May 2011 Restoration Report for USS Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. - DD850

All Hands,

The last few months leading into May have accomplished the prepping of the Motor Generator Room for painting, prepping of the Port side rails of the Signal Bridge, working on sound powered phone circuits, painting the blackout area of the 01 passageway near the ASROC deck, and many other tasks.  Yet we always look forward to the May Major field day aboard DD850 to reunite old friends and really get some work accomplished.  

Our May 2011 Field Day did not disappoint as we had over 54 volunteers report aboard for our 5 day field day.  Once again, the greatest asset we have is our volunteers who represent a mix bag of ships, stations, and civilian capacities.  So let's get into our people and work projects.

Ships crew:

Walt Crew (USS Rich)
Bob Hanrahan (USS New)
Vince Rositani (USS Fiske)
Vince Rositani Jr
Jim Ganley (USS Brush)
Charlie Winters
Jim Weber (USS Briscoe, USS The Sullivans DDG)
Howard Swanson (USS Brownson)
Howard Swanson II (USS Puget Sound)
George Swanson (USS Gearing)
Carl Swanson
Paul Swanson
Gary Strouse
Jim Weiskal (USS Fred T Berry)
Bill Radar (USS Compton)
Frank Brennan (USS Basilone)
Charles Bosio (USS Sturtevant)
Max Cerulle
Bill Hamilton (USS Barry)
Barry Zimmer (USS Neosho)
Ted Hayes
Tony Accatatta (USS Harwood)
Mike Lester (USS Forrest Sherman)
Blair Sandri (USS Forrestal)
Phil Zeglin
Mike Kenney (USS Jonas Ingham)
Ed Zajkowski (USS Keppler)
Wayne White (USS Charles R Ware)
Mike Angelini (USS Joseph P. Kennedy Jr)
Rich Angelini
Rob Angelini
Dan Pillie (USS Joseph P. Kennedy Jr)
Jim Caruso
Phil Martorano (USS Miller)
Bill Albert (USS Miller)
Lee Jones (USS Stormes)
Jacob Deschamps
Bob Kilkelly (USS Perkins)
Richie Calabro (USS Charles Roan)
Bob Jensen (USS Barb)
Bob Washburn (USS William R Rush)
Bobby Young (USS Patterson)
Owen Hayes (USS Waldron)
Jim Mulvihill (USS Waldron)
Maury Crotteau (USS Harwood)
Ron Almeida (USS Franklin D. Roosevelt)
Dave Levesque (SeeBees)
Lee Levesque
Charlotte Levesque
Nate Levesque
Ben Levesque
Al Lundgren (USS John Paul Jones)
Frank Prescott
Dave Stawicki (Shipkeeper)


Work Accomplished:

Electrical:

Repaired lighting in compartment A-411A
Repaired Passageway light in the forward officers passage
Repaired coffee brewing machine
Restored ventilation and lighting to Mt 51
Rewired controller and start switch on No #1 air compressor in the Aft Engineroom.
Repaired and relocated pressure switch on No #1 air compressor in the Aft Engineroom
Repaired lights in B-4 Aft Engine Room.
Isolated and repaired switchboard grounds in DASH hangar
Fixed wiring on lower level B-3 Aft Fireroom

Mechanical Maintenance:

Removed all vent covers for summer service
Sealed 2" pipe on torpedo deck
Repaired and closed all hinged covers on torpedo mounts
Repaired and sealed optical doors on Mt 51 to prevent water intrusion into the gun mount.
Installed watertight door mechanism on door (01 level to torpedo deck, port side)
Fixed door to Burke Museum

Special Projects:

Bow to stern bilge crawl--photo documentation of hull conditions
Bow to stern bilge crawl--ultrasound of hull, selected areas on main deck
B-4 bilge cleaning of all pockets for debris.


Painting Projects (Major man power efforts was given here)

Prep and priming of interior of Mt 51.
Needle gunning and wire wheeling the overhead and bulkheads of the starboard side main deck forward of the breakwater.
Use of needle gun, and deck crawler to prep and prime the fantail.
Use of deck crawler to prep and then paint the DASH flight deck.
Prep, prime, and finish coat to 25 feet of overhead on the port side main deck.  This is the last area on the port side main deck needed to be completed.
Prepped, primed and painted the port side signal deck and bridge wing.  Continued to prep and prime forward rail of Signal Deck as well.        

General Restoration:

Cleaned out ASROC magazine of spare and unwanted material.
Completed upholstery restoration on Messdecks.
Added protective coatings to Bridge wing wooden trim.
Made new Plexiglas panel for wing urinal and changed out mounting hardware to stainless steel.
Installed and secured both bridge wing voice tube weather covers.
Installed fire wand retainer bracket port side main deck at Frame 80
Installed CO2 Foam canister rack in main passageway that was taken from HORNE.        

Field Day specific:

Manned Galley and Messdecks to provide meals to all hands from Thursday night to Sunday morning.
Cleaned, sorted, and manned storeroom for field day.
Participated in "Meet the Veterans" program

Tidbits about the Field Day:

1.  We had 2 members of the Board of Directors of the museum, 6 family teams, 1 ww2 vet, 4 men over 80 years old, and 7 kids under the age of 18 working aboard.

2.  Appreciation to Ed Zajkowski for coming up early so volunteers could report for duty by Wednesday.  Also special thanks to Dave Stawicki for all the support getting materials ready and supporting work efforts throughout the weekend.

3.  First time volunteer, Jim Weber, who also works at Bath Iron Works received permission to allow us the loan of a ultrasonic thickness tester so we could test our hull and decks for wear.

4.  A huge BZ to everyone who came to the field day as their teamwork and work ethic got us through a thunderstorm and our very optimistic goals for the weekend.  Our manpower was put towards putting the look of the ship first with preparation and painting the major goals.  As many said, "we never worked this hard in the Navy but now this ship represents everything to us".  

5.  All volunteers were given a Green KENNEDY work hat and coffee mug for their efforts.  Yet there is a deep passion and love for this ship that exists in the hearts of many that gifts could never replace.

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Special News:

1. Our field day listing for the whole year can be found by going to http://jpkennedyjr.webs.com/field.html <http://jpkennedyjr.webs.com/field.html>

2.  Follow the KENNEDY Volunteers on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_55958824157.  Photos, ship talk, and even a chat are all setup.  Search for us and join our group!

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History and this ship depend on You! Join the effort.
Fair winds and following seas,
Rich Angelini
Asst Curator, JPK DD850