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The USS Texas going to dry dock!

sdmuleman said:
Fairly little weight forward, and hull is generally heavily framed at the ends due to wave loads. Pretty normal with warships to have limited support at the ends of the hull in dock.

In this case, also obvious that there was going to be overhang one way or the other with the size of the dock. Of the 2 ends, stern is more critical to support, and they've got her as far aft in the dock as she can go (aft keel block is pretty much on the end of the dock).

That's probably right on the edge of the minimum size dock for her. Note that the blocks are pretty shallow - looks like about a 4 ft baseline, which is going to make access to the underside difficult. Dockings that I did used something around 6'6" to allow access. I expect this is due to limited clearances probably because of inadequate water depth to sink the dock any further.

Also, I believe the majority of the structural damage is in the blisters, and overall hull structure is largely ok. Thus, unsupported bow isn't going to be impacted by the deterioration.
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How is the blocking/cribbing placed and then the ship placed perfectly atop it?
 
Unexpectedly Got to see this last week. Photos cannot do it justice. We travelling along Harborside drive you get a straight on view of it.

To say it is intimidating is an understatement.

Guy at the ocean star drilling rig museum (right across the channel) said there was no place to stand, people lined up. He said people were buying museum tickets just to stand on the walkway to the oil rig just to see and film it.
 

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plym49.2 said:
How is the blocking/cribbing placed and then the ship placed perfectly atop it?
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When ships are built they have a dry dock plan which specifies all of the contact points distance / height etc. Then it is a matter of positioning the ship correctly over the blocks.

I learned in the drydock walkaround that the blocks included a section with sand in it so individual blocks could be removed and the area above worked on. I also learned that the parts of the ship sitting on the blocks were teak wood wrapped in steel:eek:
 
MigGunslinger said:
When ships are built they have a dry dock plan which specifies all of the contact points distance / height etc. Then it is a matter of positioning the ship correctly over the blocks.

I learned in the drydock walkaround that the blocks included a section with sand in it so individual blocks could be removed and the area above worked on. I also learned that the parts of the ship sitting on the blocks were teak wood wrapped in steel:eek:
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Both of those points blew me away in that video, so cool seeing things in a completely different mechanical world
 
MigGunslinger said:
When ships are built they have a dry dock plan which specifies all of the contact points distance / height etc. Then it is a matter of positioning the ship correctly over the blocks.

I learned in the drydock walkaround that the blocks included a section with sand in it so individual blocks could be removed and the area above worked on. I also learned that the parts of the ship sitting on the blocks were teak wood wrapped in steel:eek:
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So much older, practical tech the average Joe knows nothing about. This place is terrifically educational.
 
We can't even dry dock our own battleships. .. How far we have fallen.
 
plym49.2 said:
How is the blocking/cribbing placed and then the ship placed perfectly atop it?
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Carefully. :lmao:

Number of different techniques, but they're all fairly simple in concept and involve reference marks and surveying techniques.

My personal experience is graving docks at a naval shipyard, and all our work was done with tape measures and transits.

First step is the docking plan for the boat. This is generated when the ship is built and provides the locations on the hull and specifics about shape of blocks to match.

Example

This is then used by the engineers at the shipyard to general a dock build plan for the specific docking, taking into account specific blocks that may need to be omitted and where exactly the build is located relative to the dock so the boat is in the right position for work. For instance, submarine refueling requires the boat be positioned in an exact spot relative to various shore facilities.

Graving docks have surveyed benchmarks set on the coping every so often referenced to the dock sill and dock centerline. These would be used
to derive reference baselines for the block build using standard surveying techniques - i.e. measure from benchmark the required distance using a tape and use a transit to transfer that line to the dock floor. Do this for the center of the keel blocks and lines of side blocks relative to dock centerline, and then do another set for fore/aft positioning. Similar idea or block height - leveled transit used to set a baseline height on each block and then measure height on each block relative to that.

End result of this is a block setting that matches the plans and is located relative to specific points on the dock coping.
Same basic idea on the boat - docking plan is referenced to specific features on the ship, and fairly easy to establish a target on the outside of the ship at a known point. On CVNs for instance, the center of the stem is an obvious one, and the centerline aft is easy to locate on the hanger deck. Optical targets are set up at these points, and with some basic math you can figure out where these targets need to be relative to the dock build for the ship to be in the right place, and since you know where the build it relative to dock benchmarks, it's easy to figure out where to set a transit to look at the target as the ship comes in and know that if the target is centered in the transit that part of the boat is in the right spot relative to the blocks. Do this for the bow, stern and a fore/aft reference point and the boat is in the right spot. We would routinely be able to get within 1/2" of the desired alignment.

I've also seen it done using chains hung across the dock. Same basic idea - put 2 chains across the top of the dock with a weighted plumbob hung off the chain in the spot you want a specific feature on the boat to be at when docked. Make it long enough that it touches the floor and you now have 2 reference points to build the setting off of, and then raise them up when docking and move the boat so those points are aligned with the plumbobs
 
Couple pictures to illustrate:
Bow of a carrier, target is right on the centerline of the stem a bit below the top of the black paint.

puget-sound-naval-shipyard-wash-march-12018-psns-imf-on-the-waterfront-personnel-bring-uss-nim...jpg

As the ship comes in, the shipwright on the platform here is sighting on that target and calling the position of the ship over the radio so the linehandlers and tugs can adjust to keep her in position. Same thing is done for landing on the blocks.
Capture.JPG


Setting up to undock. You can see the benchmark under the tripod and tape measure being used for either an offset measurement or to help point to the marks on the benchmark
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Kyle said:
When I was down there in 2017 ir had a good amount of list to it and some of the lower decks were closed.

Honestly I think it would be cool to just dry dock it permanently so people can see what the hull looks like. And make it easier to maintain. I know they tout it being battle ready but it’s a floating museum. It won’t make it out of berth on its own power ever again.
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That would be fucking bad-ass! i can see peeps walking under the huge screws and rudder. :smokin:
 
Why is that sad? I was under the impression that the foam was to help the ship make it from where it was to the drydocking? The plan was always to remove the foam once it went into dry dock.

It honestly doesn't look as bad as I was thinking. Tons of holes and the blisters were shot but the hull itself doesn't look terrible for being the water for 50 years with minimal maintenance.
 
I thought the foam had been there longer.

The sad part is that no matter how many millions of dollars they spend, they are only delaying the inevitable. It is impossible to stabilize a gigantic structure made of steel, with millions of places for water to leak and accumulate.
 
I could be wrong but im almost positive the foam is from the last 2 or so years, it was to displace the water and help with leakage but was always going to come back out.

That could be said for any man made artifact, given enough time everything returns to dust.

I think the big thing would be if they can get it to Galveston or somewhere where it actually gets visitors that will help to pay for all the maintenance that it needs to last for the next hundred years. They will never turn a profit but if they keep up on it they she should never be in the state that she is now.

Even victory, in a permanent drydock, is having problems because of how she is sitting. All this ships are money pits it depends if you think they are worth preserving for future generations.
 
Yup.

Hes on unsubscribe pod cast a few times as well.

Hope he keeps it up cause hes got a good bit and seems to be not a pos bum.
 
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