photo from Kingsley Bennett

A photo of the mold shop crew. Don't drop anything!
Molten bronze poured from the furnace. Allen was the skimmer.
left to right, Bennett, Pearson, and Allen.

The Tidewater performed major repairs on destroyers in the Atlantic Fleet. If they needed a metal fitting, the mold shop was there. If they needed a bronze bearing, the mold shop was there. If they needed a new mast - well, then they went into drydock. But aside from something as major as that, the Tidewater crew and crews of her sister tenders in Norfolk performed the repairs.

Here's what Kingsley Bennett says about his job in the Tidewater mold shop:

"It was very hot - as hot as 115-120 degrees when we were melting and pouring. Bronze had to be heated to about 2000 degrees before you could pour it.

We would brew our alloys. Bronze is an alloy of copper (CU) tin (SN) and zinc (ZN) and sometimes lead (PB) and aluminum (AL). We also poured aluminum, zinc, magnesium. cast iron, babbitt (bearing metal - an alloy of tin and antimony (SB).  We, at times, poured brass and occasionally even steel.

 We wore dark glasses for viewing the inside of the furnace. It was like looking at the sun and we had to be careful not to get molten metal on bare skin.  Sometimes the metal would "blow back" when it came into contact with moisture in the mold.  Metal would "pop" at times, sending spatters of molten metal flying, so we had to protect our eyes. 

When pouring zinc, we would have to be very careful, because if it came into contact with our skin, it would have tendency to stick and burn.  It would take weeks, if not months for a zinc burn to heal. I have scars on my arms from zinc burns. We wore protective clothing from the knees down to keep  molten metal from accidentally being poured inside our shoes.

We had some interesting jobs. Main shaft bearings would burn out.  It was up to us to resurface the bearings and then machine shop to machine them to size.  A tin can could not run without main shaft bearings. I remember working many hours molding a large part for the FDR, an aircraft carrier, while we were at sea.  It was something they had to have replaced in order to use an elevator to bring airplanes from hangar to flight deck. The officers of the FDR were amazed that we could produce such a part, especially in such a short time.  We received much praise for that job. 

 We had many "rush" jobs for destroyers from time to time.  If it was metal, and not in stores, we could make it.  We could, with the assistance of patternmakers and machinists, reproduce just about any metallic part in existence. 

Jim Pearson worked in the foundry for over 3 yrs.  He left as an FN.  Allen (can't recall his first name)likewise was in the foundry for several years.  He left as an FN.  Allen was from Georgia and Pearson from Indiana.

Click here to see a photo of bronze being poured into a mold.

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