a former crew member could answer? When you say flood a magazine (in case of damage) does that mean heavy duty sprinklers or is that literally a wall of wall from the fire main? I’m thinking about how easy it would be for sailors to escape a compartment. Secondly, in the turret, the paint has been badly affected by the NJ environment and not having 2,000 sailors on hand to repaint it for 30 years. Would the other Iowas that were in storage for long periods during their lives have been in a similar state when they came to be reactivated?

[@jamescaudry2300]

Can we get a deep dive into the navigation at sea systems?

[@russrh]

This was great

[@rilmar2137]

My prediction: very carefully, given how long this powder had been lying around

[@ablewindsor1459]

Only been there since last Batch was made.......WW2. including what was fired through the 90s.

[@muskaos]

There isn't any powder it in stock any more, what wasn't fired was disposed of once the ships all went out of mothballs into museums. There are no spare barrels any more, either, and all the shells are gone too.

[@seymourpro6097]

There is black powder being used today that has simply been recovered from the last white silk bags that were never fired. It's expensive to properly dispose of it, so it's in proper storage for occasional use. If you have the use and licences to buy, keep and use it, the old fully working powder is still available in the USA.

[@jamesengle6306]

Yes, question. Demonstrate or explain the ignition source that sets off the Powder on the 16" guns please

[@michaelsnell4034]

How about the compressor that clears the barrels and staarts the turbines?

[@user2C47]

This ship uses steam, not gas turbines. Compressed air should not be needed to start.

[@user2C47]

This ship uses steam, not gas turbines. Compressed air should not be needed to start.

[@andrewmburga]

that was great thanks