Tuesday, March 29, 2011

One Big Hunk of Metal

prop (1 of 1)

 

Prominently located in the plaza of the Columbia River Maritime Museum is a gigantic ship’s propeller.  This prop’s specifications are impressive;  fourteen feet in diameter and weighing in at nine tons.  It’s one big hunk of metal!  Propellers such as this once drove the Charles Adams Class destroyers across the world’s oceans.

As impressive as this hunk of metal is, the reaction of the people relating to it is even more interesting.  Young children will scale the smooth surface of the blades then slide down  laughing as they go.  Teenagers will climb behind the blades and pose for a picture with only their head showing.  Middle age men can often been seen just standing before it and staring.  I suspect that they are former sailors and appreciate a thing of beauty when they see it. 

When I look at it, I see it as an object of raw power. Two of these propellers working together were capable of driving a ship that was longer than a football field through the ocean at nearly forty miles per hour.  In my book, that’s pretty impressive!

I decided to see if I could capture some of that power with the camera, so over a period of two months I made multiple images during different times of the day.  Hopefully, the following images convey a sense of what I saw.

 

The energy radiates from within

 

propeller (4 of 4)

 

The energy flows across the surface

 

propeller (3 of 4)

Everything is interconnected

 

propeller (2 of 4)

15 comments:

Earl said...

Steve, gigantic ship screws like this are certainly impressive.

The WWII Battleship, USS North Carolina, is on display in Wilmington, NC, and they have one of her giant screws on display. I'm one of those who stand there, mouth agape.

I love the play of the light on the welded and ground metal in the photos. Nice job capturing this. In that fourth/last photo it looks like there's metal fatigue damage along the shaft collar. :-)

Steve Skinner said...

Good eye Earl!

Deanna said...

Being from the landlocked lower midwest (or upper South, depending on who you are talking to) I've never seen anything like this. It is amazing.

Your comments about the photos could have been about life in general... but then maybe that was your intent?

Thanks for the share.

Steve Skinner said...

You know Deanna, it works either way!

Paul said...

Steve, that certainly is a lot of power to drive a ship that is so long and so heavy at such a fast clip! It is interesting how the different people react. Do you have any photos of them? It would have been interesting to add.

Steve Skinner said...

Sadly Paul, those images were recorded with my brain only.

Ralph said...

Steve,
Would that screw have been so polished for installation or has it been gussied up for display?

Anita Jesse said...

Wow! I would definitely have been in the group standing and staring—most likely with open mouth in my case. This is extremely impressive. I think you did a superb job of conveying the power. The first image give me a feeling for the massiveness of the ship and what it takes to move it. The following images beautifully portray the texture of the material and details of the shape. An informative and thoroughly enjoyable post about amazing craftsmanship.

Steve Skinner said...

Ralph, I think it's a little of both.

Steve Skinner said...

Thanks Anita! The prop is a real eye catcher.

Pamela said...

trying to remember if I've seen that in person....

Steve Skinner said...

Trust me Pamela, if you did, you would remember it!

Ralph said...

Steve,
Still out there?

Ralph said...

What's that plan?

Ralph said...

Steve,
Counting down!