13May 2011
NEWSLETTER

Please keep your email address up to date with LaDonna
even if you don’t want it posted online.
Please contact LaDonna Bradshaw, bb64members@aol.com. Or (601) 693-4614
____________________________________________________

 

WISCONSIN MODEL
If you haven’t checked Keith Mullen’s almost 10 foot model of the Wisconsin, click on the following,

http://www.badshipmodels.com/battleships/battleships.html
The last 8 photos show the ship almost completed. Great work Keith.

 

 

NAVAL TERM ORIGINS

Smoking lamp
The exact date and origin of the smoking lamp has been lost. However, it probably came into use during the 16th Century when seamen began smoking on board vessels. The smoking lamp was a safety measure. It was devised mainly to keep the fire hazard away from highly combustible woodwork and gunpowder. Most navies established regulations restricting smoking to certain areas. Usually, the lamp was located in the forecastle or the area directly surrounding the galley indicting that smoking was permitted in this area. Even after the invention of matches in the 1830s, the lamp was an item of convenience to the smoker. When particularly hazardous operations or work required that smoking be curtailed, the unlighted lamp relayed the message. "The smoking lamp is lighted" or "the smoking lamp is out' were the expressions indicating that smoking was permitted or forbidden. The smoking lamp has survived only as a figure of speech. When the officer of the deck says, "the smoking lamp is out" before drills, refueling or taking on ammunition that is the Navy's way of saying "cease smoking."

 

If any of you have interesting stories about your time aboard the Wisconsin, please share them with us.
Email them to me at Dombb64@ptd.net

 

 

PLEASE REMEMBER TO INCLUDE IN YOUR PRAYERS,
OUR SICK AND DEPARTED SHIPMATES AND THEIR FAMILIES.
FAIR WINDS AND FOLLOWING SEAS