USS Iowa BB-61 Volunteer of the Quarter Award

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Craig
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USS Iowa BB-61 Volunteer of the Quarter Award

Post by Craig »

I made this award to say thanks to the volunteers that have given almost 200,000 hours of work on the USS Iowa since 2012; they truly are the heart and soul of the operation.
Instead of clamping the piece and possibly damaging this historic piece of steel I decided to use 5 rare earth magnets, with 75 lbs holding power each, to hold the piece along the edge. I used a long bolt to be able to peel the magnets off the slice without damaging it if needed.
It's made out of 1/4 thick mild steel that I had powder coated in a flat black. The shape of the base was inspired by the angled superstructures of the new radar avoiding Navy vessels, I like the contrast between the new designs and the old big gun Navy.
This award is made out of a slice from the center barrel of the #2 turret of a 16 inch 50 caliber Mark 7 gun. The barrel is #287 the guns were 66.6 feet long?50 times their 16-inch bore, or 50 calibers, from breech face to muzzle. Each gun weighed about 239,000 pounds without the breech, or 267,900 pounds with the breech. They fired projectiles weighing from 1,900 to 2,700 pounds at a maximum speed of 2,690 feet per second with a range of up to 24 miles. At maximum range the projectile spent almost 1? minutes in flight. Each turret required a crew of 79 men to operate. The turrets themselves cost US$1.4 million each in 1940, to which the cost of the guns had to be added.
This barrel was removed and sent to Hawthorn NV during Iowa's 1956 refit. In 2011 the Navy decided to scrap all the barrels they had and opened the bidding on over 3,000,000 pounds of naval guns. Luckily a metal dealer decided to save about 4 feet of the muzzle end of the barrel that I acquired and donated to the Iowa for their museum space. I also purchased this 1.5 inch thick slice of the barrel and donated it back to the Iowa to be used as this volunteer of the Quarter award.
I will post more pictures when we get it installed.

Craig Johnson
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Iowa Vol (648x800).jpg
Last edited by Craig on Tue Sep 01, 2015 8:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: USS Iowa BB-61 Volunteer of the Quarter Award

Post by Oldsarge »

Absolutely the most unique project I've seen so far! Brilliant use of magnets, I like to use them wherever I can... I have a feeling this one will get a lot of attention, and thanks for your continuing work with the Iowa, it must be an honor to take care of a piece of American naval history like that!

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Craig
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Re: USS Iowa BB-61 Volunteer of the Quarter Award

Post by Craig »

Oldsarge wrote:Absolutely the most unique project I've seen so far! Brilliant use of magnets, I like to use them wherever I can... I have a feeling this one will get a lot of attention, and thanks for your continuing work with the Iowa, it must be an honor to take care of a piece of American naval history like that!

Mike

Thanks Mike, because I never served in the military I am glad I can give back to this great country in some way. And your right it has been my honor to help take care for one of our nations treasures. Craig
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Re: USS Iowa BB-61 Volunteer of the Quarter Award

Post by SeanP »

Nice work there Craig, really interesting facts about those big guns, I didn't realise that's what the slice was until reading on, well done.
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Re: USS Iowa BB-61 Volunteer of the Quarter Award

Post by plain ol Bill »

I have memories of loading out a naval ammo ship w/ 16" rounds bound for the USS Missouri which served in Vietnam. I also have memories of what a 16" round sound like going overhead to target.
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Re: USS Iowa BB-61 Volunteer of the Quarter Award

Post by MadMetal2000 »

Another great piece Craig and very nice of you to do this for our Veterans and thanks for the history lesson. Like Mike said I thought this would have gotten more attention, but I think it turned our great. :D Albert
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Re: USS Iowa BB-61 Volunteer of the Quarter Award

Post by Craig »

The award is now installed on the bell stand in the ward room of the Battleship Iowa. Craig Johnson
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Re: USS Iowa BB-61 Volunteer of the Quarter Award

Post by AnotherDano »

How did I miss this thread on the first go-around?

Great job, Craig - and from the vets; Thank You!

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Re: USS Iowa BB-61 Volunteer of the Quarter Award

Post by Craig »

Congratulations to Stan Sato for becoming the first Volunteer of the Quarter.
Stan has become known as Dr. Wood for his work to replace the old Teak and Doug fir decking.

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Stan Sato-2 small.jpg (96.12 KiB) Viewed 2170 times
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Re: USS Iowa BB-61 Volunteer of the Quarter Award

Post by james.davis »

As always great work.
thanks for sharing.
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Re: USS Iowa BB-61 Volunteer of the Quarter Award

Post by ben de lappe »

Great way to give Craig.
As a vet, it's nice to see people such as yourself continue to hold our military members service in high regard. From me and every other vet I know- Thank You.
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Re: USS Iowa BB-61 Volunteer of the Quarter Award

Post by Sampson Jones »

Craig your a badass .
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Re: USS Iowa BB-61 Volunteer of the Quarter Award

Post by MadMetal2000 »

Congrats to Stan and thanks to you Craig and all the crew for doing such a great job of taking care of the Battleship Iowa.
I finally got down for a visit last week and the ship looked great. The volunteers where very friendly and knowledgeable, I learned a lot.
keep up the good work and thank for sharing I look forward to seeing what you make next, Albert
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Re: USS Iowa BB-61 Volunteer of the Quarter Award

Post by Craig »

Thanks Albert, you are too kind.
And it has been a great honor for me to be counted among the volunteers of the USS Iowa.
PM me next time you come to the ship and if available will give you a VIP tour. Craig
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