"Tim" wrote in message
...
On Apr 15, 4:19 pm, "Eisboch" wrote:
"Richard Casady" wrote in message

...

On Sun, 12 Apr 2009 04:35:03 -0400, "Eisboch"
wrote:

Wooden warships had to be careful also. It was interesting taking the
tour
of the USS Constitution in Boston. When they went to battle stations,
one
of the crew's jobs was to man the manually operated bilge pumps and pump
water up to cover the two gun decks to prevent them from catching fire
due
to spilled pow

Constitution has one gun deck, like all frigates.

Casady

Picky, picky.

Yes, there was one *gun* deck, that had 30 cannons (15 per side). But the
main deck (or "spar deck") also had 22 larger cannons.

Both decks were flooded during battle by pumping the bilge water onto them
to prevent fires.

Eisboch

Wow. i didn't know that, but did they actually "flood" the decks to
wet down the floor[s] for fire control?

Either way the extra water/weight would hinder the ships
maneuverability and speed.

Or at least that's how I see it.

BTW, can you imagine the racket the gunners mates put up with down
below while firing those things off? so much for loss of hearing
compensation....

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

Not really. When they say "flood", it isn't really flooding. They just
kept the decks wet by pumping the water up from the bilge. It probably
improved speed because the water was in the bilge anyway and when they
pumped it onto the decks, the excess ran overboard through the many scuppers
located on the decks.

If you ever have the opportunity to visit "Old Ironsides", they give a very
interesting tour and describe the various operations used when in battle.
The tour we took resulted in my learning of why the "bathroom facilities" on
a boat are referred to as "the Head". I never knew why before.

Eisboch