Who describes those ships as "wood"? They were entering
service when I was in the Navy (and that was a long time
ago, although it doesn't seem like it to me) and there was a
lot of hoopla about them being fiberglass.

I have also seen them described as "fiberglass reinforced
wood" construction.

And Navy ships maintenance is always underfunded.


snave wrote:
Info from http://www.hazegray.org/worldnav/


"Fiberglass sheathed wood"
http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq46-6.htm

From what I recall of the articles about these ships when
they were being built, they were mostly fiberglass. In fact
the Navy dislikes wood construction because of the risk of
fire (although they have learned a harsh lesson about
aluminum too). Several articles made a point about how
fiberglass has been used for 40 years prior to the Navy
building ships out of it, implying that the Navy was sadly
behind the times.

This last point was really hyperbole, since the Navy
commissioned a lot of small craft from fiberglass in the
1950s and 1960s and also paid for engineering research on he
material in those days. Oh well.

DSK

Chuck,
Not sure this qualifies, but over at NUWC Keyport they still have a few
wood 72' TR ( Torpedo Retriever) boats, and the Old Man IV a wooden
1950's 50' Admiral's Barge they keep in the boat shed, and always on
hand at Seafair. Not sure where the AB was built, but I'd swear its a
Monk design. UD

UglyDan®©™ wrote:
Chuck,
Not sure this qualifies, but over at NUWC Keyport they still have a few
wood 72' TR ( Torpedo Retriever) boats, and the Old Man IV a wooden
1950's 50' Admiral's Barge they keep in the boat shed, and always on
hand at Seafair. Not sure where the AB was built, but I'd swear its a
Monk design. UD

Ah, yes! I have seen that Admiral's barge around. One year the USN sent
the AB and a crew over to compete in Bremerton YC's Heavy Weather
predited log race. The navy got its butt kicked, finishing in the lower
third of the pack. I wouldn't have been surprised to hear that there
were a few comments endured by the AB's crew when they got back to
base. :-)