06/04/2021
🛳 More from the USS North Carolina (BB55) shoot. 🛸
This was a challenge not only because of the size of the ship but also the way the sky matched her colors. Really epic repairs underway which you can see in the first pic with the visible cofferdam, and in the second the SECU Memorial Walkway. 🛳 🛳 🙌
From the website www.battleshipnc.com:
The Battleship’s hull has critical structural issues that must be addressed immediately. Since coming to her berth in 1961, 60 years of wind and water at the tide line have left the hull paper-thin in places. Her last major dry docking and repair work was done in 1953. She is sitting in 30 feet of river silt, but this silt has actually helped to preserve the bottom better than at the wind-water line.
** The Battleship NORTH CAROLINA remains open to the public during construction and repairs **
THE BASICS
Cofferdam
A cofferdam is a watertight structure built to allow the enclosed area to be pumped out, creating a dry work environment.
The Battleship cofferdam enables workers to repair and restore the ship’s corroded hull, which is paper-thin in places.
The cofferdam was constructed by Orion Marine Group of Norfolk, Va.
Cofferdam stats
50 feet tall
1,909 feet long around perimeter
1,206 steel sheet piles
229 vertical steel H-piles, 55 feet long
229 battered steel H-piles, 60 feet long
4.6 million pounds of steel (2,300 tons)
4 slide gate weirs: 10 feet, 6 inches tall by 6 feet wide