Shop Tour 16: USS Iowa Machine Shop

I worked in that shop 89-90 . I was on the last de-com crew. Made a lot of pump shafts on those lathes!! Those machinist mates could do some damage with those adjustable hammers. You’re right with the emblems on the cabinet doors. We were machine repairman. This brings back a lot of good memories. You learn to run the machine underway and learn to lean with the ship as it rocked and rolled. It became second nature after doing it for a while. I was one of the guys that put all of the cosmaline on and in those machines.

Machinery Repairmen became a separate rating in 1948. Machinist Mates were working there in WWII.

Nice tour! Funny that it's a bit cluttered, it''s a real shop! I'd love to see a tour of a repair ship, with a foundry. that's wild.

Our Freedom is so important. Thanks to Vets.

The last machine shop I worked at in SC had an optical comparator made in 1942! Absolutely a joy to operate and know that I truly enjoy machining. Brought up on Bridgeport, Klausing, K&T, South Bend, etc... ( before they started making them overseas). Even did some shaper, planing on a Bridgeport in High school in the late '70's. CNC VMC's now for 36 years! ❤🇺🇲👹! Go FANUC!

Ran most of those machines in the late 70s and 80s in a small machine shop. Stamped on the side, it said war finish.

BB-62, the New Jersey, is moored a little over an hour away from me and I try to tour her at least once a year. Am always amazed at the machine shop on her, can only imagine all of the parts that were made or repaired in the shop during the ships lifetime.

Surprisingly good condition!

Mike is a good rep for the USS Iowa. Thank you for the tour.

Yes that is a walk down memory lane for me, and some of it is not a memory, but present day. I was MR2 (Machinery Repairman) 1986-1991 Charleston S.C. SIMA and Bremerton Wa. I have worked on almost everything he show in the video, by that I mean the same vintage equipment, Kerney Trecker mill, Lodge & Shipley lathe, the big drill presses, sheet metal shear and brakes etc.etc. All really first class machines, if taken care of will be around for another 100+ years. Until about a year ago we had one of the Sidney lathes here in my shop at the University of Arkansas, It was built in 1943. We needed the space (for a Haas CNC mill) and transferred the lathe to the Civil Engineer dept shop where it is used currently. I have a 1942 vintage, round column Bridgeport mill in the shop that we converted to CNC use and I use it almost every day. It can still be used as a manual mill as well, but with the ball screws it is not quite as desirable as a manual mill. The Navy machine shops be it land based or tender/battleship are quite a wonder land. In many ways I miss it, though I have been really blessed to be able to continue doing what I truly love, that is (still using some of the same equipment) repairing and making things and teaching young people how to do that as well.

At the time of the ships original commissioning all of the ships boats were made of wood so a wood shop was very useful in maintaining them. Great tour, thanks for inviting us along.

I've toured the Iowa with some of my shipmates about 7-8 years ago. We were all Boiler Techs. Had a chance to stop into one of the boiler rooms. We also saw the bunks where those accused of the gun mishap signed their names. I have also visited the USS Missouri when it was still active during the gulf war. Our ship (USS Benjamin Stoddert), had the opportunity to witness a full broadside of the USS New Jersey during a RIMPAC exercise. Good times 😊

Imagine trying to work in that shop pitching and rolling in 40 or 50 foot seas

Thanks for the fun tour, I had never thought about the machine shop on a battleship, but of course, it was a critical component of keeping the ship in service. Many thanks to our veterans who sailed and serviced this great vessel. 🎉😊

Great video. I worked at the Ford Dearborn Engine Plant in the Rouge Complex in Dearborn Michigan for 30 years starting in 1980. The plant was originally built by the US Government in 1942 to produce 18 cylinder radial aircraft engines. Most of the machines in the plant Toolroom dated from the WW2 years, very much like those on the Iowa.

Keith, The shops are long and narrow, so placement of the machines seems dictated by the "shoe horn" effect. Ship's machinery is oriented with their axis fore and aft. By aligning the axis fore and aft it reduces bearing loads from ship movement. One of the best layout people I've known rearranged our machine shop to assure the axis were optimal. I've been on the Iowa, New Jersey, and the Missouri and I never noticed that the shop machinery was welded directly to the deck. The 6" deck makes for a very solid foundation. Shop machinery foundations consist of a frame construction matches the below deck structure, along with pads that match the machine's foundation. There will be structure on the underside of deck to support the machine. Temporary jacking screws are used alignment. Shims will be used for final alignment. Once aligned the machine will be bolted and a taper pin will be fitted. The bolts will have some sort of locking system for security. Bob

Imagine the difficulty of doing a precision machining repair whilst underway in a heavy sea.

I was lucky enough to get a quick walk through of the machine shop and sheet metal shop on USS Iowa back in March of 2017. I took pictures of as much as I could and made them into a short video slideshow, which can be found on my youtube channel. One of my favorite parts of the shop is the table with the names and addresses of the sailors who worked in that division during those special occasions. It's great to see you taking the machine shop tour on Iowa... because when I was walking through there, I thought to myself, "Keith Rucker would love to see all of these great old machines". Nice video, thanks for sharing. 🙂

Great tour, I like you got excited when the tour quide opened the drawer with all them convoluted bits for machining differant gear work

Hi Keith, Thanks for the tour. I was stationed aboard the USNS Harkness in 1971-72, which in addition to the usual equipment, carried four Hydrographic Survey Launches, made of fiberglass and wood. Our machine shop was about half the size of the Iowa's. Our ship was a lot more 'lively' than a WWII battleship, so work had to be planned taking into account the sea state. We added A/C to one of our boats for the computers so we needed a jack shaft to run the compressor. We took the boat to the Naval Station, Annapolis (across the Severn from the USNA) and they had a machine shop that just about filled an aircraft hanger. I think they had every tool possible in that building! Took them about thirty minutes to fabricate and install our shaft, two pulleys and the pillow block bearings needed to support it. Not only were they good, they were also fast. I think they enjoyed working on something besides sailboats and yard patrol craft for a change. Thanks again for the memories!