I was “touring” Hawaii (Oahu, specifically) via satellite photo and discovered a railroad there. But you won’t find locomotives or cars - what travels the rails is cranes. Clearly, it was the parallel lines that caught my attention. What surprised me was how much territory they covered.
You can find them at N 21 20’ 48" W 157 57’ 53", then follow them around. They “wander” quite a bit, right over to Pearl Harbor itself.
Since they’re on the military reservation, I doubt you’ll find any extensive information on-line (although I truthfully didn’t look), but I did find the discovery interesting.
It looks like the crane is serving a graving dock. I guess there are all kinds of large pieces of a vessel that may need to be removed or shifted during refit, reconstruction. I’m assuming, perhaps incorrectly, that ship construction isn’t done by the US Navy. It really is quite a sight, especially the crane boom which looks like it could hit the drone or whatever carried the camera. If it’s a mililtary reserve wouldn’t there be restrictions about flyovers or are drydocks considered low security installations?
Suspect those turrets are childs play, even if all the navel rifles are loaded and ready to fire. I would suspect that a lot of that facility dates from the reconstruction that had to happen after Pearl Harbor.
If you follow the tracks around, they cover a lot of ground, including regular piers. Rather wise, actually, as the same crane(s) can be used in multiple locations. As it is, there are quite a few cranes there. I counted seven.
The Google images are satellite shots. Oftimes they are slightly blurred over sensitive installations. Or were.
Looks like NAS North Island has a similar setup at 32°42’43.61" N 117°11’18.99" W which services both carrier tie-ups. Not as extensive as Pearl, but at least one pretty good sized crane by the docked carrier in the current image from November of last year, give or take.
Going back through the earlier images, it appears that the crane setup is only about 15 years old there.
One purpose is when a port is located adjacent to a Naval Air Station. Aircraft can be moved aboard or disembarked from a carrier. This isn’t common, as the usual method is to fly aboard the carrier once it is some distance out to sea, and the reverse when inbound to a port.
NAS Barbers Point Hawaii was closed in the 1990’s, so I’m not sure if the above would apply to this situation. Never having been assigned there, I’m unfamiliar with the geography, and recent Google imagery would do no good since the land has been repurposed since the base closure.
IIRC, an Iowa class turret probably weighs in around 1,500 to 2,000 tons, the Yamato turrets were 3,200 tons. These figures are for the whole turrent assembly which includes both stationary and moving parts.
Armor plate thickness is on the order of 16 inches.
The Oahu Railway & Land Co used to run through Pearl Harbor on its way to Ka’ena Point, serving the Navy Ammo Depot along the way. They still have a segment based in Ewa for tourist rides.
Once common at most US Navy ports. There was a similar but less complex system at PNSY = Philadelhia Navy Ship Yard, and some remnants can still be seen from the satellite/ aerial views. Here are the coordinates of a remaining crane, which seems to be in good shape from the street-level view:
N 39.88874 W 75.18081
What’s more, the trackwork for the cranes is a thing unto itself. Usually 174 lb girder rail, with custom fabricated turnouts and crossing frogs. And think about getting the big rigid squared-off base of a crane around a sharp curve like those shown, where the track gauge is a significant fraction of the radius dimension? Needs a spiral, again usually custom-engineered.
‘Frog’ without the crossing point, not switch. Kind of a moveable point frog, but more like a stub switch - I’ll grant you that. Close to one-of-a-kind, not seen in any other application.
Strikes me as more of a movable point for a diamond than any sort of switch, especially with only two lockable positions. Given the weight of the cranes, and the potential loads, I would opine that a traditional diamond frog wouldn’t be up to the task.
A Liberty ship. Spent an entire summer on one (Granville Hall, YAG40).
