A Day Aboard the Liberty Ship - John W. Brown

[W1UJR]

Yesterday was a most special day, a visit and cruise to one of the two remaining Liberty Ships, the John W. Brown.

The Liberty ships were cargo ships built in the United States during World War II. Eighteen American shipyards built 2,751 Liberties between 1941 and 1945, easily the largest number of ships produced to a single design. Only two Liberties survive today, the Jeremiah O'Brien, and the John W. Brown. Interestingly enough, the John W. Brown is named after a labor leader at the Bath, ME shipyard, who resided in my current hometown of Woolwich, ME.

The John W. Brown has thankfully been saved from the ship breakers, and is now a floating museum. But she is not just a static display, but rather an active ship that can and does steam from port to port under her own power. You can find out more about the Brown at http://www.liberty-ship.com.

Yesterday, during our six hour cruise around Casco Bay, we were treated to classic big band music with a live band played on top of one of the massive cargo hold covers, Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey favorites were played. President Roosevelt and General MacArthur came onboard, and were warmly received by the many World War II vets.

Later, off the coast of Maine, the ship was "attacked" by World War II Japanese planes, which the crew of the Brown attempted to fend off using deck guns. The Japanese planes were finally driven off by the appearance of two US World War II fighters plans. Near the end of the cruise Abbott and Costello put on a excellent comedy show in the forward cargo hold.

I spent a good part of the time on the bridge, and quickly made friends with many older navy vets. Later, after I mentioned that I was a radio operator, I was treated to a personal tour of the radio room of the Brown, which appeared as complete and as functional as the day it left dock in 1942.

In closing, I would highly recommend the "Living History" cruise from the all volunteer crew on the John W. Brown.
It is like a trip back into the 1940s, complete with the correct music, and a delightful way to spend a day.

You can view photos of my visit, including the radio room, at http://www.w1ujr.net/bruces_bench.htm


73 Bruce W1UJR

[W3RSW]

Great shots -- brings back some early childhood memories. I was too young to be active in WWII but sure do remember the liberty, surplus by then, banana boats in Baltimore harbor in the early post war years. And yes.. .along with the Old Bay Line steam packets (overnight Baltimore to Norfolk) the harbor was a very busy place. Fascinating for a five year old to watch steaming in and out, echoing toots of the whistles across the harbor, longshoremen loading and unloading, ..."yeah (wistfully) indelibly etched in my ol' noggin.

[W9GT]

Cool pictures Bruce!  I don't recognize the radio gear though.  Perhaps it is RCA Radiomarine stuff.  The Federal/Mackay gear looks a little different.  The Federal 167 (pr of 813s) was used on many of the Liberty ships.

It sounds and looks like a really pleasant way to spend a day.  Great trip back to the 40's!!

73,  Jack, W9GT

[W1UJR]

Hi Jack,

Yes, you are correct, it was RCA gear.
The kind OT, who let me into the otherwise "off limits" room, explained the process they went through to repaint it, the original paint was not available, they improvised with a small paint sprayer set to send the finish out in small chunks, it roughly simulates the original wrinkled paint. Not sure if the RCA Radiomarine gear was blue, but it sure looked impressive.

The station appears to be fully functional, the original antennas were even in place on the ship, strung from boom to boom. I'd dearly have liked to fire up the gear, but we were at the end of voyage and the gentlemen who allowed me into the room told me they did not have a license to operate. It would have been a simple matter to JS a ricebox onto the antenna feeds and be on air in a very short time.

Wish I lived closer to Baltimore, would love to put that ship on the "Old Military Radio Net" some early Saturday morning!

Here is another shot, this time of the antenna feeds, just a few alligator clips and you're there!

[KB2WIG]

               " which appeared as complete and as functional as the day it left dock in 1942 "


It just needs a key, a coffee cup and an ash tray......... 

K1HJL isn't in the fcc database.... 

klc

[W1UJR]

Straight keys were there, I just did not show them in my post.
As for the ashtray and coffee cup, I'm sure they were present, but removed to pretty up the setting.
At least they had a nice set of "cans" hanging from the console.

A close up of keys at this link -> http://www.w1ujr.net/Bruce's%20Bench/DSC00587.JPG

Low res key photo follows:



Think this might be the original type of radio system installed.

RCA Radiomarine 4U

[KB2WIG]

looks like they were designed for a hazardous atmosphere   ....   klc

[W1DAN]

Cool!

Wish I was there.

An OT friend of mine ran a TBY for years on AM and CW.

73,
Dan
W1DAN/4

[n1ps]

Well, just for the record, the ship's radios are not as yet in operating order.  Of course one of the tranmitters is a 500KHz radiotelegraph transmitter which is no longer used in the maritime services.  The other transmitter is a Radiomarine HF transmitter circa 1944.  I'm not sure whether it is part of the original equipment or not.  The ship has a radio club call sign, W3TFR, and there is a ship's radio operator, who did not make the trip.

Bruce took the Saturday cruise, which I would dearly loved to attend, but had a prior comittment.  Looks like you had a nice time Bruce.

Also, our radio club in the Portland area, the PAWA, ran a special event station on Sunday the 19th (Bruce did not participate in this).  We were on 20 meters SSB most of the time, although I did attempt to get on 3875 AM late in the afternoon, with no joy.  DEU was on 3885 so I did not bother breaking in.  I had posted in the announcements section that I would be around 3885 +/- here in the announcements section.

I had considered running all vintage gear for the special event.  But the idea of lugging the heavy iron quickly put that thought to bed.  So we ran some riceboxes.  Had a nice time, made 3-4 pages of contacts including 14 countries and 2 other ships.  We ran the operation from the main deck and the ship's crew kindly strung an antenna for us.  We decided to not use the ship's antennas, even though they were there. 

We'll have pics on the club website in the next day or two.

http://www.pawa-maine.org/modules/wfchannel/index.php?pagenum=17

Best regards to all,

Pete
n1ps
Prez - PAWA