SDIP Self-Inspection Checklist

[Rick]

I sent it out last week.  Let me know if you still need it.

[Tom Bowser]

We had our inspection Saturday and only had two inspect the boat, one, the chief was here last year and he was amazed at the work we had done. The Luetenant was on the target last year but after I showed him the picutures of the boat from before he too was amazed and he thought the motor room was clean even though it isn't. He said compared to the battleship the Drum was spotless. We didn't have any discrepenceys.

We finished painting officers country and will move outside this week and do repairs to the deck and then start on the port side. Finally a week with no rain forcast and temps in the sixties.
Tom

[Viejo]

We just had six Navy types headed by a LCDR come do the inspection of the Marlin. We are also working on the list of loaned items that has never been done since the city took over. I have been taking pictures of the over 200 items and putting them with each on the list. That goes to another navy group.
Our inspection went very well and the MM1 who was the lead guy and the LCDR were very impressed with how much got done and knocked off last year's list. No new items on this one that I know of. So The city is happy with the volunteers and the navy is happy that the ship and the park is looking better.
We have two big things to get done on the Marlin, but they aren't critical and the group who were inspecting agreed it was good to try and find some people to do them as donations and free help, instead of spending money. We will be  lifting the ship to take out old wood under the keel and cradles and replacing that with some neoprene and also putting in a fire/smoke detecting/security system. All are in the works, just rounding up help to do them.
 Not on their list, but they were interested, was our plan to get the scope out, fixed, and back in. We are hoping to have a contractor donate the crane (the parks architect has a lot of contractors he uses who owe him favors), have a Stratcom member working with the Nat. Guard to do the transport, and the guys who looked at the scope for us have it set up to have the Koll Morgan guy to supravise taking out and putting in, then he will also oversee the free fixing of the scope and giving us a new eyepiece. Hope to get this going this summer. We also have others in the community gathering support and finding the right people to talk to the guy at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard to see about gettting the Omaha Sail when we can raise the funds to have it put in the park. That is all in the future, but there is a Big Red club in Omaha that has funds and a lot of pull, so may be something that will happen.
This coming weekend the other jet and the Captain's Gig are getting painted. Up on the facebook Freedom Park page, I have pictures up of the other jet we just painted.
Things are moving along and have a good bunch of volunteers. Also put together over 90 pictures (under Smaller exhibits in the Park) to use as a walking tour of the park and also as part of what we ask school groups to look at ( also interior shots of both ships and albums of guns and bridge pictures) before they come out to tour the park. Each picture is titled with info.  Then the school kids ask more questions about what they looked at as they are seeing them up close. Seems to make it more interesting for them that way.
http://www.facebook.com/FREEDOMPARK
Oh, RSVP took an article I wrote and put it in their newsletter and are sending out notes to their members to get us more volunteers. If any of you have not used RSVP yet, I would suggest you look into it as a good source of free help.
Thanks
Viejo

[Rick]

I sympathize with you.  I have an estimated 1500 or more items that I have to catalogue.   I will trade you lists??

Good luck and god speed

[Viejo]

Rick, I am glad we don't have near that many items. We do have a bunch of small items from the USS Omaha that I finally located. The 200 items were guns, propellers, anchors, etc on display in the park and some items on the Hazard, although the ship itself is not owned by the Navy. I am doing as you mentioned and taking pictures of each item as I find them, then reference their location on the list that has the name and number from the Navy. As we get more items cleaned and painted, then I put new pictures with the list. From looking at the various museums, ours is one of the smaller ones, in both land and possessions, but there is more to do that we have people for, that is for sure. But we are getting there and I am continually amazed at the spirit and attitude of our volunteers and of course those who work for the City and run the park have been nothing but helpful and thankful for what we do get done. I went up Sunday thinking I could get some time on the computer doing paper work and had people walking through the park with umbrellas wanting to see the ships. That is great that people are that interested and I am sure it is that way with each of our museums. We are lucky people to get to work in jobs like this.
Viejo

[Rick]

Our motto here is "it looks better then it did"  this sound a little counter porductive,  but I have found noting is perfect and you just have to keep working at it.....

[Tom Bowser]

Some times that is all you can do and anything done is better than doing nothing. Nothing has been done for too long. Great job you guys are doing, hang in there we appreciate the hard work and dedication.
Tom

[BrokenArrowtiger]

For you guys its not the money that matters its your love and passion for being a historian ina since and working on submarine musems to preaserve not just your submarine history but also the Silent Service of the Pacific reading yalls backgrounds and also reading alot of the old threads on here has taught me soo much about submarines and the volunteers who work on them its truly amazing and a great inspiration good job yall

[Viejo]

I spent much of Saturday morning starting on small items like napkin holders from the USS Omaha. I have about 9 boxes of small items at a warehouse to go take pictures of. For the larger items in the park, I am going to make a map of the park, then number each exhibit in the park and reference that to a file with the Navy numbers and our pictures of them. The Navy didn't detail what was inside the ship, but we have almost a hundred guns, anchors, propellers, missiles, and rocket launchers that I have been putting in albums on the Freedom Park Facebook page. Then as the scouts and others paint them, I swap out pictures. We now have a Cricket league that plays in the park and they want to help with the painting. That will help a lot. And the more you look, the more you learn, but the gap between knowledge and what is still to learn keeps getting bigger.
Viejo

[Rick]

I know that the small groups can be an enormous endevor,  However, you would be amazed how much you can get don out of a group of 20 or 30.  I endorse using all ouf your youth groups, veterain, and cvic service groups.  The help even if it is taking a power washer ad broom to clean out the super structure

[BrokenArrowtiger]

Talk to some of the churches too some of them might want to help as well

[Paul Farace]

Had our insection yesterday. The leiutenant was about 30 and the jg was about 29...  nice kids, and the process seemed nothing different than years past.

One almost tripped over my shopvac cord (mee too!).... we don't kid about the Martha Stewart thingy... yep the boat gets vacuumed at least once a year!       Sooooo damn sanitary!    The dust bunnies have morphed into dust cattle!

[Karen D.]

We finally just got our inspection report back (only took 5 months) and for the second year in a row they are nagging us about putting up (emergency) exit signs. Has anyone else been told to do this or do you already have exit signs up? This just seems weird to me. It's not like you can really get lost on the boat and there are exits everywhere. Just curious...

[Viejo]

Yes, we have some we just bought to put up and we also have to make an emergency exit off the aft escape hatch. Plus locking the openings to the empty battery compartments. They also want fire and smoke detectors going to an off ship source.

[Karen D.]

Huh. We already have emergency lighting in every compartment and last year I added two glow-in-the dark exit signs plus the glow-in-the-dark tape to all ladders and handles. Not ot mention no one is allowed on board with out a staff member who are all equipped with flashlights and radios. It  just seems overkill to add even more. Oh well...