WW2 US Navy Ships clinometer......

[Flightpath]

Hi,

I hope this is posted in the correct forum as I posted aircraft instruments in the aircraft forum.

 

I picked up this 1942 MARK III MOD.O Clinometer recently to mount with my 1943 USN MARK 1 Deck Clock, if only it could talk........

[KRIS FORD]

Awesome!!..Let me tell you a thing or two about a clinometer! I used to stand a watch on CVN-73, the USS George Washington, called LIST CONTROL..where the clinometer was the star of the show..when conducting flight ops, that thing MUST read zero...so that meant transferring ballast from port and starboard tanks via a series of pumps. Ours was a bubble, like a level, but same exact concept..port list, pump ballast to starboard to level the bubble, starboard list, pump to port.

 

The watch was down in a 7th deck shaft alley (that's 7 stories DOWN for the land lubbers ) and you'd wear sound powered phones that everyone (CO, XO, CHENG..Damage Control Central) was connected to. Like I said it had BETTER read zero!!

 

Not even remotely stressful!

[Flightpath]

Thanks for that Kris, very interesting!

[lambo35]

While anchored in the bay outside the Long Beach Navy Base [Calif.], the Burton Island [AGB-1] would rock 10 degrees port and starboard.

She had a hull with the profile of an egg which made it much easier to rock her free of the ice by shifting fuel or water balast

across her beam.

 

 

Chuck

[Dave]

On one of my ships, we found that if we went past 40 degrees in a roll, the generators would shut down. Rolling...dark...good times in the North Atlantic...

[Salvage Sailor]

On watch in the dead of night in heavy seas. As the ship waddles across the bottom of a trough and up the face of a huge wave my SPS-10 radar repeater goes dark.

 

I hear the helmsman shout out "Dropped the load! Shifting to manual steering!..." Yes indeed Dave, good times in the North Atlantic

[Flightpath]

Hi,

thanks for the interesting replies, I have been reading about the destructive December 1944 typhoon that hit TF-38 and the terrible loss of ships, aircraft and lives.........

 

Typhoon Cobra hit the Philippine Islands and TF-38 on December 17, 1944. The task force was caught off-guard and the destroyers, USS Hull, Mongham and Spence were sunk and 22 other vessels received damage. While 150 aircraft were blown off the decks of the carriers, more than 750 sailors drowned.

 

The photo shows aircraft and sailors on the deck of the USS Anzio during the typhoon...... the sailors seem to be pretty well at home but this could be after the worst of the Typhoon.

[Salvage Sailor]

Hi,

I hope this is posted in the correct forum as I posted aircraft instruments in the aircraft forum.

 

I picked up this 1942 MARK III MOD.O Clinometer recently to mount with my 1943 USN MARK 1 Deck Clock, if only it could talk........

 

One of "our ships", a WWII ATF commissioned in 1943 was decommissioned at Pearl Harbor and sold to Taiwan in 1978. Just last week one of the founders of our association who was there with me in 1978 mentioned it to a Chinese business associate, a retired ROC Fleet Admiral. Turns out he was also there in 1978 and then asks him, want to visit the ship? She's still in service at Kaosiung 40 years later.

 

The ship was brought around from Kaohsiung to Keelung on Friday and displayed with full honors. We'll be publishing an article with photographs later this year in our magazine but of note for this thread was a video link they provided for us.

 

At 1:25 in this youtube video is the original ships clinometer, still being used 74 years after her commissioning for WWII service.

 

[Flightpath]

Thanks mate, that\s a great video, looks like the whole ship is still set up as it was during WW2, I don't think I'll polish my clinometer like they have though

 

It would be great id the ship returned to the US after the Taiwan navy retires it and have it as a living museum (if they ever do retire it)