Kimbro Oil donated 4 Oil Drums and extras

Our Chief Cook Owen Chapman has secured a donation of 4 oil drums and 6 5 gal. buckets for the upcoming cruises this year! Thank you to Owen and Kimbro Oil for this large donation!

Mike Spivey donated his time to drive down to Nashville TN to pick up the drums.

Andrew Schade and J. Kenneth Grant helped unload the oil drums one by one down to the ship.

Using the oil drum dolly makes it safer but it is still hard to wrestle such large drums.

Scott Anderson came out to help us too!

LST 177 Models on Display

We have more items going to the Freedom Heritage Museum.  The LST 177 Reunion Committee donated 2 models they had on display.  

We've had the model without a case on display in the Tank Deck.  With the changes that are being made to the displays, these models were going into storage.  

Being able to display these models at the Freedom Heritage Museum will be a much better opportunity for us and the models.

J. Kenneth Grant and Zane Anderson get the first model in the case onto a wheeled cart. 

Scott Anderson provided the wheels to take both models to the museum out at the airport.

Andrew Schade was also on hand to help lift these delicate models.

During a brief break, J. Kenneth Grant does a jig about Archives.

These models will add to the LCVP display that was taken over earlier in the month.

Large amounts of steel were delivered today in preparation for work on the area in the Evaporator Room where the new ORCA Septic System donated by EVAC North America will go and various ship's projects.

Moving steel that's 20 feet long can be difficult.

Zane Anderson climbed in the truck to hold down the steel angle pieces and needed J. Kenneth Grant to help out.  Then Scott Anderson was needed to weigh down another stack of steel.

The delivery driver for Wright Steel helped by walking behind and holding the stacks.

Andrew Schade carried down the pipe we bought.

We used the Cargo Hatch to send all the pieces down.

The cover is wedged in place with wood.

The wooden panels are probably original to the ship, there aren't identifying markings to verify this.

The wood definitely looks old enough.  Still very sturdy and heavy.

Using the crane to lower down the steel saves backs and time.

John Engstrom operates the crane and J. Kenneth Grant and Patrick Shubel were down in the Tank Deck to receive the steel.

Our work begins in the Galley.  Since Scott Anderson installed the new sprayer hose for the galley sink, the area has required additional improvement.  Zane Anderson has been using a needlegun and sheer willpower to get years of paint off of the backsplash before repainting it.

Pete's Bakery was opened during the last cruise and has served many birthday cakes to the crew.  You can find those pictures in our Pittsburgh Cincinnati Cruise 2016 post.

Zane Anderson tries to duck out of view.  You can see the years of different color paint and different materials used to build up the backsplash.  Refurbishing the sink area will make sanitation much easier for the Galley Crew.

Scott Anderson is still working in Port Side Troop Berthing.  He's got the paint off and is working on priming the bulkhead before we open 6 days a week on April 1st!

We come to a large project started by Ron Owens.  The picture above is the Auxiliary Engine Room Control Panel.  This panel provides electric to the entire ship.  You can see a part of the section on the left, this is how the panel on the right did look before Ron took each copper piece home and cleaned them.  To try to replace all of the copper contacts would be expensive and very hard.  Ron Owens said he plans to complete the entire panel, but is not sure of timeline since we keep asking him about other projects. 

Another load to go into the 'Depot', our storage building. The main piece is an Emergency Fire Pump.

Places like the Auxiliary Engine Room are nearly impossible for the public to see due to safety regulations.  It's only through volunteering like Ron that you can see the nitty-gritty of the ship.  Sign up today and help save a piece of our nation's history. 

A foggy day here on the river in Evansville, Indiana. Get ready to tour the ship when we open 6 days a week on April 1st! 

Click here to check out our Tour Schedules.

Clearing away the items for storage off site continues.  Everyone was on the Main Deck to help out. J. Kenneth Grant came out to supervise.

Patrick Shubel and Andrew Schade maintain safety while quickly handling the pieces for storage.  Many pieces that were on display won't be put out as part of the new exhibits.

This port hole cover for example, although interesting is not original to the ship and will be stored.

Scott and Zane Anderson are working to hoist up one of the rack gears from the Tank Deck with John Engstrom on the crane.

The rack gears are used to grip the round gears used to open the Bow Doors.  These gears are important to operating the doors, but are cumbersome and do not tell the complete story of the doors and will be stored.

Within the green trunk is a Radio Power Generator.  Used in the field by radiomen for a specific model of radio used in 1941.

The above control panel is used to operate the blower motors for the fresh air ventilation fans.

This is a rudder control panel (steering motor panel) Our Chief Engineer, John Hatton says it's the very part that failed us on the second day of our last cruise. We were able to repair the old controller on the ship this time but its a critical spare part that we need.

We continue to move the displays off of the Tank Deck to prepare for painting 

during the Deck Work Week April 10th to 15th.

The Clean Sweep Broom is run up the mast once a ship complete her Sea Trials.

The broom is from LST 1106.

Zane and Scott Anderson helped Patrick Shubel dismantle the display.

Most of the items left are large and require the forklift.

The LST 177 was donated along with another model of the 177 by LST 177 Reunion Committee.

J. Kenneth Grant and Andrew Schade carefully take down the LST 177 model for storage.

The 20 mm Oerlikon Display needs the forklift to be moved.

J. Kenneth Grant and the Army Mannequin donated by Sarge Goodall are helping each other to dismount the cargo net.

Andrew Schade helped to free J. Kenneth and the mannequin from the cargo net.

Everything is being moved either off ship or to Archives Storage.

The 20 mm was wired for sound by Bob Pointer. You can see the speaker and assembly at the base of the gun mount.

The L-Bird model shown represents a little known piece of history about LSTs. A handful of LSTs were outfitted with a Brodie Device to act as a floating runway for these small planes.

The weight and shape of the gun and mount are hard to maneuver through the tank deck.

With the help of Zane Anderson and Andrew Schade, the uneven tank deck was easily navigated.

The Cargo Net could be used to carry or secure cargo and it could also be used to help soldiers climb on and off ship in a hurry.

The Rope Ladder would also be used by soldiers to climb on and off ship or for work over the side of the ship just like the Bosun's Chair.

Many of the pulleys will be taken off ship for storage to make room for dynamic displays.

Scott Anderson loosens the rigging holding a windless motor on display.

The cracked manifold that was on display will also be moved to storage.

Displaying these large pulleys requires large chains.

All of the chain is stored along the tank deck in an elevated chain trough that runs the length of the tank deck on either side.

These chains were put in place by Herb Quick for the pulleys.

Everyone pitches in to unhook the pulleys and the block and tackle.

Zane Anderson steadies the block and tackle on the forklift.

The set of pulleys shown here were taken down together.

Using the forklift, John Engstrom lifts both pulleys by the cables over to the other heavy items to be moved.

During the April Deck Work Week the overhead and bulkheads will be painted and even the lights need to come down.

Final cleanup of chains, cables, and ropes.

Without displays, the tank deck seems immeasurable.

There were over 100 feet of displays on the tank deck.