Battleship Texas Machine Shop

[David2011]

USS Texas (BB-35) was designed in 1910, construction started the next year and the hull was launched in 1912. She was commissioned in 1914. As a volunteer on the current restoration project I've had access to places the public hasn't seen in years so I wanted to share the machine shop with you. The ship was designed to run 100% on a DC electrical system. All of the powered machinery retains the original DC motors. As equipment intended to run on AC power was added along the way two systems were added. One was local DC to AC generators where a DC motor powered an AC generator. Those were typically installed near the device requiring AC power. Later, an AC generator for the ship was installed but there are to this day lots of things that are still configured to be powered by the DC system. A modern AC shore power system has been installed to power the museum functions of the ship.

The machine shop is small but there is adequate room to operate all of the machinery at one time. The shop is on the third deck, two decks below the main deck. There are no elevators except for those in the turrets to handle powder and projectiles.

[David2011]

This is a very interesting lathe. It's small; no bigger than a modern light benchtop machine. I couldn't find any manufacturer's information on it. The lighting, as can be seen in the previous post, is poor at this time. The lights in the first photo and our flashlights were all the light that was available. Everything on the lathe operated freely in spite of the surface rust. It made me want to give it a test run. Note the large motor mounted beneath the lathe bench.

[David2011]

This is the mid sized lathe, a 14" American Tool Works machine. The big DC motor above the headstock is a work of art. All of the wiring that was installed when the ship was in service is encased in what appears to be braided bronze sheathing. None of the sheathing has the verdigris of copper so I'm assuming it's bronze.

[David2011]

The biggest of the three lathes is this Reed Prentiss. The swing is bigger than the American, maybe 20" or so and between centers its much longer. Wish I would have had a tape measure when I took the photos. Another of the volunteers agreed to pose for a size reference.

[David2011]

Surprisingly to me, there was only a horizontal mill.

[David2011]

One of the few labor saving devices on board is this power hacksaw.

[David2011]

There is a substantial radial arm drill press and a second smaller drill press.

[David2011]

An arbor press and an absolute beast of a "bench" grinder complete the power tool collection.

[David2011]

As we left the machine shop we passed this item. The circular item in the rack is a piston ring!

[RONALD]

In 1914 most machine shops were driven by an Overhead Line Shaft, so I suspect, at some time, the whole shop may have been "Modernized".

The mill with the Double Overarm, is from the very late 20's or after.

In 1914, mills would have been single Overarm and Line Shaft driven, as was my 1908 Brown & Sharp #1-1/2 now at 114 years young.

It had that Line Shaft adapter added in 1935.

[David2011]

Your B&S is beautiful. Love the birthday cake. The horizontal mill could very well have been added in 1925-26 when the ship had a major refit. When she was built torpedoes and aircraft weren't a threat to ships. After the Great War the Texas received many upgrades including anti-aircraft guns and a torpedo blister. There were additional shipyard visits during WWII so the mill could have been added as late as 1942. There is no evidence in the machine shop of overhead shafting nor is there overhead clearance for shafting. The machines are not lined up for a shaft and there are irregularities in the deck that would make such alignment difficult at best. (See the access cover in the first photo.) There are DC motors everywhere in the ship. The historians of the ship believe that the machinery was all DC powered as the DC motors are still in place. Even the 14" gun turrets were operated with DC motors.

There are I beams attached to the overhead frames for trolleys so there was a way to move heavy material about in the shop and throughout the ship. Moving anything heavy required great effort due to limited routes and lots of watertight bulkheads and doors. Fortunately, a large labor force of young sailors was available. As built the crew was 1.042 officers and sailors, later expanded to 1,800.

[liveaboard]

In 1914 most machine shops were driven by an Overhead Line Shaft, so I suspect, at some time, the whole shop may have been "Modernized".

It looks to me like there isn't enough headroom in there for overhead shafts.
The navy might have opted to spend more on individual motors for both space saving and redundancy.

Thanks for sharing the cool pictures!