Submarine conning tower hatch

[Tinbasherdan]

during build each compartment has a large safety air monitor on the floor, and each person must also carry a small personal air monitor too, EVERYTHING on a sub is a confined space! doing any sort of hotwork onboard a soviet boat with paint that probably consists of every carcinogenic known to man, i would have at least a PAM and no lone working

also, it wouldnt be the first time ive seen someone fall down the bridge fin ladder, ideally id want a harness with a cows tail onto a ladder rung

 

[Parm]

If you're sending employees/volunteers up there then you are going to have to be careful as it looks like a confined space or at very least restricted access. the legal aspects of this need to be considered as you dont want to finish up liable for anything! At work I have jump through hoops to carry out anything in a confined space. @Parm what do you think?

I quite agree, the job needs to be carefully thought out. Plus all the engineering issues of paints, greases etc that may get hot. I don’t know much about submarines

 

[Tinbasherdan]

I don’t know much about submarines

black, long, full of sailors that are considered odd even by other sailors, and everything is classed as a tank

 

[sovietsub]

Thanks to all for the positive responses, we can access from topside and there is a wheel but even with substantial pressure we could not budge , attached are a couple of photos of the hatch open. Cutting the dogs off may be the simplest solution , we can look at other hatches that are open to see what that wound take. The submarine only has one good dive left so not to worried if it cannot be made watertight to 100 metres

 

[Tinbasherdan]

Thanks to all for the positive responses, we can access from topside and there is a wheel but even with substantial pressure we could not budge , attached are a couple of photos of the hatch open. Cutting the dogs off may be the simplest solution , we can look at other hatches that are open to see what that wound take. The submarine only has one good dive left so not to worried if it cannot be made watertight to 100 metres

There’ll be some pressure on those dogs it you cut them off, wouldn’t be my port of call to be fair.

 

[CompoSimmonite]

Besides heat would cold (CO2 / liquid nitrogen) break rust bond ?

 

[Parm]

Besides heat would cold (CO2 / liquid nitrogen) break rust bond ?

Not a good idea in a confined space

 

[sovietsub]

Another photo looking up from control room , showing first hatch into periscope room open and second stuck hatch above

 

[Tinbasherdan]

Been pondering this all night now. My first action would be to buy the biggest tin of plus gas (not wd40!) you can find and empty around every dog and wheel over a few days. Next would be to acquire a porta-power with a ram, and find a way to chock it up on the external wheel so you can get a load of pressure on it, then get someone on the inside to shock all the way round in circles with a bloody big hammer/ lump of metal.

Hopefully a few cycles of this and it will suddenly let go and scare the crap out of everyone

 

[JohnRUFC]

Induction heater. There’s a new one for releasing wheel nuts that will put a great deal of heat in to it in a very short space of time.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Induction heater. There’s a new one for releasing wheel nuts that will put a great deal of heat in to it in a very short space of time.

With the bonus of being localised?

 

[JohnRUFC]

With the bonus of being localised

No point heating up the air around you if you can avoid it

 

[Tinbasherdan]

Thing is , it’s only got to move 5-10mm and it’ll go easily after than

 

[gaz1]

Thanks to all for the positive responses, we can access from topside and there is a wheel but even with substantial pressure we could not budge , attached are a couple of photos of the hatch open. Cutting the dogs off may be the simplest solution , we can look at other hatches that are open to see what that wound take. The submarine only has one good dive left so not to worried if it cannot be made watertight to 100 metres

you also have 2 offers to come and see the place it maybe worth taking them up on it as they can see it at face value compared to being over the internet

jut one thing id like to ask any chance of more photos of the sub for others to see and also id like to know the end conclusion of this and how you did it if you dont mind coming back and letting us know how you went on

its nice to see some feedback and what was the best option in the end

 

[sovietsub]

Attached are some further photos, will up date you for sure & will get in touch with the guys who have offered help
Cheers

 

[Rig Pig]

Attached are some further photos, will up date you for sure & will get in touch with the guys who have offered help
Cheers

I've just watched Michael Portillo wondering around that sub! What's the hull like? The conning tower looked like it was in quite poor condition on the t.v.?

 

[Farside]

What about getting somebody up top with a Hilti hammer at the same time as attempting to move the mechanism inside?
A total of a few thousand rapid joules of hitting might help.
Ear defence would be strongly advised.

 

[Blagadan]

I'd be tempted to try and manually drift the ring round, place a drift (lump of brass bar if you have it) against the end of the rack and keep clouting it with a lump hammer to try and shock the ring free.

You'd probably need to remove one of the cogs before doing that. If I were having a crack at this I'm sure I'd hit it with a lot of WD40 over a period of days beforehand to make sure it had the best chance of breaking free.

 

[Ed.]

Another option would be to try and hire a big induction heater and use it to heat it all up, advantage is no flame.

 

[pod70]

Another one who is local and happy to offer some help (for what it's worth). Would love to have a look around this, is there any chance of organising a private tour for the forum members?