I stumbled accross this old brass sign from CVA42 Franklin D. Roosevelt. A bit of an odd find on a Swedish online auction site, but it could come from a collector, expatriated USN service member or maybe from a seaport visit. In either case, it should’ve been mounted on a wooden plaque, with a metal sign, engraved with the details of the occasion, according to @Hangar200. @Navynuke99, do you know anything about such signs? Are there other USN members on here, who can contribute?
Anyway, Rusty Rosie is one of the lesser known carriers. Laid down in 1943, christened Coral Sea, in 1945 but her name was changed to FDR just a couple of days later.
She did one tour to SEA in 1966 but seems to have spent most of her deployments in the Med.
The first Carrier to operate all jet aircraft and the first carrier to carry nukes to sea.
FDR was designated CVA between 1952 to 1975, so this sign must be from that period.
She was decommissioned in 1977.
Anyway, I think it’s a cool piece of memorabilia!
And it’s a reason to learn more…
Any idea what the diameter is on that? I’m wondering if it’s from a decommissioning plaque or something, though if it’s small enough, I’m also kinda wondering if it’s a challenge coin (is there anything on the back?).
It’s 7" in diameter, weighing in at almost 3lbs.
The backside is ground flat and has two threaded screwholes. So I’m guessing it was mounted to something.
That makes me dream a bit… Would’ve been nice to know.
Still, being screwed down from the back, it would’ve had to be attached to something else, that then was attached to the bulkhead. I mean, they wouldn’t drill through a bulkhead to mount somehting like this, would they? So probably some sort of wooden plaque was used, at some time in the past.
Ehh…depends on the bulkhead. There are many “bulkheads” on a ship that are not structural members…are actually quite thin. They are used to separate spaces/rooms like berthing compartments and administrative work spaces. i.e. where you don’t need an air tight or water tight boundary. So basically a sheet metal bulkhead/wall, usually accessed by a non-watertight door. As a ship gets older these bulkheads tend to “collect” a number of small holes that were drilled to bolt something to them…a shelf or bracket or…a plaque. Having served on CV-67 when it was 18-20 yo and LPH-9 when it was 28-30 yo, I can attest to holes in thin bulkheads.
Really…! One would think you’d want to keep the number of holes in your boat as low as possible?
Ok, let’s consider this option.
It can’t have been in the ship from the launch since it says CVA.
How did it get to Sweden? Collector?
Some USN servicemember found a Swedish blonde and settled down in the arctic. Sure, scandinavian blondes are beautiful, but nobody is that crazy…
Yes , well since I did find a (Norwegian) blonde (26 years ago) and settled down in the arctic (three years ago next week), I guess I am that crazy! (…as I am sure a review of my past posts will attest.) We shall have to come back to this subject some time in the (hopefully distant) future, after I am no more, and see if any of my career plaque collection has turned up with an Andøya collector.
That said, the other reason could be a port visit. Typically, when a USN ship pulls into a foreign port that is not regularly visited, there is a bit-to-do with the local officials and mementos are exchanged…a ship’s plaque (with a hunk of brass like this) is often such a gift to the mayor, city council, etc. Maybe this once graced a hallway in Stockholm City Hall…years go by…perhaps the wood red and cracked or it was damaged during cleaning…things happen…they took it down and put it into storage or something (think of the final scene in Raider’s of the Lost Ark)…eventually it ends up with the collector.
, well since I did find a (Norwegian) blonde (26 years ago) and settled down in the arctic (three years ago next week), I guess I am that crazy! (…as I am sure a review of my past posts will attest.) We shall have to come back to this subject some time in the (hopefully distant) future, after I am no more, and see if any of my career plaque collection has turned up with an Andøya collector.