Let's talk torpedo tubes and back hauling them

[Rick]

The pipe yard does have a forklift.  it is not hard to convince them to help us out.  In fact they are the ones that come over and unloaded the torpedos from the transport traileer.  Again the problem is getting a craine that can go on the the grounds and load the torpedos from the ground to the deck some 20+ feet.

I have not entirely given up the ides of disassembling the torpedos and loading them that way.   

Rick

[AVGWarhawk]

Cost effective to disassemble the torpedo.  Also, with todays technology, using digital cameras to take pictures of the disassembly for reference in putting it back together is a plus.  Perhaps each piece could be positioned by the muzzle using block and pulley off the deck.  Just tossing out ideas here.     

[Darrin]

Folks,
John brought up a good idea which is that you need to start to practice moving the weapons or a simulated weapon around so that you can understand how a 21' X 21" pipe swings. IF you can find all of your parts (or make the missing ones) for your A frame, why don't you set that up in the yard that you actually have the weapons at and build a wooden platform or something to mount it on so that you can start to practice picking them up and moving them right and left and then lowering them to a new location. Once you have the proper distances of the A frame see IF it will fit up forward on the bow so that it can be put there temporarly so that there will not be a requirement for a crane to come down and that will also knock out a lot of concerns that I have about shifting the weapons on a platform and into the shutter door area.

You may have to build a small platform to put the weapons on when bringing them down to the boat on the forklift so that you can get them safely to the boat and then only have to put blocks under the weapons once you start to load them while you reposition your sling instead of trying to put rollers underneath the weapons hoping that you have the clearances close enough to work.

There are instructions online showing you how to completely disassemble a Mk 14 and there is a good bit of stuff to do to it IF it still has all of the guts inside it. I am pretty sure that Correy (the UH-60 mechanic) could figure out just by looking at the book, the biggest thing about the disassembly is that you don't have to disassemble the entire thing only the warhead from the air flask and the air flask from the engine group. There is a chance (small one I hope) that there is still air pressure in the air flask so obviously this would have to be taken apart very slowly.

[Ctwilley]

I've done enough UH-60 1000 hr phases in my day that this CAN'T be any harder than those.
I mean, with a good manual you almost have to TRY to jack it up.

[Darrin]

Well Correy, Here ya go... NO IETM for this one    Chapter 8 may be of interst too you and the Batfish crew... hint hint, wink, wink

The Mk 27 from what I have been told is a relatively easy weapon to disassemble with nothing more then a standard rachet set, it would be a good idea to remove the batteries if they haven't been done so already.

Here's da link,
http://www.hnsa.org/doc/torpedo/index.htm

[Ctwilley]

This shouldn't be too difficult.
As long as we take it slow and document document document, we should be able to do this.
It looks as though the warhead is going to be the heaviest part. How much weight are we talking per section? It would be nice if we could just get several guys to carry each of the lighter sections.

Purely a curiosity question here, I'm sure the military wouldn't let anything out that would be active but what's the possibility of there still being torpex inside the warhead? I noticed that they removed the detonator gear but am curious about the "bad" stuff.

[Darrin]

Correy,
ALL of the explosives have been removed and your warhead either has concrete or plaster of paris in it if anything at all. The last warshot Mk 14's were demilled in 2004 and these weapons were stored in a warhouse for many years until a former TMCM found them and was given permission to demill them. Those weapons as far as I know of have all found new homes with the submarine museum community...

Here's the link to the demil process which you may find quite interesting IF you haven't seen this before

http://as15-burninbush.com/MK14%20PROJECT.html

[JTheotonio]

Correy each section was pretty much balanced weight wise.  There was over 600 lbs of explosives in the warhead.  Overall weight was about 3,000 lbs.

[Darrin]

And if you read the rest of the traffic on the torpedo loadout's you will see it has been posted OR you could go and dig it up in the manual that I linked in..  The bare bones shell of all three pieces and the screws on it weighs a little over 1,000 lbs and it normally weighs in closer to 3,000. I wouldn't gut that weapon out unless you absolutely had to and there is no reason to, you will have to disconnect some things but remember that the only thing that you are disassembeling is the warhead from the air flask and the air flask from the engine group.
This isn't like having to take the transmission out of a UH-60, where the main rotor's have to come off then the rotor hub and then disconnect the nose gear boxes and then the wiring and the control's before you even start to put any rigging on it to pull it out.
Sorry that there is no IETM for you to use Correy, this is a tough project but not as tough as what you and I both have done to keep our respective airframes in the air flying and taking the fight to the bad guys.

[Ctwilley]

With only three major components, I think that this shouldn't be too difficult. It looks like the hardest part will actually be just handeling the weight. I guess we're at the point of do or die so I'll keep studying and formulate a gameplan until Rick decides exactly what he wants to do.
Thanks for all your help.

[Darrin]

Correy,
this isn't "do or die" time this is "practice and then do" time, for those of us that have loaded weapons on the boats this is not a task to be taken too lightly because those weapons can and will kill you for the fun of it. (kinda like loading the AH-64D after not sleeping for 3 days)

John and I both agree that the crew needs to PRACTICE how to move these weapons so you have an idea as to how they react, IF you are going to back haul them then there is a stand that may have to be built and there are a LOT of variables that need to be looked at prior to doing anything other then talking about what would be best for those handeling these weapons.

On Torsk our last Mk 14 load out we had a dozen or more folks topside working on bringing down slowly with MULTIPLE backups in case that weapon broke loose and we had 4 folks in the FWD room recieving it and once onboard it was strapped down to a skid and then MULTIPLE chain falls were used to pick it up and then swing it into place AFTER there were a number of folks there to help it into place.

[Ctwilley]

I think I may have been misunderstood. I'm saying that it's time to get a game plan and plan out what we need to do. I'm by no means saying that we need to jump headfirst into this willy-nilly. That will no doubt get someone seriously hurt.

[Darrin]

Sorry about that, I did misread your post and thought that you were pushing ahead without going through every option available. Hey Correy your Reserve unit doesn't have an Atlas by chance does it?? (10K forklift with extendable boom and is able to turn the cradle and the cab to maintain it being level) because that would cure all of your ill's if you could talk them into bringing it over to the Batfish for "Operator training" one weekend

[Ctwilley]

No problem. I don't get easily offended.

We had one at one time but the Great State of Oklahoma decided that the motorpool parking lot in Oklahoma City needed it more than we did. Now the best we have is a very small, very anemic forklift that runs only if the good Lord shines his light your way.

[Darrin]

Too bad because that Atlas would have allowed you to put the weapons right on the deck or helped in back hauling your weapons, so now ya need to figure out another more labor intensive way to get them onboard. And let me guess they took your Scamp away also because you have overhead cranes in your hanger so you don't need to have your crane. (Scamp is a small 5K driveable crane with leveling legs on it, used in Aviation to pull the rotors and hubs off of the aircraft in the field) because IF I remember correctly the Scamp has an extenable boom that is long enough to reach to the deck from a decent distance away from the hull and while it would be a slow ride to get it there (25MPH I think was the max speed) it would be well worth it and FUN getting it there.