User talk:Jrc1234

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[edit] USNS Stalwart

As of February 25th, 2008, with the lack of funds, the vessel continues to deteriorate and the four Caterpillar engines fall further into disrepair. Two of the engines are in state that it would require major work and should be scrapped or used for parts for the other two engines which with a lot of time and money could eventually work but is unlikely to happen in the near future. The vessel's engine room along with many other systems aboard it needs serious maintenance and therefore the vessel itself should just be scrapped entirely.

The ship continues to sit along side of the pier at the State University of New York Maritime College with no immediate future in site. On March 3rd, 2008, a line attached to the ship was replaced due to the lack of care, maintenance, and chaffing which ultimately lead to it breaking.

The vessel’s engine room is currently, as of the winter/spring of 2008, being used for a, Designated Duty Engineer, class taught by the State University of New York Maritime College. With few tools, no funds, and little knowledge of the diesel/electric generators aboard, students are left on there own to work at their own pace taking apart whatever they can to learn from in a lecture that takes place before the lab.

I'm a former sailor on the Stalwart and find it heartbreaking to hear what you say about how it is being used, or lack thereof. Are you one of the students who works inside this ship? I'd be interested in learning more from you about this ship. --JAYMEDINC (talk) 16:56, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

I do not mean for what I said to be heartbreaking for any of the sailors who have sailed on her so I would like to apologize on that part but from what I wrote, I wanted to make people aware of what is taking place currently with the ship. I am, yes, a student at the State University of New York Maritime College and it disappoints me to not only see the vessel fall into the shape that it has but to hear lies from the school of what the vessel will be used for just to see nothing happen.

MARAD, when they took control of the vessel, should have NEVER donated it to this school. I do not know if the vessel came to the school in working order but my thoughts are that it wasn't. The engines are in such a state that they require extensive work done to them. It is not, oh lets just change a few gaskets, add some oil and start them up, they need to be rebuilt from the internal parts on out. You have parts that are so rusted together that it takes nearly a sledge hammer and a crowbar to pry them apart even after being sprayed several times with a rust breaker like “Knock'er Loose®”.

I have not wondered the vessel thoroughly enough to know what is good and bad but along with being down in the engine room for approximately two semesters now, I have seen other areas of the vessel. One area of the vessel that I have been in several times is where the emergency diesel is located. From what I have seen and heard is that this generator is actually in a pretty good state but still requires work and parts. One of the key parts that need to be replaced is the radiator.

The rooms that are on the main level, aft end of the ship, where I believe all the system controls were before the vessel was turned over to the school; the Navy simply took all the equipment out by cutting all the wires that were connected to the units and left the wires hanging and laying all over in a mess. I mean I understand that before the Navy turns a vessel over they go through and strip it of any systems they don’t want someone having but to see these rooms left they way they were is very disturbing.

I do have access to most of the ship other then for certain rooms where the doors are locked so if there is any areas of the vessel that you would like to see pictures of, I am willing to take some for you.--Jrc1234 (talk) 23:14, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

I'd be interested in any and all pics that you could get for me. I keep in touch with some former shipmates and I know they would be interested too. I only have a couple from my counter-drug deployments. Does your school allow tours of the ship? Believe it or not, some of my best "sea memories" are on this ship. I was also on the USS America which was sunk by our government, so it pains me to hear that this is happening to one of my ships again. --JAYMEDINC (talk) 01:07, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

I can only imagine the pain you feel when you hear information like this. I do not live to far from the old Philadelphia Navy Shipyard and its hard for me to watch old vessels at the yard be put on inactive service and then to later be scrapped or sunk.

I did get to drive by and get a glimps of the USS America there about 7 months before she was sunk. I'm real glad that I was lucky enough to see that. --JAYMEDINC (talk) 15:19, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

On a regular basis now, I usually try to keep up to date with different ships and what is being done with them. I am a Naval Architect student who would like to design custom/private yachts but at the same time I am very interested in the disigns of the new Navy ships along with looking at previous vessels. For me, I would love to see the Stalwart fixed up.

I do not believe the school allows tours of the ship since it is not in the kind of shape that would really welcome a lot of people aboard due to the amount of rust in some areas on the exterior and due to some of the conditions on the interior where things have been torn out in a half ass manner. Pardon me of my language. I want to say that if you knew someone from the school, that they personally could take you aboard and walk you around but I am only on there for a class and do not know the specifics. I wish I knew for myself what would be done with the ship because I would like to see it cleaned up and running but that seems to be a far cry.

I would like to possibly start some kind of association to bring attention to this matter. Unfortunately the ship had such a small crew, that it would be hard to get any reaction. I am a little swamped right now too of course. I am the President of Challenge Coin Association and also work full time selling challenge coins. --JAYMEDINC (talk) 15:19, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

One good thing that I had the chance to watch on March 5th, 2008, was the emergency diesel being cranked over. From what I was told when I asked about who was working on it, is that there is two students who are in the process of trying to rebuild it but since the school does not seem to have any funds set aside for the vessel, it is hard to come by parts. The biggest part that is needed at this point is a new radiator. After watching the two guys crank it several times, it seems like they are having an issue with getting fuel to the injectors and are waiting on getting a pump so they can prime the system.

I took several pictures on March 5th, 2008 that I will try to get at least a couple up on this site. In the coming weeks I will be in the process of getting more.--Jrc1234 (talk) 01:57, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

It is awesome what you are doing. I see you added some photos to the Stalwart article. I also notice the name of the Stalwart has changed. I was wondering how long it would take for someone to post the new name. I was asking about a year ago for someone to provide the name, but got no response. Now the article name will have to be changed to match the current name. --JAYMEDINC (talk) 15:19, 6 March 2008 (UTC)