Made it to Lower Michigan

 With our toys fixed, we hauled it out of upper peninsula to lower Michigan, St. Louis Michigan. The campground is run by the Church of God, and pretty nice.

We were on the newer side of the campground... trees are sparse. The older side had smaller sites, with trees. All sites are grass. Yeah... the landing gear worked as advertised.

Because it was a holiday weekend, many touristy places were closed, but Carol did find something open. 

A short drive to Bay City and we had the opportunity to visit the USS Edson, DD946, named for Major General Merritt A. Edson USMC. For those unfamiliar with Navy designations, this ship was a destroyer. Destroyers were tasked in different way, depending on what the ship was equipped with.

The ship was commissioned in 1958, and by 1965 she was in the thick of Vietnam. Her first three deployments were non-combat, the fourth deployment (1965-66) was with the USS Kitty Hawk, and commenced Navel Gunfire Operations off the Vietnamese coast. The Edson's 5 inch/54 caliber guns soon earned her the the reputation for being a very accurate "long gun".

We'll talk more about the ship again, but walk the decks first.

This is the Gun Mount Carrier Room, located under the gun mount. This room is where the ammunition was transported from the magazine to the gun mount. The guns themselves were automatic, but time to time they were manned by two personnel. The Gun Mount Carrier Room was manned with two personnel, a safety observer, and a Gun Captain. The safety observer ensured that the equipment was functioning properly. The Gun Captain, who sat behind a console, monitored the gun's functions, and could take control in emergencies, if necessary.

Barber Shop, one chair, appointment required.

Smaller ships had a "Sick Bay" manned by Corpsman to handle minor medical issues. Larger medical emergencies were sent to the aircraft carrier in the battle group.

This area was called the Mess Deck, where the enlisted sailor would enjoy fine dining. Fine dining ranged from powdered scrambled eggs and sh** on a shingle (gravy with ground meat on toast), to some kind of over cooked meat with vegetables at dinner time. There were special occasions when the crew could see steak and lobster... once a month, or once a quarter.

These tables would have been metal, secured to the deck, and seats attached to the table frame.

All that delicious food was served via the "chow line"

This area is where the cooks would prepare meals to order... as long as it was what they were already cooking on the griddle.

For all you lucky wives and girlfriends that have husbands and boyfriends willing to do dishes once in a while, this is where he probably learned it. This was known as the "Scullery", civilian restaurants call it a dishwashing station. Besides the main engineering spaces, this was one the hottest places to work... and I don't mean fashionable.

This office was the Personnel Office, which took care of all the personnel records for the 22 officers and 315 enlisted. There were probably four or five people working in this space.

Wanna get paid, this next office handled that for you. This office is known as Disbursing.

That's right, enough room for a desk, chair, and safe. Because of the size of the office and location, payday usually occurred on the Mess Deck.

Before we tour more of the ship, we will share some more of her rich history.

One of the highlights of their '65-'66 deployment was an opportunity to escort elements of the Third Marine Division, this was the first time a Destroyer was assigned to protect a truck convoy. Another part of this deployment saw her conducting Sea and Air Rescue operation with the USS Hancock (aircraft carrier).

1967 saw the Edson depart on its fifth deployment. One of her missions was to bombard enemy supply depots off the coast of North Vietnam. In May of '67 she sustained damage, and left the area under the cover of the battles smoke. The Edson spent six weeks in repair, and returned to the battle. When the North Vietnamese saw her again they thought they were seeing a ghost ship, because they thought they had sunk the Edson in the earlier battle. From that time on the Edson was known as "Grey Ghost of the Vietnamese Coast".

The Wardroom where the 22 officers ate.

Their Galley and Scullery. Usually there were four to six enlisted, in shifts, to cater to the officers.

Senior Officer stateroom, with their own head across the hall.

This was the CO's in port cabin above, and his at sea cabin below.

The at sea cabin is generally in close proximity to the bridge. The Captain will inform the bridge watch which cabin he will be in for the night.

Some ships, if not most, do not allow the watch to sit down while on watch... the only exception is the CO or XO when they are on the Bridge.

In the Navy the Quartermaster handles navigation. For you Army and Marine types that might sound strange, because they handle issuing of equipment for you folks.

This is a photo of the Chartroom, where all the navigation charts are stored. Back to the main deck.

This is a MK-46 Torpedo, designed to attack high performance submarines. This guy could be launched from the tubes in the first photo, Anti-Submarine Rocket (ASROC) launchers, or from aircraft.

These Motor Whaleboats are life savers. These boats could be launched quickly while the ship is moving slowly. Many a downed pilot, or sailor blown off a flight deck are alive today because of these boats. On the "gooder" side they were used as liberty boats when a ship was anchored in a harbor.

Remember the gun from earlier? here is what controlled it.

Go ahead and try to read how it works.

Basically this is how it works: information is fed into a computer that figures out where to turn the turret, and how high to raise the barrel before firing the shell.

Speaking of firing shells across the water... during the fifth deployment the Edson provided the enemy inland, with about 28,000 rounds of 5 inch/54 caliber projectiles. Because of the efforts the ship was awarded the "Top Gun" medal by the U.S. Navy.

With the Vietnam War still going on in 1970, the Edson was again deployed, this time to serve as plane guard for several attack carriers. Plane guard detail lingers behind a carrier during flight operations, retrieving pilot who inadvertently landed their aircraft in the ocean... in other words... crashed their plane. Done with the plane guard service, she moved onto special surveillance operations off the coast of Cambodia. The ship's primary function on this deployment was to provide naval gunfire support for the entire coast of Vietnam from the Demilitarized Zone to the Gulf of Thailand. If you should ever wonder what a deployment looked like, this was their seventh deployment numbers: steamed approximately 48,500 miles, conducted 130 gunfire support missions, and was at sea 133 out of 169 days.

This space is called Shaft Alley.

Depending on the size of the ship, the propeller shaft can be anywhere from two to three feet in circumference. The grey housing with the yellow square, is one of several bearings along the shaft.

Remember how roomy the officer berthing was, well let me show you what I slept in during my early enlisted days.

The berths that look deeper than the others, were called "coffin lockers", eventually all three tiers became "coffin lockers", replacing the lockers pictured below.

All the space a sailor had was one of the "stand-up" lockers, and a cube locker.

A lot of wheeling and dealing use to happen between Stylin' sailors, and the average sailors like myself. The average guy would give up locker space for a price... usually the Stylin' guy would pay the price.

Moving along now, we come to a space known as After Steering. After steering housed the equipment that caused the rudder to move remotely from the bridge, or locally during an emergency. 

At sea ships are self sufficient, meaning that whatever was needed quickly, needed to be made. Repair parts for broken machinery, were made in the Machinery Repair Shop. 

The Machinery Repair Shop was also responsible for manufacturing signs, placards, name tags, and dog tags, either in plastic or metal.

Back to a bit more history of the ship. After their short rest from deployment number seven, they were steaming again by April 1971. She left Long Beach and headed to Subic Bay, in the Philippines. From there they headed back on station to provide gunfire support. The effectiveness of their gunfire support earned them national recognition. In the first two weeks of September, they sent the enemy over 4,500 rounds. During this episode of artillery support, they were involved in ammunition replenishments every two days. Replenishment is not an easy feat. Two ships come alongside each other, anywhere between 100 to 150 feet separating them. Lines are sent over from the ammunition replenishment ship, then cables, which are secured. Only after good communication is established, is artillery moved between ships. This is a critical time for the engineers manning the main spaces. Loss of power could result in the two ships colliding, causing great damage to both ships. With that said, let's go into the main space. 

The above photos are the transmission, or "reduction gear" of the ship. Like our cars, the transmission is driven by an engine, in the case of ships, it is a steam driven turbine engine.

The steam turbine engine drives the reduction gear, that turns the shaft connected to the propeller, sometimes called a "screw".

You might be wondering how the turbine engine is getting its steam, that is accomplished by boilers.

The boiler functions like a tea kettle; heat water, and make steam. In the case of the boiler, the steam is sent to equipment that uses it.

The boiler can't make steam without water, which requires the distilling plant. The water distilling plant takes sea water, through multiple chambers, and makes it fresh water. The fresh water is also used throughout the ship.

Like a car, the boiler needs fuel... old days it use to be coal, now days it is diesel fuel.

The fuel won't combust unless there is air, hence the Forced Draft Blower, just like air into a carburetor.

What good does it do to have an engine turning the reduction gear turning the shaft that turns the screw, if you can't see what is going on.

This would be one of the Steam Turbine Generators. Steam turns a motor that turns a generator, creating electricity. That electricity is supplied to the electrical switchboards.

Switchboards on ships are really no different than those in the buildings around us everyday. Now that you know the equipment in the main space, its time to stand your watch.

You as the Engineering Watch are responsible for knowing what all those gauges are indicating. On some of the older ships, yes in my time too, the watches were usually six hours on watch, and six hours off watch, then back on. What we called 6 and 6 watch standing. 

Up for some fresh air?

The Edson did several more deployments to Vietnam. In 1977 she became a training ship for Commanders, Gunners, and Boiler Engineers. All good things come to an end, it came in December 1988 for the Edson. 1989 she became part of the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum in New York. 14 years later the ship was returned to the Navy. In 2013 the Saginaw Valley Naval Ship Museum took possession of the ship. The Edson is now home for good. You can find what I left out at:

www.ussedson.org.

From here we move into Indiana.