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August 22nd Photos Page |
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I know it's been a while since I last posted any photos, but I've been crazy busy on numerous projects and updating this site has slid down on my priority list, sorry... As usual though I've been onboard regularly, in fact I've made the trip every Saturday but one since my last posting on June 27th. One of the projects that has been keeping me busy lately is an effort by me and a fellow Brass Team member to redesign the ships Memorial Kiosk application which is accessible to those who visit the ship. The kiosk sits on the aft mess deck and contains about 150 names of former Battleship Crewmembers, Military Veterans and Battleship Friends. Several months ago it crashed and we were asked to see if we could get it up and running again. We were confident we could pull it off so we've spent the last six weeks or so acquiring a new computer to run the application, building a database to hold the records and photos and recreating the application to search and view the records using the touch screen monitor. It's been a challenging task, but we've made a lot of progress and hope to have it back in operation in the near future. Besides working on the kiosk the Brass Team continues to spend our Saturdays making the bright work shine. Today we made another visit across the river to work on the USS Olympia and USS Becuna. The curator of the Battleship has dubbed us the "Brass Team without Borders" and we like having the opportunity to go over there and work occasionally. We had a huge turnout today; despite the heat and high humidity, we had 15 people show up ready to go to work. It rained much of the morning, so we broke down into two groups, one headed to the Becuna, the other went down into the Olympia's Engine Room. I was one of those that went to the Engine Room and let me tell you it was sweltering down there, but that didn't stop us from putting a shine on things. Once again we had several of the Brass Team's junior members with us and I was amazed at their perseverance under the conditions! Bravo Zulu to all who made the trip, great job! They will definitely be able to tell we were there! The first two photos below were taken on the 4th of July, the next one is of my partner in crime working on the kiosk. The remainder were taken of the gang in action on the Olympia and Becuna. My next volunteer day will be Saturday the 29th, that will make it six Saturdays in a row for me so I'll be staying home and relaxing for Labor Day weekend. Hope to see you onboard soon, come on down and volunteer, get your hands dirty, we'll supply the polish and rags, just bring the muscle and desire to make stuff shine. |
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rode with this guy for about 20 miles heading up I-95 north early on the morning of the 4th of July. This photo was taken out the passenger side window of my car while driving at about 65 mph. What's really cool though is if you zoom in really close you can see a perfect image of my car reflected in the large round clutch cover plate on his bike, it was a great beginning to the 4th. |
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When I arrived at the ship
we hauled out this monster holiday flag and hoisted it up for all too see, a pretty impressive site for sure! |
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| My
partner in crime, working with me to get the ships Memorial Kiosk back up and running again. This job is far from polishing brass, but it's just as important. We hope to have a new and improved kiosk operational real soon. |
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next 9 photos show members of the team in action on the Olympia and Becuna. Here the Becuna's Forward Torpedo Room is getting some special TLC. |
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| Working in the Becuna's Lower Control Room. |
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| Another shot of equipment just to the right of the photo above. |
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| Work
going on in the Upper Conning Tower. This area is only open to the public on the first Saturday of each month. |
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| Work going on down in the Olympia's Engine Room. |
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| More
work in the Olympia's Engine Room. Note the mahogany wood held in
place by brass bands around the pumps. The curator told us it served as insulation, pretty amazing. |
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| No shortage of stuff to shine in the Olympia's Engine Room, that's for sure! |
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was hot, late in the day and we were all sweating our #*%%@ off, but the spirit was evident! |
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| The
last survivors, this is the group that made it through the entire day. It's 4:30 now and time for us to head home, but there's no doubt that those who visit this space will be able to tell we were there. Great job gang! |
