Tour of the Battleship Wisconsin

We toured the Battleship Wisconsin today.  We spent 5hours crawling around the ship and we both were in awe.  There’s too much to write about, so today you can just look at the pictures. Here goes:

A Navy ship that had one gun manned by a crew of Marines.  This was the Marine emblem drawn by one of the Marine gunners when he was 19.  When he turned 85, the Navy brought him out so that he could climb up on scaffolding in 100 degrees heat.  It took him 4 days to complete the emblem being restored.  He was in heaven that the Navy had honored him with the task.

This is gunpowder that is compressed into pellets, there are 256 pellets in one bag, it takes 6 bags to fire one gun one time.

Highest point on the ship.  It’s basically the pilot house.

The firing of Tomahawk missiles.  They fly 550 mph just above the ground, flying under the radar.  Read the plaque, it’s interesting.

These are 5”  barrel guns, the smallest guns on the ship.

Read this one, it’s part of the bigger story really interesting.

The gig is the  private boat for the captain  to use for anything.

These are the big guns, the barrel is 16” around, 67’long and they go 70’ down (which is 5 stories down) into the turret into the ship.  The turrets are guarded by 2200 tons of armor, the projectile has a range of 26 miles, it takes 660#’s of gunpowder to fire one, one time.  At 200yds, the projectile will liquify a human, each turret holds 6000# of gunpowder, each turret weighs 2100 tons, when the projectile hits, the concussion defoliates everything for 300 yds, and makes a 20’x50’ crater, each gun can fire 18 rounds per minute, there are 9 of the big guns. I tried to keep all the facts straight, forgive me if I have misquoted.

Looking up to the very top of the ship.

Anchor information.

Turret info.

TheWisconsin went through the entire WW2 without ever taking a hit, losing a sailor, no damage, until this one day when some rebels, hidden behind a hill took a shot at them.  One shot landed in the water beside them, one shot went totally over their bow, but the 3rd one hit the deck, left a huge hole, one sailor broke an arm but it ruined their perfect record and the captain was more than mad.  He aimed every gun on the ship, big, small and in between at the hill, and at his command, every gun was fired at the same moment.  The hill was now gone, completely gone and the Captain had his revenge.  They are trained to not do that.... a support ship that was near them when the guns went off, raised a signal flag spelling out....Temper, Temper, Temper.

The big guns.

These are the cities that took missiles, and how  many missiles.

The white bags are the 6 bags of compressed  gunpowder that the big guns fire.

The Wisconsin was built 108’ across, the Panama Canal is 110’ wide.

The real flag when there were only 35 states.

This was fascinating.

A seahorse in one of the aquarium displays.

Chain links.  Each link weighed 120#

David standing under the big guns.

From the bow looking back.

A little more of the story of how the Wisconsin was later damaged.

I took a pic like that and posted it a few days ago.

Big chain links, again.

Info on the coal they burned for the steam engines in the early days.

More of the story of WisKy.

Firing the big guns.

Another aquarium.

David in front of the big guns, again.

Drones were used for surveillance.

The Wisconsin fought in WW2, Korean War, Desert Storm.

The fleet in action.

Model of the Wisconsin.

We were all fascinated by the 16” (barrel) guns.

View from atop the ship.

Lion fish in the aquarium.

Another link.

Cross section of the big gun.

Early submarines.

I think this is when the ship was completed and launched.

Standing on the bow, talking to the tour guide.

The coal that was used.

More aquarium.

The Panama Canal being enlarged.

This morning with coffee.

An anchor.

A barge of metal for scrap.

Read the sign on the salt shaker.

Crew area.

Tshirt I bought.

This is the hole the guys on hill  shot.

Crew mess room.

The ship has 4.5 acres of Teak on it.

The hole again.

The brig. One room with 4 bunks, the other 2 rooms are single bunk.  One head for all the bunks, no door.

Snappy Grillers for dinner again, after pic.

 Before pic of Snappy Grillers.  We really like these dogs!

 Crew bunks.

Galley for crew meals.

Aquarium again.

Crew quarters.

David took this, I have no idea what it is, ha!

Brig.

Crew bunk showing their storage.

Brig.

Laundry.

Actual photos of the mess hall and the drone.

 Mess hall.

 PS I found a few more facts...the ship carries 2.3 million gallons of diesel, it was built in 1944 and  was in service for WW2, Korean War and Desert Storm.  It was retired to the museum in 1991,  has a 38’ draft,    is 887’ long, it goes 33 knots per hour, an anchor weighs 30,000#, the ship itself weighs 58,000 tons, the hull  is 26’ thick at its most armored spot, and if I heard the tour guide correctly, it gets 298.6 gallons per mile.I hope you enjoy this blog, I tried to take notes and then decipher them.  It was a great tour, well worth the 5hours.  Thanks for stopping by!