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What is in my Father's notebook?

Started by Walks_At_Night, October 13, 2018, 06:20:43 PM

K_Dubb

Quote from: Walks_At_Night on February 07, 2019, 11:48:06 PM
I seriously was going to skip these handouts.   I'm glad that you guys talked me out of it...................

Who knows what we'll find ahead.

Though we are denied your father's elegant handwriting, they seem to be a distinct sort of voice of experience that's worth hearing.  Fascinating to ponder their genesis.  The stuff your dad wrote is sort of like manufacturer's instructions -- how they should work -- but the handouts must have been the product of some guy saying "let's get some people who've actually launched a bunch of these babies and see if we can iron out some of these lumps."  It's probably too much to hope they will address the actual wartime problems you outlined earlier in the thread, but maybe!

Leads to all kinds of other thoughts, like maybe this is hot-off-the-ditto-machine real-world info the instructor wasn't familiar with, or was literacy posing problems with the copying out, or how the much-scorned ditto machine was really a mini-Gutenberg revolution when it came to disseminating information quickly, and cultural differences like that which caused the US to retain and preserve combat experience (e. g. pilots) for training rather than flying them to death...

Rix Gins

Quote from: Walks_At_Night on February 07, 2019, 11:48:06 PM
I seriously was going to skip these handouts.   I'm glad that you guys talked me out of it...................

Who knows what we'll find ahead.

The handouts, printed as they were, are still pieces of history.  Created and copied by men smoking pipes and cigarettes.  There is no doubt in my mind that the smoking vice helped win WWII.

K_Dubb

Quote from: Rix Gins on February 08, 2019, 01:40:55 AM
The handouts, printed as they were, are still pieces of history.  Created and copied by men smoking pipes and cigarettes.  There is no doubt in my mind that the smoking vice helped win WWII.

Ha ha ha Rix the handouts do seem to bear the brown stain of Victory.

albrecht

Quote from: K_Dubb on February 08, 2019, 01:57:17 AM
Ha ha ha Rix the handouts do seem to bear the brown stain of Victory.
"As your dentist, I would recommend Viceroys" 

WOTR

Quote from: Walks_At_Night on February 07, 2019, 10:16:16 PM
Ha!  That would be a fun picture.  People do bizarre shit at times.  Back when I was in Server Development, I was sent to a critical situation at a prominent financial institution hat was moaning that our stuff was not working properly with their fibre channel storage setup.  Got onsite and found that they were taking the fiber optic cables and using them to tie together big bunches of CatV  along their run from the Server to the Switches.  Crazy!


Sadly, the US Navy killed the Torpedoman's Mate rating a number of years ago.   They were munged into Gunner's Mate on surface ships and Machinist's Mate on Submarines.  :(
Last place that I worked ran their "main trunk" which was cat V for 250 feet strapped to the main 600V high voltage feed.  For some reason, connectivity in that part of the building was "not very good."  (Fixed it with some CAT 6A run in it's own tray.)

"Machinists mate?"  That seems like trying to shoehorn one job into a category where it may not belong.

WOTR

Quote from: Rix Gins on February 08, 2019, 01:40:55 AM
The handouts, printed as they were, are still pieces of history.  Created and copied by men smoking pipes and cigarettes.  There is no doubt in my mind that the smoking vice helped win WWII.
I have a picture of a group of medical student over a cadaver with big rubber gloves and pipes in their mouths, somewhere.  It made me smile and reminds me of a completely different time.


Quote from: WOTR on February 08, 2019, 07:12:28 PM
Last place that I worked ran their "main trunk" which was cat V for 250 feet strapped to the main 600V high voltage feed.  For some reason, connectivity in that part of the building was "not very good."  (Fixed it with some CAT 6A run in it's own tray.)

"Machinists mate?"  That seems like trying to shoehorn one job into a category where it may not belong.

HeHe - there are some real Data Center maniacs out there.

Well to be fair they are Machinist's Mate Weapons

Safety Precautions continues with Part II.  I'm thinking that tip #20 is very solid advice.

Page 51


WOTR

Has the question been asked yet... How long would it take to ready a dozen torpedoes?  If I cannot charge a ton of them in advance and have to haul them to the tubes- how long to get each ready?

Rix Gins

Quote from: Walks_At_Night on February 08, 2019, 08:21:08 PM
Safety Precautions continues with Part II.  I'm thinking that tip #20 is very solid advice.

Page 51



#24 sounds kind of painful.

K_Dubb

Quote from: Walks_At_Night on February 08, 2019, 08:21:08 PM
Safety Precautions continues with Part II.  I'm thinking that tip #20 is very solid advice.

Page 51



Great stuff, Walks.  I had a time trying to imagine why the lee of torpedo would matter, not being a nautical sort, since I thought things generally drifted leeward.  Also, I can't help reading this, or at least the word "torpedo", in Katharine Hepburn's voice.  Mr. Allnut, can you build a torpeedeau?

Quote from: K_Dubb on February 09, 2019, 03:49:13 AM
Great stuff, Walks.  I had a time trying to imagine why the lee of torpedo would matter, not being a nautical sort, since I thought things generally drifted leeward.  Also, I can't help reading this, or at least the word "torpedo", in Katharine Hepburn's voice.  Mr. Allnut, can you build a torpeedeau?

More than you ever wanted to know about Kate's accent.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gpv_IkO_ZBU

Quote from: WOTR on February 09, 2019, 03:12:38 AM
Has the question been asked yet... How long would it take to ready a dozen torpedoes?  If I cannot charge a ton of them in advance and have to haul them to the tubes- how long to get each ready?

I don't know WOTR.  US Navy Destroyers did not carry reloads so what they loaded into the tubes at the dock is what they had.  The torpedo tube mounts were quintuple so they carried 5 torpedoes.  Most of the Destroyers had one mount but some had two - for a maximum load of ten fish.  Just trying to get the fish aboard was quite an operation.  Below is a clip of a
Mark XIV being loaded aboard a Submarine.   Obviously hoisting one aboard a surface ship would be easier as you would not have to stuff it down a hatch and pull it below deck like
on a Sub but the Mark XV's that the Destroyers used were even bigger, so I am sure it was no joy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4veIkDI54xw

By the way, the ship next to the Sub in the clip is a Submarine Tender.   There were similar vessels for the DD's that were called Destroyer Tenders.

Here is a diagram of how it would be done on a Destroyer:



Once aboard, I am sure it would have to be fueled and tested.   I have no clue on timing for that.  I'll see what I can learn.



albrecht

Quote from: Walks_At_Night on February 09, 2019, 10:02:18 PM
More than you ever wanted to know about Kate's accent.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gpv_IkO_ZBU
Yes! I wish I could remember his name but there was some guy who was semi-popular in some far-right radio circles, former Marine I think or some military who got drummed out for his "views," who had the Mid-Atlantic accent and would wax profoundly on "racial" issues with that quaint, and sometimes hilarious, affected accent. Private school and, somewhat, similar to RP in the British world, but I did not know about the early radio theory about it though. Interesting post! Thanks!

Page 52 continues listing safety precautions.  It would seem that firing test torpedoes when Divers were submerged is a safety violation.   :D

Page 52

albrecht

Quote from: Walks_At_Night on February 09, 2019, 10:24:08 PM
Page 52 continues listing safety precautions.  It would seem that firing test torpedoes when Divers were submerged is a safety violation.   :D

Page 52

Only "hot water" to clean? No lye? No solvents? No gasoline? That sounds like hazing, to me.

K_Dubb

Quote from: Walks_At_Night on February 09, 2019, 10:02:18 PM
More than you ever wanted to know about Kate's accent.

Yeah the radio thing is cool; I hadn't heard that theory.  An effort at class-based snobbery which, not coincidentally, tried to sound British and which, thankfully, failed.

Not mentioned was the tendency to pitch voices in the mid to upper range which makes old-time men sound distinctly low-T to our ears.  Never mind they won WWII.

K_Dubb

Quote from: Walks_At_Night on February 09, 2019, 10:24:08 PM
Page 52 continues listing safety precautions.  It would seem that firing test torpedoes when Divers were submerged is a safety violation.   :D

Page 52


Haha number 30 is awesome!  If you're not a target, get out of the way.  I wonder what fiasco inspired  Captain Obvious USN to put that in there.

albrecht

Quote from: K_Dubb on February 09, 2019, 10:54:50 PM
Haha number 30 is awesome!  If you're not a target, get out of the way.  I wonder what fiasco inspired  Captain Obvious USN to put that in there.
I like 31 also. I swear some of these things are some bizarre hazing system and legaleze, I like it! Though I am for allowing solvents in cleaning stuff- but not for those pledges sailors! Tail Hook stuff coming up soon?

Quote from: K_Dubb on February 09, 2019, 10:54:50 PM
Haha number 30 is awesome!  If you're not a target, get out of the way.  I wonder what fiasco inspired  Captain Obvious USN to put that in there.

Hey man.  Stuff happens. Sailors are a superstitious lot. Some ships are "lucky" and some are cursed by God.
The ship Dad was on for most of the war was "lucky".  I've been sitting on this one for awhile but since you are such a
good straight man, I think it is time.  Here is the story of the USS William D. Porter   A ship whose entire crew was arrested for an FDR assassination plot after an armed torpedo was inadvertently launched at the BB that was carrying the President. 

K_Dubb

Quote from: albrecht on February 09, 2019, 10:58:39 PM
I like 31 also. I swear some of these things are some bizarre hazing system and legaleze, I like it! Though I am for allowing solvents in cleaning stuff- but not for those pledges sailors! Tail Hook stuff coming up soon?

Yeah I am beginning to wonder about the audience for this particular list.  Some of them seem odd to give to people like Walks's dad.  I guess so everyone involved was on the same page?  I half-expected to see the corollary to number 30, "It is the responsibility of the firing officer to fire only at targets and not other vessels in the vicinity."

K_Dubb

Quote from: Walks_At_Night on February 09, 2019, 11:08:47 PM
Hey man.  Stuff happens. Sailors are a superstitious lot. Some ships are "lucky" and some are cursed by God.
The ship Dad was on for most of the war was "lucky".  I've been sitting on this one for awhile but since you are such a
good straight man, I think it is time.  Here is the story of the USS William D. Porter   A ship whose entire crew was arrested for an FDR assassination plot after an armed torpedo was inadvertently launched at the BB that was carrying the President.

Oh Good Lord.  Why have I never heard of this?

"Fearing an assassination plot, the Iowa turned its guns toward the William D. Porter"
"Those who greeted the ship’s crew often joked, “Don’t shoot, we’re Republicans!”

Priceless, Walks; thank you.

Quote from: K_Dubb on February 09, 2019, 10:47:07 PM
Yeah the radio thing is cool; I hadn't heard that theory.  An effort at class-based snobbery which, not coincidentally, tried to sound British and which, thankfully, failed.

Not mentioned was the tendency to pitch voices in the mid to upper range which makes old-time men sound distinctly low-T to our ears.  Never mind they won WWII.

Here is an interesting contrast in accents.  They are intercom chatter between bomber crewman on missions.   Both British and American.
On the British aircraft there seems to be a definite difference between the Pilot/Bombardier/Navigators speech and the Gunners.  Not so much on the American B-17 crew - although this might be from the movie 12 O' clock High [I can't confirm].  Also the American 50 caliber guns make a much more satisfying sound when contrasted to the lighter British .303's.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MF5_hvE4WEA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-Dvxz8Wxy4


Jackstar

Quote from: K_Dubb on February 09, 2019, 11:21:04 PM
Oh Good Lord.  Why have I never heard of this?

[attachment=1]


Stories that go against the whole "America #1!!!!1!" narrative are simply not allowed to propagate. Welcome to the hamster wheel, Leonard.

Quote from: Jackstar on February 09, 2019, 11:24:56 PM
[attachment=1,msg1313637]


Stories that go against the whole "America #1!!!!1!" narrative are simply not allowed to propagate. Welcome to the hamster wheel, Leonard.

Wait until I start going over Dad's combat record and we get to Sicily.  It was a goat screw beyond belief. 

K_Dubb

Quote from: Walks_At_Night on February 09, 2019, 11:22:26 PM
Here is an interesting contrast in accents.  They are intercom chatter between bomber crewman on missions.   Both British and American.
On the British aircraft there seems to be a definite difference between the Pilot/Bombardier/Navigators speech and the Gunners.  Not so much on the American B-17 crew - although this might be from the movie 12 O' clock High [I can't confirm].  Also the American 50 caliber guns make a much more satisfying sound when contrasted to the lighter British .303's.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MF5_hvE4WEA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-Dvxz8Wxy4

Oh that is magnificent stuff!  Skipper sounds like he's reading from a movie script.  I always thought the dialogue in those old war movies was impossibly contrived, but I was wrong.  Classic British understatement, which used to be bred into them from birth, very much in evidence:

"Well, that certainly illuminates things."
"There are a few searchlights ahead, maybe a hundred."

I was always a little disappointed our boys rarely availed themselves of it; I thought rhetorical restraint was in their DNA.

Quote from: K_Dubb on February 09, 2019, 11:52:02 PM
Oh that is magnificent stuff!  Skipper sounds like he's reading from a movie script.  I always thought the dialogue in those old war movies was impossibly contrived, but I was wrong.  Classic British understatement, which used to be bred into them from birth, very much in evidence:

"Well, that certainly illuminates things."
"There are a few searchlights ahead, maybe a hundred."

I was always a little disappointed our boys rarely availed themselves of it; I thought rhetorical restraint was in their DNA.

"I think we've been hit personally...................."

Definitely some cool cats. 

K_Dubb

Quote from: Walks_At_Night on February 09, 2019, 11:56:41 PM
"I think we've been hit personally...................."

Definitely some cool cats.

Agreed.  Also, skipper tongue-taps his Rs ("ze[r]o"), which you never hear any more for some reason.

Quote from: K_Dubb on February 09, 2019, 11:59:10 PM
Agreed.  Also, skipper tongue-taps his Rs ("ze[r]o"), which you never hear any more for some reason.

At 6:02 there is a "There goes my bottle".   I think they would drop their piss jug on Jerry for good measure.   ;)

K_Dubb

Quote from: Walks_At_Night on February 10, 2019, 12:04:43 AM
At 6:02 there is a "There goes my bottle".   I think they would drop their piss jug on Jerry for good measure.   ;)

Haha I was actually shocked to hear the full-throated cheering after they shot down a fighter I'm guessing?  Expected something more laconic.  Skipper had to recall them to their composure quickly, of course.

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