21 July 2020

In Albany Doug and Dave used the paint float to inspect the underside of the aft gangway support, and repairs started on the forward gangway.

Week three in the shipyard started on Monday, 20 July. Many of the new items that were fabricated in Albany and planned for installation were sandblasted and returned to the ship. The yardarm was back on the pier for us to work on, the bed spring radar was being rebuilt, and the SA radar motor was back, repaired, and wired up. Bill Wetterau dyed 1800 feet of 3/8” nylon line to look like 1945 manila for the halyards. Most important, the high-pressure hydro-blasting of the mast started. On Tuesday, 21 July, which was shipyard day 16, work continued hydro blasting the mast, stack cap repairs, repairs to the longwire radio antennas, and the air search radar reassembly. Gary Sheedy successfully tested and rotated the air search radar antenna.

I'll take this right from Ed Zajkowski's post. “Two weeks ago today we arrived at Caddell’s shipyard. Many of the removed items were sandblasted and returned today, most importantly, the yardarm. The bed spring radar is being rebuilt. The SA radar motor is back repaired and wired up. The gangway is always breaking due to tides. 1800 feet of 3/8” nylon line is being tanned to match 1945. Most important, the high pressure blast of the mast started today. That’s 40,000 PSI. The aluminum ladder is heading to the paint shop to get “pickled”, then primed. Extremely hot aboard ship today, GO TEAM SLATER/CADDELL!!”