Laundry Room on USS Hornet

[sudsmaster]

The USS Hornet is a conventionally powered aircraft carrier now a floating museum docked in Alameda, California.

I took a tour of it a few years back. Sudsman's photos of various industrial laundries has prompted me to repost the photos I took of the carrier's laundry room back then.

Here's the first one, a view of the drum washer to the left, a more modern top loader (GE?), then a Hoyt front loader.

 

[sudsmaster]

Close-up of drum washer

 

[sudsmaster]

Hoyt closer (sorry about the sideways)

 

[sudsmaster]

Hoyt control panel

 

[sudsmaster]

Big steam presser... wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of those rollers!

 

[sudsmaster]

Adjacent kitchen area... with a detergent product they probably weren't using in the US Navy in WWII ;-)!

 

[jetcone]

Gotta love that Hoyt washer

are they still in business?

Hah Persil yes we wouldn't be using that on board!

 

[autowasherfreak]

I want the GE Filter Flo!

 

[sudsman]

Hoyt is still in business

the make drycleaning machinery but quit making the laundry washers about 10 years ago, they we VERY good washers..

 

[tomturbomatic]

Great pics. Thanks for sharing. Interesting how the GE is on wheels; not so stable on a ship. In the picture, its position looks like it would interfere with access to the extractor.

 

[appnut]

That was my mom's GE waher lol.

 

[sudsmaster]

I have the impression that the large horizontal tumble washer and adjacent vertical extractor were no longer in use at the time of the photo. Obviously they were not needed for a ship that carried no crew to speak of during its existence as a floating museum. Probably the GE does the majority of the laundry today - probably mostly for stuff like table linens, kitchen towels, hand towels, etc. Although perhaps the Hoyt is also in use. As I recall the green cylinders to the right of the Hoyt were dryers, although I'd have to pay a return visit to confirm that.

 

[sudsmaster]

And here is a shot of the USS Hornet at dock a few years back...

 

[spiceman1957]

I was in the U.S. Navy

30 years ago and remember the main laundry room where the enlisted sailors would do laundry for the whole ship while out at sea (except for officers and Chief Petty Officers) for 24 hours a day. You would put your clothes in mesh bags and off it went. BUT, you had better made sure you didn't put any colored clothes in with the whites or you would catch Hell. Remember they were doing laundry for about 300+ sailors so no room for pink whites. You would be found out because your name was stenciled on each item of clothing. The laundry room was in the bottom of the ship and would be so hot because of the dryers and little ventilation that the sailors would actually worked in nothing but their skivvies (white boxers). And I know what you may be thinking,.. but that another story!
John

 

[sudsmaster]

Well, this laundry room wasn't in the bottom of the ship - but probably it wasn't the only one. It was in the upper area, not far below the flight deck. This one might have been for the upper decks only - the officers etc. If there was another laundry room below, however, I didn't see it on my visit. Perhaps it was one of the many areas off-limits. I did get to see the "engine" room, though. This particular vessel was powered by turbines - diesel, I think. Not sure if they are still functional. I think not, but you never know.

 

[launderess]

Love That Hoyt Washer

Only two wash temperatures, "hot" and "warm".
Then only two rinse temperatures, "warm" and "cool".

Thing must be built like a tank!

Clicking the link on MacCrae's Blue Book site for Hoyt shows it is not working, but the company is still around. They are listed under "dry cleaning machine...."

 

[sudsman]

HOYT Washers WERE very good machines

However a bit overated in capacity. the 20 lb was more like a 16 and the 30 lb was more like a 25. the 30 lb was just like the 20 but with a little larger motor and drum.. the front was the same. Both were very very simple machines and very trouble free. You could omit or repeat any part of the cycle by pulling out the dial and restarting it where you wanted. much like the older home machines. Set Formul was about 30 mins. The last ones were made about 95 or 96. We Tried to get 2 in june of 96 and they had stopped production on them then.. Sure wish they would start again. The company has made dry cleaning machinery for many years and is well know for it.. One of the early machines was a Sniff O Miser. Which used in perk plants cleaned the air of perk using a carbon core and then with steam returned it to the drycleaning machine.. It Actually Sniffed the Air

 

[supersuds]

Propelling machinery

It was steam boilers, not diesels. I don't think any vessel this size used diesels back then, except for some German ships.

From the museum's website:

ENGINES: 4 Westinghouse Geared Turbine Engines

BOILERS: 8 Babcock & Wilcox M-Type

PROPELLERS: 4 four-bladed propellers of
solid manganese bronze
15 foot diameter, 27,190 lbs each

LENGTH OF SHAFTS:
No. 1 and 4 258 feet
No. 2 and 3 186 feet

SHAFT DIAMETER: 2 feet

PROPULSION: 150,000 horsepower

http://www.uss-hornet.org/history/stats/index.shtml

 

[sudsmaster]

Of course.

Steam turbines.

What was I thinking? LOL.

And that would explain all the heavily wrapped steam pipes in the "engine room"...

 

[tomturbomatic]

Steam would also explain the wrapped pipes leading to the green dryers in the first picture. I kinda thought that laundry area was pretty small for a whole carrier crew.

 

[sudsmaster]

Of course.

I was just tired, ya know.

Steam pipes were all over that ship. It must have been toasty in the tropics.

 

[launderess]

You Want To Hear About Horrible

Speak with men who fired up boilers and shoveled coal into them on ships, military or otherwise. Hours on end heaving coal into a boiler in the bowels of ship would have been bad enough say crossing the Atlantic during winter, but oh how it must have been in the tropics!

 

[sudsmaster]

I think the Hornet's boilers were fired by oil, not coal.

But it still must have been quite warm in those engine rooms.

And probably all those pipes are chock full of asbestos based insulation.

 

[supersuds]

It was oil firing by this time, yes. Some may remember the credit Winston Churchill received, as First Lord of the Admiralty before WWI, for converting the Royal Navy from coal to oil.

There are some sad stories of men being scalded to death from live steam during enemy attacks, but at the time there was no real option for powering larger ships. The nuclear-powered vessels still use steam turbines today, but destroyers in the US Navy use gas turbines, made by GE I think. They're derived from the engines used on 747s.

 

[sudsmaster]

I would imagine the destroyers use gas turbines because they are quicker to fire up and get to full power than a steam based system - which must rely on getting a boiler/steam generator up to a full head of steam. And maybe the gas turbines are lighter.

 

[supersuds]

Yes to both. I think the British were the first to use gas turbines in warships, starting in the 1950s. At first they were an adjunct to a steam plant, but they allowed the vessel to get underway immediately in an emergency, and could provide a burst of speed.

Our current big destroyers/cruisers use 4 gas turbines, two to a shaft. For most use, only one turbine per shaft needs to be running. Gas turbines traditionally were not very economical at part load, so this helps to compensate. Some navies like to use one gas turbine and one diesel engine per shaft. The diesels provide a very long cruising range.

 

[sudsmaster]

I dimly recalled there was a laundry area deeper in the bowels of the vessel, but it was either off limits or all the equipment had been removed. The next time I visit I'll see if I can find it again and get some answers.