Masts (or section thereof); hinged and/or folding - mechanical or hydraulic

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Little h
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Masts (or section thereof); hinged and/or folding - mechanical or hydraulic

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QEC Carriers; Folding polemast on Aft Island


I/We are aware of these...


, R08-HMS-Queen-Elizabeth DDQmcxtXgAEyM9p (3).jpg
1 20140522ax navy news (2).jpg
2 folding mast base Screenshot (2281).jpg
3 folding mast base Screenshot (2282).jpg
4 folding mast base Screenshot (2284).jpg
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Last edited by Little h on Sun Feb 24, 2019 8:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Little h
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Re: Masts (or section thereof); hinged and/or folding - mechanical or hydraulic

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Forrestal Class CV's; relocated hinged mast foremast.

I/We may well have known about these....

v60 USS Saratoga cva 60 brooklyn bridge Shipworker-folding-mast-483x1024.png


Source; and full article in the turnstiletours.com site.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

The following excerpt is taken from an article in Weapons and Warfare - History and Hardware of Warfare


The change in design to include a large island superstructure solved many problems posed by the flush deck design with its smoke pipes for stack gases and retractable bridge and electronic masts. The electronic suite on the new island included a large SPS-8 height finder radar atop a pedestal on the wheelhouse and a massive pole mast carrying an SPS-12 air search radar with a Tactical Air Navigation (TACAN) beacon at its top. A second large pole mast carried electronic countermeasures (ECM) antennas. These masts were both hinged so that they could be folded down (the larger center mast folded to port and rested on the flight deck while the smaller mast folded aft) for passage under the Brooklyn Bridge, which was a requirement for major naval ships at the time in order to have access to the New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn. An SPN-8 carrier-controlled approach (CCA) radar was mounted on the aft end of the island.

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Now looking of images showing the second large pole mast folded aft


------------------------------


v62 USS Independence (CVA-62) going under the Manhattan Bridge, New York, 1959. Note the tilted mast. gvarzlE china defence forum.jpg
v64 USS Constellation CV 64 1962 NYC 3cb7ab03faeef35954af2eed33bb51f9.jpg
vUSS Constellation (CVA-64) about to pass under the Brooklyn Bridge, 12 July 1962, as she leaves Brooklyn, New York qswKUl7.jpg
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Last edited by Little h on Sun Feb 24, 2019 9:42 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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Little h
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Re: Masts (or section thereof); hinged and/or folding - mechanical or hydraulic

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Tarawa Class LHA's; hinged topmast/foretop

I certainly had never observed this feature on this class of LHA :oops: ... even though I had submitted posts relating to this class of ship on the WNSF.

1st & 2nd attachments; show the hinged topmast/foretop in raised (vertical) orientation.
,uss tarawa lha-1 dec 1980 flickr wiki licence 2463511605_6ab2017900_o - Copy.jpg
, USS TARAWA LHA-1 Flickr 2818967908_c733f20323_o creative commons.jpg


3rd & 4th attachments; show the hinged topmast/foretop in the lowered (horizontal) orientation.
,USS Tarawa 2818968024_27e402e313_b -1.jpg
,USS Tarawa lha-1 flickr creative commons 2818967824_1beffa6d8a_o - Copy -a (2).jpg


5th attachment; shows USS Tarawa LHA-1 with her hinged topmast/foretop mid cycle having transitted under the bridge.
,USS Tarawa LHA-1 image178 seaforces.org.png

Caption reads:- San Diego, California - December 1986


Attribution; 2nd & 4th attachments from photostream by mtfrazier on Flickr copied under creative commons licence
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Re: Masts (or section thereof); hinged and/or folding - mechanical or hydraulic

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Tarawa Class LHA's; hinged topmast/foretop - (continued)



USS Belleau Wood (LHA-3) San Diego bay navsource 11 October 1991
,USS Belieu Wood LHA-3 san diego bay navsource 11 October 1991 10070336 ..jpg




USS Belleau Wood (LHA-3) 1991 navsource mast hinged down
,USS lha-3 1991 navsource mast hinged down 10070338 1.jpg
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Re: Masts (or section thereof); hinged and/or folding - mechanical or hydraulic

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Little h wrote: Sun Feb 24, 2019 8:25 pm Forrestal Class CV's; relocated hinged mast foremast. - (continued)


The following excerpt is taken from an article in Weapons and Warfare - History and Hardware of Warfare


The change in design to include a large island superstructure solved many problems posed by the flush deck design with its smoke pipes for stack gases and retractable bridge and electronic masts. The electronic suite on the new island included a large SPS-8 height finder radar atop a pedestal on the wheelhouse and a massive pole mast carrying an SPS-12 air search radar with a Tactical Air Navigation (TACAN) beacon at its top. A second large pole mast carried electronic countermeasures (ECM) antennas. These masts were both hinged so that they could be folded down (the larger center mast folded to port and rested on the flight deck while the smaller mast folded aft) for passage under the Brooklyn Bridge, which was a requirement for major naval ships at the time in order to have access to the New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn. An SPN-8 carrier-controlled approach (CCA) radar was mounted on the aft end of the island.


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Now looking of images showing the second large pole mast folded aft
.... and have found some images of the second large pole (mainmast) folded aft, see:-

USS Saratoga CV-60 092 navysite.de.jpg
USS Saratoga cv 60 103 navysite.de.jpg




these pages provide images from a variety of angles:-

USS Saratoga cv 60 106 navysite.de - Copy (3).jpg
USS Saratoga cv 60 106 navysite.de - Copy.jpg

Source of the images above is:- navysite.de USS Saratoga (CVA 60) - Commissioning Cruise Book 1952-56 - in the 'Table of Contents:' scroll down and click on 'Construction' then view the pages in turn
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Re: Masts (or section thereof); hinged and/or folding - mechanical or hydraulic

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The ubiquitious hinged/folding deck edge masts supporting communications wire aerials/antenna (fishing rods) - but noted having appendages (inboard when raised - upwards when lowered)

Observed in photographs/images of:-
Majestic Class built for RN - HMS Terrible R93
Majestic Class in RAN service - HMAS Sydney R17 (built as HMS Terrible R93); HMAS Melbourne R21
Majestic Class in RCN service - HMCS Magnificent CVL21

1 HMAS Sydney (ex HMS Terrible) Sea Fury 1951.jpg
1 HMAS Sydney III 1953 Coronation compilation copy (2).jpg
1 HMAS Sydney IWM © IWM (A 32006).jpg
1 Screenshot (4185).png
1CVL-21-HMCS-Magnificent-02.jpg

What purpose/function did these appendages fulfill?
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Re: Masts (or section thereof); hinged and/or folding - mechanical or hydraulic

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HF/DF but not as we think we know it .... nope, this is HF/DF FAA aircraft carrier and Naval Air Station style

When thinking about HF/DF we generally think about submarine hunting, triangulation etc.; but the system has always had another use - that being the provision of offering a reciprocal bearing for aircraft (mainly) along/down which they/it could fly towards a landing platform or airfield.
, Screenshot (4187) - Copy.jpg
Enter the equipment type AH-6
, Screenshot (4186) - Copy1.jpg
, Screenshot (4187) 1.jpg
... and; so to the S25B aerial array and the folding mast atop which they were mounted. This post ends with two examples, but further posts will try to identify some differences in the mast configurations.


HMAS Melbourne R21; 1st image shows the mast and bird cage (S25B) in raised (no flying ops) position .... however the 2nd of these two images shows the only evidence I have found (so far) on-line of the mast in lowered position (stowed) rotated down to the horizontal and stowed facing aft.
, Melbourne Decommissioning aerial..jpg
, HMAS Melbourne kookaburra Flickr photostream 5830471955_86bcb39a5d_o copy (3).jpg
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Re: Masts (or section thereof); hinged and/or folding - mechanical or hydraulic

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HF/DF but not as we think we know it .... nope, this is HF/DF FAA aircraft carrier and Naval Air Station style - (continued -1)


2 HMS_Implacable_(R86)_MOD_45139827 & wiki (2).jpg


Note that the mast surmounted by AH6 HF/DF array appears to be mounted in such a manner as to suggest the mast (in the lowered position) may be swivelled/rotated so as to face aft.
2 HMS EAGLE & HMS BULWARK at Syracusa - May 1956 John Currin (JC 's Naval and Military).jpg


Note that the mast surmounted by AH6 HF/DF array is mounted at the deck edge on port qtr not stbd qtr.
2 R31 HMS Warrior 03 seaforces.org.jpg

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Back to RAN; note that the Sydney R17 has the mast surmounted by AH6 HF/DF array mounted on a similar base to that of Melbourne which suggests that the mast may also fold down to a stowed position facing aft (nearly parallel with deck edge)
2 ,HMAS Sydney R17 on her arrival back in her namesake port, 5 March 1952 jpeg.jpg
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Re: Masts (or section thereof); hinged and/or folding - mechanical or hydraulic

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HMS Ark Royal (91) (ordered in 1934 Build Programme from Cammell Laird of Birkenhead and entered service in November 1938)


............... The Arrester gear was also of improved design as was another novel feature, a hinged telescopic mast sited in the centre of the Flight Deck for navigation lights.

The passage (underlined above) is taken from naval-history.net and is contained within a piece under the following header/title:-

SERVICE HISTORIES of ROYAL NAVY WARSHIPS in WORLD WAR 2
by Lt Cdr Geoffrey B Mason RN (Rtd) (c) 2003
HMS ARK ROYAL - Fleet Aircraft Carrier including Convoy Escort Movements
Editing & Additional Material by Mike Simmonds


Having read the passage and with my interest in this arrangement suitably piqued - I'm left wondering if anyone on the forum has viewed an image of this installation?
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Re: Masts (or section thereof); hinged and/or folding - mechanical or hydraulic

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Observed in the attachment contained in a post (copied below) in the Aircraft Carrier; HMCS Bonaventure thread of the Canadian Navy forum.

Aircraft Carriers: HMCS Bonaventure

Post by Brian James » Tue Jul 16, 2019 2:25 am
Prestonian Class ASW Escort Frigate HMCS Swansea being refueled from Majestic Class Light Fleet carrier HMCS Bonaventure...1959

bonav swansea..1959 (3).jpg


Note that the whip aerial has a tilting motor that is so configured as to tilt the whip to a horizontal position in the general fore & aft orientation. Other images of this ship show her with all(?) tilting whips lowered to a horizontal position pointing outboard to port or stbd - this includes the fishing rod folding mast arrays.

Q. would this particular whip be so configured because of it's proximity to the RAS point?
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