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The Year in Review for 2005

By Rich Angelini, Assistant Curator

The past two years have provided two major milestones for USS Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. DD850, one being her 30^th anniversary as a museum ship at Battleship Cove in January 2004 and the other being the 60^th anniversary on 15 December 2005 of her commissioning at the Boston Naval Shipyard.  While we mark these dates as significant, they pale in comparison to the importance of the continuing efforts put forth by the dedicated volunteers who now call KENNEDY their own.

The year 2005 brought about many efforts to further our restoration and maintenance goals that enable KENNEDY to be labeled as “one of the most accurate and dynamic” ship restoration projects in the Historic Naval Ships Association Fleet.  The names of the individuals and the projects they undertook are too many to list here in their entirety but we want to give you a little flavor of why other museums are trying to copy the recent success of the KENNEDY volunteer crew.

The renewed emphasis on authentic restoration that we have centered upon since 2001 has brought back much of the look and atmosphere of the Vietnam War era that visitors and veterans groups have come to admire about KENNEDY.    The Captain’s Sea Cabin was completely restored with the addition of missing furniture, fans, uniforms, and personal effects from the late 1960’s.   The Chart Room was also completely refurbished and reflects the art of navigation during the Vietnam War era with the addition of missing equipment and navigation instruments, 1966 nautical charts, and a complete set of 1966 USN Sailing Instructions and azimuth tables.

Along with the above, The IC gang undertook refreshing the paint in the Interior Communications (IC) Room, correctly color coded the IC switchboards, and detailed the signage and bright work.   The Shipfitter crew, not to be left out,  prepped, primed, and painted the Shipfitter’s Shop and we began use of this area as a actual 1960’s era working shop that is also displayed to visitors.  The Machine Shop also was upgraded as we reinstalled the grinder, wired in the drill press, installed original style cabinets, and reworked the original lathe.

Besides major restoration work, the KENNEDY volunteers accomplished upgrades to existing exhibits as information and equipment was acquired.  We installed and built a visitor vestibule inside the DASH hangar and officially opened this exciting exhibit to the public in May 2005 as well as fabricating helicopter blade storage racks for the DASH blade storage containers.  The Sick Bay has been reconfigured to represent its mid 1960’s configuration by adding medical cabinets, a book case, sink, and the wiring in of new operating room and battle lantern lights.  The crew also began to add distinctive artistic detail to dress up the ship’s exhibits like the painting of the ship’s Coat of Arms on the DA tank in the After Engine room and the machinist and boilermen rates in the Engineering office.

Outside work consisted of fabricating and installing brackets for the FANFARE Torpedo Decoy system unit on the fantail.  These decoys were recently acquired on a strip trip to Philadelphia, PA and were put in place for the first time since Kennedy left service in 1973.  Also, the crew painted the ships radio whip antenna’s red for transmit and blue for receive which aligns itself with official USN policy of the 1960’s.  The YAGR volunteers constructed a gasoline drum rack on the fantail of the Kennedy for restoration purposes.  This rack has been gone for some 30 years and when completed with the addition of a donated 50 gallon drum, will allow KENNEDY to better represent an operational 1960’s destroyer.

The major maintenance tasks undertaken were long and arduous.  Of major importance was to track and find all electrical grounds in the Forward part of the ship to halt metal deterioration.  All grounds were removed after hours of searching and testing the electrical system.   The crew also rewired and installed new USN electrical boxes on the signal bridge for the Signal/Search lights that were acquired at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard to put that system into working order.  The IC team removed all commercial speakers from the ship and replaced them with original style USN speakers as well as tested, installed, or fixed any missing or damaged speakers for the 1MC system.

From a mechanical aspect, the No 2 Air compressor in the After Engine room was totally rebuilt and currently operates and holds pressure to 100PSI.    The field day crew removed a rusted main deck support stanchion and replaced it with fresh metal while the YAGR volunteers cut out and replaced a large section of metal decking on the fantail of the ship.  Lastly, the torpedo crane in the ASROC magazine was restored to working order after acquiring the missing components from USS Briscoe in June 05 from the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.

The KENNEDY volunteers went on part acquisition trips to Philadelphia, PA, James River, VA, and Suisun Bay, Ca to acquire needed restoration and maintenance items from the USN and Maritime Administration.  It is estimated that over 15,000 lbs of material was acquired and stowed aboard DD850 to fuel our future projects for years to come.

As we enhance KENNEDY as an exhibit to visitors, the volunteers have co-developed educational programs with staff member Mandie Owens to better use KENNEDY as an educational tool.  Through this effort, veterans and volunteers aboard DD850 discuss history, the science and math behind equipment operation, and methods of operating a ship.  This program has supported Camp Cove and the Nautical Nights camping activity with in depth learning of DASH, Engineering, Interior Communications, ASROC Missile, Navigation, Radio, and Combat Information procedures while providing insight on what it was like to live aboard an American Destroyer during the Cold War.   

With the year 2006 on the horizon, the volunteers look for support to continue the dynamic efforts that have been accomplished over the past few years.    Projects underway include the restoration of the Emergency Radio Room, Bridge, MT 53 Handling Room, and an enhancement to the Burke National Destroyermens Museum among others. 

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