ship welding during WWII

[NUTTSGT]

Who'd thunk it, so many with family that worked/welded on ships during WWII. The information that comes out of woodwork when a question asked here is amazing.

 

[Fixnair]

I remember seeing a documentary on TV probably in the '60s of the Japanese war industry. They were filming in a shipyard an they showed a welder with nothing more than a cardboard shield that he would hold up when he struck an arc. He would weld for a few seconds and then stop & look. Crazy! They sure built a few formidable ships that way.

 

[cgall]

Tom Brokaw's book "The Greatest Generation" mentions that the youth of America at the time grew up mostly on farms, and they had a tremendous git-r-done mentality. It was noted that when a track was blown off a German tank, the crew would abandon the tank until a repair crew could fix it. American boys would fix the track while still taking fire.

 

[Spareparts]

Pop welded on liberty ships in savannah, the welding he did was stick. He said he remembered seeing them lay a track out on the deck and put a welding machine that fed #9 wire and it had a hopper attached that drizzled what he thought was flux.

That is what is referred to as Submerged Arc Welding and used for heavy plate in a flat position.

 

[Spareparts]

That is the first time I tried "Quote" another post and it worked the first time, I'll get the hang of this puter stuff yet.

 

[Highbeam]

I did get a chance to weld together full sheets of 2" thick steel using a submerged arc welder. THis thing was cool and looked old fashioned but it was a cart that fed pencil sized bare wire and dumped granular flux onto the puddle.

Yep, submerged arc. The flux would harden and peel up off the weld so no real chipping.

I ran this machine just 15 years ago.

 

[Bib Overalls]

We (the USA) can gear up rather rapidly to make small arms, radios, ammunition, trucks, uniforms etc. Unfortunately, we no longer have the shipyard and steel manufacturing capability to support something like the ship building program of WW II. However, our biggest deficiency is in aircraft production capability. There are fewer manufactures and the designs are unbelievably complex. What this means is that we will fight the next war, for the most part, with the ships and airplanes we have on hand when it starts.

 

[Openboater]

Thanks so much for the great replies. All the opinions and links are invaluable to my research. Tom

 

[Openboater]

Most of the homework I've done on this related to Marinship, the ship building outfit run by Bechtel near Sausalito. The work accomplished there, and at other bay area yards such as those in Richmond and Mare Island, is nothing less than astounding and a credit to how a nation will pull together in time of need. A little web searching will get you tons of information. Again, my sincere thanks for your replies... Tom

 

[Rural53]

Photo of submerged arc welding I took a couple of years ago. Welding the side plates for a box girder for a bridge widening.

 

[Openboater]

You might want to check out this website and contact these people..This is one of only 4 fully-operational WWII ships in the country...It's docked here in Tampa...

http://www.americanvictory.org/

Thanks TampaGT. I visited then bookmarked this page. tom

 

[Openboater]

Somewhere out there, there is a black and white photo of a ship's deck being welded by dozens of ladies under umbrellas to protect them from the hot sun. I would imagine it was in California but I'm not sure. I've always thought that was a very cool picture. If anyone comes across it, please post it up.

You are right AMC, there are great pics out there. I bought a book entitled Marinship At War by Charles Wollenberg that gives you a good look at what when on socially (women and black workers' problems with unions and living in Marin City, etc.) and the Bechtel business. There are other books that are both better, and much more expensive (Marinship: the History of a Wartime Shipyard by Richard Finnie, and Shipyard Diary of a Woman Welder by Augusta Clawson--both of which are almost impossible to find and cost a small fortune).

I've gotten so deep into this project, I doubt I'll ever be back... tom

 

[TAMPAGT07]

Thanks TampaGT. I visited then bookmarked this page. tom

No problem...I really kinda neat to have this in our backyard....

 

[tapkoote]

Interesting side note, the Liberty ships had a bad problem of cracking and splitting in the middle. Not due to bad welds, but due to bad metallurgy. The steel was crappy and had a ductile-to-brittle transition temp that was too high. In cold water the steel would transition and the ship could split.

I fitted for a pipe welder on a skid job.
He told me the first time he welded was in the Navy, as a seaman welder helper. In a typhoon, the deck was cracking, and his welder couldn't keep an arc. So he grabbed the stinger and went to work. They got it patched up.
tap

 

[sc3013]

My father worked at the ship yard in Evansville,Indiana. They made LSTs and there is one docked there now. They do give on board tours.

 

[cbacres]

One of our contract welders told me that "Jet" rod, still used today, was developed for use by the women welders during the war. Jet rod is a very easy rod, just strike and drag, no moving back and forth. we use it to weld out 1/4" plate for containments.
Don't know if its true or not, but it makes a lot of sense.

 

[atfulldraw]

Photo of submerged arc welding I took a couple of years ago. Welding the side plates for a box girder for a bridge widening.

that is very interesting.....

going to google this, now.