I was assigned to the Iowa as non-ships company in June 1989 for a Makeready cruise to PR. As an IS assigned to the gunnery division as a targeteer, I would go to the Chart House daily for the range and targets briefing. The Captain was usually on the bridge, but occasionally he would be in his ‘sea berth’ and we were a bit more subdued. One day, during the briefing, the Captain appeared behind the Senior Chief during his part of the brief as we all snapped to attention as the Senior turned around to see the Skipper only 3 feet away. I thought he was going to have a coronary. The Captain laughed and headed out to the Bridge but until I watched this video I never knew how he got out of his quarters and behind us. Great video. Thanks.
For all that Ryan apologized for it, I kind of love the chaotic look of the chart room. One of the things that often bug me about museum ships, historic home museums, and the like is that they're usually way too tidy to feel real. I mean, I know the Navy likes to have things squared away, but a working space like that is only rarely going to look perfectly neat and tidy with everything put away. The rest of the time, it's going to look like there are people, well... _working_ in it. I like that "everybody just got up and left" look in historical exhibits.
Ya for sure. I can appreciate the balance they like to strike with their intended context interpretation and leaving thing as they got them. The thing is that without their management it would be a mix of ww2, last 90s deployment, mothballs, and just disregard and look like junk. From his videos, it seems they have an awareness of this and they aim for 80's active form of representation. Leaving things dusty and dirty doesn't show the state of the ship as it would have been in their intended representation goal. They are trying to show what it looked and felt like when it was last active.
As others have already speculated and I agree, my guess would be the door being a 2nd means of egress in emergency situations. Can't have the captain trapped in his sea cabin from a blockage, battle damage, or fire.
During the interwar period, Department of the Navy expected a doorway to Narnia to be a practical technology. Unfortunately, the radar equipment of the time was heavy and bulky enough that they had to remove the magical wardrobe from the Iowa class to make room for the radar sets. After the war, NRNWRD-B was a smaller and more efficient magical wardrobe, but the plan was abandoned rather than ever actually being deployed to the fleet. The idea was declassified, and C.S. Lewis was able to adapt a story about the technology in around 1950, by which time the actual doors on the Iowa class were largely vestigial. The shower had been intended to maintain secrecy of the project, and account for getting muddy while in Narnia, so a muddy and dirty returning Captain would not appear to have been on dry land while at sea.
My personal best guess is that the space that is now the Captain's Bath wasn't always all the captain's bath. Part of it may have originally been a storage locker or something that opened into the chart room annex. Once they decided to give the captain a shower, (which may have initially been an unauthorized shipalt) they took that part as well and combined it with the rest of what is now the captain's bath, but didn't get rid of the joiner door there because it would have required replacing the entire joiner bulkhead. So the captain had the crew put the lock on it and remove the doorknob so that people couldn't accidentally walk in on him showering, but he could still use the door to get out if he felt so inclined. Another possibility is that it may be from WWII era, before the bridge was enclosed. If the Vestibule (04-91-1-L) didn't exist at that time and the Captain's sea cabin door opened to the bridge, it could have been added as a way for the Captain to get from his sea cabin to the chart room without needing to go outdoors in heavy weather when the deck was wet and the ship was rolling heavily. In fact, based on the location and shape of the vestibule, it may have been added specifically so that the captain could get into the enclosed part of the bridge without going outside in the weather.
@@mattblom3990 can’t wait for that one. Both are amazing historians. The two have helped me make it through the boredom of the pandemic. Can’t wait to visit the New Jersey.
I've been waiting for you to do the Chart House. I was a QM3 on the USS Dixie AD-14 and did a couple weeks TAD on the USS Meyercord FF-1058. After I was out of the Navy for a year or so the local recruiter wrote me to see if I'd reenlist for a Battleship seeing they were putting together a crew and QM was one of the rates needing filling. I didn't because I'd just gotten engaged......MAN, if I had known I'd be divorced in a couple years I would have jumped at the chance. Hind sight is 20/20 as they say.
I'm in Oregon, so volunteering isn't in the cards, but I would if I was in Jersey. I currently volunteer and maintain a farmhouse museum and also the live on site caretaker. I have a ton of respect for Ryan and the volunteers on the USS New Jersey. I have done some preservation work on the USS Blueback, here in Portland. It amazes how much fun and rewarding it is to volunteer time to help keep our history alive for all to see.
As a Navy veteran of 7 years, back in the 70's. There were a lot of work arounds that never really got documented. Plain an simple, because the captain wanted his own shower, converted the hall to make him a shower. If you've every been in the Navy this kinda stuff happened a lot. Converting spaces available and repurpose to suit different needs. This door is no mystery to me LOL
Please expand on this. It's the captain's boat, right? He can do whatever he wants with it. He has a machine shop at his disposal that can make whatever he wants. International waters mean... no law. Did the captain have an escape route built for sailors when the captain's shower was built? Was the captain a homosexual?
@@coylewho LOL sexuality has NOTHING to do with it. It has everything to do with power. I you had ever been in the Military, you would know what I'm talking about.
@@coylewho "International waters mean... no law." On the contrary the Military Law and miltiary regs exist on all military ships and land bases no matter where they are in the world. The only thing that changes is the civil law they come under when in other nations land or waters (except when at war of course) It might be an escape route? I don't know the ship but often the bridge was a target and if the Bridge has been hit and therefore debris blocking the main exit a second exit my be needed. OTOH it might just be a corridor/chart-room/store that was converted to the Captains Sea Cabin after the initial layout planning and it is simply the case that the second door wasn't removed.
This. In this way, a battleship is no different than a house. New owners have different ideas, and, barring the means to do a proper re-design, cobble together a solution.
My father served 20 years in the Navy, 1953-1973. He was a navigator and reached CPO. Thanks for letting me know more about what he did when he was away at sea.
Navigational timekeeping errors were what drove Abraham Louis Breguet to develop the tourbillon movement in 1795 (patented in 1801). By orbiting the clock's escapement around a central point (usually a 1 minute orbit), this helped cancel some of the error introduced into the clock train by the pitch and roll of the ship and increased clock accuracy tremendously for that time.
This channel is such a gold mine for any naval buff or really anyone interested in history, these videos are always delightfully informative and whimsically entertaining. Kudos to all who make this channel possible 👏
I second that! Ryan and the gang have put out some really great content the past year or so. The information in the videos covers such a wide swath of interests, there's something in them for almost everyone. Some of the best content on yt in my opinion.
The Omega navigation radio on your ship was high tech in it’s day. It is a predecessor of gps and works on similar principle using the NIST atomic clock and transmitters in Boulder Colorado. It is still viable for communication. I’m both an amateur and commercial radio operator, so seeing that receiver is really cool in a nerdy way.
Excellent video, thanks. As regards the mystery door in the shower, I am glad to know I am not the only one who gets fascinated by minor mysteries of history like that.
I've been enjoying these videos much more after getting the full set of plans, and following along, to get a better sense of the ship. Ryan doing a good job to bring the experience to more people online.
I can imagine if Ryan was somehow magically transported to USS New Jersey in the middle of World War 2, between the guns firing and the elevators lifting ammo and all the chaos that goes on in a warship in combat, he'd draw puzzled looks from the sailors as very first thing he'd do is run for this one specific door in this one specific room and finally get answers.
After digging through the BGP for the different eras of the Iowa's, I can say with 90% certainty I know why there is a door in the Captain's Shower! As built the Iowa's had a Navigators At-Sea Cabin directly across from the captain's. However, there is no W.C. in the Nav's cabin. In fact, both 63 and 64's 50's eras BGP have a door in that shower. My summation is that the Nav and Capt shared the shower. When 62 was brought back for Vietnam I would guess they deleted the Nav's At-Sea Cabin but didn't bother to blank over the door in the shower. When the others were brought back in the 80's they blanked over the door when they deleted the Nav's Cabin to make room for modern equipment.
The door in the Captain's shower might have been to provide for a second way out of his sea cabin in case the primary door became blocked. If I was the Captain I would want to have a way out if my ship was in deep trouble.
I work on yachts. Every area has to have at least 2 exits for emergency purposes. These exits are also verified yearly by flag state inspections, make sure no alterations etc
My thought as well. Residential bedrooms require two egresses, it would make sense that the most important person on the vessel has one as well in case the first door is blocked due to battle damage.
Could that door just be a backup door? To be used to get out of that Captains area if the main door is blocked, in a manner similar to how fire exits work in regular buildings.
That's what I was wondering. If there's a hit and the standard door out is blocked or jammed, then the captain can just pop open the shower door and get where he needs to go.
When you showed the air conditioning unit, I immediately thought that might be the explanation for the door. Of course that might not be the officially approved reason for the modification, but I'll bet somebody took advantage of that feature. It also seems like a nice to be able to exit the cabin without interfering with whatever is happening on the bridge.
The main door goes into the light locker, not the bridge. The captain could go from the locker and into the charthouse, skipping the bridge, and travelling from there to the area that the shower door also goes into.
Perhaps the door was a modification made by the crew at the request of the captain and it was added into the plans afterwards. They could’ve seen that the Jersey’s plans didn’t show a door and seen Iowa’s did so they decided that other details were close enough to make the switch.
Looking at the deck plan, my first thought about the second shower door is that it provides a secondary way out of the sea cabin area, and in fact makes it possible to have two access paths to the bridge from anywhere in the charthouse, which would be important both for the saving of time in emergency, or if battle damage or other casualty blocked one route.
The captains sea cabin got a remodel in the early 1950's (Reference the deck plans of the Missouri). The shower moved from one side of the transverse bulkhead to the aft side. The shower moved to the inboard side of the space. The original plan could have enabled the Captain's steward to do his job without taking his cleaning gear through the chart house and across the conning bridge. Lots of people to ask permission to enter the space. The "shower" door opens on a vestibule used by the navigator's sea cabin, the chart room, and the aerographer's lab.
It would be interesting to have a video of each ship on how they over the years and how the museum shows the ships today. Maybe explain the methods on how they build ships from peace time to war time. Also I think this channel does the best in explain things so maybe give other ships tips on how to educate better. Lastly maybe explain what spaces you have available on tour routes compared to other ships. Even though someone should visit all museum ships they want to see, someone might want to see a specific restored space that isn't on one ship but on another ship
Omega was a LORAN-like system that used VLF frequencies (~10 kHz) instead of LORAN, which used SW frequencies. (~1.9 mhz) These lower frequencies require a more precise clock, but results in a system with far greater range. What's really interesting is the other receiver, which is a TRANSIT receiver, the world's first satellite positioning system. TRANSIT gave the navy satellite-based navigation capability a full 30 years before GPS was publicly introduced, but was not anywhere near as accurate at 400m CEP, probably due to the much lower frequencies that it uses (100/400mhz vs 1500mhz for GPS). That's an exceedingly rare set.
The 1960's captain was J. Edward Snyder who died in 2007. He was the one who turned one of the old 40mm gun tubs into a swimming pool. Maybe this shower and door was something he added for himself?
I love small little things like this something seemingly so insignificant but yet has become quite a big mystery A simple little door but one that has a big explanation. Ryan may you solve the reason behind this oddity
OMEGA was the first global-range radio navigation system, operated by the United States in cooperation with six partner nations. It was a hyperbolic navigation system, enabling ships and aircraft to determine their position by receiving very low frequency (VLF) radio signals in the range 10 to 14 kHz, transmitted by a global network of eight fixed terrestrial radio beacons, using a navigation receiver unit. It became operational around 1971 and was shut down in 1997 and replaced by the Global Positioning System.
LORAN dated *at least* back to the 1960s. When I was a navigation electronics technician then, one of the pieces of gear for which I was responsible was the LORAN-C. Omega came in well after that. It was less accurate, too. A very interesting and informative series, though.
I found that it (Omega) worked just fine in a plane (KC-130F), and easier and faster to operate than LORAN. APN-4? The oscilloscope type. Our planes had that exact model as in the video. The Litton 211. I have the Litton manual for it in the closet with all the nav stuff.
@@jjhead431 Yeh. In an airplane, Omega would make more sense: easier to lock on, better tracking, and close enough to get you within eyesight of your destination, but for launching nukes, LORAN's accuracy was barely enough.
LORAN-A set with the O-scope was on my first ship. Later, on my second ship we had the LORAN-C set with the digital Latitude and Longitude display, way points, COG, SOG, and TD between Master station and Slave station. LORAN-C had very good accuracy (100 yards or so) and it was repeatable (able to return to the same location). The SRN-12 OMEGA was next to useless. It it lost tracking and jumped lanes, you could find yourself plotting a position 12, 24, 36, 48 miles from your actual position in a matter of seconds. Unreliable. Plus the accuracy was only 4 nm of the actual position on its best day. Maybe good enough to put in in the same ocean. lol.
@@toddf9321 Exactly. I was on Boomers, and we actually had phase corrections that got applied to our LORAN-C TDs, which brought our accuracy down to around 100 feet (in most areas). Not too shabby at all. No where near as good as what you get from the GPS in your phone, today, but 50 some years ago - not too bad at all.
Theory on the door - The main entrance to the captain's cabin appears to be in the light locker. The shower door makes sense (with no outside nob) to allow the captain to exit their room without risking letting light out if someone was coming in the outer door at the same time. Or, it could be a means of allowing them to exit quickly without risking injury by going through a dark corridor in an emergency or heavy weather.
@@BattleshipNewJersey I thought during the video the main entrance to the captain's cabin was a side door inside the light locker to the chart room? Does the main door to the captain's cabin switch the lights in there the same as the chart room? I could see that as a reason to make another door.
@@BattleshipNewJersey In the video it appears the door to the Captain's cabin is just a couple feet from the water-tight outer door and inside the light locker. I could imagine it would be a risk in battle conditions to have the captain entering or exiting their cabin with the light on if someone were to enter or leave the light locker through the external hatch. I doubt it has the same "auto-off" system the lights in the map-room have (to prevent this same issue)
Chris Kightlingter worked for me in our shop. He was on the New Jersey and before he left the navy he gave us a couple turret craw tours. I was introduced to Broadways I beam also.
When I was taking a survey course in the 90s the Omega satilite navigation system was on the way out, and the Transit system was the standard for when you were out at sea. The Loran system was very accurate for use near land with deterioration in accuracy as you got further from land. Now everyone has a GPS on their phone. :)
I was aware of LORAN but had never heard of OMEGA or TRANSIT. Based on the receive frequencies of the "unknown" radio I would guess that it's for TRANSIT 150/400MHz.
That radio receiver in the chartroom annex is probably for receiving WWV time hacks daily when the quartermasters wound and "compared" the chronometers and noted it in the chronometer log. This comparison was performed before noon daily because it was part of the report sent to the captain daily from the OOD via the messenger of the watch (MOW). It was an intimidating experience for the poor young MOW as he had to remember his spiel, "Sir, the officer of the deck sends his respects and announces the approaching hour of noon and requests permission to strike eight bells on time. All chronometers have been wound and compared. Here are the noon position and fuel and water reports, sir (as he hands the slips of paper with that information to the CO)." The CO would then respond with permission to strike eight bells on time. See, even noon cannot happen on a Navy ship without the captain's permission. When I was a CO, I did my best to set the youngster at ease and would often ask a simple question of him like how the weather was topside.
The chronometers were made by Chelsea clock, that’s pretty cool. The old Chelsea Clock building where they were probably manufactured is about a block away from where I work.
The door in the shower is quite simple, it is a secondary path of egress from the cabin in case the primary is blocked by battle damage. Can’t have the captain getting stuck in his cabin…. Oh, Omega is like LORAN but on a longer wavelength so it’s global range.
Thinking more on Omega, can you fire that set up and tell us if the system is still up? Using modern processing, Omega has the capacity to back up GPS in case of failure for the 97% of civilian requirement at least. It couldn’t PinPoint weapons like GPS, but it could get you to a dock or runway.
Do you ever consider reaching out to former crewmen directly? The decommissioning Captain of the New Jersey retired as a Radm, but as far as I can tell, is still kicking around somewhere.
My assumption was so that he could get a briefing in a less busy area (assuming the Chart House was a busy place with a lot of talking during crisis). Having read the battle damage escape route suggestion I now believe that to be more accurate, but I thought it worthwhile to suggest all theories just in case. I obviously don't have the knowledge to know if that suggestion or my suggestion miss the mark, after all.
I was USArmy but my guess would be the mystery door was for a steward to clean the head without interrupting the command staffs activities. Navy officers are amazing but there’s a definite aristocratic arrogance to the officers in general and field grade and up in particular. I saw this when my airborne company went thru the naval amphibious assault school that the marines go thru at little creek naval station in February of ‘86 or ‘87. Got a good exposure to troops at sea life. So much more respect for both marines and navy service members after that! But then again I always respected the marines more than most paratroopers. Was helped out immensely by two marines while in jump school. They saved my life!
I forgot to say, please cherish and support our older veterans, we are losing our history at a terrible pace! Visit them, listen to them and learn their stories and write them down. But most of all thank them let them feel your gratitude. WW2 vets really saved the world and at great cost.
USS Iowa (BB-61) Veteran here. Simple logic says that you don't enclose the Captain into a space where there is only one exit. That's a back way out of his at-sea cabin. There's no knob on the other side of the door so that people don't just barge into his shower, but the stud for the knob is in place so the door can be opened with a wrench in case of emergency (so long as it isn't locked from the inside).
Showers with access to the weather decks were used for CBRN decontamination. On the Perry class the Officer’s Showers had a door to the main deck, and a salt water value to make a cold shower.
But DECON would be aft as to no contaminate vital navigation. All six ship I was on had DECOM mid ships but primary was aft. As it is easier to DECOM the main deck then superstructure. Just a thought. Good observation.
If I was a captain of a ship at war, which btw, is a job that I am imminently NOT qualified for, during war or peace, I would like to think my quarters would have a back door just in case one of them gets blocked off by fire, debris, or whatever during the chaos of battle. A captains place is on the bridge during time of crisis, not locked up in his own quarters, unable to do much. Great morale booster for a crew having to abandon their posts to rescue their trapped captain from his/her own quarters during battle, so he/she can command the ship and crew. Even as a crewman, I would feel better with my captain being on the bridge during a crisis rather then having him/her phoning it in from his/her quarters.
Has consideration been given that the a head for the captains at-sea cabin was not part of the original design? Perhaps the space that is now the head was a stowage locker or other space meant for navigation, but then altered as a head for the captain? I know it seems illogical that they would not take out the door while making such a modification, but stranger things have been done. Having come from a ship built in the 1950's, albeit a much smaller one (DDG), the captains at-sea cabin did not have a head and was located directly behind the bridge and across from the QM space. If the captain needed to take a piss or shower (which WAS modified so the captain could take a 'Hollywood shower'), he had to go down a level to his in-port cabin.
The Navy ships that I've seen all had the sea cabin for the skipper, and either a connected head (with or without shower) or a separate head nearby meant to be shared by the bridge watch. They make sure that the captain does NOT have to leave the conn to answer the call of nature. A large warship like a battleship or carrier would have enough space for the captain to have a personal head attached to the sea cabin.
Great question you've posed to the audience. I took the liberty of looking at the plans from Wisconsin (1950) vs. the plans from Missouri (1956) and New Jersey (1984). Looks like that space has symmetrical bulkheads from port to starboard on each fitment. That said, the earlier plans show a vestibule between the Captain's WC, the Areological (?) office, and the Navigation Officer's cabin. If you head aft there would be a door heading to a passage that traverses the structure port to strbd. In the 1984 fitment the Navigation Officer's quarters are removed and the space defined as the vestibule is also gone. Further gone is an appearance of a supposed light lock aft of the "vestibule" but fwd of the aforementioned passage. Maybe the museum can answer if the passage aft of the chart house was / is apparently modded to be enclosed, thus negating the aft light lock. Also, would make sense to me that the WC was intended to be shared in this space as originally designed and would also have the added benefit of allowing the CO access to the chart house without having to go through the FWD light lock, etc. Don't know how to share images on this platform, but the plans are readily available for review.
I think the first piece of the puzzle on the door is to date it. I would remove the door latch and look for a manufacturer name and model, from this information you may get close to a period of time rather than a exact date.
You are kind of on the right track, but you need to remove the door and door frame and take a look at how they were installed. If the door was an authorized alteration performed in the yards, then the door, door frame, trim, stiffener plates, and any other parts would have been pre-fabricated in the yard shops, tagged, and stored for future installation long before the ship arrived at the shipyard. If the installation was done by ship's force, then I would expect more of a "torch the hole, grind the edges, and slap in a salvaged door" job. I don't mean crude and sloppy, just not showing the fit and polish of something assembled in a yard shop and installed by workers carrying plans and backed up by a full shipyard. My shipboard divisional storeroom was separated into two compartments with separate NWT doors into the passageway. The difference between the original door and bulkheads Vs.the partition bulkhead and new door which "magically" appeared were noticeable. Nothing crude or sloppy, just the difference between "planned/constructed as part of a whole" and "let's plan and install them ourselves".
Omega was a "new" system that was started in 1971 and went until 1997. There were a total of nine 10-14kHz transmitters for the world. The accuracy of Omega was about 4 miles. LORAN-C was a later version of LORAN and was from approx 1957 until it was shutdown on Feb-8 2010. It transmitted its signal on 100kHz. There were approx 76 transmitters worldwide for LORAN-C. The accuracy was about 0.1-0.5 miles with repeatability of a specific location from 50-300 feet. Then GPS and other GNSS systems came along with might higher accuracy. GPS' first launch was in 1978 and the initial constellation when fully operational in December 1993.
I was in a destroyer throughout the last half of the 70’s. I was an ET. When I reported aboard we had loran. Later Omega was added as a supposed replacement for LORAN but it was not very reliable and LORAN was usually preferred. In ‘78 satellite navigation was installed. Lol - we thought it was small - the size of a very large microwave, and ran a cassette for its program, plus it was only useful when there were enough satellites overhead. That was also about the same time that satellite communications were added as well.
You are correct. OMEGA was the predecessor of LORAN. OMEGA dropped out of service for surface vessels almost immediately after the introduction of LORAN. However OMEGA was still in use for submarines during the 80's and early 90's possibly a little later. This was due to the low frequency transmission of OMEGA which was much more useful for a submarine. I know this as I live near one of the OMEGA transmission stations in Australia (Woodside Victoria). It used to be one of the tallest structures in the southern hemisphere. It was destroyed in 2015.
So many people coming up with decent reasons for the door. Here I am thinking about the military and their contractors. They probably saw a wall where a door should be, then put the door in. The original reason for the door was probably something similar to making it easier for the captain to check the chronometer.
I hate to pick, because I love Ryan's vids. The clock shown is not a chronometer. Chronometers are set in gimbals in a protective box. They are very reliable (as long as they are wound daily), but they do lose or gain time every day. I was on the USS Robison DDG-12 in the early 70's, and for a time that was my duty. I also had to have the Radiomen tune to WWV or WWVH for me, it would play over a speaker in the charthouse. WWV does nothing but announce the time direct from the NIST atomic clock. ua-cam.com/video/ZIvdr5LLk8Y/v-deo.html I had to compare the chronometers (our destroyer had 3) to the "time tick" and keep a log book for each chronometer. They were very consistent in that they gained or lost at the same rate. When the navigator was doing a star fix, he could correct the time according to the log. The clocks would only be rest when at a designated shore facility. I remeber we had ours done in NAVSTA Subic, and they were spot on for a long time.
How about showing us the Damage Control lockers next? As a former Damage Controlman (DC 3) I think it would be neat to see and others would like it as well.
Thanks for the video on the Sammy B. I was witness to her leaving on the Mighty Servant 2 through the Straights of Hormuz back in '88. Seems like yesterday. Great Damage Controlman on that ship!
The R-1843A/WRN-5 radio receiver is a Very Low Frequency (VLF) radio, 50 to 400 hertz. It could have been used for navigation, which I suspect, since it's in chart house annex but the other uses of VLF are "VLF frequencies benefit from their long range and stable phase characteristics, allowing them to be quite versatile. Like ELF and SLF, VLF can also penetrate seawater to some extent; the military can use VLF to communicate with submarines near the surface of the water. Historically, VLF has been used for navigation beacons."
I believe Omega and Loran where types of radio navigation tools. Mostly phased out out by the 90's. I was a QM3 on USS Benfold in the late 90's and at the time we used a GPS unit call the WRN-6.
Loran A and the Loran C were land- based nav systems- The Loran receiver aboard ship would pick up two signals from two different stations on shore, and come up with a position =based on the time it took to receive the signal. Omega was the forerunner to today's GPS, I think. I have Loran numbers for fishing spots that I had to convert to Lat/Long so we cold use GPS.
The primary entry is an external watertight door and light locker. So this second door serves a few functions…if the door is damaged the captain can sill leave. The captain can also open his shower door and provide his quarters to expand the chart room working area, or open the door to be out of the way and still have open communication to the other room. Finally if either external door needs to remain open and dark for any reason both room halves can have light isolation.
I am a volunteer on the USS Iowa Museum Ship. I have a Booklet of Plans for USS Iowa and USS New Jersey in their 1980's configuration. The Iowa drawings for the 04 level shows a door within the Captain's At Sea cabin and not into the W/C area. The Booklet of Plans for the New Jersey 1980's configuration shows a door from the W/C into the Chart Room Annex and does show the Navigator's Office space as in your video. Also, there is not a Navigator's office in the Chart Room Annex area of the Charthouse in the Iowa plans as is shown on the USS New Jersey. I also have a Booklet of Plans for the USS Iowa in her 1950's configuration and the door goes from the Captain's At Sea Cabin into what was then known as the Captain's Tactical Plot. I also have a Booklet of Plans for the USS Wisconsin in her 1950's configuration. The door from the Captain's Sea Cabin W/C opens from the W/C into a vestibule. The Port side by the vestibule has the Navigator's At Sea Cabin and over to the starboard side an Aerolog Lab. The differences between the ships of the Iowa class are amazing. The receiver is for the AN/WRN-5 system which is an early satellite navigation unit.
From somebody who has worked on and fixed a lot of things that door has the look and feel of something added for maintenance reasons. Something like the drain backed up (somewhere up in line) a lot and they need to get a big power drain snake near the shower. Or somebody needed to get into that space to work on/access something. But didn't want to go thru the proper chart house to do it.
It looks like the CO's shower doubled as a wet locker. You could hang wet weather gear on the rod (or pipe) that runs the width of the door. I just wanted to add that your vids are superb. Thank you for making them for us.👍
Ryan says towards the end (facetiously) We don' get in the weeds. Of course you do and that is why I LOVE THIS UA-cam Channel. Get in the weeds! More weeds!
You briefly mentioned the deck log. How many different logs were kept on the ship? What happens to them? Are they kept on the ship, sent to the Navy Department, or something else? Might make an interesting future video. Thanks, Jack
There are several different 'Logs' or official records kept to support different departments. For example, the Engineering Department usually keeps what is called a "Bell Log," a record of the various changes made in speed, main and / or auxiliary plant configurations and operations over the course of the ship's life. The DECK LOG is the main overview of ship's operations, a record of every meaningful event aboard. While underway it serves as a record of all course and speed changes, sightings of other ships, accidents (and serious injury or death.) It is even maintained while the ship is in port, either at anchor to moored to a pier. It records other ships at the same pier or at anchor nearby, a record of personnel reporting aboard when transferred or departing for the last time. This is the Log that Ryan has referred to from time to time, stating that the Museum is trying to obtain a full copy from the Navy covering every period that New Jersey was in service, every significant event from the "life" of the ship.
You can log anything and everything. As Combat Systems Officer of the Watch on a DDG I kept logs pertaining to the condition and availability of the combat system.
@@dcviper985 In the IC/Gyro shop we logged watch changes, hourly meter readings, split between master/Aux gyrocompass, any changes in systems lineup, any equipment casualties, etc. Main switchboard watch logged meter readings, SSTG lineups, electrical load changes, etc. Ditto for the EDG switchboard if normal power was lost and/or we were carrying a load on the diesel generator.
Best guess? The Chart-house Annex probably was originally part of the Captain's Sea-Cabin, and during 'Nam or the later recall, the Sea-Cabin got shrunk and the Captain would have probably lost his own Head (bathroom) if they didn't move it to where it is now. I've been on two vastly different ships (a CV & a FFG) that had a Yard Period at Philadelphia Navy Shipyard. And I'm pretty sure that it would have been extremely easy for the Prospective Captain of the NJ to get a head attached to his Sea-Cabin even with the cabin being shrunk during the modernization.. Almost "please sign here sir" level of ease!!! And as all compartments aboard a US Navy ship (and hopefully every ship in the world), there has to be a second way out. The lock hasp was probably added while she was being decommed to limit access to areas that have expensive gear in them....
From a rusty memory, I think LORAN was susperceded by OMEGA. both were used until OMEGA proved a worthy LORAN replacement. LORAN: long range navigation, was a hyperbolic radio navigation system developed in the United States during World War II. OMEGA: was first used by aircraft then later by ships. It was a worldwide system used by several nations and could possibly be considered an early GPS. OMEGA was an advanced LORAN system that used VLF to "fix" (identify) a postion. An OMEGA receiver could locate/fix a position to within 4 nautical miles (7.4 km) using the principle of phase comparison of signals. The main difference between the two systems was, LORAN A was a short range system used to fix positions approaching land or for coastal navigation. OMEGA was for long range, deep water navigation. There was a LORAN C system that became used by military units while LORAN A was discarded for the more accurate LORAN C. The A became used pricipally by commercial vessels. There was also a LORAN B which I don't know much about except that it was a transition to the C system. These systems relied on shorebased transmitters which are now dismantled or dormant. The one navigation system I marvel at is the ancient lighthouses and now, buoys, still in use. One of my favorites is the Cabo Fomentor Light (Cap de Formentor) located on the island of Mallorca, Ibeeric Isles, Mediterranean Sea. South of Barcelona about 200km.
What is a bathroom? Isn't it called a head! I was there on Saturday and there's alot of sps-29 navigation radar repeaters I was surprised. The non-water tight door is for emergency evac. Just like other have said. Ryan keep up the fight for the old girl. Nice work on the teak. To bad the old wood is to far gone. I was also surprised the citadel is so protected. I couldn't believe how thick the armor was. Alabama was about the same just smaller. Although, I would've liked to visit GSK, but it was locked. Thanks for the videos. Impressive she is. I wish they were still active. She is still in better condition then any of the LCS's and most like get underway faster to.
I can think of two reasons. Its a way for the captain to come and go without going through the middle of the chart house, whether for the captain himself or the captains enlisted and officer staff to get in without going through the chart house. further, unless the shower is in use it would just be a vestibule. When the ship was built, I imagine that entire area was far busier than it was in the 80s, i can see a captain eventually taking an opportunity to add a door to his at-sea cabin into a quieter area. Truman's at-sea cabin was directly outside the door into the navigation bridge. The at-sea cabin for the flag bridge though was connected both to the bridge and through the small radar room. Second, on the two carriers i was on, the designers seemed to try to have at least two ways out of a manned space, whether with two doors or a door and an escape hatch (if there wasn't a joiner wall you could punch through if you had to). the captain's at sea cabin there with the door would have two ways in and out and also act as another escape route for the chart house.
The main reason why the chart-house has all of the watertight fittings, etc. is that it is a crewed compartment during battle!!! They got to be able to be in there and do their work even if there's nearby damage to the ship and perhaps a fire!
LORAN was mostly US based navigation system in which charts had overlays of LORAN signal lines. You read two lines from your receiver and plot them on the LORAN chart. OMEGA was similar but mostly Europe and Asia used OMEGA. It was ok for longer distances from land transmitter towers. The WRN-5 "radio" was, I believe early SATNAV. A novelty in the 80's and very important. This room may have grown in importance as electronic navigation usage grew, so I agree with ghost307 below, it giving quick access to this room which is now more important then it was in the 40's.
The shower was the NBC Decontamination cleaning station for the Capt and it egresses away from his cabin thru the door. This would be covered in the NBC Defense Decontamination cleaning station procedures.
If the other Iowa-class ships have a doorknob (or not) it could be a sold clue on whether it was intentional or not. Its' absence could be intentional to prevent "accidents."
Is that not the purpose of the lock and latch? My guess is that the door provided a second way of getting out of that area in the event of something such as damage preventing egress from the main portal. edit: if the lock & latch is a replacement for the loss of the handle, it is on the wrong side for that purpose.
Omega was another radio navigation system that was in use in the 1980’s. It was use for both naval and aircraft navigation, both military and commercial. Like LORAN, it was made obsolete by the use of GPS.
My initial thought was, based on the video, I only recalled one door, the Light Locker, so having a second for emergency evacuation use just makes sense to me. It could still be used, by the Captain for other reasons, such as listed below.
Seems like it was a storage closet at one time, but access to water was easy and it was converted to a shower, so the captain never had to leave the bridge area during long term general quarters. Reading the observation by Hokie makes sense too. "Attention on deck"! would get old quik.
In the late 70’s LORAN, ALPHA the predecessor of upgraded Loran “C” was used for coastal navigation where you could triangulate 3 or more Loran radio signals from stations along the coast for a fix. OMEGA was for open ocean navigation, they both left a lot to be desired compared to GPS. The British used another system called DECCA which was a better system.
As i understand it, and how it was explained to me, was that Living Spaces need at least 2 ways out of. But since it was the CO shower in At Sea Cabin, the handle was removed from the outside on purpose and locked from the inside to keep people from coming in that but yet easy enough to get out from from inside. Any cleaners or visitors would come in through the main door.
Most living spaces on board NJ do not have two ways in and out. So while that is a nice benefit of having a second door, its not expected on this ship.
@@BattleshipNewJersey What a pickle huh?!....Im sure there was some logic in it someplace but it may be lost to history now. If you ever find out for certain, please let us know. Thanks for posting your videos. I enjoy watching them. EN1(SW) USN (Ret)
From Looking at the Plans of BB-57 (South Dakota), which had a fairly similar arrangement of bridge, sea cabin and chart house, I would suggest, that the "Capt's Bath" was originaly intended to be an officers WC, with quick access from the sea cabin and was later (maybe already while building the ship) designated as the "Capt's Bath". "New Jersey" and "South Dakota" where bulid paralell with only one year between them, so changing the interior design of "New Jersey" because of experiences made on similar ships was fairly limited. I haven't seen plans of plan of "North Carolina", it would be interesting, if she has the same layout. The ability for the Capt to leave his Cabin,without "disturbing" the chart house is, in my suggestion, an aditional feature which was kept for convenience sake.
I was assigned to the Iowa as non-ships company in June 1989 for a Makeready cruise to PR. As an IS assigned to the gunnery division as a targeteer, I would go to the Chart House daily for the range and targets briefing. The Captain was usually on the bridge, but occasionally he would be in his ‘sea berth’ and we were a bit more subdued. One day, during the briefing, the Captain appeared behind the Senior Chief during his part of the brief as we all snapped to attention as the Senior turned around to see the Skipper only 3 feet away. I thought he was going to have a coronary. The Captain laughed and headed out to the Bridge but until I watched this video I never knew how he got out of his quarters and behind us. Great video. Thanks.
There we go. Mystery solved, the door is for the captain to prank the crew. Love it.
That’s really cool 😎 thanks for sharing
For all that Ryan apologized for it, I kind of love the chaotic look of the chart room. One of the things that often bug me about museum ships, historic home museums, and the like is that they're usually way too tidy to feel real. I mean, I know the Navy likes to have things squared away, but a working space like that is only rarely going to look perfectly neat and tidy with everything put away. The rest of the time, it's going to look like there are people, well... _working_ in it. I like that "everybody just got up and left" look in historical exhibits.
My feelings - and thoughts - EXACTLY.
Same!
Ya for sure. I can appreciate the balance they like to strike with their intended context interpretation and leaving thing as they got them. The thing is that without their management it would be a mix of ww2, last 90s deployment, mothballs, and just disregard and look like junk. From his videos, it seems they have an awareness of this and they aim for 80's active form of representation. Leaving things dusty and dirty doesn't show the state of the ship as it would have been in their intended representation goal. They are trying to show what it looked and felt like when it was last active.
As others have already speculated and I agree, my guess would be the door being a 2nd means of egress in emergency situations. Can't have the captain trapped in his sea cabin from a blockage, battle damage, or fire.
Good excuse, also useful to sneak away from annoying situations :p
Yup, I was going to comment the same thing. Makes sense to me.
@@jeebus6263 way to evade a visiting congressman, if needed
@@dont-want-no-wrench nope, cap'n said he's not here... but i saw him go in! ... nope, cap'n said he's not here :)
True but I think he would always be on the bridge during battle
During the interwar period, Department of the Navy expected a doorway to Narnia to be a practical technology. Unfortunately, the radar equipment of the time was heavy and bulky enough that they had to remove the magical wardrobe from the Iowa class to make room for the radar sets. After the war, NRNWRD-B was a smaller and more efficient magical wardrobe, but the plan was abandoned rather than ever actually being deployed to the fleet. The idea was declassified, and C.S. Lewis was able to adapt a story about the technology in around 1950, by which time the actual doors on the Iowa class were largely vestigial. The shower had been intended to maintain secrecy of the project, and account for getting muddy while in Narnia, so a muddy and dirty returning Captain would not appear to have been on dry land while at sea.
My personal best guess is that the space that is now the Captain's Bath wasn't always all the captain's bath. Part of it may have originally been a storage locker or something that opened into the chart room annex. Once they decided to give the captain a shower, (which may have initially been an unauthorized shipalt) they took that part as well and combined it with the rest of what is now the captain's bath, but didn't get rid of the joiner door there because it would have required replacing the entire joiner bulkhead. So the captain had the crew put the lock on it and remove the doorknob so that people couldn't accidentally walk in on him showering, but he could still use the door to get out if he felt so inclined.
Another possibility is that it may be from WWII era, before the bridge was enclosed. If the Vestibule (04-91-1-L) didn't exist at that time and the Captain's sea cabin door opened to the bridge, it could have been added as a way for the Captain to get from his sea cabin to the chart room without needing to go outdoors in heavy weather when the deck was wet and the ship was rolling heavily. In fact, based on the location and shape of the vestibule, it may have been added specifically so that the captain could get into the enclosed part of the bridge without going outside in the weather.
Adding to the perks of having a battleship as an artifact. Other museum curators have an office, Ryan has a stateroom.
Its amazing how consistently this channels technique has improved, not to mention Ryan's comfort in front of the camera has only gone up.
Agreed, been watching him for a couple years. His 2 day collaboration with Drachinifel is going to be amazing.
@@mattblom3990 can’t wait for that one. Both are amazing historians. The two have helped me make it through the boredom of the pandemic. Can’t wait to visit the New Jersey.
I've been waiting for you to do the Chart House. I was a QM3 on the USS Dixie AD-14 and did a couple weeks TAD on the USS Meyercord FF-1058. After I was out of the Navy for a year or so the local recruiter wrote me to see if I'd reenlist for a Battleship seeing they were putting together a crew and QM was one of the rates needing filling. I didn't because I'd just gotten engaged......MAN, if I had known I'd be divorced in a couple years I would have jumped at the chance. Hind sight is 20/20 as they say.
Did you meet your wife while you were in the navy?
QM is for quarter master....what's the 3 for?
His rank is QM3. Quarter Master 3rd class
@@studinthemaking Nope, afterward and she's now my ex wife. LOL
@@robertbeaty4909 congrats
I'm in Oregon, so volunteering isn't in the cards, but I would if I was in Jersey. I currently volunteer and maintain a farmhouse museum and also the live on site caretaker. I have a ton of respect for Ryan and the volunteers on the USS New Jersey.
I have done some preservation work on the USS Blueback, here in Portland. It amazes how much fun and rewarding it is to volunteer time to help keep our history alive for all to see.
As a Navy veteran of 7 years, back in the 70's. There were a lot of work arounds that never really got documented. Plain an simple, because the captain wanted his own shower, converted the hall to make him a shower. If you've every been in the Navy this kinda stuff happened a lot. Converting spaces available and repurpose to suit different needs. This door is no mystery to me LOL
Please expand on this. It's the captain's boat, right? He can do whatever he wants with it. He has a machine shop at his disposal that can make whatever he wants. International waters mean... no law. Did the captain have an escape route built for sailors when the captain's shower was built? Was the captain a homosexual?
@@coylewho LOL sexuality has NOTHING to do with it. It has everything to do with power. I you had ever been in the Military, you would know what I'm talking about.
@@coylewho "International waters mean... no law." On the contrary the Military Law and miltiary regs exist on all military ships and land bases no matter where they are in the world. The only thing that changes is the civil law they come under when in other nations land or waters (except when at war of course) It might be an escape route? I don't know the ship but often the bridge was a target and if the Bridge has been hit and therefore debris blocking the main exit a second exit my be needed. OTOH it might just be a corridor/chart-room/store that was converted to the Captains Sea Cabin after the initial layout planning and it is simply the case that the second door wasn't removed.
Give the sailor a cokkie and a glass of bug juice for the responce, they left the door as it was also a second exit, Jayne's shows this as a hall.
This. In this way, a battleship is no different than a house. New owners have different ideas, and, barring the means to do a proper re-design, cobble together a solution.
I really like how this feels like a genuine stream of consciousness from a legit battleship expert. I'm hooked!
My father served 20 years in the Navy, 1953-1973. He was a navigator and reached CPO. Thanks for letting me know more about what he did when he was away at sea.
Navigational timekeeping errors were what drove Abraham Louis Breguet to develop the tourbillon movement in 1795 (patented in 1801). By orbiting the clock's escapement around a central point (usually a 1 minute orbit), this helped cancel some of the error introduced into the clock train by the pitch and roll of the ship and increased clock accuracy tremendously for that time.
This channel is such a gold mine for any naval buff or really anyone interested in history, these videos are always delightfully informative and whimsically entertaining. Kudos to all who make this channel possible 👏
I second that! Ryan and the gang have put out some really great content the past year or so. The information in the videos covers such a wide swath of interests, there's something in them for almost everyone. Some of the best content on yt in my opinion.
The Omega navigation radio on your ship was high tech in it’s day. It is a predecessor of gps and works on similar principle using the NIST atomic clock and transmitters in Boulder Colorado. It is still viable for communication. I’m both an amateur and commercial radio operator, so seeing that receiver is really cool in a nerdy way.
Viable for NAVIGATION.
OMEGA was a navigation system originating during the Vietnam era. It used VLF signals so there should be one very long antenna on the ship somewhere.
I love love love all the veteran anecdotes you guys use! Best wishes to the museum and all it's staff, I hope it gets back to 100% soon!
Excellent video, thanks. As regards the mystery door in the shower, I am glad to know I am not the only one who gets fascinated by minor mysteries of history like that.
I've been enjoying these videos much more after getting the full set of plans, and following along, to get a better sense of the ship. Ryan doing a good job to bring the experience to more people online.
I can imagine if Ryan was somehow magically transported to USS New Jersey in the middle of World War 2, between the guns firing and the elevators lifting ammo and all the chaos that goes on in a warship in combat, he'd draw puzzled looks from the sailors as very first thing he'd do is run for this one specific door in this one specific room and finally get answers.
"We don't get down into the reeds in this channel at all..." Love it. Sarcasm is a gift.
After digging through the BGP for the different eras of the Iowa's, I can say with 90% certainty I know why there is a door in the Captain's Shower! As built the Iowa's had a Navigators At-Sea Cabin directly across from the captain's. However, there is no W.C. in the Nav's cabin. In fact, both 63 and 64's 50's eras BGP have a door in that shower. My summation is that the Nav and Capt shared the shower. When 62 was brought back for Vietnam I would guess they deleted the Nav's At-Sea Cabin but didn't bother to blank over the door in the shower. When the others were brought back in the 80's they blanked over the door when they deleted the Nav's Cabin to make room for modern equipment.
The door in the Captain's shower might have been to provide for a second way out of his sea cabin in case the primary door became blocked. If I was the Captain I would want to have a way out if my ship was in deep trouble.
That was going to be my guess also.
Yes, like when the wife comes onboard for a surprise inspection.
I work on yachts. Every area has to have at least 2 exits for emergency purposes. These exits are also verified yearly by flag state inspections, make sure no alterations etc
Me too
My thought as well. Residential bedrooms require two egresses, it would make sense that the most important person on the vessel has one as well in case the first door is blocked due to battle damage.
Could that door just be a backup door? To be used to get out of that Captains area if the main door is blocked, in a manner similar to how fire exits work in regular buildings.
My thoughts exactly. Fits in with the general rule of having multi exits for every room.
I wondered that!
That's what I was wondering. If there's a hit and the standard door out is blocked or jammed, then the captain can just pop open the shower door and get where he needs to go.
@@fsodn And if anyone needs/should get a 2nd door added, it would be the captain (provided that the general layout allows for it of course).
When you showed the air conditioning unit, I immediately thought that might be the explanation for the door. Of course that might not be the officially approved reason for the modification, but I'll bet somebody took advantage of that feature. It also seems like a nice to be able to exit the cabin without interfering with whatever is happening on the bridge.
The main door goes into the light locker, not the bridge. The captain could go from the locker and into the charthouse, skipping the bridge, and travelling from there to the area that the shower door also goes into.
Perhaps the door was a modification made by the crew at the request of the captain and it was added into the plans afterwards. They could’ve seen that the Jersey’s plans didn’t show a door and seen Iowa’s did so they decided that other details were close enough to make the switch.
Or some yardworking supervisor noted that there was a door on the Iowa, and decided there must be 1 added to the New Jersey.
This has become one of my favorite UA-cam channels. Great job folks.
💯! Some of the best content on yt in my opinion.
Looking at the deck plan, my first thought about the second shower door is that it provides a secondary way out of the sea cabin area, and in fact makes it possible to have two access paths to the bridge from anywhere in the charthouse, which would be important both for the saving of time in emergency, or if battle damage or other casualty blocked one route.
An entrance for the steward. When the Captain can’t leave the bridge his meals can be brought up without disturbing the operation of the ship.
The captains sea cabin got a remodel in the early 1950's (Reference the deck plans of the Missouri). The shower moved from one side of the transverse bulkhead to the aft side. The shower moved to the inboard side of the space. The original plan could have enabled the Captain's steward to do his job without taking his cleaning gear through the chart house and across the conning bridge. Lots of people to ask permission to enter the space. The "shower" door opens on a vestibule used by the navigator's sea cabin, the chart room, and the aerographer's lab.
It would be interesting to have a video of each ship on how they over the years and how the museum shows the ships today. Maybe explain the methods on how they build ships from peace time to war time. Also I think this channel does the best in explain things so maybe give other ships tips on how to educate better. Lastly maybe explain what spaces you have available on tour routes compared to other ships. Even though someone should visit all museum ships they want to see, someone might want to see a specific restored space that isn't on one ship but on another ship
Omega was a LORAN-like system that used VLF frequencies (~10 kHz) instead of LORAN, which used SW frequencies. (~1.9 mhz) These lower frequencies require a more precise clock, but results in a system with far greater range.
What's really interesting is the other receiver, which is a TRANSIT receiver, the world's first satellite positioning system. TRANSIT gave the navy satellite-based navigation capability a full 30 years before GPS was publicly introduced, but was not anywhere near as accurate at 400m CEP, probably due to the much lower frequencies that it uses (100/400mhz vs 1500mhz for GPS).
That's an exceedingly rare set.
I'm guessing that's just the way that the deck plan worked to get from his Sea Cabin to the Chart House quickly.
The "viewers like you" part takes me back to my childhood and PBS
Do any of the later NJ Captains survive? Might post this question to them, if they do, and you can contact them.
The 1960's captain was J. Edward Snyder who died in 2007. He was the one who turned one of the old 40mm gun tubs into a swimming pool. Maybe this shower and door was something he added for himself?
I love small little things like this something seemingly so insignificant but yet has become quite a big mystery
A simple little door but one that has a big explanation.
Ryan may you solve the reason behind this oddity
OMEGA was the first global-range radio navigation system, operated by the United States in cooperation with six partner nations. It was a hyperbolic navigation system, enabling ships and aircraft to determine their position by receiving very low frequency (VLF) radio signals in the range 10 to 14 kHz, transmitted by a global network of eight fixed terrestrial radio beacons, using a navigation receiver unit. It became operational around 1971 and was shut down in 1997 and replaced by the Global Positioning System.
LORAN dated *at least* back to the 1960s.
When I was a navigation electronics technician then, one of the pieces of gear for which I was responsible was the LORAN-C.
Omega came in well after that. It was less accurate, too.
A very interesting and informative series, though.
I found that it (Omega) worked just fine in a plane (KC-130F), and easier and faster to operate than LORAN. APN-4? The oscilloscope type. Our planes had that exact model as in the video. The Litton 211. I have the Litton manual for it in the closet with all the nav stuff.
@@jjhead431
Yeh. In an airplane, Omega would make more sense: easier to lock on, better tracking, and close enough to get you within eyesight of your destination, but for launching nukes, LORAN's accuracy was barely enough.
LORAN-A set with the O-scope was on my first ship. Later, on my second ship we had the LORAN-C set with the digital Latitude and Longitude display, way points, COG, SOG, and TD between Master station and Slave station. LORAN-C had very good accuracy (100 yards or so) and it was repeatable (able to return to the same location). The SRN-12 OMEGA was next to useless. It it lost tracking and jumped lanes, you could find yourself plotting a position 12, 24, 36, 48 miles from your actual position in a matter of seconds. Unreliable. Plus the accuracy was only 4 nm of the actual position on its best day. Maybe good enough to put in in the same ocean. lol.
@@toddf9321
Exactly.
I was on Boomers, and we actually had phase corrections that got applied to our LORAN-C TDs, which brought our accuracy down to around 100 feet (in most areas). Not too shabby at all. No where near as good as what you get from the GPS in your phone, today, but 50 some years ago - not too bad at all.
Literally one of the best channels on youtube!
Excellent. I toured the Iowa many years ago in Port Everglades, Ft Lauderdale. Thank You
Theory on the door - The main entrance to the captain's cabin appears to be in the light locker. The shower door makes sense (with no outside nob) to allow the captain to exit their room without risking letting light out if someone was coming in the outer door at the same time. Or, it could be a means of allowing them to exit quickly without risking injury by going through a dark corridor in an emergency or heavy weather.
This was my first thought as well, a way for people to come and go from the captains room without activating the light locker.
This is all internal though, and two full spaces from an external door, there are no light restrictions here.
@@BattleshipNewJersey I thought during the video the main entrance to the captain's cabin was a side door inside the light locker to the chart room? Does the main door to the captain's cabin switch the lights in there the same as the chart room? I could see that as a reason to make another door.
@@BattleshipNewJersey In the video it appears the door to the Captain's cabin is just a couple feet from the water-tight outer door and inside the light locker. I could imagine it would be a risk in battle conditions to have the captain entering or exiting their cabin with the light on if someone were to enter or leave the light locker through the external hatch. I doubt it has the same "auto-off" system the lights in the map-room have (to prevent this same issue)
Chris Kightlingter worked for me in our shop. He was on the New Jersey and before he left the navy he gave us a couple turret craw tours. I was introduced to Broadways I beam also.
"Capt. Robert Peniston"
Mother of God. Somewhere my old drill sergeant just woke up laughing and doesn't know why.
When I was taking a survey course in the 90s the Omega satilite navigation system was on the way out, and the Transit system was the standard for when you were out at sea. The Loran system was very accurate for use near land with deterioration in accuracy as you got further from land. Now everyone has a GPS on their phone. :)
I was aware of LORAN but had never heard of OMEGA or TRANSIT. Based on the receive frequencies of the "unknown" radio I would guess that it's for TRANSIT 150/400MHz.
That radio receiver in the chartroom annex is probably for receiving WWV time hacks daily when the quartermasters wound and "compared" the chronometers and noted it in the chronometer log. This comparison was performed before noon daily because it was part of the report sent to the captain daily from the OOD via the messenger of the watch (MOW). It was an intimidating experience for the poor young MOW as he had to remember his spiel, "Sir, the officer of the deck sends his respects and announces the approaching hour of noon and requests permission to strike eight bells on time. All chronometers have been wound and compared. Here are the noon position and fuel and water reports, sir (as he hands the slips of paper with that information to the CO)." The CO would then respond with permission to strike eight bells on time. See, even noon cannot happen on a Navy ship without the captain's permission. When I was a CO, I did my best to set the youngster at ease and would often ask a simple question of him like how the weather was topside.
The chronometers were made by Chelsea clock, that’s pretty cool. The old Chelsea Clock building where they were probably manufactured is about a block away from where I work.
Your work is fantastic.
I love how casually the guy in the intro says “fire”
I appreciate the lavalier microphone. Thanks, Ryan
You need to set up a Amazon Wishlist for your equipment. Nice video
The door in the shower is quite simple, it is a secondary path of egress from the cabin in case the primary is blocked by battle damage. Can’t have the captain getting stuck in his cabin…. Oh, Omega is like LORAN but on a longer wavelength so it’s global range.
Thinking more on Omega, can you fire that set up and tell us if the system is still up? Using modern processing, Omega has the capacity to back up GPS in case of failure for the 97% of civilian requirement at least. It couldn’t PinPoint weapons like GPS, but it could get you to a dock or runway.
"We really don't get down in the weeds on this channel at all." 🤣🤣🤣🤣
I love this channel because of those weeds. Keep it up!
Do you ever consider reaching out to former crewmen directly? The decommissioning Captain of the New Jersey retired as a Radm, but as far as I can tell, is still kicking around somewhere.
We have, there are two NJ captain's left. Neither had much to say about it.
My assumption was so that he could get a briefing in a less busy area (assuming the Chart House was a busy place with a lot of talking during crisis). Having read the battle damage escape route suggestion I now believe that to be more accurate, but I thought it worthwhile to suggest all theories just in case. I obviously don't have the knowledge to know if that suggestion or my suggestion miss the mark, after all.
I was USArmy but my guess would be the mystery door was for a steward to clean the head without interrupting the command staffs activities. Navy officers are amazing but there’s a definite aristocratic arrogance to the officers in general and field grade and up in particular. I saw this when my airborne company went thru the naval amphibious assault school that the marines go thru at little creek naval station in February of ‘86 or ‘87. Got a good exposure to troops at sea life. So much more respect for both marines and navy service members after that! But then again I always respected the marines more than most paratroopers. Was helped out immensely by two marines while in jump school. They saved my life!
I forgot to say, please cherish and support our older veterans, we are losing our history at a terrible pace! Visit them, listen to them and learn their stories and write them down. But most of all thank them let them feel your gratitude. WW2 vets really saved the world and at great cost.
"We don't get down in the weeds on this channel at all..." Thanks for the literal laugh out loud.
USS Iowa (BB-61) Veteran here. Simple logic says that you don't enclose the Captain into a space where there is only one exit. That's a back way out of his at-sea cabin. There's no knob on the other side of the door so that people don't just barge into his shower, but the stud for the knob is in place so the door can be opened with a wrench in case of emergency (so long as it isn't locked from the inside).
Showers with access to the weather decks were used for CBRN decontamination. On the Perry class the Officer’s Showers had a door to the main deck, and a salt water value to make a cold shower.
I think this makes the most sense.
But DECON would be aft as to no contaminate vital navigation. All six ship I was on had DECOM mid ships but primary was aft. As it is easier to DECOM the main deck then superstructure. Just a thought. Good observation.
@4:08 That's a lot more luxurious than my van down by the river!
If I was a captain of a ship at war, which btw, is a job that I am imminently NOT qualified for, during war or peace, I would like to think my quarters would have a back door just in case one of them gets blocked off by fire, debris, or whatever during the chaos of battle. A captains place is on the bridge during time of crisis, not locked up in his own quarters, unable to do much. Great morale booster for a crew having to abandon their posts to rescue their trapped captain from his/her own quarters during battle, so he/she can command the ship and crew. Even as a crewman, I would feel better with my captain being on the bridge during a crisis rather then having him/her phoning it in from his/her quarters.
Yes, Omega was a similar but limited nav aid. Aircraft, even civilian, used it for backup navigation to VLF back in the days before GPS.
Has consideration been given that the a head for the captains at-sea cabin was not part of the original design? Perhaps the space that is now the head was a stowage locker or other space meant for navigation, but then altered as a head for the captain? I know it seems illogical that they would not take out the door while making such a modification, but stranger things have been done. Having come from a ship built in the 1950's, albeit a much smaller one (DDG), the captains at-sea cabin did not have a head and was located directly behind the bridge and across from the QM space. If the captain needed to take a piss or shower (which WAS modified so the captain could take a 'Hollywood shower'), he had to go down a level to his in-port cabin.
The Navy ships that I've seen all had the sea cabin for the skipper, and either a connected head (with or without shower) or a separate head nearby meant to be shared by the bridge watch. They make sure that the captain does NOT have to leave the conn to answer the call of nature.
A large warship like a battleship or carrier would have enough space for the captain to have a personal head attached to the sea cabin.
Great question you've posed to the audience. I took the liberty of looking at the plans from Wisconsin (1950) vs. the plans from Missouri (1956) and New Jersey (1984).
Looks like that space has symmetrical bulkheads from port to starboard on each fitment. That said, the earlier plans show a vestibule between the Captain's WC, the Areological (?) office, and the Navigation Officer's cabin. If you head aft there would be a door heading to a passage that traverses the structure port to strbd.
In the 1984 fitment the Navigation Officer's quarters are removed and the space defined as the vestibule is also gone. Further gone is an appearance of a supposed light lock aft of the "vestibule" but fwd of the aforementioned passage.
Maybe the museum can answer if the passage aft of the chart house was / is apparently modded to be enclosed, thus negating the aft light lock.
Also, would make sense to me that the WC was intended to be shared in this space as originally designed and would also have the added benefit of allowing the CO access to the chart house without having to go through the FWD light lock, etc.
Don't know how to share images on this platform, but the plans are readily available for review.
I think the first piece of the puzzle on the door is to date it. I would remove the door latch and look for a manufacturer name and model, from this information you may get close to a period of time rather than a exact date.
the date is probably a 9-digit # that has no correlation to build date or manufacturer.
Assuming the door wasn't surplus that had sat for a long time before being used
You are kind of on the right track, but you need to remove the door and door frame and take a look at how they were installed.
If the door was an authorized alteration performed in the yards, then the door, door frame, trim, stiffener plates, and any other parts would have been pre-fabricated in the yard shops, tagged, and stored for future installation long before the ship arrived at the shipyard.
If the installation was done by ship's force, then I would expect more of a "torch the hole, grind the edges, and slap in a salvaged door" job. I don't mean crude and sloppy, just not showing the fit and polish of something assembled in a yard shop and installed by workers carrying plans and backed up by a full shipyard.
My shipboard divisional storeroom was separated into two compartments with separate NWT doors into the passageway. The difference between the original door and bulkheads Vs.the partition bulkhead and new door which "magically" appeared were noticeable. Nothing crude or sloppy, just the difference between "planned/constructed as part of a whole" and "let's plan and install them ourselves".
Omega was a "new" system that was started in 1971 and went until 1997. There were a total of nine 10-14kHz transmitters for the world. The accuracy of Omega was about 4 miles. LORAN-C was a later version of LORAN and was from approx 1957 until it was shutdown on Feb-8 2010. It transmitted its signal on 100kHz. There were approx 76 transmitters worldwide for LORAN-C. The accuracy was about 0.1-0.5 miles with repeatability of a specific location from 50-300 feet. Then GPS and other GNSS systems came along with might higher accuracy. GPS' first launch was in 1978 and the initial constellation when fully operational in December 1993.
I was in a destroyer throughout the last half of the 70’s. I was an ET. When I reported aboard we had loran. Later Omega was added as a supposed replacement for LORAN but it was not very reliable and LORAN was usually preferred. In ‘78 satellite navigation was installed. Lol - we thought it was small - the size of a very large microwave, and ran a cassette for its program, plus it was only useful when there were enough satellites overhead. That was also about the same time that satellite communications were added as well.
I'm with Keith. If I was going into a danger zone in a metal box with one door I'd sure have them cut an escape hatch.
You are correct. OMEGA was the predecessor of LORAN.
OMEGA dropped out of service for surface vessels almost immediately after the introduction of LORAN. However OMEGA was still in use for submarines during the 80's and early 90's possibly a little later. This was due to the low frequency transmission of OMEGA which was much more useful for a submarine.
I know this as I live near one of the OMEGA transmission stations in Australia (Woodside Victoria). It used to be one of the tallest structures in the southern hemisphere.
It was destroyed in 2015.
So many people coming up with decent reasons for the door. Here I am thinking about the military and their contractors. They probably saw a wall where a door should be, then put the door in. The original reason for the door was probably something similar to making it easier for the captain to check the chronometer.
Leave it to Ryan to make a shower door interesting! Another great video
I hate to pick, because I love Ryan's vids. The clock shown is not a chronometer. Chronometers are set in gimbals in a protective box. They are very reliable (as long as they are wound daily), but they do lose or gain time every day. I was on the USS Robison DDG-12 in the early 70's, and for a time that was my duty. I also had to have the Radiomen tune to WWV or WWVH for me, it would play over a speaker in the charthouse. WWV does nothing but announce the time direct from the NIST atomic clock. ua-cam.com/video/ZIvdr5LLk8Y/v-deo.html I had to compare the chronometers (our destroyer had 3) to the "time tick" and keep a log book for each chronometer. They were very consistent in that they gained or lost at the same rate. When the navigator was doing a star fix, he could correct the time according to the log. The clocks would only be rest when at a designated shore facility. I remeber we had ours done in NAVSTA Subic, and they were spot on for a long time.
How about showing us the Damage Control lockers next? As a former Damage Controlman (DC 3) I think it would be neat to see and others would like it as well.
We did that the night before this, check this out ua-cam.com/video/q5Wxm4EmUng/v-deo.html
Thanks for the video on the Sammy B. I was witness to her leaving on the Mighty Servant 2 through the Straights of Hormuz back in '88. Seems like yesterday. Great Damage Controlman on that ship!
The R-1843A/WRN-5 radio receiver is a Very Low Frequency (VLF) radio, 50 to 400 hertz. It could have been used for navigation, which I suspect, since it's in chart house annex but the other uses of VLF are "VLF frequencies benefit from their long range and stable phase characteristics, allowing them to be quite versatile. Like ELF and SLF, VLF can also penetrate seawater to some extent; the military can use VLF to communicate with submarines near the surface of the water. Historically, VLF has been used for navigation beacons."
I believe Omega and Loran where types of radio navigation tools. Mostly phased out out by the 90's. I was a QM3 on USS Benfold in the late 90's and at the time we used a GPS unit call the WRN-6.
Loran A and the Loran C were land- based nav systems- The Loran receiver aboard ship would pick up two signals from two different stations on shore, and come up with a position =based on the time it took to receive the signal. Omega was the forerunner to today's GPS, I think. I have Loran numbers for fishing spots that I had to convert to Lat/Long so we cold use GPS.
@@mad9039 You are correct Omega was the forerunner to GPS.
I like the Spaceballs helmets that the chart people wear!
The primary entry is an external watertight door and light locker. So this second door serves a few functions…if the door is damaged the captain can sill leave. The captain can also open his shower door and provide his quarters to expand the chart room working area, or open the door to be out of the way and still have open communication to the other room. Finally if either external door needs to remain open and dark for any reason both room halves can have light isolation.
I am a volunteer on the USS Iowa Museum Ship. I have a Booklet of Plans for USS Iowa and USS New Jersey in their 1980's configuration. The Iowa drawings for the 04 level shows a door within the Captain's At Sea cabin and not into the W/C area. The Booklet of Plans for the New Jersey 1980's configuration shows a door from the W/C into the Chart Room Annex and does show the Navigator's Office space as in your video. Also, there is not a Navigator's office in the Chart Room Annex area of the Charthouse in the Iowa plans as is shown on the USS New Jersey. I also have a Booklet of Plans for the USS Iowa in her 1950's configuration and the door goes from the Captain's At Sea Cabin into what was then known as the Captain's Tactical Plot. I also have a Booklet of Plans for the USS Wisconsin in her 1950's configuration. The door from the Captain's Sea Cabin W/C opens from the W/C into a vestibule. The Port side by the vestibule has the Navigator's At Sea Cabin and over to the starboard side an Aerolog Lab. The differences between the ships of the Iowa class are amazing. The receiver is for the AN/WRN-5 system which is an early satellite navigation unit.
Don't know if I'm the only one, but I like the parts that aren't "restored". Makes it more authentic to me.
From somebody who has worked on and fixed a lot of things that door has the look and feel of something added for maintenance reasons. Something like the drain backed up (somewhere up in line) a lot and they need to get a big power drain snake near the shower. Or somebody needed to get into that space to work on/access something. But didn't want to go thru the proper chart house to do it.
It looks like the CO's shower doubled as a wet locker. You could hang wet weather gear on the rod (or pipe) that runs the width of the door.
I just wanted to add that your vids are superb. Thank you for making them for us.👍
Ryan says towards the end (facetiously) We don' get in the weeds. Of course you do and that is why I LOVE THIS UA-cam Channel. Get in the weeds! More weeds!
You briefly mentioned the deck log. How many different logs were kept on the ship? What happens to them? Are they kept on the ship, sent to the Navy Department, or something else? Might make an interesting future video.
Thanks,
Jack
There are several different 'Logs' or official records kept to support different departments. For example, the Engineering Department usually keeps what is called a "Bell Log," a record of the various changes made in speed, main and / or auxiliary plant configurations and operations over the course of the ship's life.
The DECK LOG is the main overview of ship's operations, a record of every meaningful event aboard. While underway it serves as a record of all course and speed changes, sightings of other ships, accidents (and serious injury or death.) It is even maintained while the ship is in port, either at anchor to moored to a pier. It records other ships at the same pier or at anchor nearby, a record of personnel reporting aboard when transferred or departing for the last time. This is the Log that Ryan has referred to from time to time, stating that the Museum is trying to obtain a full copy from the Navy covering every period that New Jersey was in service, every significant event from the "life" of the ship.
You can log anything and everything. As Combat Systems Officer of the Watch on a DDG I kept logs pertaining to the condition and availability of the combat system.
@@dcviper985 In the IC/Gyro shop we logged watch changes, hourly meter readings, split between master/Aux gyrocompass, any changes in systems lineup, any equipment casualties, etc.
Main switchboard watch logged meter readings, SSTG lineups, electrical load changes, etc. Ditto for the EDG switchboard if normal power was lost and/or we were carrying a load on the diesel generator.
Best guess? The Chart-house Annex probably was originally part of the Captain's Sea-Cabin, and during 'Nam or the later recall, the Sea-Cabin got shrunk and the Captain would have probably lost his own Head (bathroom) if they didn't move it to where it is now.
I've been on two vastly different ships (a CV & a FFG) that had a Yard Period at Philadelphia Navy Shipyard. And I'm pretty sure that it would have been extremely easy for the Prospective Captain of the NJ to get a head attached to his Sea-Cabin even with the cabin being shrunk during the modernization.. Almost "please sign here sir" level of ease!!! And as all compartments aboard a US Navy ship (and hopefully every ship in the world), there has to be a second way out. The lock hasp was probably added while she was being decommed to limit access to areas that have expensive gear in them....
So interesting , Thank You
From a rusty memory, I think LORAN was susperceded by OMEGA. both were used until OMEGA proved a worthy LORAN replacement. LORAN: long range navigation, was a hyperbolic radio navigation system developed in the United States during World War II.
OMEGA: was first used by aircraft then later by ships. It was a worldwide system used by several nations and could possibly be considered an early GPS. OMEGA was an advanced LORAN system that used VLF to "fix" (identify) a postion. An OMEGA receiver could locate/fix a position to within 4 nautical miles (7.4 km) using the principle of phase comparison of signals.
The main difference between the two systems was, LORAN A was a short range system used to fix positions approaching land or for coastal navigation. OMEGA was for long range, deep water navigation. There was a LORAN C system that became used by military units while LORAN A was discarded for the more accurate LORAN C. The A became used pricipally by commercial vessels.
There was also a LORAN B which I don't know much about except that it was a transition to the C system.
These systems relied on shorebased transmitters which are now dismantled or dormant.
The one navigation system I marvel at is the ancient lighthouses and now, buoys, still in use. One of my favorites is the Cabo Fomentor Light (Cap de Formentor) located on the island of Mallorca, Ibeeric Isles, Mediterranean Sea. South of Barcelona about 200km.
The door is so cappy can sneak his favorite sailor into his cabin.
What is a bathroom? Isn't it called a head! I was there on Saturday and there's alot of sps-29 navigation radar repeaters I was surprised. The non-water tight door is for emergency evac. Just like other have said. Ryan keep up the fight for the old girl. Nice work on the teak. To bad the old wood is to far gone. I was also surprised the citadel is so protected. I couldn't believe how thick the armor was. Alabama was about the same just smaller. Although, I would've liked to visit GSK, but it was locked. Thanks for the videos. Impressive she is. I wish they were still active. She is still in better condition then any of the LCS's and most like get underway faster to.
I can think of two reasons.
Its a way for the captain to come and go without going through the middle of the chart house, whether for the captain himself or the captains enlisted and officer staff to get in without going through the chart house. further, unless the shower is in use it would just be a vestibule. When the ship was built, I imagine that entire area was far busier than it was in the 80s, i can see a captain eventually taking an opportunity to add a door to his at-sea cabin into a quieter area.
Truman's at-sea cabin was directly outside the door into the navigation bridge. The at-sea cabin for the flag bridge though was connected both to the bridge and through the small radar room.
Second, on the two carriers i was on, the designers seemed to try to have at least two ways out of a manned space, whether with two doors or a door and an escape hatch (if there wasn't a joiner wall you could punch through if you had to). the captain's at sea cabin there with the door would have two ways in and out and also act as another escape route for the chart house.
The main reason why the chart-house has all of the watertight fittings, etc. is that it is a crewed compartment during battle!!! They got to be able to be in there and do their work even if there's nearby damage to the ship and perhaps a fire!
LORAN was mostly US based navigation system in which charts had overlays of LORAN signal lines. You read two lines from your receiver and plot them on the LORAN chart. OMEGA was similar but mostly Europe and Asia used OMEGA. It was ok for longer distances from land transmitter towers. The WRN-5 "radio" was, I believe early SATNAV. A novelty in the 80's and very important. This room may have grown in importance as electronic navigation usage grew, so I agree with ghost307 below, it giving quick access to this room which is now more important then it was in the 40's.
The door mystery is very similar to the missing strawberries on the Caine.
Disloyal officers were involved, no doubt.
The shower was the NBC Decontamination cleaning station for the Capt and it egresses away from his cabin thru the door. This would be covered in the NBC Defense Decontamination cleaning station procedures.
secondary exit... in case of a fire or something, this ship was suposed to be the damage control ship so makes sense the redundancy
If the other Iowa-class ships have a doorknob (or not) it could be a sold clue on whether it was intentional or not. Its' absence could be intentional to prevent "accidents."
Is that not the purpose of the lock and latch?
My guess is that the door provided a second way of getting out of that area in the event of something such as damage preventing egress from the main portal.
edit: if the lock & latch is a replacement for the loss of the handle, it is on the wrong side for that purpose.
Omega was another radio navigation system that was in use in the 1980’s. It was use for both naval and aircraft navigation, both military and commercial. Like LORAN, it was made obsolete by the use of GPS.
My initial thought was, based on the video, I only recalled one door, the Light Locker, so having a second for emergency evacuation use just makes sense to me. It could still be used, by the Captain for other reasons, such as listed below.
Seems like it was a storage closet at one time, but access to water was easy and it was converted to a shower, so the captain never had to leave the bridge area during long term general quarters. Reading the observation by Hokie makes sense too. "Attention on deck"! would get old quik.
In the late 70’s LORAN, ALPHA the predecessor of upgraded Loran “C” was used for coastal navigation where you could triangulate 3 or more Loran radio signals from stations along the coast for a fix. OMEGA was for open ocean navigation, they both left a lot to be desired compared to GPS. The British used another system called DECCA which was a better system.
As i understand it, and how it was explained to me, was that Living Spaces need at least 2 ways out of. But since it was the CO shower in At Sea Cabin, the handle was removed from the outside on purpose and locked from the inside to keep people from coming in that but yet easy enough to get out from from inside. Any cleaners or visitors would come in through the main door.
Most living spaces on board NJ do not have two ways in and out. So while that is a nice benefit of having a second door, its not expected on this ship.
@@BattleshipNewJersey What a pickle huh?!....Im sure there was some logic in it someplace but it may be lost to history now. If you ever find out for certain, please let us know.
Thanks for posting your videos. I enjoy watching them. EN1(SW) USN (Ret)
That is just a convenient passage way for the captain move through the entire space. Also another way out of his cabin.
From Looking at the Plans of BB-57 (South Dakota), which had a fairly similar arrangement of bridge, sea cabin and chart house, I would suggest, that the "Capt's Bath" was originaly intended to be an officers WC, with quick access from the sea cabin and was later (maybe already while building the ship) designated as the "Capt's Bath".
"New Jersey" and "South Dakota" where bulid paralell with only one year between them, so changing the interior design of "New Jersey" because of experiences made on similar ships was fairly limited. I haven't seen plans of plan of "North Carolina", it would be interesting, if she has the same layout.
The ability for the Capt to leave his Cabin,without "disturbing" the chart house is, in my suggestion, an aditional feature which was kept for convenience sake.
I enjoy Ryan casual explanation on the tours. It is my understanding that the USS Iowa had a bathtub that could have been used by FDR.