Scroll down to read this post.

 

Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. I keep the website clean from pop-ups and annoying demands. Instead, I depend entirely on my readers to support me. Though this means I am sacrificing some income, it also means that I remain entirely independent from outside pressure. By depending solely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, no one can threaten me with censorship. You don't like what I write, you can simply go elsewhere.

 

You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:

 

1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.

 

2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
 

3. A Paypal Donation:

4. A Paypal subscription:


5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
 
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652

 

You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.


The ship cut in half

An evening pause: The youtube page explains:

Norwegian cruise ship “Braemar” was literally split in half. Carried out at the shipyard in Hamburg operation was aimed at extending the hull by 30 feet. Between the two separated parts inserted third. The ship was repainted and with a new name – “Balmoral” – went on another tour.

Hat tip Edward Thelen.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

11 comments

  • Jason Hillyer

    Legos!!!

  • Localfluff

    It’s amazing that it is practical to rebuild ships in this manner. They weren’t designed for it to begin with, I assume. Kockums, the Swedish u-boat builder, extends “any conventional” submarines like this, cutting up their hull to extend them and install their silent Stirling engines.

  • Noah Peal

    So interesting, Edward. Thanks!

  • Kirk

    Nice selection!

    I found it interesting that the large, rail-mounted cranes followed the ship in and out of the graving dock. I wonder if they were controlling hawsers to aid the tug boats in the berthing and unberthing.

  • Tarkus

    If you notice when the ship leaves drydock, it’s still named Braemar. That’s because Balmoral is another ship that under went the same modification. Both ships operated by John Olsen Cruise Line. Still an interesting video, 2 thumbs up.

  • wayne

    “Birth of Victory” 1945
    Building the Liberty Ships During World War II
    https://youtu.be/LUm6xjXq3MU
    (56:01)

    “Henry Kaiser was known for developing new methods of modular ship building, which allowed his yards to outproduce other similar facilities and build 1,490 ships, 27 percent of the total Maritime Commission construction. Kaiser’s ships were completed in two-thirds the time and a quarter the cost of the average of all other shipyards. Liberty ships were typically assembled in a little over two weeks, and one in less than five days.”

    “The Liberty ship SS Robert E. Peary was assembled in less than five days as a part of a special competition among shipyards. At the Oregon Shipbuilding Yard on the Columbia River, near Portland, the Victory ship SS Joseph N. Teal was built in ten days in fall 1942.”

  • Col Beausabre

    The Peary was, even at the time, acknowledged to be a stunt with much pre-stocking of materials. In terms of increasing the size of ships, its called “jumboizing” and has been done for decades.

    From Wikipedia

    Jumboization is a technique in shipbuilding consisting of enlarging a ship by adding an entire section to it. By contrast with refitting or installation of equipment, jumboization is a long and complex endeavour which can require a specialized shipyard.

    Enlarging a ship by jumboization allows an increase in its value without needing to purchase or build an entirely new ship. This technique has been used on cruise ships and tankers, as well as smaller vessels like sailing or fishing ships

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumboisation

  • It’s been done this way for a long time. For example, the first SSBN boats were created by cutting SSN boats in half and splicing in the missile tubes, back around 1960. When I worked as a marine machinery mechanic (long time ago) boats in for repair and refit had “patches” cut in the hull for access, as there was no way the stuff inside was going to come out and be put back in via the weapons loading hatch. When the refit was done, the patches cut out with carbon arc were simply welded back in. Standard shipbuilding technique.

  • Dick Eagleson

    Tarkus,

    That would be the Fred Olsen Cruise Line. Balmoral and Braemar are, indeed, separate ships in the same fleet. Another inaccuracy is the size of the stretch section for Braemar. It wasn’t 30 feet, it was 102 feet. The Balmoral’s was 98 feet. Watching the video, the inserted section was obviously a lot longer than 30 feet. Here’s a link to a site with the relevant data.

  • Cotour

    Thank you.

    That 30 foot extension did not make sense to me, I thought as I read that spec. 30 feet, whats the point? Still its one hell of an undertaking in the “big” class of projects, and they really go on more often than one would think. Lots of big stuff out there.

  • Tarkus

    Thank you Mr Eagleson,

    Great link. Much better site than where I found my information.

Readers: the rules for commenting!

 

No registration is required. I welcome all opinions, even those that strongly criticize my commentary.

 

However, name-calling and obscenities will not be tolerated. First time offenders who are new to the site will be warned. Second time offenders or first time offenders who have been here awhile will be suspended for a week. After that, I will ban you. Period.

 

Note also that first time commenters as well as any comment with more than one link will be placed in moderation for my approval. Be patient, I will get to it.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *