Powder Flat

USS Alabama BB-60

The structure to the right is stationary and is a part of the turret foundation. The structure to the left is a part of the stalk that hangs from the turret and rotates with it. You can see the circular mark in the deck which rotates. The three powder bags shown are for one of the powder elevators that go up to the gun. There are three powder elevators equally spaced around the stalk. As the turret rotates the powder passers may change to other powder elevators. The powder cans in the powder flat are like a ready locker — if for some reason you cannot get powder from the magazine through the scuttles, you can open the powder cans.

Around the powder flat and in the magazines are tubs like the one shown here. These are filled with water, and if a bag breaks you immediately dump the broken bag into the tub. There are also washdown hoses, and you immediately wash the deck and everything the powder contacted. The grains of powder are not a big worry by themselves, but if the ignition patch is torn and the black powder spills out, then you have a serious problem — it does not take much to set off the black powder, and it will set off the grains of powder. There are also washdown hoses in the gun house should a bag break in loading.

The round tube is in the center of the stalk and contains all of the wires that make up the cable twist — all of the wiring that connects the turret to the ship.

This view shows the Parbuckling Ring, the inner rotating projectile ring (with projectiles), and the outer stationary projectile ring on which there are no projectiles.

Chapter 7 — Turret Installations at page 113, Ammunition Handling, will give you a good idea of this process. See also: Parbuckling — a brief explanation of the parbuckling process.

The handle on the gold colored plate controls the forward and backward rotation of the projectile ring. There are six of these equally spaced around the projectile flat, both upper and lower.

This is the outer stationary projectile ring. The black AP shell weighs 2,700 lbs and is 72” tall. The HC projectiles weigh 1,900 lbs and are 64” tall.

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Additional Photos — Updated December 2022

The following photos were sent in by Don Simon of Troy, VA, who wrote: “In 2008 I visited USS Alabama (BB-60) and took a large number of pictures, including the powder flat area. Most of them are the same as what you have posted on the site. However, I took two pictures of a rather large semi-circular dent in the deck directly underneath one of the projectile loading hatches. It looks suspiciously like it has a 16” diameter and I just hope no one’s foot was underneath it when it impacted the deck. My guess is that somehow a projectile was dropped from a sufficient height to make a dent.”

Ed note: Well, at the very least, we can say if a shell fell on a sailor’s foot, he’d be Hokey Pokey challenged for the rest of his life. Thanks Don.