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The Drydock - Episode 308 (Part 2)

🕑 Added 2024-07-27 13:30:01 +0000 UTC

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Allen Parmet

The US Civil War balloons had a problem. They were spherical and tended to spin in the wind, making for some very dizzy observers. The Germans produced modified "sausage" or Draken balloons for observation in the 1890s, but these were still a problem in anything but very light wind. Finally the Frenchman Albert Caquot designed an elongated balloon with tail fins, causing it to always point into the wind. The Calquot was stable up to 90 kts and would be modified into barrage balloons used over ships and cities in WW2.

Allen Parmet

Drach quite rightly raises the issue of aging explosive materials. The worst peacetime accident in US Navy history was in a large part due to the use of old and poorly stored explosives. The July 29, 1967 fire on the USS Forrestal, CV-59, known to us as the “Forrest-fire” killed 134 and injured 161 of her crew plus destroying or damaging 61 aircraft. The day before the accident, the ammunition ship USS Diamond Head transferred a load of bombs to the Forrestal. The load was to include newly produced MK-82 500 pound and MK-83 1000 pound bombs. Due to a shortage of bombs, sixteen AN-M65A1 bombs produced fifteen years early and stored at Subic Bay Navy Base in the Philippines. These older bombs had thin casings compared to the new ones and contained the explosive Composition B. Comp B consisted of 59% RDX, 39% TNT and 2% wax filler. Comp B deteriorates over time and faster if stored outside, in the heat, rain and other improper conditions-in other words Subic Bay. As a result, some of the old bombs were leaking wax, indicating the bombs had degenerated. The Forrestal’s captain refused to accept these bombs until ordered to do so by CINCPAC. He refused to allow them in the ship’s magazine and had them all placed in the “bomb farm” on the flight deck. The crew was alarmed by the leaking bombs and wondered if a catapult launch would set them off. They were reluctant to handle them. Meanwhile, in an episode reminiscent of Beatty at Jutland, two other safety procedures in munitions handling were violated whilst arming F-4s and A-4s. Rocket pods on F-4s were armed by attaching an electrical connection after engine start and then the safety pin was pulled as the plane was on the catapult. (The safety pin had a large tag which could be pulled off by wind or jet blast. Bombs have two safety pins, one removed before takeoff and the other pulls free only when the bomb drops off the plane, allowing the arming mechanism to start). To speed up launches, both the electrical connection was made and the arming pin pulled off the Zuni rocket pod on an F-4 while it was still parked. When the pilot started the engines, an electrical surge launched a rocket. The rocket fired across the deck and hit an A-4 loaded with the old bombs. While the rocket didn’t have time to arm, the hit ruptured a fuel tank, starting a conflagration. The damage control team rushed to put out the fire. The newer MK-82 and MK-83 bombs could sit in a fire for 5 minutes before detonating. The team was trained to extinguish fires in 120 seconds. The old bomb blew up at 92 seconds. In the resulting fire, ten of the old bombs blew up, two deflagrated (low order explosion) and four were jettisoned overboard. Only one of the newer bombs blew, due to being mounted next to an old bomb when it detonated. The others burned, along with 40,000 US gallons of jet fuel. As a result, there were seven large holes in the armored flight deck. Due to the Navy’s experience with damage control during WW2 (see Drach’s video), the USN educated most of the crew and their response saved the ship. How many other vessels could survive 11 bomb blasts on the deck and survive?

Jellicoe Cats

The use of tethered hot air balloon for spotting is not a crazy as it sounds. During the American Civil War Professor Thaddeus Lowe deployed a number of hydrogen filled balloons that proved very useful during the Peninsula Campaign. A military observer from Würtemberg named Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin was very impressed with the balloons and took detailed notes. The Genesee Country Village and Museum of Mumford, New York has a working replica of the observation balloon Intrepid. You might be able to get a check out ride on it while you are in the Albany area but they only launch it intermittently due to the cost and availability of helium.