And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Thursday, January 6, 2022
A sailor holds one of the 90 pound anchor chain links that broke onboard USS Texas (BB-35).
Combination of things, during that era, metal flaw is likely. When weighing anchor one of the crew on the fo'c'sle hits each link as it comes aboard with a hammer. If it rings it's probably good. If it goes thud, it needs to be replaced. Any crack in the metal will let salt water into the link and corrode it. And you didn't have enough fresh water to waste on rinsing the anchor chain. On ships with steam plants, water went to the boilers, then the galley, then the crew.
The Navy stopped using the open links like that one sometime during the 1940's I think, the new style has a stud in the middle, so it looks like a figure 8.
It also depends on where they dropped it too. If they had a runaway when lowering it and the water was deep enough it would have broken somewhere, either where it was attached down in the chain locker or at one of the links.
How do you break a 90 lb. chain link? Bad steel? Combat damage?
ReplyDeleteCombination of things, during that era, metal flaw is likely. When weighing anchor one of the crew on the fo'c'sle hits each link as it comes aboard with a hammer. If it rings it's probably good. If it goes thud, it needs to be replaced. Any crack in the metal will let salt water into the link and corrode it. And you didn't have enough fresh water to waste on rinsing the anchor chain. On ships with steam plants, water went to the boilers, then the galley, then the crew.
ReplyDeleteThe Navy stopped using the open links like that one sometime during the 1940's I think, the new style has a stud in the middle, so it looks like a figure 8.
Sailor couldn't be in dungarees to hold it up for photos; nope, it had to be in whites.
ReplyDeleteIt also depends on where they dropped it too. If they had a runaway when lowering it and the water was deep enough it would have broken somewhere, either where it was attached down in the chain locker or at one of the links.
ReplyDelete