Guest User

July 29, 2015

For the Love of Steam - Triple Expansion Engines

Guest User

July 29, 2015

On Friday, September 4th the JOHN W BROWN will shift from Pier 1 to Pier 13 down the street, in Canton. We are pleased to be part of “Warfront to Homefront, WWII in Maryland”, a group of local museums who will be celebrating the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII.

We will be open to the pubic from 12 - 5 on Friday and 10 - 5 on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday will be very special as the Engine Room crew will have our triple expansion engines working. They will fire the plant, run all the auxiliaries, all the way up to rolling the main engine. For anyone who appreciates steam power, big engines or vintage machinery this is an experience that will be remembered for a long time.

This is where the fun begins with the lighting of the burners. There is a video at the end of this post that takes you through the whole process. The burners are lit about 4:45.

There are walkways along all levels of the engine room and each one gives visitors a different view of the engine at work. The pistons move in order and you can see blur from motion on the left of the photo.

Pictures do not begin to capture the experience of being in the engine room with the engines in motion. The smell and sounds and feel of things moving and whirring is like nothing else.

The  crew takes very good care of the engine. — The crew takes very good care of the engine.

It's a big job with lots and lots of moving parts.

There are hands stationed at throughout the engine room. They all love talking about the ship too.

Even the Coast Guard likes learning about and talking about our steam engine.

A big part of the BROWN's mission is education. We host STEM students to provide them with hands on experience of our big machines.

These are some of the faces you'll see when you visit on Saturday, September 5th.

This video takes you through the process.

There will be other WWII vessels, besides the BROWN and SAVANNAH, including a WWII tug.

Project Liberty Ship, Inc is a 501(c)3 non-profit, all volunteer organization engaged in the preservation and operation of the historic ship JOHN W. BROWN as a living memorial museum. Gifts to Project Liberty Ship are tax deductible.

Guest User

July 21, 2015

The NAF CPO 365 visits the JWB

Guest User

July 21, 2015

And just what do all those letters mean? The Naval Air Facility (NAF) Washington is a Naval Reserve air facility. It was merged in 2009 with Andrews Air Force Base to create the Joint Base Andrews. Chief Petty Officers (CPO) serve as both technical experts and as leaders, with the emphasis being on leadership. All Chiefs are involved in the training of junior officers. The "CPO 365- Phase II" is a year-round program that first class petty officers complete before they are considered for promotion. These first class petty officers are called Selectees. Part of this training is a component for heritage and community relations. And that brings us to the JOHN W BROWN (JWB).

This past weekend we had the pleasure of hosting, and putting to work, nine Selectees and 10 Chiefs from the Naval Air Facility. It was raining when they arrived but by the time they had been greeted by Captain Rick, oriented by Hugh, and eaten their lunches, the sun was shining and the work was waiting.

Captain Rick welcomed the Chiefs and Selectees. Here he sharing some maritime history in general and some JOHN W BROWN history in particular.

The main work of the day was to remove the risers from the gun tubs on the Bridge. Not only are these floor plates heavy but they are an awkward shape too.

Getting the floor plates loose was the first hurdle. The bolts were rusted and didn't want to turn.

Team work is a marvelous thing and there were hands supporting the plate through the whole process. Don't for get there are 4 people inside the gun tub too.

Once the plate was out of the gun tub the challenge was to move it around working around all of the other things on the bridge.

This was just the start of the fun. There are 4 gun tubs altogether and each one has two of these plates. And the plates need to be moved to work on the interior.

As you can see there's lots of work to be done.

Floor plates weren't the only things that needed to come out of the gun tubs.

Once it was clear the real fun began. The rust was attacked with hammers and needle guns.

Deck crew were busy too getting things ready for the painting party.

The Chiefs and Selectees interacted with most of the volunteers on board that day. They did get a chance to go through the engine room. Some visited the store and when home with some souvenirs. Another helped out with some non paint related ship's business too. We certainly enjoyed having them on board to visit as well as appreciating all of their help. Moving those floor plates was much easier with their help. I wonder if they would come back to paint?

andrea horrocks

July 18, 2015

Dream your painting and then paint your dream ~ Van Gogh

andrea horrocks

July 18, 2015

Over the years, we've shared lots of shots of the work our volunteers do. If you remember, while in drydock last fall, the hull was painted. Unfortunately, due to time, money and logistics, everything above the main deck still needs to be painted. As those who've been on the ship over the years can attest, it's a constant job, a constant effort and a constant war against time and the elements. The Chesapeake Bay and rust are NOT friends of the JOHN W BROWN. Thousands of hours are spent prepping the deck and steel to be painted, and then painting sections at a time. This is usually done over one work day at a time, and the size worked on, depends on the number of crew that are available on any given day. This is finally starting to catch up to us, and it has become more than we can handle with our current active volunteers. (Taking the time also to remind our readers that we are ALWAYS looking for crew members... no experience needed!)

Captain Hope (the painter on the float, in the white paint suite, taken last summer) and the Fundraising Committee, have gotten quotes and we are tentatively looking to use Ocean Painting, here in Baltimore, to do the massive amount of work. PPG Marine Coatings was contacted and agreed to supply the paint at an amazing discount. Now it's time to try to raise the money.

The project will be divided into segments...foredeck, midship house and after deck, with an estimate of $100,000. Ocean Painting would water blast the entire deck house with high pressure water to get down to bare steel. Then it would be treated, primed and painted. The gallons of paint needed is estimated to be 550 gallons, which would come to about $180 per gallon, which includes paint, labor and all other needed materials. If this is something you might be interested in contributing to, check out and print the form. All donors will receive a chart showing the fundraising progress and where their own contribution fits into the project. We have used charts like this in past fundraisers; like buying a barrel of oil and showing donors where 'their' barrel of oil would be burned on the voyage. Informative, interesting and fun, they are very popular and help keep our donors up to date. With over 4000 Facebook followers, if everyone of you could come to the ship for a day with chipping hammers, brooms, paintbrushes and rollers in hand, we would not need to try to raise funds for this, but unfortunately, not everyone can participate in this way.

So... we're open on Wednesdays and Saturdays, if you would like to come help. Or feel free to donate...any amount helps out. See you next Wednesday... (don't forget to wear old clothes and be prepared to 'go gray') ;)