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Museum History Activities
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USS Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. DD850 Destroyer Museum
at Battleship Cove, Fall River, Massachusetts.
Old Expansion Joint.
Replacement of the After Expansion Joint on USS Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. DD850 Did you know that a destroyer is built to “bend” in two places during heavy seas and rough weather? These joints are called expansion joints and at the 01 level deck can open up over ½”. On the USS Kennedy these joints have been leaking rain water for too many years. Many repairs were attempted, but with little success and as a result, the after joint had 4 layers of tar, roofing material and pitch on it. This joint is located at frame 123 and goes over the aux radio room, ordnance shop, inboard passage and stack uptakes. Our aux radio has had water on the deck for 20 years due to leaks. The Chief Operating Officer at Battleship Cove, Captain Jack Casey, issued a challenge, “Can the volunteers change out an expansion joint?” The answer, of course, was “Sure we can”, not having a clue how to do it. Much research was done, blueprints found and scoured, and with confidence rapidly growing, we requested the necessary material and scheduled a window of opportunity to perform the difficult task, which just happened to be during the TCS visit while they were having their convention in the Boston area. Work started on 8 August with the removal of the old material which proved most difficult due to the many overlapping repairs. Most had to be done by hand with scrappers and hammers. Then the original adhesive had to be removed using modern solvents. The final prep work was to wire wheel the entire surface and hand rub with acetone. The joint itself is about 10” wide, with the 2 sides being 3” and the opening 4”. The joint goes from the main deck up both sides and across the 01 level. This is about 41’ and counting both sides is 82’ of joint surface, which is entirely aluminum. Our goal, and the best fix possible, was to lay in the new rubber in one piece, 41’, but we were prepared to do lap joints. The problem areas were the radii where the 01 deck turns into the ship’s sides. It was time, and on the 3rd day the adhesive was set and hand rolled, then the rubber was laid out in one piece and all 5 members of the team talked out how to install and what to do if roadblocks were encountered. By 3 PM the rubber was set to the adhesive in ONE piece and again hand rolled to the adhesive. It was critical that the new joint be installed exactly as the old FRAM one because the ship still moves and the joint still opens and closes on days of high wind, not to mention the possibility of going back to sea as the Kennedy has done twice since 1987, once to drydock and once to make the movie “13 days”. We were able to maintain the required 3/4” “dimple” in the rubber exactly to specs throughout the 41’. The final act was to seal all 82’ with silicone as a secondary rain boundary. The job was a total success being done in 3 days with 5 people. Participants were 2 staff employees, volunteers Mike and Rich Angelini and Ed Zajkowski. We believe this was the first ever attempt to change out an expansion joint within the historic fleet of navy ships. Next, the forward joint. Photos of the After Expansion Joint Replacement  Return to the Volunteer Page Comments, Suggestions, Information? Email us at: Webmaster DD-850 Copyright 2009 Kennedy Restoration Committee. 
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