SHANANIGANS APLENTY!!!

[joeyt]

So as many of you have heard there have been recent threats to get rid of the New Jersey Naval Museum and the USS Ling.  Well forget everything.  Last time i was giving tours, which was January, the museum wasn't going anywhere.  As of now the Bergen Record, the owners of the property, have laid off the pressure.  As of now the plan is for the City of Hackensack to buy land about a 1/2 mile down the road from the current location and move everything on the grounds there.  Then a path will be built along the river so we can guide the tours to the sub.  Yea the Ling is goin nowhere.  Not to Philly, not to NY, not to Camden, nowhere.  The options were and still are it stays or it scraps.  Its just the fact that in order to move it, the river would have to be re-dredged, all the draw bridges would have to be reactivated, and the cost of this would be in the millions of dollars.  Also she does still float from time to time when the river is at flood stage.  And she still has all her batteries 

[Tom Bowser]

Welcome aboard Joey,
Thats great news about the Ling and we appreciate your volunteering on the boat. The worry now is how are they going to do any repair to the outer hull. It would be great if the state would fork over some money to build a permanent coffer dam around her so she could be worked on. Good luck and please keep us up to date.
Tom

[joeyt]

I wish as of now we get almost no funding.  But yea some work has started on the outer hull.  We got her a new paint job over the summer and now shes leaking into one the ballast tanks.  Actually its leaking in high tide, and draining in low tide lol.  But it is fun stopping the tour in the rear torpedo room and having everyone listen to the leaking water.  Scares the shit outa them.  My big suggestion to fixing the leak was thumb tack and duct tape.

[Darrin]

JB weld tends to work better then duct tape in this case, but a doubler plate welded on would be what is needed. When was the last time that anyone tried to put air into the ballast tanks because it sounds like she is laying in the mud

[joeyt]

Not sure, but i know the machinery still works, because they have done it in the past.  During normal tides, shes sitting in the mud, but I have seen her float twice during large floods, when the river was significantly higher than usual.  So the flooding in the ballast tanks is significant, but not enough to stop her from floating.

[Darrin]

Joey,
our ballast tanks have minor leaks which means that once a month or so we have to put air back into our tanks, granted there is 6'-8' underneath the keel which is a good thing we still monitor the list and correct when needed.. My next question is how do you blow your tanks? are you using a small air compressor or are you all using the ships LP blower? or the Hardy-Tines?

During the school of the boat we discussed making a household air compressor work onboard and how to tie one in and bringing the air systems back to life once more, take a look and take what the Ling needs from what other museums have gone through and what was taught not only here on this BBS but to the previous submariners whom went through New London, Ct.