It's funny how it feels like half of the videos are "Look what we found/discovered this week" or "Look what someone gave to the museum". That's what really makes the difference between a naval history channel like Drachinifel's and most others and channels like this one. That's stuff you normally wouldn't hear about/see
I volunteer at a museum and i can confirm that it is like this, shit will hide in corners and the person who put i there is either no longer a part of the organization or just dead and one day we will find it in some cabinet out in the museum and have to catalog it or just leave it for another few years.
@@__ASAAA I know for a fact that all kinds of stuff was hidden in those voids. I was stationed aboard the USS Midway and engineers would store all kinds of stuff in those empty spaces. Everything from rarely used tools, to cases of toilet paper that were worth their weight in gold towards the end of a long cruse sometimes.
My Sea & Anchor Detail station on the Missouri was the O-8 level bridge. We conned the ship from the O-4 level bridge, where the CO, XO and Navigator were, but since we had the capability and the people to do it, we had a backup bridge team and chart on the O-8 level, where steering control could be transfered if something happened on the O-4 bridge, and monitored the same comms circuits. We kept a lookout, but some of that involved inspecting nearby pleasure boats and beaches with the Big Eyes mounted binoculars for good-looking women. That was the best part of being assigned to the O-8 bridge. The worst part was the ship's whistle, which was mounted just above it and sounded every 2 minutes if we were in fog, which was not uncommon off the California coast. On Missouri, the glass windows were always installed, never removed, and I believe they were actual glass (thick, like the O-4 bridge windows). They were too far from the guns to be damaged by muzzle blast. I was on the O-4 bridge for gunshoots and rolling all those windows with the brass cranks was a pain... it was an "all hands" task for the bridge team because it took a while to roll each of them all the way down, and then back up afterward. The need to roll down the windows for gunnery is one reason "clearview" spinning screens were never installed on the battleships.
I wanna go up to the 0-8 and have a look tomorrow on Mo. Its not a maintained space so it will be interesting to see whats going on up there. New Jersey is such a better organization obviously.
Slightly mind-blowing way to think about how big the Battleship New Jersey is: the curator has crawled through all sorts of odd, out of the way places on this ship, as have numerous other staff & volunteers, and it took until very recently for these windows to be discovered, neatly labeled & stored in yet another unexplored space.
Ryan - When two Eagle's meet one of the first question they ask each other 'What was your project?' Thank you for continuing to support Scouting for both the BSA and GSA through overnighter's and allowing them to do service work on the ship. In 20, 30 years they can bring their kids to BB62 and show off the work they did there.
I helped on a couple of my fellow friends Eagle camp projects. I never made Eagle myself. I joined scouts to late in order to be able to make it and I had a bunch of surgeries during my years of being in scouts that held me back. The highest rank I made it to was first class. I had almost made all my requirements for Life scout before I aged out of scouts. I joined scouts when I was almost 15 yrs old. My cousin a little younger then me was able to make it. My scout master asked me to join the order of the arrow but I had prior commitments with something else so I had to chose on passing to do it.
@@jamesbehrje4279I’m proud of the fact that, at 15, you had the wherewithal to join anyway, which is the age most scouts drop out. As BP said when he created the program, “It’s fun, with a purpose.” I thank you for being apart of it and getting out of it what you could. 😊
I had an overnight with my troop on the new jersey it was incredibly cool. This would have been just a few years after the museum opened. If I remember correctly the overnight groups got a larger tour than the typical one at the time. Now most of those spaces are accessible to everyone I think. None of our eagles did a project with the new jersey to be honest I'm not sure it crossed anyone's mind since we lived pretty far away.
Maybe you could put one window up in the O8 level with a sign that explains what it was and how it may have been used. That would be a cool way to show off more of the ship while still keeping the O8 level open to the air. Great video as always!
I agree that would be a great idea you can polish the plexiglass to clear it up. Looks like it is an upper glass and lower glass. Most likely mfg at a Sima or tender.
This is equally mundane and 110% fascinating! These ships were living, constantly evolving metal and plastic creatures for their entire careers. There must have been so many variables and so much ongoing day-to-day manipulations that they were probably never the same ship for more than a week at a time since they were laid.
Ay up! Perspex was used for plane canopies during WW2 so they may be older than we think, although unlikely. If it was WW2 Perspex, I would have thought it would be worse. They can be polished with products intended for modern car headlamp assemblies.
WW2 persp would've been fogged up real bad by now. There's a few OG pieces on display from bombers in UK and they're basically milk. They didn't perfect the formula until much later. I'd say 80's for those pieces given that there's (mostly) only UV damage, but without a close up (eyeball) inspection it's difficult to tell. Camera always lies.
Lexan was patented in 1955 and went into production at GE in 1960. They would have put the windows up in windy / cold weather as a conning station with better sight lines than the 04 level conning bridge. The 08 level was not used when firing the big guns. Canvas awnings are not rare in older ships, such as the cover the quarterdeck in port.
If those windows are a plastic similar to "lexan" used in many railroad applications it was likely prone to "sun hazing" over time. Newer types of plastic glazing such as "margard" much more resistant to fogging and are also very resistant to breakage.
It's so cool that the museum lets scouts do their Eagle project on the battleship! If I'd lived near a battleship (or if the NFL hadn't screwed me out of having Saratoga practically in my backyard) I would've loved to have done something like that for mine.
Post USS Forrestal ( CV-59) class Aircraft carriers have about 2,000 internal spaces. When I was a Shipfitter across the Delaware @ Philadelphia Naval Shipyard I tried to look at as many supercarrier confined spaces as possible but there were just too many to see them all .
They will polish up nicely. I polish vintage instrument panels/other regularly and it comes out like new. I would make a screw jig to hold those, do 90%, rotate, do the remaining 10%. Should be able to do most w a Dewalt variable speed buffer. Smaller items I use a JET IBG-12SSB pedestal buffer. For polish: 3M 05996 machine polish. Last get a water mister bottle. Clean them w dish soap / water, mist them w water, apply polish, get busy. Use a medium -slow speed. Mist regularly until polish is N/A. To avoid static, mix water mister with Staticide, 10:1
The mounting threads can be cleared using a pencil torch and a wire brush. Just use the exhaust fans to dump the off-gas or smoke. From there run a tap/die over threads as needed
If you listened to the video: 1. The studs holding the windows have been painted over. It would be a huge job to clean them of the paint to allow nuts to attach. 2. Having no windows provides much better view and you can take pictures much more easily with no reflections. 3. Even modern plexiglass yellows in few years time, so if you wanted to keep it looking good, you’d want to replace it once in a while. Basically better to leave it open.
@@iPelaaja1 You can maintain plexiglass without replacing it. (I haven't done it myself, but aircraft get decades of use out of their canopies, and car headlights last twenty years at least), And cleaning threads is a non- issue- just run a thread- cutting tool on them, once, if a simple nut with a cordless drill doesn't get it done. That said, i have no issue with choosing not to do that work and just leaving the space open.
The painted over studs would be a non-issue with a threadchaser... would clean the paint right off the threads... but then you'd need the attaching hardware (either hex nuts or wing nuts) plus any seals used. Of course you already mention that their haziness condition which would not lend themselves to display or use. As another commenter said, I'd install one set (upper and lower) to show how they were installed and their use.
I'm sure they could be polished up like restoring frosted plastic headlights, maybe another Eagle Scout project someday. Love the history lessons, Thanks Ryan!
Watching this in a country that never had battleships and without any Navy background... I have followed this channel for a year now. I hope your drydock period goes well!
I would imagine they had metal rails that bolted on after the plexiglass was installed over the studs, as in the nuts or washers wouldn’t have been tightened up against the plexiglass without a rail to spread out the load. Plus the studs are much longer than needed unless there is multiple layers bolting on. Maybe even rubber gaskets between the layers as well. They are probably in a room like that on somewhere else.
Awesome find those are good templates for replacements. If for nothing else that way you can turn that level into a greenhouse when the NJ and the other Iowas are used as arks in the post EMP zombie apocolapse world.
if it's near a mainspace, etc., such accessible voids could hold clean rags or other engineering supplies - that's the kind of thing we did on the DDG8 and on CV61. Usually, whichever work center responsible for maintaining it gets first call on what can go in there. After decomming, we can expect surprises, too.
"OA Division" Ah, my heart is aflutter. An "OA" division was that of the Aerographer's Mates (or "weather guessers"), the ship's meteorological experts. Many associate Aerographer's Mates with advising the Captain on forecast and actual weather the ship may encounter, along with briefing Naval Aviators for flight ops. But, another early duty was to advise on the atmospheric events that would effect the flight of the shells from, in this case, the 16' guns. True, as well, for shells from smaller guns on earlier battleships. I am a former "AG", I served aboard the USS Belleau Wood (LHA-3) from 1982 to 1985.
It seems like USS Missouri has their windows installed on the 08 bridge, you might be able to ask them for additional information. Wisconsin does too but they are of a different style it looks like
I served on the U.S.S. Laffey (DD724) which prior to the recommissioning of the New Jersey, was the most decorated ship on active duty in the U.S. Navy in 1969. I finished my tour in the Navy in 1969, but we had already heard that the New Jersey was being recommissioned, and the Laffey would no longer hold it's 'Most Decorated' status any longer. Are you sure the New Jersey was recommissioned in the 1980's and not the early 70's?
The open bridge was common on USN WW2 warships. It was based on British experience of being under air attack and the advantage when dodging to be able to see your attackers.
This is my favorite kind of BBNJ video! Note the genuinely brown paint randomly brushed in places around the space near the door and on the frame. Brown, not dark red! So, does the legendary "brown primer" really exist, or is that brown topcoat for color-coding? That would be an interesting little bit of archaeology, is why spaces like this on BBNJ and other Navy, and Navy-owned, ships tend to have these little test patches or brush-cleaning patches, or whatever they are.
Very cool, I came across a box that had BB60 on it when I visited the Iowa in San Pedro. It was tucked away in a space within an aft gun mount. I am looking forward to seeing New Jersey in dry dock as it has been many years since I saw Iowa out of water. Keep up the great work!
Ryan is cool dude. health wise I am not doin like should but I would like to meet Ryan and be on that boat for a visit with both of em... Ryan fulfills the American dream to preserve and protect a legend. Before I go I want to be on that boat and meet Ryan give his a paltry sum if it is one of my last gestures. Ryan has more worth than America does right now because he still does his job the right way
Given the studs are bent upwards, it looks like the windows are just hung. I also wonder if these windows were only installed when traveling into cold weather.
Ryan, can you do a video explaining what would happen if multiple steering positions were manned at the same time and tried to steer the ship in different directions?
Cool discovery! I discovered a means to easily remove hazing like this from Lexan, and other 'glass like plastics,' and have done so several times, returning it to nearly like new condition, almost like looking through glass, and I estimate I could do these for you as well. Estimating 20-30 minutes per window, and $15.00-20.00 a window approximately. removing the paint from the bolt threads, easily done with wire wheel and then a die/ thread chaser. THEN Use wing nuts and neoprene washers.
My brother was on a decommissioning tour. They were going through compartments of the ship sealed off as dead space or whatever. The guys going in there found a sailor that was missing for a couple decades. Apparently murdered and stuffed in there.
Ryan, once you get the 08 level open to visitors, you may wish to install a new Lexan panel in ONE of the 08 windows just to show visitors what it would have been like.
A great find, but I believe the plexi can be polished like new with not much effort. I think it would be a GREAT way to seal off that deck from the elements and help preserve the equipment that is there, so there is justification for putting them in. I wouldn't be surprised if someone with polishing experience could fix them up and coat them with a UV coating to keep them clear.
Neat. One more mystery tied up. It was kind of obvious that something would've gone there by the studs, but without solid evidence and without pictures... kinda hard to prove. Now you have that proof. Would be neat if something did turn up in the archives at some point tho. There has to be at least one pic or story or memo on this. It can't be that obscure.
You could put one of them on display on the O8 bridge so people could see that they exist. If not in place in a window opening, then either hanging on one of the interior walls or perhaps in a display cabinet either there or in a close by room.
It amazes me how many videos I'm seeing about New Jersey heading to dry dock. Everyone seems to think she set off full speed ahead to fight be updated to fight Russia lol
Hello, I purchased a 1963 Mercedes Unimog that had two flexible plastic windows. They were hazed and yellowed. I purchased a two part plastic window cleaner and polish from J.C. Whitney auto parts that cleaned then right up. Reduced yellowing and very clear. There was a chemical company Midwest if I recall that had a single chemical plastic cleaner was very effective. Their sells pitch was to take sand paper to a piece of plexiglass scuff it up. Coat a paper towel with their chemical coat it over the surface then Voila! clear plastic again without elbow grease of the two part cleaner. F.Y.I.
Find a weather guesser who was stationed on an Iowa and you may get a lot of questions answered. My old Senior Chief was on the Wisconsin during Desert Storm.
You are probably correct about the time period of when they were used. But plexiglass was introduced at the 1936 worlds fair. So it has been around since before the "New Jersey "
Plastic polishes are available if you are interested in reconditioning the plexiglass windows. You would be amazed by the clarity that would be restored.
This ship was well built, A time when people had pride in what they did. I bet this ship could survive a lot before she even thought about going down.😮
Might they have been used to secure the bridge area during times in mothballs? I've often wondered about that- the Navy appears to have gone to great lengths to preserve the interior equipment of the ships but it seemed to be hit-or-miss regarding exterior equipment.
Since you just found these, 6 years or so after becoming curator, would it make more sense to store them closer to 08? They’d be easier for a future curator to find!
Lexan is polycarbonate plastic, Plexiglass is acrylic plastic. both Lexan and Plexiglass are brand names similar to how tissue paper is called Kleenex or adhesive bandages became Band-aids. The term is called generic branding, when a brand name becomes the catch all term for a product category.
You can easily get them to crystal clear against. Id suggest a professional, but wet sanding then a polish will get them like new. The less effort the more worn they will look of course. Can always make some reproduction ones and use them, leaving the old ones as a historical peice. Also to get the paint off the studs. Get some paint stripper, slap it on, wipe it off. Run a tap and die thread repairer on it, they will work perfectly again. I think its worth either putting them back on, or putting them on when you know bad weather will happen etc. It's a piece of history that's basically being forgotten, having them on the ship and shown to exist will atleast help prevent them being forgotten.
Don't you have contact with veterans who sailed on the battleship in the 80s? I would think there would be guys out there who would know a lot of these details.
I’m not sure if this has been addressed, but in a past video, Ryan mentioned that the forward part of the bow that is outside the armored citadel has issues with flexing because of the buoyancy and not being ballasted with any equipment and such. Is there any way to address this to reduce the stress on the weld joints in this area?
I sort of want to see these installed. Mainly just out of pure curiosity. I have never seen a photo of one of these ships set up with the windows installed.
Its called a carpenters Hall. Its where Engineers could access the more obnoxious spaces to repair. Very important hallway maybe not as much in these giants but wooden boats really needed access.
I'm mostly not that interested in this ship, but I'm also not entirely disinterested. When I was on USS Theodore Roosevelt, as a personnelman, we stored a whole bunch of documents, boxes and boxes, in a void. I wonder if the current crew even knows that stuff is in there? We put it in in the late 80s, and it was the sort of stuff you put away somewhere and forget about....but, if anyone had sense, they'd have included that info somewhere that if could be found easily. I just don't know if people had that much sense.
During World War II, the demand for Plexiglas was high, both Allied and Axis forces used it for submarine periscopes and aircraft windshields, canopies, and gun turrets.
I think you should put a few of the windows back to honor the past. These were once on the bridge. Just a few would be nice. Some of the damaged ones to show the age, maybe.
I love you're channel! It fascinates me that things as simple as windows can be "lost to time" because they've been shoved somewhere. ON THE SAME SHIP. Also that we are intrigued by such "mundane" (not to me) mysteries.
Now that you have increased my interest in Iowa Class Battleships I saw a article or video about a crash where the Wisconsin was involved in an accident where it almost cut another vessel in half totally wrecking Wisconsin’s bow they cut it off and used the bow off the fifth Iowa class under construction the Kentucky which was never completed, making the Wisconsin the longest Iowa. Do this sound correct?
Plastics were used in WWII at least for aircraft. Perspex was a British name and I think Plexiglass and Lucite were US names for plastics used for canopies and windscreens in aircraft.
If you think there are a lot of random spaces on an old battleship, I used to work on a CVN. You will literally never be able to see every space on a carrier. Those were all the random, and sometimes very dirty, places people had sex in.
probably from the 80s refit since they're not fogged up especially if these were outside all the time in service. not sure why they pulled them down for storage other than they might not have been used much as you said
Maybe took them off when there were photographers/journalists/visitors on board ? Plexiglass isn't the greatest for taking photos though. Looks like a pita to put back on though
It's funny how it feels like half of the videos are "Look what we found/discovered this week" or "Look what someone gave to the museum". That's what really makes the difference between a naval history channel like Drachinifel's and most others and channels like this one. That's stuff you normally wouldn't hear about/see
True, but everytime Drach visits NJ, it seems like he ends up doing the "look what I found on the ship" as well.
Yes, but Drach is amazing at what he does.
I volunteer at a museum and i can confirm that it is like this, shit will hide in corners and the person who put i there is either no longer a part of the organization or just dead and one day we will find it in some cabinet out in the museum and have to catalog it or just leave it for another few years.
I used to work in a warehouse and I want soooooo bad to look under the bottom drawer of those vidmars in the bottom of the ship.
@@__ASAAA I know for a fact that all kinds of stuff was hidden in those voids. I was stationed aboard the USS Midway and engineers would store all kinds of stuff in those empty spaces. Everything from rarely used tools, to cases of toilet paper that were worth their weight in gold towards the end of a long cruse sometimes.
My Sea & Anchor Detail station on the Missouri was the O-8 level bridge. We conned the ship from the O-4 level bridge, where the CO, XO and Navigator were, but since we had the capability and the people to do it, we had a backup bridge team and chart on the O-8 level, where steering control could be transfered if something happened on the O-4 bridge, and monitored the same comms circuits. We kept a lookout, but some of that involved inspecting nearby pleasure boats and beaches with the Big Eyes mounted binoculars for good-looking women. That was the best part of being assigned to the O-8 bridge. The worst part was the ship's whistle, which was mounted just above it and sounded every 2 minutes if we were in fog, which was not uncommon off the California coast. On Missouri, the glass windows were always installed, never removed, and I believe they were actual glass (thick, like the O-4 bridge windows). They were too far from the guns to be damaged by muzzle blast. I was on the O-4 bridge for gunshoots and rolling all those windows with the brass cranks was a pain... it was an "all hands" task for the bridge team because it took a while to roll each of them all the way down, and then back up afterward. The need to roll down the windows for gunnery is one reason "clearview" spinning screens were never installed on the battleships.
I wanna go up to the 0-8 and have a look tomorrow on Mo. Its not a maintained space so it will be interesting to see whats going on up there. New Jersey is such a better organization obviously.
I conned the ship by convincing it that I was a prince from Nigeria! 😆😂🤣
Slightly mind-blowing way to think about how big the Battleship New Jersey is: the curator has crawled through all sorts of odd, out of the way places on this ship, as have numerous other staff & volunteers, and it took until very recently for these windows to be discovered, neatly labeled & stored in yet another unexplored space.
Ryan - When two Eagle's meet one of the first question they ask each other 'What was your project?' Thank you for continuing to support Scouting for both the BSA and GSA through overnighter's and allowing them to do service work on the ship. In 20, 30 years they can bring their kids to BB62 and show off the work they did there.
I love the idea that the generational stories will continue to be created and passed down, even once the ship retires to civilian life.
I helped on a couple of my fellow friends Eagle camp projects. I never made Eagle myself. I joined scouts to late in order to be able to make it and I had a bunch of surgeries during my years of being in scouts that held me back. The highest rank I made it to was first class. I had almost made all my requirements for Life scout before I aged out of scouts. I joined scouts when I was almost 15 yrs old. My cousin a little younger then me was able to make it. My scout master asked me to join the order of the arrow but I had prior commitments with something else so I had to chose on passing to do it.
@@jamesbehrje4279I’m proud of the fact that, at 15, you had the wherewithal to join anyway, which is the age most scouts drop out. As BP said when he created the program, “It’s fun, with a purpose.” I thank you for being apart of it and getting out of it what you could. 😊
I had an overnight with my troop on the new jersey it was incredibly cool. This would have been just a few years after the museum opened. If I remember correctly the overnight groups got a larger tour than the typical one at the time. Now most of those spaces are accessible to everyone I think.
None of our eagles did a project with the new jersey to be honest I'm not sure it crossed anyone's mind since we lived pretty far away.
Maybe you could put one window up in the O8 level with a sign that explains what it was and how it may have been used. That would be a cool way to show off more of the ship while still keeping the O8 level open to the air. Great video as always!
I would say either one window or a small group of adjacent windows getting plexiglass installed.
I agree that would be a great idea you can polish the plexiglass to clear it up. Looks like it is an upper glass and lower glass. Most likely mfg at a Sima or tender.
They might as well install all the windows and leave them there. No cleaning or polishing is needed because that level isn't on the tour route.
@@duanem.1567 They are planning to open the 08 bridge to the public though.
On this week's "found on the Battleship episode: A tour group that got lost in 2010!
Watch Ryan feed them to the boiler room demon!
Great Halloween or April Fool's video!
I thought they just got turned into mannequins and sent to the lowest level?
This is equally mundane and 110% fascinating! These ships were living, constantly evolving metal and plastic creatures for their entire careers. There must have been so many variables and so much ongoing day-to-day manipulations that they were probably never the same ship for more than a week at a time since they were laid.
To fascinating for the pedantic challenge with USS Cod though.
Neat stuff! This might sound like a minor insignificant topic to some folk but I find these little details and little updates so interesting.
Woah, in the wild!
@@JohnnyWishbone85 👋😁
Ay up! Perspex was used for plane canopies during WW2 so they may be older than we think, although unlikely. If it was WW2 Perspex, I would have thought it would be worse. They can be polished with products intended for modern car headlamp assemblies.
WW2 persp would've been fogged up real bad by now. There's a few OG pieces on display from bombers in UK and they're basically milk. They didn't perfect the formula until much later. I'd say 80's for those pieces given that there's (mostly) only UV damage, but without a close up (eyeball) inspection it's difficult to tell. Camera always lies.
They may clean up nicely with lemon pledge.
Lexan was patented in 1955 and went into production at GE in 1960. They would have put the windows up in windy / cold weather as a conning station with better sight lines than the 04 level conning bridge. The 08 level was not used when firing the big guns. Canvas awnings are not rare in older ships, such as the cover the quarterdeck in port.
Yup, a power buffer would make those look new.
If those windows are a plastic similar to "lexan" used in many railroad applications it was likely prone to "sun hazing" over time. Newer types of plastic glazing such as "margard" much more resistant to fogging and are also very resistant to breakage.
It's so cool that the museum lets scouts do their Eagle project on the battleship! If I'd lived near a battleship (or if the NFL hadn't screwed me out of having Saratoga practically in my backyard) I would've loved to have done something like that for mine.
Post USS Forrestal ( CV-59) class Aircraft carriers have about 2,000 internal spaces. When I was a Shipfitter across the Delaware @ Philadelphia Naval Shipyard I tried to look at as many supercarrier confined spaces as possible but there were just too many to see them all .
They will polish up nicely. I polish vintage instrument panels/other regularly and it comes out like new. I would make a screw jig to hold those, do 90%, rotate, do the remaining 10%. Should be able to do most w a Dewalt variable speed buffer. Smaller items I use a JET IBG-12SSB pedestal buffer. For polish: 3M 05996 machine polish. Last get a water mister bottle. Clean them w dish soap / water, mist them w water, apply polish, get busy. Use a medium -slow speed. Mist regularly until polish is N/A. To avoid static, mix water mister with Staticide, 10:1
The mounting threads can be cleared using a pencil torch and a wire brush. Just use the exhaust fans to dump the off-gas or smoke. From there run a tap/die over threads as needed
If anything use them to make templates to put new plexiglass in place so that those originals can be put on display
Seconded.
If you listened to the video: 1. The studs holding the windows have been painted over. It would be a huge job to clean them of the paint to allow nuts to attach. 2. Having no windows provides much better view and you can take pictures much more easily with no reflections. 3. Even modern plexiglass yellows in few years time, so if you wanted to keep it looking good, you’d want to replace it once in a while. Basically better to leave it open.
@@iPelaaja1
You can maintain plexiglass without replacing it.
(I haven't done it myself, but aircraft get decades of use out of their canopies, and car headlights last twenty years at least),
And cleaning threads is a non- issue- just run a thread- cutting tool on them, once, if a simple nut with a cordless drill doesn't get it done.
That said, i have no issue with choosing not to do that work and just leaving the space open.
The painted over studs would be a non-issue with a threadchaser... would clean the paint right off the threads... but then you'd need the attaching hardware (either hex nuts or wing nuts) plus any seals used. Of course you already mention that their haziness condition which would not lend themselves to display or use.
As another commenter said, I'd install one set (upper and lower) to show how they were installed and their use.
Sounds like a perfect eagle scout project for a teen with access to a laser cutter and some CAD software.
The cloudy original windows can be used as "templates" to make new one out of acrylic.
Can't wait to see what you'll find/discover during her time in the dry dock
Might be a can of worms
Pure gold, imagine all the years wondering why there was no windows....solved. Kudos
I'm sure they could be polished up like restoring frosted plastic headlights, maybe another Eagle Scout project someday. Love the history lessons, Thanks Ryan!
Watching this in a country that never had battleships and without any Navy background... I have followed this channel for a year now. I hope your drydock period goes well!
I would imagine they had metal rails that bolted on after the plexiglass was installed over the studs, as in the nuts or washers wouldn’t have been tightened up against the plexiglass without a rail to spread out the load. Plus the studs are much longer than needed unless there is multiple layers bolting on. Maybe even rubber gaskets between the layers as well. They are probably in a room like that on somewhere else.
Awesome find those are good templates for replacements. If for nothing else that way you can turn that level into a greenhouse when the NJ and the other Iowas are used as arks in the post EMP zombie apocolapse world.
I, for one, welcome our new zombie overlords!
It's so cool that you are still finding stuff. I would have spent days just exploring every corner if I had a battleship.
Maybe trace a couple onto new plexi, and have a few replicas placed onto the studs, even if not bolted dow, as a demonstration durring tours?
On a ship by me, they found an entire fully stocked machine shop behind a wall that was welded up.
I would kill to get the chance to do my eagle project on there. I’m out looking for one now, but there isn’t anything like this nearby, sadly.
if it's near a mainspace, etc., such accessible voids could hold clean rags or other engineering supplies - that's the kind of thing we did on the DDG8 and on CV61. Usually, whichever work center responsible for maintaining it gets first call on what can go in there. After decomming, we can expect surprises, too.
If you do decide to replace them at least you have the patterns you need.
That's fantastic you let scouts do their Eagle projects working on the ship. That's good for everyone.
"OA Division" Ah, my heart is aflutter. An "OA" division was that of the Aerographer's Mates (or "weather guessers"), the ship's meteorological experts. Many associate Aerographer's Mates with advising the Captain on forecast and actual weather the ship may encounter, along with briefing Naval Aviators for flight ops. But, another early duty was to advise on the atmospheric events that would effect the flight of the shells from, in this case, the 16' guns. True, as well, for shells from smaller guns on earlier battleships. I am a former "AG", I served aboard the USS Belleau Wood (LHA-3) from 1982 to 1985.
It seems like USS Missouri has their windows installed on the 08 bridge, you might be able to ask them for additional information. Wisconsin does too but they are of a different style it looks like
I like how enthusiastic about the love of his finding. Be well #BattleshipNewJersey and cool❤❤❤❤❤🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
I served on the U.S.S. Laffey (DD724) which prior to the recommissioning of the New Jersey, was the most decorated ship on active duty in the U.S. Navy in 1969. I finished my tour in the Navy in 1969, but we had already heard that the New Jersey was being recommissioned, and the Laffey would no longer hold it's 'Most Decorated' status any longer.
Are you sure the New Jersey was recommissioned in the 1980's and not the early 70's?
The open bridge was common on USN WW2 warships. It was based on British experience of being under air attack and the advantage when dodging to be able to see your attackers.
Thought just cheap
@@tomhenry897 Wrongo, buffalo breath
@@tomhenry897 TOTRALLY wrong. Just read Friedman's histories
A battleship as an Eagle project! I could have only dreamed from eastern Iowa of such a thing! I did end up in the Navy though!
This is my favorite kind of BBNJ video! Note the genuinely brown paint randomly brushed in places around the space near the door and on the frame. Brown, not dark red! So, does the legendary "brown primer" really exist, or is that brown topcoat for color-coding? That would be an interesting little bit of archaeology, is why spaces like this on BBNJ and other Navy, and Navy-owned, ships tend to have these little test patches or brush-cleaning patches, or whatever they are.
Maybe they were installed for storms or high seas or possibly cold weather along with a visitors deck?
There's a donor opportunity for a local auto body/detail shop; polish up the lexan, chase the paint off the threads, install some of the glass.
God bless the Boy Scouts!
Very cool, I came across a box that had BB60 on it when I visited the Iowa in San Pedro. It was tucked away in a space within an aft gun mount. I am looking forward to seeing New Jersey in dry dock as it has been many years since I saw Iowa out of water. Keep up the great work!
Ryan is cool dude. health wise I am not doin like should but I would like to meet Ryan and be on that boat for a visit with both of em... Ryan fulfills the American dream to preserve and protect a legend. Before I go I want to be on that boat and meet Ryan give his a paltry sum if it is one of my last gestures. Ryan has more worth than America does right now because he still does his job the right way
Given the studs are bent upwards, it looks like the windows are just hung. I also wonder if these windows were only installed when traveling into cold weather.
Ryan, can you do a video explaining what would happen if multiple steering positions were manned at the same time and tried to steer the ship in different directions?
There's a selector switch, so only one location is in control at a time
Pretty sure that video exists
Just visited Arizona and Missouri a week ago. Only a few more to go.
Cool discovery! I discovered a means to easily remove hazing like this from Lexan, and other 'glass like plastics,' and have done so several times, returning it to nearly like new condition, almost like looking through glass, and I estimate I could do these for you as well. Estimating 20-30 minutes per window, and $15.00-20.00 a window approximately. removing the paint from the bolt threads, easily done with wire wheel and then a die/ thread chaser. THEN Use wing nuts and neoprene washers.
My brother was on a decommissioning tour. They were going through compartments of the ship sealed off as dead space or whatever. The guys going in there found a sailor that was missing for a couple decades. Apparently murdered and stuffed in there.
I was on her in 81 off the coast of Beirut Nice to see her again
One of my friends is a retired skipper of the New Jersey from the '80s. I,ll try to remember to ask him about windows to the O-8 bridge.
Ryan, once you get the 08 level open to visitors, you may wish to install a new Lexan panel in ONE of the 08 windows just to show visitors what it would have been like.
A great find, but I believe the plexi can be polished like new with not much effort. I think it would be a GREAT way to seal off that deck from the elements and help preserve the equipment that is there, so there is justification for putting them in. I wouldn't be surprised if someone with polishing experience could fix them up and coat them with a UV coating to keep them clear.
Unfortunately it would never seal off the area, they are more like shields than full windows, they don't meet a ceiling or anything
Neat. One more mystery tied up. It was kind of obvious that something would've gone there by the studs, but without solid evidence and without pictures... kinda hard to prove. Now you have that proof. Would be neat if something did turn up in the archives at some point tho. There has to be at least one pic or story or memo on this. It can't be that obscure.
You could put one of them on display on the O8 bridge so people could see that they exist. If not in place in a window opening, then either hanging on one of the interior walls or perhaps in a display cabinet either there or in a close by room.
A lot of stuff from the ship during decommissioning in 1990 was stored in the 5” magazines.
Being assigned to 'go get the windows' and install them 100% sounds like the type of busy work that the navy loves
@5:13 they were present on Missouri during its scenes in the film Battleship
That's so refreshing to know that Eagle Scouts still do quality, worthwhile projects nowadays.
It amazes me how many videos I'm seeing about New Jersey heading to dry dock. Everyone seems to think she set off full speed ahead to fight be updated to fight Russia lol
Ryan, you always find little surprises!.
Hi Ryan. Good job. Love your shows.❤
Like mentioned I agree you should put one up to show how it looked!
Hello, I purchased a 1963 Mercedes Unimog that had two flexible plastic windows. They were hazed and yellowed. I purchased a two part plastic window cleaner and polish from J.C. Whitney auto parts that cleaned then right up. Reduced yellowing and very clear. There was a chemical company Midwest if I recall that had a single chemical plastic cleaner was very effective. Their sells pitch was to take sand paper to a piece of plexiglass scuff it up. Coat a paper towel with their chemical coat it over the surface then Voila! clear plastic again without elbow grease of the two part cleaner. F.Y.I.
I must ask what surely has been asked many times before but how often do you all take a break and play hide n seek on board the ship?
That was a great Boy Scout Merit Badge idea. RIP Boys and Girls Scouts.
Find a weather guesser who was stationed on an Iowa and you may get a lot of questions answered. My old Senior Chief was on the Wisconsin during Desert Storm.
You are probably correct about the time period of when they were used. But plexiglass was introduced at the 1936 worlds fair. So it has been around since before the "New Jersey "
Need another Scout project to polish the plastic ;-)
Plastic polishes are available if you are interested in reconditioning the plexiglass windows. You would be amazed by the clarity that would be restored.
This ship was well built, A time when people had pride in what they did. I bet this ship could survive a lot before she even thought about going down.😮
Might they have been used to secure the bridge area during times in mothballs? I've often wondered about that- the Navy appears to have gone to great lengths to preserve the interior equipment of the ships but it seemed to be hit-or-miss regarding exterior equipment.
Use the found plexiglass as templates and make more out of better material then chase the bolt threads so you can enclose the area again
Since you just found these, 6 years or so after becoming curator, would it make more sense to store them closer to 08?
They’d be easier for a future curator to find!
Lexan is polycarbonate plastic, Plexiglass is acrylic plastic. both Lexan and Plexiglass are brand names similar to how tissue paper is called Kleenex or adhesive bandages became Band-aids. The term is called generic branding, when a brand name becomes the catch all term for a product category.
Also note that Plexiglass cracks easily.
Is there a generic term for clear plastic window material?
Kleenex was also the former name of the influential Swiss all-female punk band from Zurich, later known as LiLiPUT.
A phenomenon seen most often in US English, but not exclusively so.
You can easily get them to crystal clear against. Id suggest a professional, but wet sanding then a polish will get them like new. The less effort the more worn they will look of course.
Can always make some reproduction ones and use them, leaving the old ones as a historical peice.
Also to get the paint off the studs. Get some paint stripper, slap it on, wipe it off. Run a tap and die thread repairer on it, they will work perfectly again.
I think its worth either putting them back on, or putting them on when you know bad weather will happen etc. It's a piece of history that's basically being forgotten, having them on the ship and shown to exist will atleast help prevent them being forgotten.
Great find!
Don't you have contact with veterans who sailed on the battleship in the 80s? I would think there would be guys out there who would know a lot of these details.
I just got to go on a sister ship, the Missouri. I knew it felt familiar. Been on the new jeresy a few times.
I’m not sure if this has been addressed, but in a past video, Ryan mentioned that the forward part of the bow that is outside the armored citadel has issues with flexing because of the buoyancy and not being ballasted with any equipment and such. Is there any way to address this to reduce the stress on the weld joints in this area?
I sort of want to see these installed. Mainly just out of pure curiosity. I have never seen a photo of one of these ships set up with the windows installed.
Its called a carpenters Hall. Its where Engineers could access the more obnoxious spaces to repair. Very important hallway maybe not as much in these giants but wooden boats really needed access.
I suspected they'd find Ryan's stash of Snickers bars.
I'm mostly not that interested in this ship, but I'm also not entirely disinterested. When I was on USS Theodore Roosevelt, as a personnelman, we stored a whole bunch of documents, boxes and boxes, in a void. I wonder if the current crew even knows that stuff is in there? We put it in in the late 80s, and it was the sort of stuff you put away somewhere and forget about....but, if anyone had sense, they'd have included that info somewhere that if could be found easily. I just don't know if people had that much sense.
I need to return what I took off the New Jersey back in the 80s. It's the placard that says" Right Sight Station".
At least make sure there's a note with it explaining what it is...
During World War II, the demand for Plexiglas was high, both Allied and Axis forces used it for submarine periscopes and aircraft windshields, canopies, and gun turrets.
I think you should put a few of the windows back to honor the past. These were once on the bridge. Just a few would be nice. Some of the damaged ones to show the age, maybe.
Can't you re-sand (wet) the plexi and then polish with a buffing compound to get them back close to original?
I love you're channel! It fascinates me that things as simple as windows can be "lost to time" because they've been shoved somewhere. ON THE SAME SHIP. Also that we are intrigued by such "mundane" (not to me) mysteries.
Now that you have increased my interest in Iowa Class Battleships I saw a article or video about a crash where the Wisconsin was involved in an accident where it almost cut another vessel in half totally wrecking Wisconsin’s bow they cut it off and used the bow off the fifth Iowa class under construction the Kentucky which was never completed, making the Wisconsin the longest Iowa. Do this sound correct?
They did attach the bow of Kentucky to Wisconsin but it didn't make her longer, it was just a cut out of the bow, not the top or bottom
It would be easy to refurbish them using a simple headlight restoration/polishing kit available at any auto parts store
Plastics were used in WWII at least for aircraft. Perspex was a British name and I think Plexiglass and Lucite were US names for plastics used for canopies and windscreens in aircraft.
They're different plastics, not different locale names.
If you think there are a lot of random spaces on an old battleship, I used to work on a CVN. You will literally never be able to see every space on a carrier. Those were all the random, and sometimes very dirty, places people had sex in.
Anyone else expecting a video "Hoffa has been found" on this channel?
We've got enough compartments, we will keep looking.
Reinstalling those babies would be icing on the cake.
Going to have those window sills installed or find a replacement for them?
The skeleton of a welder who built the ship?
Jimmy Hoffa?
probably from the 80s refit since they're not fogged up especially if these were outside all the time in service.
not sure why they pulled them down for storage other than they might not have been used much as you said
Very cool discovery!
I helped put them there in 1981 during recomissioning.
And a great shoutout to Ryan's trusty Caribiner.
224K subscribers 96K views and frequent content! I wish USS Texas would do even a 1/3 of this.....
Maybe took them off when there were photographers/journalists/visitors on board ? Plexiglass isn't the greatest for taking photos though. Looks like a pita to put back on though
We've got one on display landslide already
I wonder if you'd be allowed to sell those on eBay or something, you never know what people would pay for an artifact like that