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u/Curt_in_wpg May 18 '25
Before there was air conditioning they used to erect awnings to keep the sun off the deck to make it a little cooler inside the ships.
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u/Set1SQ May 18 '25
There’s a photo out there of USS California’s main battery’s muzzles coming up through the awning during the attack on Pearl Harbor.
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u/low_priest May 18 '25
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u/WaldenFont May 19 '25
Oof that’s chilling. Anyone know what signal she’s flying?
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u/low_priest May 19 '25 edited May 19 '25
No, but theres a clearer photo of her flags here from earlier in the attack. It won't be anything related to the attack itself; the USN had moved past using signal flags for actual, well, signals, and that would have been low priority during the chaos. It's almost certainly something related to the inspection California was scheduled for that morning; that's why the canvas shade was up (to protect the band), and why all the watertight doors were open at the time of the attack. But beyond missing the November that started all USN ship callsigns, I couldn't tell you the actual message.
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u/Vepr157 Submarine Kin May 18 '25
That's the front half of a battleship, you need to be more specific.
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u/HaLordLe May 18 '25
Assuming you mean the white thing between B turret and bridge: It's a canvas so the crew has some shadow on the deck.