Quoted: Quoted: it looks to be very well maintained. I think it is still quite capable of running.  I doubt any of the guns would still fire though.  All of the smaller stuff on the decks was in really bad shape. Battleship NC

Pffft!  
It's a rusted out pile of shit.
A 60 year old rusted out pile of shit.
Put enough paint on anything and it can "look" good.


Thursday, August 4, 2005

N E W S   F R O M   T H E   D E P A R T M E N T  

The USS North Carolina Is Not Leaving Anytime Soon

• Will not leave until 2007 or later
• Will be gone for only 4-5 months
• Will be towed to Norfolk, Virginia for hull restoration and repairs
• Will be brought back to Wilmington permanently

In about 6-8 years or more the battleship North Carolina will need major restoration done to her hull. At that time, the 35,000-ton ship will be towed to Norfolk, Virginia to be dry docked for repairs and restoration to her rusting hull. She will be there only 4-5 months. The 61-year-old ship has not been out of the water for maintenance since 1953. She was saved from being scrapped and brought to Wilmington in October 1961. Her next journey will begin by dredging her berth and towing her down the Cape Fear River and then on to Norfolk, Virginia, the closest shipyard that can accommodate the 729-foot ship.

While in dry dock (out of the water) restoration can take place. Paint will be sandblasted away, steel will be added to thinning plates, leaking rivets will be covered and sealed and a protective coat of paint will be applied. Since the hull at the water line (where the air and water interact) has received the most corrosion, it will need to have a half-inch thick steel plate welded to the hull from four feet above to four feet below the waterline. Once all the repair and maintenance work has been accomplished, the hull will be coated with a multiple-part epoxy coating to minimize corrosion.

Then the battleship will be brought back to Wilmington but will probably be placed in a new berth parallel to the west bank of the Cape Fear River instead of a perpendicular position as she is now. "After spending the kind of money we will to preserve the hull, we cannot set it back on the bottom again," explains the Battleship Director, Capt. Dave Scheu USN (Ret.) It is not practical to put her back the way she is now. The new berth parallel to the west bank will eliminate any silt build-up around the ship. Also it will "provide a striking view of the Ship from downtown Wilmington" noted Scheu. Then once again, we will be able to see this magnificent ship towed by tugboats up the Cape Fear River to her old but re-designed berth.

I toured the Wisconsin in Norfolk not too long ago and was interested that almost all the decks were off limits and mothballed.  What is the status of the Wisconsin - is there some agreement that the Navy can take her back in case of some really odd emergency where we need a battleship again?  Is there a plan somewhere that, under some strange circumstances could a crew be trained and the Wisconsin shove off from Norfolk once more?

I've been on the Wisconsin and the Belfast in London. I need to get down to see the North Carolina as soon as it cools off.

These are wonderful, amazing ships and make you pine, no matter how unrealistic it is, for that simpler time when we could just shell the shit out of somebody with one of these things and that was about all the foriegn policy we needed.

Battleships are very tough ships with lots of water tight compartments.

An interesting class of Battleships would have been the Montana Class.

The Japanese Battleships Musashi and Yamato had larger guns.

I have been on that ship a couple of times; it is pretty awesome.  (BTW, I have seen the gator, too)  I visit Wilmington every summer and for the last few years the ship has been away for restoration.  I can't remember if it was in VA or MD.  Maybe I'll visit it again when I an there in a couple of weeks.

We were there 1 year ago, great craft!. I liked the potato peeling description that allowed crew to earn extra money for purchasing ice cream and other stuff.

Great pics!!!!


Thanks!!!

Being able to shoot over the horizon was quite a feat back then

I visited the ship for the first time in 1974 or so.............................there was a gator swimming around then too....dunno if it is the same one or not!!.............My Sister and Bro in Law lived in Maco, I think it was,,,, he grew up in Wilmington....................Great ship My Mom and Dad still have a bunch of pics from then.....................the gator had his pic taken too!!!.......I hope they do a first class job fixing her hull!!