View allAll Photos Tagged Refinance
This beet root sugar refining factory in Vierverlaten is now 112 years old and still going strong. Another refinery near the city of Groningen was closed this year. When operational at the end of each year, the plumes of steam can be seen from miles around. With a westerly wind, the sweet (and to some nauseating) smell of the factory permeates the city in the background.
Starboard view of the hangar and Kolter company name boadly displayed on armor paneling over the exterior fuel tanks.
Name: S.S. Bessemer
Registration Number: KCC-1894 (Kolter Construction Contract Number 1,894)
Affiliation: Kolter Mining, Refining, and Fuel.
Class Name: Bessemer class
Type: Deep Space Mining Operations Flagship
Commissioned: Circa late 2500’s, post recent major conflict
Specifications:
Length: 1,844 meters (184.4 studs, 58.1 inches, 4.83 feet, 147.5 cm model)
Width: 503 meters (50.3 studs, 15.8 inches, 40.2 cm model)
Height: 484 meters, 398 meters without dorsal comms array, (48.4 studs, 15.2 inches, 38.7 cm model)
Crew: 2,950 standard complement + capacity for crew families, as well as smaller guest quarters for up to 2,000 additional personnel to be moved to/from mining operations.
Armament: 1 super-heavy coaxial particle beam cannon, (primarily for asteroid mining, but also more than capable of defensive action,) 4 dual-mounted heavy particle cannon turrets, 8 dual-mounted medium particle cannon turrets, 2 coaxial fore medium particle cannons, 80 quad-mounted 80mm anti-fighter flak railgun turrets.
Defensive systems:
Hull: Super-heavy steel alloy hull with carbon nanotube/buckypaper composite layers as spall lining.
Armor plating: steel, titanium alloy, tungsten, ceramic, and carbon nanotube composite armor layers against asteroids/other space debris, kinetic weapons, kinetic spalling, particle, laser, and plasma fire. Thick composite armor provides excellent survivability, but with very high mass. Some battleships are less armored than this ship.
Bulkheads: Extensive titanium bulkhead support network.
Structural integrity field: High power system designed for significant cargo mass placing stress on the frame, or to withstand asteroid impacts to the hull.
Shielding: Internally housed high power adaptive particle field repulsing shielding system capable of surviving significant punishment. Some older battleships have less robust shielding.
Powerplant: 1 primary matter-antimatter reactor with extensive fuel reserves, 2 secondary fusion reactors with extensive fuel reserves. Multiple massive power capacitors. Extensive heatinks.
Propulsion: 1 massive primary fusion engine for sub-lightspeed travel, 1 internal FTL core capable of moderate FTL speed, long range travel, and 32 large reaction control thrusters for slow but dependable below light speed maneuvering.
Computer systems: Single supercomputer core with onboard Virtual Intelligence system.
Comms and Sensors: Local and FTL comms arrays. Radar, LIDAR, infrared, multi-spectral, and additional other local area sensors systems, along with extensive FTL sensors.
Additional Systems: High power artificial singularity for both artificial gravity generation and inertial dampening, allowing for 1G gravity even when hauling an entire cargo hold full of heavy-metal. 6 massive blast furnaces for refining metal ore, an enormous central cargo hold system, 4 fuel refining tanks, 4 massive fuel storage tanks, and an internal rail system for moving ore and personnel.
Embarked Craft: 2 Thunderbird class super-heavy cargo/personnel shuttles, 2 Hurricane class heavy cargo/personnel shuttles, 20 heavy mining drones, 24 medium mining drones, 2 gunships of variable class, 2 heavy fighter/bombers of variable class, potential for multiple additional light shuttles and fighters.
Background: After seeing both the devastation to outlying areas of space caused by the recent Great War, and the corruption within the Federal Defense Navy (working title) Admiralty, Captain David Courtland retired honorably from military service and went to helm his family’s generations old mining company, Kolter Mining, Refining, and Fuel; one of the largest mining companies in United Earth Federation space. (Working title.)
He wanted to take the company, already a reputable and successful business, in a new direction. That direction was the disputed, war-torn, no-man’s-waste-land of space known as The Divide, (working title) situated between the major powers of the galaxy. Life in The Divide was desperate, with little hope for the many people stranded in the ruins, poverty, and crime infested land. None of the major powers could intervene without starting another territorial war, and as such, pirates, gangs, and unscrupulous mega-corporations ruled supreme.
Courtland wanted to make a difference to this sorrowful place, and with trillions of credits and a Fortunes 1,000 company at his control, he had the means to at least begin; although even he lacked the ability to single-handedly remedy the myriad of woes The Divide faced.
David’s plan was simple, to move significant mining operations to The Divide, thus:
1: Creating new, safe, well-paying, good jobs for both an area and an industry that seldom offered such things.
2: Allowing for the placement of company security forces to deter pirate activity around major settlements.
3: Providing tax-free revenue to fund new schools, hospitals, food, water, shetler, and other charitable activities in The Divide.
But to do it, he required a new kind of mining vessel, as well as additional security forces. Thus he contacted Nelson Heavy Industries, who in turn partnered with AxonTech Interstellar Systems for some components, to place an order for a line of custom massive deep space mining operation flagships with enhanced combat capabilities and capable of operating in the remotest reaches of space for months or even years at a time. And so the Bessemer class was born.
The Bessemer class is unlike any mining vessel ever produced before it. Certainly significantly larger mining ships existed, but these were typically little more than unarmed, slow moving things with small engines; closer to a semi-mobile starbase than a combination frontier battleship/mining vessel. But Courtland required something unique. Something that could move faster, survive more punishment, and something that had teeth; not a fragile, barely moving thing that would only sit in safe areas of space. Courtland needed a mighty sheepdog in a world of sheep and wolves.
Bessemer class vessels are 1,844 meters long, and possess more armor, firepower, and shielding than many pre Great War battleship designs. Almost any pirate or local gang would be terrified of the sight of over a mile of steel and particle cannons; clad in Kolter white, green, and yellow.
But the Bessemer, and others of her class, are not merely warships masquerading as civilian craft. They are heavy mining machines that live up to their name; a steel producing process that revolutionized the industry of Earth some seven hundred years earlier. The Bessemer and her sister ships are capable of blasting metal-rich asteroids to bits with their coaxial mining particle beam cannon, and then having swarms of automated mining drones devour any valuable deposits within before unloading the materials into the Bessemer’s ore hold for the internal rail system to run any raw ore through her six corvette sized forges, and then having the refined metal shunted to her cavernous lower hold, while any waste material from the refining process is vented directly into space.
Ships of this class are outfitted with a sizable hangar, advanced sensor suite, extensive internal cargo bays, and large cargo pod clamps that allow it to act in the capacity of miner, defensive ship, operations command center, and even freighter and personnel carrier should usual shipping to outlying mining sites be disrupted.
But capable as they are, these are not the spartan mining vessels with unlivable working conditions that some shady companies have been known to operate. These space-faring cities of steel feature robust safety systems, spacious and comfortable crew quarters, multiple restaurants, multiple mess-halls, multiple shops for clothing, food, electronics, and other items, an arcade, multiple gyms with weights, various weight and cardio machines, martial arts areas, gymnastics equipment, along with a walking track, a small bowling alley, an olympic sized swimming pool, a multi-sport stadium, a greenhouse, hydroponics bays, a small stage/concert area, several computer labs, a library, a small movie theater, crew lounges and break areas, a salon/spa, a bar/club, chapels, classroom/daycare areas, office areas, as well as repair stations, enough dry and frozen storage to keep everyone fed for extended missions, advanced workshops, astrotography, laboratories, guest bunk-rooms, and a starbase grade medical center.
Not everyone is happy about Kolter Mining’s efforts, however. While Courtland founded the Kolter Foundation to aid those in need, he also lobbied for what came to be known as the Kolter Bill to be passed. Mining employees out in the colonies loved the added protections this afforded them. But the executives of Kolter’s rival mining companies operating out of Earth’s colony worlds quickly found themselves facing laws that favored the profits of Kolter and their already developed safety systems and excellent treatment of employees. What’s more, the Federal Defense Navy Admiralty have been continually frustrated that rather than helping to line their pockets as part of the military industrial complex, Courtland has been working tirelessly to reveal their corruption and hidden support of crime in outlying areas of space.
What’s more, there are even rumors that Courtland is now working with, and possibly even helping to fund, a mercenary vigilante unit out in The Divide known as the Phoenix Command Group, founded by Jonathan Scarlett, another former Federal Defense Navy Captain who ran afoul of the Admiralty.
The wealthy and corrupt among the Admiralty, military industrial complex, crime syndicates, and corrupt businesses running shady operations out in The Divide are deeply troubled by these rumors. But those who are now citizens of no nation, and who have known nothing but hopelessness and need for years, have a slight spark of hope rising like a Phoenix.
IRL info: This digital SHIP was made in Bricklink’s Studio software from September 11th to September 30th, 2021. I did not originally plan to participate in SHIPtember, but I couldn’t resist. It is 184 studs (58.1 inches) long, 50 studs wide, and 48 studs high. It is comprised of 23,470 pieces, which I believe makes it my highest piece-count SHIP to date, and means that the model itself has a mass of 973.502 ounces, or 60.843 pounds, or 27.597 kilograms, which most likely makes it my heaviest SHIP as well as my most piece intensive. (I really need to learn to build a little more hollow.) Note that it uses all real pieces/colors that are available for sale on Bricklink. (Albeit at a price that makes attempting to build it in physical bricks highly impractical.) It is 100% connected, and should be at least somewhat stable in real life. I would want to reinforce the fore-end with more Technic, and switch out the longest Lego Technic axle holding the engine for an aftermarket stainless steel version. I cannot guarantee that various sections built out from the main SNOT and Technic frame would be totally stable without slight redesign of a few bits. It would also require a hefty display stand of some kind.
The current pictures are WIP to show the completed status of the build itself. Better renders done by importing the Studio build into Mecabricks, replacing any pieces that fail to load or change position, and then exporting to Blender for higher quality rendering, and finally hopefully doing some cool backgrounds with GIMP, will hopefully follow before whatever October picture deadline is decided on. Please do not use these early pictures in the poster if time remains, as I hope to provide better ones. Thank you for reading this lengthy description. Have a cookie.
If this ship had a theme song, this magnificent piece by Clamavi De Profundis would be it: youtu.be/Xm96Cqu4Ils
Size comparison with modern Nimitz class supercarrier for scale. (Nimitz should be very close on length and beam, but height and finer detail at this size are tricky. As is hull shaping on such an uneven design, especially at this small size. But the point was to show what we refer to as "perfect grade, which is 1 stud = 10 meters, hence this 184.4 stud long ship would be 1,844 meters long at this scale.)
Name: S.S. Bessemer
Registration Number: KCC-1894 (Kolter Construction Contract Number 1,894)
Affiliation: Kolter Mining, Refining, and Fuel.
Class Name: Bessemer class
Type: Deep Space Mining Operations Flagship
Commissioned: Circa late 2500’s, post recent major conflict
Specifications:
Length: 1,844 meters (184.4 studs, 58.1 inches, 4.83 feet, 147.5 cm model)
Width: 503 meters (50.3 studs, 15.8 inches, 40.2 cm model)
Height: 484 meters, 398 meters without dorsal comms array, (48.4 studs, 15.2 inches, 38.7 cm model)
Crew: 2,950 standard complement + capacity for crew families, as well as smaller guest quarters for up to 2,000 additional personnel to be moved to/from mining operations.
Armament: 1 super-heavy coaxial particle beam cannon, (primarily for asteroid mining, but also more than capable of defensive action,) 4 dual-mounted heavy particle cannon turrets, 8 dual-mounted medium particle cannon turrets, 2 coaxial fore medium particle cannons, 80 quad-mounted 80mm anti-fighter flak railgun turrets.
Defensive systems:
Hull: Super-heavy steel alloy hull with carbon nanotube/buckypaper composite layers as spall lining.
Armor plating: steel, titanium alloy, tungsten, ceramic, and carbon nanotube composite armor layers against asteroids/other space debris, kinetic weapons, kinetic spalling, particle, laser, and plasma fire. Thick composite armor provides excellent survivability, but with very high mass. Some battleships are less armored than this ship.
Bulkheads: Extensive titanium bulkhead support network.
Structural integrity field: High power system designed for significant cargo mass placing stress on the frame, or to withstand asteroid impacts to the hull.
Shielding: Internally housed high power adaptive particle field repulsing shielding system capable of surviving significant punishment. Some older battleships have less robust shielding.
Powerplant: 1 primary matter-antimatter reactor with extensive fuel reserves, 2 secondary fusion reactors with extensive fuel reserves. Multiple massive power capacitors. Extensive heatinks.
Propulsion: 1 massive primary fusion engine for sub-lightspeed travel, 1 internal FTL core capable of moderate FTL speed, long range travel, and 32 large reaction control thrusters for slow but dependable below light speed maneuvering.
Computer systems: Single supercomputer core with onboard Virtual Intelligence system.
Comms and Sensors: Local and FTL comms arrays. Radar, LIDAR, infrared, multi-spectral, and additional other local area sensors systems, along with extensive FTL sensors.
Additional Systems: High power artificial singularity for both artificial gravity generation and inertial dampening, allowing for 1G gravity even when hauling an entire cargo hold full of heavy-metal. 6 massive blast furnaces for refining metal ore, an enormous central cargo hold system, 4 fuel refining tanks, 4 massive fuel storage tanks, and an internal rail system for moving ore and personnel.
Embarked Craft: 2 Thunderbird class super-heavy cargo/personnel shuttles, 2 Hurricane class heavy cargo/personnel shuttles, 20 heavy mining drones, 24 medium mining drones, 2 gunships of variable class, 2 heavy fighter/bombers of variable class, potential for multiple additional light shuttles and fighters.
Background: After seeing both the devastation to outlying areas of space caused by the recent Great War, and the corruption within the Federal Defense Navy (working title) Admiralty, Captain David Courtland retired honorably from military service and went to helm his family’s generations old mining company, Kolter Mining, Refining, and Fuel; one of the largest mining companies in United Earth Federation space. (Working title.)
He wanted to take the company, already a reputable and successful business, in a new direction. That direction was the disputed, war-torn, no-man’s-waste-land of space known as The Divide, (working title) situated between the major powers of the galaxy. Life in The Divide was desperate, with little hope for the many people stranded in the ruins, poverty, and crime infested land. None of the major powers could intervene without starting another territorial war, and as such, pirates, gangs, and unscrupulous mega-corporations ruled supreme.
Courtland wanted to make a difference to this sorrowful place, and with trillions of credits and a Fortunes 1,000 company at his control, he had the means to at least begin; although even he lacked the ability to single-handedly remedy the myriad of woes The Divide faced.
David’s plan was simple, to move significant mining operations to The Divide, thus:
1: Creating new, safe, well-paying, good jobs for both an area and an industry that seldom offered such things.
2: Allowing for the placement of company security forces to deter pirate activity around major settlements.
3: Providing tax-free revenue to fund new schools, hospitals, food, water, shetler, and other charitable activities in The Divide.
But to do it, he required a new kind of mining vessel, as well as additional security forces. Thus he contacted Nelson Heavy Industries, who in turn partnered with AxonTech Interstellar Systems for some components, to place an order for a line of custom massive deep space mining operation flagships with enhanced combat capabilities and capable of operating in the remotest reaches of space for months or even years at a time. And so the Bessemer class was born.
The Bessemer class is unlike any mining vessel ever produced before it. Certainly significantly larger mining ships existed, but these were typically little more than unarmed, slow moving things with small engines; closer to a semi-mobile starbase than a combination frontier battleship/mining vessel. But Courtland required something unique. Something that could move faster, survive more punishment, and something that had teeth; not a fragile, barely moving thing that would only sit in safe areas of space. Courtland needed a mighty sheepdog in a world of sheep and wolves.
Bessemer class vessels are 1,844 meters long, and possess more armor, firepower, and shielding than many pre Great War battleship designs. Almost any pirate or local gang would be terrified of the sight of over a mile of steel and particle cannons; clad in Kolter white, green, and yellow.
But the Bessemer, and others of her class, are not merely warships masquerading as civilian craft. They are heavy mining machines that live up to their name; a steel producing process that revolutionized the industry of Earth some seven hundred years earlier. The Bessemer and her sister ships are capable of blasting metal-rich asteroids to bits with their coaxial mining particle beam cannon, and then having swarms of automated mining drones devour any valuable deposits within before unloading the materials into the Bessemer’s ore hold for the internal rail system to run any raw ore through her six corvette sized forges, and then having the refined metal shunted to her cavernous lower hold, while any waste material from the refining process is vented directly into space.
Ships of this class are outfitted with a sizable hangar, advanced sensor suite, extensive internal cargo bays, and large cargo pod clamps that allow it to act in the capacity of miner, defensive ship, operations command center, and even freighter and personnel carrier should usual shipping to outlying mining sites be disrupted.
But capable as they are, these are not the spartan mining vessels with unlivable working conditions that some shady companies have been known to operate. These space-faring cities of steel feature robust safety systems, spacious and comfortable crew quarters, multiple restaurants, multiple mess-halls, multiple shops for clothing, food, electronics, and other items, an arcade, multiple gyms with weights, various weight and cardio machines, martial arts areas, gymnastics equipment, along with a walking track, a small bowling alley, an olympic sized swimming pool, a multi-sport stadium, a greenhouse, hydroponics bays, a small stage/concert area, several computer labs, a library, a small movie theater, crew lounges and break areas, a salon/spa, a bar/club, chapels, classroom/daycare areas, office areas, as well as repair stations, enough dry and frozen storage to keep everyone fed for extended missions, advanced workshops, astrotography, laboratories, guest bunk-rooms, and a starbase grade medical center.
Not everyone is happy about Kolter Mining’s efforts, however. While Courtland founded the Kolter Foundation to aid those in need, he also lobbied for what came to be known as the Kolter Bill to be passed. Mining employees out in the colonies loved the added protections this afforded them. But the executives of Kolter’s rival mining companies operating out of Earth’s colony worlds quickly found themselves facing laws that favored the profits of Kolter and their already developed safety systems and excellent treatment of employees. What’s more, the Federal Defense Navy Admiralty have been continually frustrated that rather than helping to line their pockets as part of the military industrial complex, Courtland has been working tirelessly to reveal their corruption and hidden support of crime in outlying areas of space.
What’s more, there are even rumors that Courtland is now working with, and possibly even helping to fund, a mercenary vigilante unit out in The Divide known as the Phoenix Command Group, founded by Jonathan Scarlett, another former Federal Defense Navy Captain who ran afoul of the Admiralty.
The wealthy and corrupt among the Admiralty, military industrial complex, crime syndicates, and corrupt businesses running shady operations out in The Divide are deeply troubled by these rumors. But those who are now citizens of no nation, and who have known nothing but hopelessness and need for years, have a slight spark of hope rising like a Phoenix.
IRL info: This digital SHIP was made in Bricklink’s Studio software from September 11th to September 30th, 2021. I did not originally plan to participate in SHIPtember, but I couldn’t resist. It is 184 studs (58.1 inches) long, 50 studs wide, and 48 studs high. It is comprised of 23,470 pieces, which I believe makes it my highest piece-count SHIP to date, and means that the model itself has a mass of 973.502 ounces, or 60.843 pounds, or 27.597 kilograms, which most likely makes it my heaviest SHIP as well as my most piece intensive. (I really need to learn to build a little more hollow.) Note that it uses all real pieces/colors that are available for sale on Bricklink. (Albeit at a price that makes attempting to build it in physical bricks highly impractical.) It is 100% connected, and should be at least somewhat stable in real life. I would want to reinforce the fore-end with more Technic, and switch out the longest Lego Technic axle holding the engine for an aftermarket stainless steel version. I cannot guarantee that various sections built out from the main SNOT and Technic frame would be totally stable without slight redesign of a few bits. It would also require a hefty display stand of some kind.
The current pictures are WIP to show the completed status of the build itself. Better renders done by importing the Studio build into Mecabricks, replacing any pieces that fail to load or change position, and then exporting to Blender for higher quality rendering, and finally hopefully doing some cool backgrounds with GIMP, will hopefully follow before whatever October picture deadline is decided on. Please do not use these early pictures in the poster if time remains, as I hope to provide better ones. Thank you for reading this lengthy description. Have a cookie.
If this ship had a theme song, this magnificent piece by Clamavi De Profundis would be it: youtu.be/Xm96Cqu4Ils
Ventral view.
Name: S.S. Bessemer
Registration Number: KCC-1894 (Kolter Construction Contract Number 1,894)
Affiliation: Kolter Mining, Refining, and Fuel.
Class Name: Bessemer class
Type: Deep Space Mining Operations Flagship
Commissioned: Circa late 2500’s, post recent major conflict
Specifications:
Length: 1,844 meters (184.4 studs, 58.1 inches, 4.83 feet, 147.5 cm model)
Width: 503 meters (50.3 studs, 15.8 inches, 40.2 cm model)
Height: 484 meters, 398 meters without dorsal comms array, (48.4 studs, 15.2 inches, 38.7 cm model)
Crew: 2,950 standard complement + capacity for crew families, as well as smaller guest quarters for up to 2,000 additional personnel to be moved to/from mining operations.
Armament: 1 super-heavy coaxial particle beam cannon, (primarily for asteroid mining, but also more than capable of defensive action,) 4 dual-mounted heavy particle cannon turrets, 8 dual-mounted medium particle cannon turrets, 2 coaxial fore medium particle cannons, 80 quad-mounted 80mm anti-fighter flak railgun turrets.
Defensive systems:
Hull: Super-heavy steel alloy hull with carbon nanotube/buckypaper composite layers as spall lining.
Armor plating: steel, titanium alloy, tungsten, ceramic, and carbon nanotube composite armor layers against asteroids/other space debris, kinetic weapons, kinetic spalling, particle, laser, and plasma fire. Thick composite armor provides excellent survivability, but with very high mass. Some battleships are less armored than this ship.
Bulkheads: Extensive titanium bulkhead support network.
Structural integrity field: High power system designed for significant cargo mass placing stress on the frame, or to withstand asteroid impacts to the hull.
Shielding: Internally housed high power adaptive particle field repulsing shielding system capable of surviving significant punishment. Some older battleships have less robust shielding.
Powerplant: 1 primary matter-antimatter reactor with extensive fuel reserves, 2 secondary fusion reactors with extensive fuel reserves. Multiple massive power capacitors. Extensive heatinks.
Propulsion: 1 massive primary fusion engine for sub-lightspeed travel, 1 internal FTL core capable of moderate FTL speed, long range travel, and 32 large reaction control thrusters for slow but dependable below light speed maneuvering.
Computer systems: Single supercomputer core with onboard Virtual Intelligence system.
Comms and Sensors: Local and FTL comms arrays. Radar, LIDAR, infrared, multi-spectral, and additional other local area sensors systems, along with extensive FTL sensors.
Additional Systems: High power artificial singularity for both artificial gravity generation and inertial dampening, allowing for 1G gravity even when hauling an entire cargo hold full of heavy-metal. 6 massive blast furnaces for refining metal ore, an enormous central cargo hold system, 4 fuel refining tanks, 4 massive fuel storage tanks, and an internal rail system for moving ore and personnel.
Embarked Craft: 2 Thunderbird class super-heavy cargo/personnel shuttles, 2 Hurricane class heavy cargo/personnel shuttles, 20 heavy mining drones, 24 medium mining drones, 2 gunships of variable class, 2 heavy fighter/bombers of variable class, potential for multiple additional light shuttles and fighters.
Background: After seeing both the devastation to outlying areas of space caused by the recent Great War, and the corruption within the Federal Defense Navy (working title) Admiralty, Captain David Courtland retired honorably from military service and went to helm his family’s generations old mining company, Kolter Mining, Refining, and Fuel; one of the largest mining companies in United Earth Federation space. (Working title.)
He wanted to take the company, already a reputable and successful business, in a new direction. That direction was the disputed, war-torn, no-man’s-waste-land of space known as The Divide, (working title) situated between the major powers of the galaxy. Life in The Divide was desperate, with little hope for the many people stranded in the ruins, poverty, and crime infested land. None of the major powers could intervene without starting another territorial war, and as such, pirates, gangs, and unscrupulous mega-corporations ruled supreme.
Courtland wanted to make a difference to this sorrowful place, and with trillions of credits and a Fortunes 1,000 company at his control, he had the means to at least begin; although even he lacked the ability to single-handedly remedy the myriad of woes The Divide faced.
David’s plan was simple, to move significant mining operations to The Divide, thus:
1: Creating new, safe, well-paying, good jobs for both an area and an industry that seldom offered such things.
2: Allowing for the placement of company security forces to deter pirate activity around major settlements.
3: Providing tax-free revenue to fund new schools, hospitals, food, water, shetler, and other charitable activities in The Divide.
But to do it, he required a new kind of mining vessel, as well as additional security forces. Thus he contacted Nelson Heavy Industries, who in turn partnered with AxonTech Interstellar Systems for some components, to place an order for a line of custom massive deep space mining operation flagships with enhanced combat capabilities and capable of operating in the remotest reaches of space for months or even years at a time. And so the Bessemer class was born.
The Bessemer class is unlike any mining vessel ever produced before it. Certainly significantly larger mining ships existed, but these were typically little more than unarmed, slow moving things with small engines; closer to a semi-mobile starbase than a combination frontier battleship/mining vessel. But Courtland required something unique. Something that could move faster, survive more punishment, and something that had teeth; not a fragile, barely moving thing that would only sit in safe areas of space. Courtland needed a mighty sheepdog in a world of sheep and wolves.
Bessemer class vessels are 1,844 meters long, and possess more armor, firepower, and shielding than many pre Great War battleship designs. Almost any pirate or local gang would be terrified of the sight of over a mile of steel and particle cannons; clad in Kolter white, green, and yellow.
But the Bessemer, and others of her class, are not merely warships masquerading as civilian craft. They are heavy mining machines that live up to their name; a steel producing process that revolutionized the industry of Earth some seven hundred years earlier. The Bessemer and her sister ships are capable of blasting metal-rich asteroids to bits with their coaxial mining particle beam cannon, and then having swarms of automated mining drones devour any valuable deposits within before unloading the materials into the Bessemer’s ore hold for the internal rail system to run any raw ore through her six corvette sized forges, and then having the refined metal shunted to her cavernous lower hold, while any waste material from the refining process is vented directly into space.
Ships of this class are outfitted with a sizable hangar, advanced sensor suite, extensive internal cargo bays, and large cargo pod clamps that allow it to act in the capacity of miner, defensive ship, operations command center, and even freighter and personnel carrier should usual shipping to outlying mining sites be disrupted.
But capable as they are, these are not the spartan mining vessels with unlivable working conditions that some shady companies have been known to operate. These space-faring cities of steel feature robust safety systems, spacious and comfortable crew quarters, multiple restaurants, multiple mess-halls, multiple shops for clothing, food, electronics, and other items, an arcade, multiple gyms with weights, various weight and cardio machines, martial arts areas, gymnastics equipment, along with a walking track, a small bowling alley, an olympic sized swimming pool, a multi-sport stadium, a greenhouse, hydroponics bays, a small stage/concert area, several computer labs, a library, a small movie theater, crew lounges and break areas, a salon/spa, a bar/club, chapels, classroom/daycare areas, office areas, as well as repair stations, enough dry and frozen storage to keep everyone fed for extended missions, advanced workshops, astrotography, laboratories, guest bunk-rooms, and a starbase grade medical center.
Not everyone is happy about Kolter Mining’s efforts, however. While Courtland founded the Kolter Foundation to aid those in need, he also lobbied for what came to be known as the Kolter Bill to be passed. Mining employees out in the colonies loved the added protections this afforded them. But the executives of Kolter’s rival mining companies operating out of Earth’s colony worlds quickly found themselves facing laws that favored the profits of Kolter and their already developed safety systems and excellent treatment of employees. What’s more, the Federal Defense Navy Admiralty have been continually frustrated that rather than helping to line their pockets as part of the military industrial complex, Courtland has been working tirelessly to reveal their corruption and hidden support of crime in outlying areas of space.
What’s more, there are even rumors that Courtland is now working with, and possibly even helping to fund, a mercenary vigilante unit out in The Divide known as the Phoenix Command Group, founded by Jonathan Scarlett, another former Federal Defense Navy Captain who ran afoul of the Admiralty.
The wealthy and corrupt among the Admiralty, military industrial complex, crime syndicates, and corrupt businesses running shady operations out in The Divide are deeply troubled by these rumors. But those who are now citizens of no nation, and who have known nothing but hopelessness and need for years, have a slight spark of hope rising like a Phoenix.
IRL info: This digital SHIP was made in Bricklink’s Studio software from September 11th to September 30th, 2021. I did not originally plan to participate in SHIPtember, but I couldn’t resist. It is 184 studs (58.1 inches) long, 50 studs wide, and 48 studs high. It is comprised of 23,470 pieces, which I believe makes it my highest piece-count SHIP to date, and means that the model itself has a mass of 973.502 ounces, or 60.843 pounds, or 27.597 kilograms, which most likely makes it my heaviest SHIP as well as my most piece intensive. (I really need to learn to build a little more hollow.) Note that it uses all real pieces/colors that are available for sale on Bricklink. (Albeit at a price that makes attempting to build it in physical bricks highly impractical.) It is 100% connected, and should be at least somewhat stable in real life. I would want to reinforce the fore-end with more Technic, and switch out the longest Lego Technic axle holding the engine for an aftermarket stainless steel version. I cannot guarantee that various sections built out from the main SNOT and Technic frame would be totally stable without slight redesign of a few bits. It would also require a hefty display stand of some kind.
The current pictures are WIP to show the completed status of the build itself. Better renders done by importing the Studio build into Mecabricks, replacing any pieces that fail to load or change position, and then exporting to Blender for higher quality rendering, and finally hopefully doing some cool backgrounds with GIMP, will hopefully follow before whatever October picture deadline is decided on. Please do not use these early pictures in the poster if time remains, as I hope to provide better ones. Thank you for reading this lengthy description. Have a cookie.
If this ship had a theme song, this magnificent piece by Clamavi De Profundis would be it: youtu.be/Xm96Cqu4Ils
Fore ventral view of mining coaxial beam particle cannon.
Name: S.S. Bessemer
Registration Number: KCC-1894 (Kolter Construction Contract Number 1,894)
Affiliation: Kolter Mining, Refining, and Fuel.
Class Name: Bessemer class
Type: Deep Space Mining Operations Flagship
Commissioned: Circa late 2500’s, post recent major conflict
Specifications:
Length: 1,844 meters (184.4 studs, 58.1 inches, 4.83 feet, 147.5 cm model)
Width: 503 meters (50.3 studs, 15.8 inches, 40.2 cm model)
Height: 484 meters, 398 meters without dorsal comms array, (48.4 studs, 15.2 inches, 38.7 cm model)
Crew: 2,950 standard complement + capacity for crew families, as well as smaller guest quarters for up to 2,000 additional personnel to be moved to/from mining operations.
Armament: 1 super-heavy coaxial particle beam cannon, (primarily for asteroid mining, but also more than capable of defensive action,) 4 dual-mounted heavy particle cannon turrets, 8 dual-mounted medium particle cannon turrets, 2 coaxial fore medium particle cannons, 80 quad-mounted 80mm anti-fighter flak railgun turrets.
Defensive systems:
Hull: Super-heavy steel alloy hull with carbon nanotube/buckypaper composite layers as spall lining.
Armor plating: steel, titanium alloy, tungsten, ceramic, and carbon nanotube composite armor layers against asteroids/other space debris, kinetic weapons, kinetic spalling, particle, laser, and plasma fire. Thick composite armor provides excellent survivability, but with very high mass. Some battleships are less armored than this ship.
Bulkheads: Extensive titanium bulkhead support network.
Structural integrity field: High power system designed for significant cargo mass placing stress on the frame, or to withstand asteroid impacts to the hull.
Shielding: Internally housed high power adaptive particle field repulsing shielding system capable of surviving significant punishment. Some older battleships have less robust shielding.
Powerplant: 1 primary matter-antimatter reactor with extensive fuel reserves, 2 secondary fusion reactors with extensive fuel reserves. Multiple massive power capacitors. Extensive heatinks.
Propulsion: 1 massive primary fusion engine for sub-lightspeed travel, 1 internal FTL core capable of moderate FTL speed, long range travel, and 32 large reaction control thrusters for slow but dependable below light speed maneuvering.
Computer systems: Single supercomputer core with onboard Virtual Intelligence system.
Comms and Sensors: Local and FTL comms arrays. Radar, LIDAR, infrared, multi-spectral, and additional other local area sensors systems, along with extensive FTL sensors.
Additional Systems: High power artificial singularity for both artificial gravity generation and inertial dampening, allowing for 1G gravity even when hauling an entire cargo hold full of heavy-metal. 6 massive blast furnaces for refining metal ore, an enormous central cargo hold system, 4 fuel refining tanks, 4 massive fuel storage tanks, and an internal rail system for moving ore and personnel.
Embarked Craft: 2 Thunderbird class super-heavy cargo/personnel shuttles, 2 Hurricane class heavy cargo/personnel shuttles, 20 heavy mining drones, 24 medium mining drones, 2 gunships of variable class, 2 heavy fighter/bombers of variable class, potential for multiple additional light shuttles and fighters.
Background: After seeing both the devastation to outlying areas of space caused by the recent Great War, and the corruption within the Federal Defense Navy (working title) Admiralty, Captain David Courtland retired honorably from military service and went to helm his family’s generations old mining company, Kolter Mining, Refining, and Fuel; one of the largest mining companies in United Earth Federation space. (Working title.)
He wanted to take the company, already a reputable and successful business, in a new direction. That direction was the disputed, war-torn, no-man’s-waste-land of space known as The Divide, (working title) situated between the major powers of the galaxy. Life in The Divide was desperate, with little hope for the many people stranded in the ruins, poverty, and crime infested land. None of the major powers could intervene without starting another territorial war, and as such, pirates, gangs, and unscrupulous mega-corporations ruled supreme.
Courtland wanted to make a difference to this sorrowful place, and with trillions of credits and a Fortunes 1,000 company at his control, he had the means to at least begin; although even he lacked the ability to single-handedly remedy the myriad of woes The Divide faced.
David’s plan was simple, to move significant mining operations to The Divide, thus:
1: Creating new, safe, well-paying, good jobs for both an area and an industry that seldom offered such things.
2: Allowing for the placement of company security forces to deter pirate activity around major settlements.
3: Providing tax-free revenue to fund new schools, hospitals, food, water, shetler, and other charitable activities in The Divide.
But to do it, he required a new kind of mining vessel, as well as additional security forces. Thus he contacted Nelson Heavy Industries, who in turn partnered with AxonTech Interstellar Systems for some components, to place an order for a line of custom massive deep space mining operation flagships with enhanced combat capabilities and capable of operating in the remotest reaches of space for months or even years at a time. And so the Bessemer class was born.
The Bessemer class is unlike any mining vessel ever produced before it. Certainly significantly larger mining ships existed, but these were typically little more than unarmed, slow moving things with small engines; closer to a semi-mobile starbase than a combination frontier battleship/mining vessel. But Courtland required something unique. Something that could move faster, survive more punishment, and something that had teeth; not a fragile, barely moving thing that would only sit in safe areas of space. Courtland needed a mighty sheepdog in a world of sheep and wolves.
Bessemer class vessels are 1,844 meters long, and possess more armor, firepower, and shielding than many pre Great War battleship designs. Almost any pirate or local gang would be terrified of the sight of over a mile of steel and particle cannons; clad in Kolter white, green, and yellow.
But the Bessemer, and others of her class, are not merely warships masquerading as civilian craft. They are heavy mining machines that live up to their name; a steel producing process that revolutionized the industry of Earth some seven hundred years earlier. The Bessemer and her sister ships are capable of blasting metal-rich asteroids to bits with their coaxial mining particle beam cannon, and then having swarms of automated mining drones devour any valuable deposits within before unloading the materials into the Bessemer’s ore hold for the internal rail system to run any raw ore through her six corvette sized forges, and then having the refined metal shunted to her cavernous lower hold, while any waste material from the refining process is vented directly into space.
Ships of this class are outfitted with a sizable hangar, advanced sensor suite, extensive internal cargo bays, and large cargo pod clamps that allow it to act in the capacity of miner, defensive ship, operations command center, and even freighter and personnel carrier should usual shipping to outlying mining sites be disrupted.
But capable as they are, these are not the spartan mining vessels with unlivable working conditions that some shady companies have been known to operate. These space-faring cities of steel feature robust safety systems, spacious and comfortable crew quarters, multiple restaurants, multiple mess-halls, multiple shops for clothing, food, electronics, and other items, an arcade, multiple gyms with weights, various weight and cardio machines, martial arts areas, gymnastics equipment, along with a walking track, a small bowling alley, an olympic sized swimming pool, a multi-sport stadium, a greenhouse, hydroponics bays, a small stage/concert area, several computer labs, a library, a small movie theater, crew lounges and break areas, a salon/spa, a bar/club, chapels, classroom/daycare areas, office areas, as well as repair stations, enough dry and frozen storage to keep everyone fed for extended missions, advanced workshops, astrotography, laboratories, guest bunk-rooms, and a starbase grade medical center.
Not everyone is happy about Kolter Mining’s efforts, however. While Courtland founded the Kolter Foundation to aid those in need, he also lobbied for what came to be known as the Kolter Bill to be passed. Mining employees out in the colonies loved the added protections this afforded them. But the executives of Kolter’s rival mining companies operating out of Earth’s colony worlds quickly found themselves facing laws that favored the profits of Kolter and their already developed safety systems and excellent treatment of employees. What’s more, the Federal Defense Navy Admiralty have been continually frustrated that rather than helping to line their pockets as part of the military industrial complex, Courtland has been working tirelessly to reveal their corruption and hidden support of crime in outlying areas of space.
What’s more, there are even rumors that Courtland is now working with, and possibly even helping to fund, a mercenary vigilante unit out in The Divide known as the Phoenix Command Group, founded by Jonathan Scarlett, another former Federal Defense Navy Captain who ran afoul of the Admiralty.
The wealthy and corrupt among the Admiralty, military industrial complex, crime syndicates, and corrupt businesses running shady operations out in The Divide are deeply troubled by these rumors. But those who are now citizens of no nation, and who have known nothing but hopelessness and need for years, have a slight spark of hope rising like a Phoenix.
IRL info: This digital SHIP was made in Bricklink’s Studio software from September 11th to September 30th, 2021. I did not originally plan to participate in SHIPtember, but I couldn’t resist. It is 184 studs (58.1 inches) long, 50 studs wide, and 48 studs high. It is comprised of 23,470 pieces, which I believe makes it my highest piece-count SHIP to date, and means that the model itself has a mass of 973.502 ounces, or 60.843 pounds, or 27.597 kilograms, which most likely makes it my heaviest SHIP as well as my most piece intensive. (I really need to learn to build a little more hollow.) Note that it uses all real pieces/colors that are available for sale on Bricklink. (Albeit at a price that makes attempting to build it in physical bricks highly impractical.) It is 100% connected, and should be at least somewhat stable in real life. I would want to reinforce the fore-end with more Technic, and switch out the longest Lego Technic axle holding the engine for an aftermarket stainless steel version. I cannot guarantee that various sections built out from the main SNOT and Technic frame would be totally stable without slight redesign of a few bits. It would also require a hefty display stand of some kind.
The current pictures are WIP to show the completed status of the build itself. Better renders done by importing the Studio build into Mecabricks, replacing any pieces that fail to load or change position, and then exporting to Blender for higher quality rendering, and finally hopefully doing some cool backgrounds with GIMP, will hopefully follow before whatever October picture deadline is decided on. Please do not use these early pictures in the poster if time remains, as I hope to provide better ones. Thank you for reading this lengthy description. Have a cookie.
If this ship had a theme song, this magnificent piece by Clamavi De Profundis would be it: youtu.be/Xm96Cqu4Ils
Port side view.
Name: S.S. Bessemer
Registration Number: KCC-1894 (Kolter Construction Contract Number 1,894)
Affiliation: Kolter Mining, Refining, and Fuel.
Class Name: Bessemer class
Type: Deep Space Mining Operations Flagship
Commissioned: Circa late 2500’s, post recent major conflict
Specifications:
Length: 1,844 meters (184.4 studs, 58.1 inches, 4.83 feet, 147.5 cm model)
Width: 503 meters (50.3 studs, 15.8 inches, 40.2 cm model)
Height: 484 meters, 398 meters without dorsal comms array, (48.4 studs, 15.2 inches, 38.7 cm model)
Crew: 2,950 standard complement + capacity for crew families, as well as smaller guest quarters for up to 2,000 additional personnel to be moved to/from mining operations.
Armament: 1 super-heavy coaxial particle beam cannon, (primarily for asteroid mining, but also more than capable of defensive action,) 4 dual-mounted heavy particle cannon turrets, 8 dual-mounted medium particle cannon turrets, 2 coaxial fore medium particle cannons, 80 quad-mounted 80mm anti-fighter flak railgun turrets.
Defensive systems:
Hull: Super-heavy steel alloy hull with carbon nanotube/buckypaper composite layers as spall lining.
Armor plating: steel, titanium alloy, tungsten, ceramic, and carbon nanotube composite armor layers against asteroids/other space debris, kinetic weapons, kinetic spalling, particle, laser, and plasma fire. Thick composite armor provides excellent survivability, but with very high mass. Some battleships are less armored than this ship.
Bulkheads: Extensive titanium bulkhead support network.
Structural integrity field: High power system designed for significant cargo mass placing stress on the frame, or to withstand asteroid impacts to the hull.
Shielding: Internally housed high power adaptive particle field repulsing shielding system capable of surviving significant punishment. Some older battleships have less robust shielding.
Powerplant: 1 primary matter-antimatter reactor with extensive fuel reserves, 2 secondary fusion reactors with extensive fuel reserves. Multiple massive power capacitors. Extensive heatinks.
Propulsion: 1 massive primary fusion engine for sub-lightspeed travel, 1 internal FTL core capable of moderate FTL speed, long range travel, and 32 large reaction control thrusters for slow but dependable below light speed maneuvering.
Computer systems: Single supercomputer core with onboard Virtual Intelligence system.
Comms and Sensors: Local and FTL comms arrays. Radar, LIDAR, infrared, multi-spectral, and additional other local area sensors systems, along with extensive FTL sensors.
Additional Systems: High power artificial singularity for both artificial gravity generation and inertial dampening, allowing for 1G gravity even when hauling an entire cargo hold full of heavy-metal. 6 massive blast furnaces for refining metal ore, an enormous central cargo hold system, 4 fuel refining tanks, 4 massive fuel storage tanks, and an internal rail system for moving ore and personnel.
Embarked Craft: 2 Thunderbird class super-heavy cargo/personnel shuttles, 2 Hurricane class heavy cargo/personnel shuttles, 20 heavy mining drones, 24 medium mining drones, 2 gunships of variable class, 2 heavy fighter/bombers of variable class, potential for multiple additional light shuttles and fighters.
Background: After seeing both the devastation to outlying areas of space caused by the recent Great War, and the corruption within the Federal Defense Navy (working title) Admiralty, Captain David Courtland retired honorably from military service and went to helm his family’s generations old mining company, Kolter Mining, Refining, and Fuel; one of the largest mining companies in United Earth Federation space. (Working title.)
He wanted to take the company, already a reputable and successful business, in a new direction. That direction was the disputed, war-torn, no-man’s-waste-land of space known as The Divide, (working title) situated between the major powers of the galaxy. Life in The Divide was desperate, with little hope for the many people stranded in the ruins, poverty, and crime infested land. None of the major powers could intervene without starting another territorial war, and as such, pirates, gangs, and unscrupulous mega-corporations ruled supreme.
Courtland wanted to make a difference to this sorrowful place, and with trillions of credits and a Fortunes 1,000 company at his control, he had the means to at least begin; although even he lacked the ability to single-handedly remedy the myriad of woes The Divide faced.
David’s plan was simple, to move significant mining operations to The Divide, thus:
1: Creating new, safe, well-paying, good jobs for both an area and an industry that seldom offered such things.
2: Allowing for the placement of company security forces to deter pirate activity around major settlements.
3: Providing tax-free revenue to fund new schools, hospitals, food, water, shetler, and other charitable activities in The Divide.
But to do it, he required a new kind of mining vessel, as well as additional security forces. Thus he contacted Nelson Heavy Industries, who in turn partnered with AxonTech Interstellar Systems for some components, to place an order for a line of custom massive deep space mining operation flagships with enhanced combat capabilities and capable of operating in the remotest reaches of space for months or even years at a time. And so the Bessemer class was born.
The Bessemer class is unlike any mining vessel ever produced before it. Certainly significantly larger mining ships existed, but these were typically little more than unarmed, slow moving things with small engines; closer to a semi-mobile starbase than a combination frontier battleship/mining vessel. But Courtland required something unique. Something that could move faster, survive more punishment, and something that had teeth; not a fragile, barely moving thing that would only sit in safe areas of space. Courtland needed a mighty sheepdog in a world of sheep and wolves.
Bessemer class vessels are 1,844 meters long, and possess more armor, firepower, and shielding than many pre Great War battleship designs. Almost any pirate or local gang would be terrified of the sight of over a mile of steel and particle cannons; clad in Kolter white, green, and yellow.
But the Bessemer, and others of her class, are not merely warships masquerading as civilian craft. They are heavy mining machines that live up to their name; a steel producing process that revolutionized the industry of Earth some seven hundred years earlier. The Bessemer and her sister ships are capable of blasting metal-rich asteroids to bits with their coaxial mining particle beam cannon, and then having swarms of automated mining drones devour any valuable deposits within before unloading the materials into the Bessemer’s ore hold for the internal rail system to run any raw ore through her six corvette sized forges, and then having the refined metal shunted to her cavernous lower hold, while any waste material from the refining process is vented directly into space.
Ships of this class are outfitted with a sizable hangar, advanced sensor suite, extensive internal cargo bays, and large cargo pod clamps that allow it to act in the capacity of miner, defensive ship, operations command center, and even freighter and personnel carrier should usual shipping to outlying mining sites be disrupted.
But capable as they are, these are not the spartan mining vessels with unlivable working conditions that some shady companies have been known to operate. These space-faring cities of steel feature robust safety systems, spacious and comfortable crew quarters, multiple restaurants, multiple mess-halls, multiple shops for clothing, food, electronics, and other items, an arcade, multiple gyms with weights, various weight and cardio machines, martial arts areas, gymnastics equipment, along with a walking track, a small bowling alley, an olympic sized swimming pool, a multi-sport stadium, a greenhouse, hydroponics bays, a small stage/concert area, several computer labs, a library, a small movie theater, crew lounges and break areas, a salon/spa, a bar/club, chapels, classroom/daycare areas, office areas, as well as repair stations, enough dry and frozen storage to keep everyone fed for extended missions, advanced workshops, astrotography, laboratories, guest bunk-rooms, and a starbase grade medical center.
Not everyone is happy about Kolter Mining’s efforts, however. While Courtland founded the Kolter Foundation to aid those in need, he also lobbied for what came to be known as the Kolter Bill to be passed. Mining employees out in the colonies loved the added protections this afforded them. But the executives of Kolter’s rival mining companies operating out of Earth’s colony worlds quickly found themselves facing laws that favored the profits of Kolter and their already developed safety systems and excellent treatment of employees. What’s more, the Federal Defense Navy Admiralty have been continually frustrated that rather than helping to line their pockets as part of the military industrial complex, Courtland has been working tirelessly to reveal their corruption and hidden support of crime in outlying areas of space.
What’s more, there are even rumors that Courtland is now working with, and possibly even helping to fund, a mercenary vigilante unit out in The Divide known as the Phoenix Command Group, founded by Jonathan Scarlett, another former Federal Defense Navy Captain who ran afoul of the Admiralty.
The wealthy and corrupt among the Admiralty, military industrial complex, crime syndicates, and corrupt businesses running shady operations out in The Divide are deeply troubled by these rumors. But those who are now citizens of no nation, and who have known nothing but hopelessness and need for years, have a slight spark of hope rising like a Phoenix.
IRL info: This digital SHIP was made in Bricklink’s Studio software from September 11th to September 30th, 2021. I did not originally plan to participate in SHIPtember, but I couldn’t resist. It is 184 studs (58.1 inches) long, 50 studs wide, and 48 studs high. It is comprised of 23,470 pieces, which I believe makes it my highest piece-count SHIP to date, and means that the model itself has a mass of 973.502 ounces, or 60.843 pounds, or 27.597 kilograms, which most likely makes it my heaviest SHIP as well as my most piece intensive. (I really need to learn to build a little more hollow.) Note that it uses all real pieces/colors that are available for sale on Bricklink. (Albeit at a price that makes attempting to build it in physical bricks highly impractical.) It is 100% connected, and should be at least somewhat stable in real life. I would want to reinforce the fore-end with more Technic, and switch out the longest Lego Technic axle holding the engine for an aftermarket stainless steel version. I cannot guarantee that various sections built out from the main SNOT and Technic frame would be totally stable without slight redesign of a few bits. It would also require a hefty display stand of some kind.
The current pictures are WIP to show the completed status of the build itself. Better renders done by importing the Studio build into Mecabricks, replacing any pieces that fail to load or change position, and then exporting to Blender for higher quality rendering, and finally hopefully doing some cool backgrounds with GIMP, will hopefully follow before whatever October picture deadline is decided on. Please do not use these early pictures in the poster if time remains, as I hope to provide better ones. Thank you for reading this lengthy description. Have a cookie.
If this ship had a theme song, this magnificent piece by Clamavi De Profundis would be it: youtu.be/Xm96Cqu4Ils
CAMP HANSEN, OKINAWA, Japan (April 26, 2023) - U.S. Marines with Combat Logistics Battalion 31, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, prepare to hook supplies to MV-22B Osprey during a helicopter support team exercise at Camp Hansen, Okinawa, April 26, 2023. The HST exercise was conducted to refine key skills for pilots and landing support Marines in sling loading operations. The 31st MEU, the Marine Corps’ only continuously forward-deployed MEU, provides a flexible and lethal force in ready to perform a wide range of military operations as the premiere crisis response force in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Marcos A. Alvarado) 230426-M-CZ543-1598
** Interested in following U.S. Indo-Pacific Command? Engage and connect with us at www.facebook.com/indopacom | twitter.com/INDOPACOM | www.instagram.com/indopacom | www.flickr.com/photos/us-pacific-command; | www.youtube.com/user/USPacificCommand | www.pacom.mil/ **
"BRIEF-Jordan Mortgage Refinance FY profit falls - Reuters" t.co/1oORH12y4k (via Twitter twitter.com/downpaymentaz/status/825753891744669698)
A drilling bit sits atop the gates on the road into the old Humble Gas Plant in the Tomball Oil Field, Tomball Texas The gate is now on Humble Road. Oil and gas production was an important part of Tomball's history.
From 1907 to 1933 Tomball was a shipping point on the railroad with most of the people primarily involved in farming and ranching activities. The coming of the railroad in 1906 was followed by a post office in 1908. The town acquired its first school in 1908 . In 1913, electric lights and telephone service became widely available in the little town. By 1914 Tomball had a population of 350, a bank, a blacksmith, several stores, six hotels, and two cotton gins. Charles F. Hoffman was an early settler who operated the first general store, and J. J. Trichel was postmaster.
Then In 1933 Tomball changed forever in just a day. On May 27, drillers struck oil west of town on the property of J. F. W. Kob. Almost overnight Tomball became a oil boom-town. In 1935, the original contract negotiated between Tomball and the Humble Oil and Refining Company (later Exxon ) gave free water and natural gas to Tomball residents for ninety years in exchange for drilling rights within the city limits. On July 6, 1933, Tomball, popularly known as "Oil Town U.S.A.," was incorporated with a population of 665. With the discovery of oil, however, this figure tripled. Soon there were twenty-five to thirty oil and gas companies producing within a five-mile radius of Tomball. Humble built a "camp" in Tomball which included housing, recreation facilities and other facilities for its workers. Tomball became famous as a city with free gas and water but no municipal cemetery. The hydrocarbon reservoirs played out and Exxon sold their interest in the late 1980s. There is still a little production from the field and the gas plant is still operational, however most of the field has now been abandoned.
Information for this caption from;.
Handbook of Texas Online, Mike Dennis and Lessie Upchurch, "Tomball, TX," accessed March 05, 2017,
The American Sugar Refining Company opened the Baltimore Domino Sugar plant in 1922. The refinery was constructed in an ideal location for the industry, on a deep water port. Sugar cane, which is grown in the tropics and subtropics, is transported to the refinery by large cargo ships. On average, 42 vessels a year deliver raw sugar to the refinery from all over the world. A few times a month, a giant tanker ship docks at the Domino plant. Unloading the raw sugar from the ship, at 10 million pounds per day, usually takes about a week.
The sugar travels by a conveyor belt, swarming with feasting bees, to a massive hangar that can hold up to 100 million pounds of sugar in piles over 60-feet high.
The raw sugar then travels by conveyor belt through a byzantine array of filtration devices and methods–affination, centrifuges, carbonation, charification, vacuum boilers, granulators–up and down the eight stories of the plant, before being stored in silos to await packaging.
Domino’s packaging warehouse looks nothing like the rest of the refinery. High tech machinery spits out more than 350 billion single-serving sugar packets per year. The conveyer belt moves so fast that you need a strobe light to see the packets fly by.
Sugar packets are just one of the 40 different final products–retail and bulk–that the factory produces. FitzGibbon said that the move to an array of value-added products is crucial to remaining profitable.
The refinery in Baltimore produces not just granulated, powdered, and brown sugars, but also flavored sugars, pharmaceutical grade sugars, and other specialty products in a variety of packagings.
Another advantage of the Baltimore refinery is its proximity to major highways like Interstate 95 and Interstate 83. On average, about 33,000 trucks transport products from the facility each year. Trains aid in the transportation of Domino Sugar to national soft drink and food companies across the country.
The “Domino Sugars” blood orange neon sign measures 120-feet by 70-feet, and was installed in 1951 on the roof of the refinery.
Refine your vision !
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Photo by @refinephoto.id
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The following is an account of Lake Hart published in 1947 -
Although for long it has been deserted, Lake Hart, on the lonely mulga plains, has Australia's Prize Salt Deposit.
Standing beside the transcontinental railway, 137 miles [219 kilometres] from Port Augusta, is a 7,000 tons dump of the best quality salt in Australia. Behind it, stretching far northwards, is Lake Hart, the place from which the salt was taken.
In 1931 this was the scene of a thriving industry. Today, it is forgotten in its isolation amid the mulga plains of the north-west. Lake Hart's importance as a salt deposit first became manifest in 1918 when surveyors investigated its entire area. They estimated the yield as three million tons, and defined the lake's area as 61 square miles.
Following these observations, the Sydney firm which owned the deposit - the Commonwealth Salt Refining Company - began preliminary operations with a few men.
Small quantities of salt were harvested and bagged for testing purposes. At this stage no refining plant had been installed, and the salt was sent to Adelaide for refining. The finished product proved so successful that the CSRC immediately launched large-scale operations. They installed a refining plant, and employed more than 50 men. The employees camped at the site and depended for their stores on the Commonwealth Railway's weekly food train.
Salt was harvested by day and refined continuously by shift workers.
Harvesting methods then were slow and cumbersome compared with present day methods. Sweepers first swept the water forward to the elevated catchment pens, each of which was 300 ft long by 150 ft wide.
When the salt had been deposited on the floor, the water was allowed to flow back into the lake, leaving the salt banked in and around the pens. The salt was then swept up and loaded into carrying carts, which were towed to the nearby refining plant.
Driving power for the plant was supplied by a gas producer engine. At first a Crossley type of 35 hp was used, but as production accelerated, a large Hornsby engine of 50 hp was added. These two engines may still be seen among the skeleton plant which remains at the lake.
The first phase of the salt's refining began when it entered the crushers. For Lake Hart salt, this was a very thorough process, due to the crude product's unusual hardness.
From the crushers it was carried into the washing troughs. Here it was scoured free of all foreign matter and, after a series of swillings was passed into the dehydrator.
When this machine had evaporated all water from the now whitened grain, the salt entered its final process - the drying oven.
This machine dried out all moisture and at the same time killed any remaining germ life, before discharging the finished product.
Such refineries were, of course, greatly inferior to present day establishments, such as those on Yorke Peninsula. Here, the sea water itself passes through several evaporation condensers before the salt is extricated for a complicated refining. But with Lake Hart's pure quality salt extensive refining was not necessary.
Few facilities existed to enable workers to negotiate the obstacles of outback industrial settlement. One employee crossed the lake in a flat-bottomed boat to ascertain the salt content on the opposite shore. He sailed across, but had to row 15 miles on the return trip. Today, people of the north-west give him the honour of being Lake Hart's conqueror.
Extreme difficulty was experienced from the late summer downpours which are prevalent in this area. During these storms the lake often became flooded, rendering harvesting impossible. However, the company had prepared for such emergencies. Huge reserve dumps had been heaped in readiness, and refining was not hampered.
For several years Lake Hart yielded 9,000 tons annually. Most of the salt was shipped to Sydney, where it was distributed for edible and industrial uses.
Commercial users throughout Australia were elated with the quality. Housewives discovered that, in actual saltiness, the Lake Hart product was twice as strong as any other.
The biggest asset that the salt had was its freedom from gypsum. This was, and still is, a very rare credential. All other main Australian sources are handicapped by gypsum content, which not only reduces quality, but enforces excessive work and cost during the refining process.
In 1921 the company amalgamated with the Australian Salt Company. The firm experienced great difficulties in obtaining water for refining purposes, its only supplies coming from occasional supply trains. Further, the isolated position created problems in the delivery of the refined product. These difficulties were the chief reasons for the cessation of harvesting in 1931.
Yorke Peninsula refineries were supplying more than enough salt for the State's use, and, although the quality was greatly inferior to that of Lake Hart, it was considered unpayable to continue work on the lake. To Australia, its closing meant a decrease in the quality of salt in use: but the quantity remains plentiful.
Salt is in enormous surplus, not only in Australia, but throughout the world. Our own refinery at Price on Yorke Peninsula, for instance, can supply enough salt in six months to last South Australia for five years.
Ever since closing the Lake Hart plant, the Australian Salt Company has employed a caretaker on the premises. The present caretaker has held his lonely job for seven years. His duties are simple. He records the rise and fall of the lake, and is responsible for the maintenance of the depleted plant.
Much of the plant was removed soon after the work ceased, but the catchment pens, crushers and engines remain in readiness for a reopening of the industry.
Last year it was intended to restart the enterprise, but fate ruled otherwise. Heavy rain swelled the lake to such an extent that plans had to be temporarily abandoned.
There is little opportunity for anyone to see Lake Hart. Train tourists can, but as both the East and West bound expresses pass this locality during the night, few see what is Australia's prize salt deposit.
Ref: Advertiser (Adelaide) 6-9-1947 Article by W J Watkins
ME 1508 1515 and 1537 are also inside the workshop having been returned from Sweden in October for renovation before any use on freight work
Sugar refining began in Greenock in 1765. John Walker began a sugar refinery in Greenock in 1850 followed by the prominent local cooper and shipowner Abram Lyle who, with four partners, purchased the Glebe Sugar Refinery in 1865
The following is an account of Lake Hart published in 1947 -
Although for long it has been deserted, Lake Hart, on the lonely mulga plains, has Australia's Prize Salt Deposit.
Standing beside the transcontinental railway, 137 miles [219 kilometres] from Port Augusta, is a 7,000 tons dump of the best quality salt in Australia. Behind it, stretching far northwards, is Lake Hart, the place from which the salt was taken.
In 1931 this was the scene of a thriving industry. Today, it is forgotten in its isolation amid the mulga plains of the north-west. Lake Hart's importance as a salt deposit first became manifest in 1918 when surveyors investigated its entire area. They estimated the yield as three million tons, and defined the lake's area as 61 square miles.
Following these observations, the Sydney firm which owned the deposit - the Commonwealth Salt Refining Company - began preliminary operations with a few men.
Small quantities of salt were harvested and bagged for testing purposes. At this stage no refining plant had been installed, and the salt was sent to Adelaide for refining. The finished product proved so successful that the CSRC immediately launched large-scale operations. They installed a refining plant, and employed more than 50 men. The employees camped at the site and depended for their stores on the Commonwealth Railway's weekly food train.
Salt was harvested by day and refined continuously by shift workers.
Harvesting methods then were slow and cumbersome compared with present day methods. Sweepers first swept the water forward to the elevated catchment pens, each of which was 300 ft long by 150 ft wide.
When the salt had been deposited on the floor, the water was allowed to flow back into the lake, leaving the salt banked in and around the pens. The salt was then swept up and loaded into carrying carts, which were towed to the nearby refining plant.
Driving power for the plant was supplied by a gas producer engine. At first a Crossley type of 35 hp was used, but as production accelerated, a large Hornsby engine of 50 hp was added. These two engines may still be seen among the skeleton plant which remains at the lake.
The first phase of the salt's refining began when it entered the crushers. For Lake Hart salt, this was a very thorough process, due to the crude product's unusual hardness.
From the crushers it was carried into the washing troughs. Here it was scoured free of all foreign matter and, after a series of swillings was passed into the dehydrator.
When this machine had evaporated all water from the now whitened grain, the salt entered its final process - the drying oven.
This machine dried out all moisture and at the same time killed any remaining germ life, before discharging the finished product.
Such refineries were, of course, greatly inferior to present day establishments, such as those on Yorke Peninsula. Here, the sea water itself passes through several evaporation condensers before the salt is extricated for a complicated refining. But with Lake Hart's pure quality salt extensive refining was not necessary.
Few facilities existed to enable workers to negotiate the obstacles of outback industrial settlement. One employee crossed the lake in a flat-bottomed boat to ascertain the salt content on the opposite shore. He sailed across, but had to row 15 miles on the return trip. Today, people of the north-west give him the honour of being Lake Hart's conqueror.
Extreme difficulty was experienced from the late summer downpours which are prevalent in this area. During these storms the lake often became flooded, rendering harvesting impossible. However, the company had prepared for such emergencies. Huge reserve dumps had been heaped in readiness, and refining was not hampered.
For several years Lake Hart yielded 9,000 tons annually. Most of the salt was shipped to Sydney, where it was distributed for edible and industrial uses.
Commercial users throughout Australia were elated with the quality. Housewives discovered that, in actual saltiness, the Lake Hart product was twice as strong as any other.
The biggest asset that the salt had was its freedom from gypsum. This was, and still is, a very rare credential. All other main Australian sources are handicapped by gypsum content, which not only reduces quality, but enforces excessive work and cost during the refining process.
In 1921 the company amalgamated with the Australian Salt Company. The firm experienced great difficulties in obtaining water for refining purposes, its only supplies coming from occasional supply trains. Further, the isolated position created problems in the delivery of the refined product. These difficulties were the chief reasons for the cessation of harvesting in 1931.
Yorke Peninsula refineries were supplying more than enough salt for the State's use, and, although the quality was greatly inferior to that of Lake Hart, it was considered unpayable to continue work on the lake. To Australia, its closing meant a decrease in the quality of salt in use: but the quantity remains plentiful.
Salt is in enormous surplus, not only in Australia, but throughout the world. Our own refinery at Price on Yorke Peninsula, for instance, can supply enough salt in six months to last South Australia for five years.
Ever since closing the Lake Hart plant, the Australian Salt Company has employed a caretaker on the premises. The present caretaker has held his lonely job for seven years. His duties are simple. He records the rise and fall of the lake, and is responsible for the maintenance of the depleted plant.
Much of the plant was removed soon after the work ceased, but the catchment pens, crushers and engines remain in readiness for a reopening of the industry.
Last year it was intended to restart the enterprise, but fate ruled otherwise. Heavy rain swelled the lake to such an extent that plans had to be temporarily abandoned.
There is little opportunity for anyone to see Lake Hart. Train tourists can, but as both the East and West bound expresses pass this locality during the night, few see what is Australia's prize salt deposit.
Ref: Advertiser (Adelaide) 6-9-1947 Article by W J Watkins
Australasian Sugar Refining Company complex 1891, 1899 at conversion to apartments in the 1980s.
Designers: Hyndman and Bates.
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`The site of the factory was included in Section 2B [of the original Port Melbourne survey], which was surveyed into four allotments early in the history of Sandridge. By November 1860 three of these had been purchased by A. Ross, joining William Jones, S.G. Henty and P. Lalor as owners of the section (2)..
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In February 1890, the Melbourne Tram and Omnibus Company Limited, had stables, offices, land and an omnibus repository on the section.(3) [Most of the present buildings on the site date from 1891, when the Australasian Sugar Refining Company established a refinery.(4)] On the MMBW detail plan dated 1894, the section is labelled 'sugar works' and the configuration of buildings approximately conforms with the present layout. [The refinery was closed in 1894 following its purchase by the Colonial Sugar Refining Company as part of a move to strengthen its monopoly.].
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[In 1899, Robert Harper and Company Pty Ltd converted the buildings to a starch factory, and various brick additions were constructed to designs by Hyndman and Bates, architects.(5)] When the sewerage was connected in 1899, a plan was drawn by the architects and this closely resembles the 1894 MMBW detail plan configuration. (6) .
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The buildings .. form the major part of the original factory complex on the site, one of the largest nineteenth century industrial sites in Victoria. The complex as a whole is significant for its large size and range of building types. The dramatic massing and height of the 9 Beach Street buildings gives them additional importance as local landmarks as viewed both from the surrounding streets and the sea..
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COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS.
The former Australasian Sugar Refining Company and Robert Harper starch factory complex can be compared with a number of other large nineteenth century industrial complexes in Melbourne. These include the former Yorkshire Brewery, Wellington Street, Collingwood (from 1876), the former Victoria Brewery, Victoria Parade, East Melbourne (established 1854), the former Kimpton's Flour Mill, Elizabeth Street, Kensington, the Thomas Brunt flour mill and Brockhoff and T.B. Guest biscuit factories complex, Laurens and Munster Streets, North Melbourne (from 1888-9) and the Joshua Bros (now CSR) sugar refinery, Whitehall Street, Yarraville (established 1873). All of these are representative of the development in Victoria of the manufacture of foodstuffs and related raw materials. Of these, the CSR refinery is the most directly comparable in terms of original function and the scale and massing of the buildings. Established significantly earlier than the Port Melbourne refinery, the site is larger and more intact..
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In the local context, the only other surviving industrial site of comparable scale is the Swallow and Ariell Biscuit Factory complex (q.v.). This complex is of state significance, and is considerably earlier, with parts dating from the 1850s. The predominantly two- and three-storey buildings, however, are of a different type to the former refinery and starch factory buildings..
Allom Lovell and Associates 1995 cite Jacobs Lewis Vines. Port Melbourne Conservation Study:.
Needs a few refining touches, but a pretty good sketch to start developing further. There were no reference photos showing the plane from this exact angle (I didn’t find any, if somebody shows me some close approximation, it’d be greatly appreciated), so a 3-view diagram has helped.
I've spent some more time refining my Road Standard Ideas. I'm pretty happy with the way it's turned out. The adition of drains, fire hydratnt's etc. helps bring more life to the idea. The use of 2x brick spacers laid sideways under the Cafe Corner style buildings work great as well. Now that I've got the basic street section ironed out I need to work on crossings, intersections, and curves.
I've been creating instructions for these for those interested. The can be found here
The future Ice Cream shop in the photo is a model being built by fellow PennLUG member Brian Brister
View from the East River Ferry, East River, New York City, New York, United States
Summary
Sugar production was Brooklyn's most important industry in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Of various factories that once lined the East River, the former Havemeyers & Elder Refinery, later known as the Domino Sugar Refinery, is the largest and most significant structure to survive. The three conjoined properties - the Filter House, Pan House, and Finishing House - are located on Kent Avenue in Williamsburg, between South 2nd Street and South 3rd
Street. The Filter House, which was once the tallest structure on the Brooklyn waterfront, rises to a height of approximately 155 feet. The processing of the raw sugar began in this building, where it was mixed with water and filtered through canvas and charcoal. As foreign materials were removed, the solution flowed to the Pan House, a nine-story structure at the southwest corner of Kent Avenue and South 2nd Street. Then reduced to syrup, it was pumped to the Finishing House to be dried and graded for sale.
Frederick C. Havemeyer, Jr., son of the company's founder, first began operating a refinery in Williamsburg during 1856. Raw sugar was supplied from America's deep south, mainly Louisiana, and the Caribbean, where it was primarily harvested by slaves. Though slavery ended in the United States in 1865, it continued in Cuba, the world's largest exporter of raw sugar, until 1886. Most accounts of the refinery state that the Filter, Pan & Finishing House were built to replace an earlier facility that was destroyed by fire. Research, however, indicates that plans for the Filter House had already been filed with the Brooklyn Bureau of Buildings two months earlier, in November 1881. This building, as well as the Pan & Finishing House, was designed by Frederick's eldest son, Theodore A. Havemeyer, in association with Thomas Winslow and J. E. James, who are variously listed in contemporary journals as architects and builders.
Like many contemporary industrial buildings, it was designed in the American round-arch style, a variant of the German Rundbogenstil and the Romanesque Revival style. Rooted in practical needs, the new refinery was conceived to be as fireproof as possible, with iron columns, beams and girders, as well as four hundred electric lights. A large oval smokestack dominates the west fa9ade of the Filter House, facing Manhattan. Though the base of the chimney is original, most of the section that rises above the roof was added following a major expansion during the 1920s. Planned to produce at least 1,200 tons of sugar each day, the refinery's capacity gave the company a considerable competitive edge, allowing it to dominate the American market for several decades. This leverage also led to the creation of the Sugar Refineries Company in 1887.
Originally consisting of as many as twenty firms, it was a monopoly that sought to control labor costs and prices. Renamed the American Sugar Refining Company in 1891, the "Domino" brand name was introduced in 1901. The Williamsburg refinery was sold to Tate & Lyle in 1988 and renamed the Domino Sugar Corporation in 1991. In subsequent years, the company ceased refining raw sugar at this location and the three buildings became vacant. The plant closed in 2004 and the site was acquired by C. P. C. Resources, the development arm of the Community Preservation Corporation.
DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS
The Havemeyers and Sugar Refining in the United States
At the start of the twentieth century, the Havemeyer family was said to control ninety-eight per cent of sugar production in the United States. Headquartered in Manhattan's financial district, the business was based in Brooklyn where an immense refinery dominated the Williamsburg waterfront. The largest buildings, the Filter, Pan & Finishing House - sometimes collectively called the Processing House - stood steps from the East River and were visible from much of Manhattan's East Side. Active day and night, these large brick structures were powerful symbols of industry in Brooklyn and the accomplishments of the Havemeyer family.
As a predecessor to the American Sugar Refining Company, later called the Domino Sugar Corporation and Amstar, Havemeyers & Elder helped develop the sugar refining techniques used today. As early as 1876, it was reported:
The history of sugar refining in the western hemisphere is completely epitomized in giving the history of the founding, rise and growth of the house of Havemeyers & Elder, now the largest in the world.
The Williamsburg refinery traces its roots to Manhattan in the early nineteenth century. Born in Germany, cousins William (1770-1851) and Frederick Christian Havemeyer (1774-1841) worked as sugar bakers in London before immigrating to the United States in 1799. After a brief period with Edmund Seaman and Company, the city's first sugar boiler, they established their own refinery in c. 1807, on Budd (now Van Dam) Street, between Greenwich and Hudson Streets, just south of Greenwich Village. The original building was small compared to later refineries, only 30 by 40 feet, but by the 1840s it stood ten stories tall and filled the entire block. Sugar became an important industry in the metropolitan area and by mid-century there were more than twenty refineries in New York and New Jersey.
Sugar cane was supplied from America's deep south, mainly Louisiana, and the Caribbean, where the labor of enslaved Africans made it profitable to grow and harvest. Though slavery ended in the United States in 1865, it continued in Cuba, a leading exporter of raw sugar, until 1886, and in Brazil until 1888. Sugar mills were among the earliest factories in North America. Initially operated close to plantations, by the early nineteenth century most were located in major commercial centers. Here, owners could be close to consumers and distance themselves from the conditions under which raw sugar was harvested. William F. Havemeyer, Jr. (1804-1874), who headed the Van Dam Street refinery from 1828 to 1842, was elected mayor of New York City three times, in 1845, 1848 and 1872. Though he publicly criticized slavery and strongly opposed its expansion, like many New Yorkers he maintained that "no forcible interference" should occur "in states which it already existed."
Frederick C. Havemeyer, Jr. (1807-91) played a key role in the company's early development. He joined the firm in c. 1823 and was later described as "the venerable head of the well-known Havemeyer family of this city and the founder of the great sugar-refining industry in this country." He lived on West 14th Street and after 1862 moved to Throg's Neck on the Long Island Sound. With Samuel Tilden and Andrew Green, he also invested in a local ferry company. Though he and cousin William retired in 1842, Frederick rejoined the family business when his nephew John C. Havemeyer (1833-1922) and Charles Bertrand began operating a small refinery in Williamsburg. In subsequent years, the company was known as: Havemeyer & Bertrand (c. 1856); Havemeyer, Townsend & Company (1858); and Havemeyer & Elder (1863). Though Joseph Lawrence Elder, Frederick's son-in-law, died in 1868, the partnership's name was maintained well into the twentieth century.
Theodore A(ugustus) Havemeyer (1839-1897), Frederick Jr.'s eldest son, began working in the Manhattan refinery during the 1850s. He recalled:
We were taught our business thoroughly. After leaving school I was sent to Europe to learn all I could concerning the business I was to follow for a livelihood. In 1857 I went to the Hamburg refineries, and thence, after quite a lengthy experience, I went to other cities in Germany, where I gained the most advanced methods of that day.
An important figure in the company's continued growth; he was associated with the business for more than thirty years. Promoted to partner in Havemeyer, Townsend & Co. in February 1862, he was identified as the plant's manager in 1868, and was later called "America's great sugar king." Theodore lived with his wife Emilie de Loosey at 244 Madison Avenue (demolished), at the corner of East 38 th Street in Manhattan, in a house that was described as "one of the most beautiful in New York." Though sugar was the primary source of his fortune, he also invested in banks and real estate, erecting the Havemeyer Building (George B. Post, 1891-93, demolished) on Church Street, between Dey and Cortlandt Streets.
Theodore worked beside his father, Frederick, during the expansion of the refinery in the late 1860s and had an intimate knowledge of the entire operation. He proudly claimed:
There was no part of the manufactory or no part of the refining business with which we were not thoroughly familiar. I knew how to fire up under the boilers, how to run the engine. I built an engine once myself. I knew how to refine the sugar and how to market it . . . We were always on the lookout for some better way to do a thing and our success is largely owing to invention brought out by observation and experiment.
After Theodore became partner, his youngest brother, Henry Osborne (also called Harry or H. O., 1847-1907) joined the firm in 1865, as did his cousins, Hector (1840-99) and Charles (c. 1845-95). Following several years in the Manhattan office, in 1869 Henry became a full partner. Whereas Theodore's concerns were generally practical, focusing on the manufacturing end of the business, Henry "mastered the mercantile side [devoting himself to] a study production and markets." He commissioned a large mansion with interiors by Louis Comfort Tiffany at 1 East 66th Street (demolished) in 1889-90. He and his wife, Louisine Waldron Elder, were leading art collectors and the bulk of their collection, especially their nineteenth-century French paintings, was donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art upon her death in 1929.
Hector and Charles left the Williamsburg plant in the mid-1870s to operate a refinery at North 2nd
Street, co-owned by the Decastro & Donner Sugar Refining Company. Theodore and Henry Osborne also worked closely with another cousin, Charles H(enry) Senff (1841-1911), who managed the plant and was later described as one of "the refinery builders."
Industrial Williamsburg
New York City established itself as a major port in the first half of the nineteenth century, with ship- building facilities, cargo terminals, and piers serving the harbor. Though John Jackson's shipyard (later known as the Brooklyn Navy Yard) was located on Wallabout Bay by the 1790s, it was not until the 1850s that a substantial number of businesses had moved to, or were established in, Brooklyn, where the waterfront stretches from Newtown Creek in Greenpoint to Jamaica Bay.
Businesses began to relocate to Williamsburg during the 1850s. Land costs were relatively low, the population was increasing, and the East River was well-served by passenger ferries and commercial fleets. Founded as part of the town of Bushwick in the mid-1600s, Williamsburg was incorporated as a village in 1827. A gridiron plan was soon adopted, with named and numbered streets running perpendicular from the river. Most industrial and commercial activity was concentrated here, with residential blocks to the east. Williamsburg grew rapidly; by 1851 it was the twentieth largest city in the nation and in 1854, along with neighboring Bushwick, it became part of greater Brooklyn.
By 1874 five major sugar refineries were active in Brooklyn: Havemeyers & Elder, Greenpoint Sugar Refining Company, Decastro & Donner, Brooklyn Sugar Refining Company, and Dick & Meyer. Two of these firms would later come under Havemeyer control, Decastro & Donner in 1874, and Greenpoint in 1880. They also owned a "vast" cooperage on North 5th Street to manufacture wood barrels for packing sugar, as well as the Eastern District Terminal, a waterfront rail facility that extended from North 3rd Street to North 10th
Street. Established in 1867, for nearly a century it linked local businesses to New Jersey and points west. Served by tugs, floats, lighters and locomotives, the terminal was the ideal location for a sizeable warehouse, which Henry's son, Horace Havemeyer (1886-1956), built and leased to Austin, Nichols & Company, one of the world's largest wholesale grocers, in 1914-15.
The Havemeyers & Elder Sugar Refinery
Within the network of businesses owned by the Havemeyer family, the Williamsburg sugar refinery was the largest and most important. At about the same time that Williamsburg became part of Brooklyn, the family began to lease property on the west side of Kent Avenue, between South 3rd Street and South 4th
Street. It has not been determined whether the original refinery was located in a leased warehouse or a new structure financed by Frederick C. Havemeyer, Jr. An undated image from the Brooklyn Daily Times portrayed it as consisting of a five-story building with rectangular windows and shutters, a pair of single-story structures with round-arched window openings, and a free-standing chimney.
Sugar had been especially scarce during the Civil War and a surge in demand was widely anticipated. Toward the end of the conflict, steps were taken by the Havemeyers to expand the refinery. They purchased the parcel on which the original refinery stood, as well as lots between South 3rd Street and South 4th Street (c. 1863) and South 2nd Street and South 3rd Street (1865). These sites had been previously used as brick, lumber and shipping yards.
The Havemeyers & Elder refinery is located between Wallabout Bay and Bushwick Creek. At this location, the river is deep and most types of vessels could be accommodated. Raw sugar, consequently, was delivered directly to the refinery, without hauling it to a custom's house for inspection. The Brooklyn Eagle later reported:
In securing a water front for their operations the refiners effect a great economy, for not only do they ship the sugar directly on steamers and freight cars, but the raw material is brought to their doors from Pernambuco, Manila, Hawaii, Cuba, Egypt and Java and poured into their melting pans after a single handling, hardly thirty steps from the wharf where it landed.
Water was also important in the refining process, used to clean the raw sugar and cool the machinery.
Havemeyers & Elder acquired the block where the Filter, Pan & Finishing House was built in two separate transactions; purchasing the first parcel, about one third of the site, in 1865, and a larger parcel in November 1881. The latter parcel had been owned by John Minturn who since the 1860s had leased it to a rival refiner, Wintjen, Dick & Harms. Later known as Dick & Meyer, they also operated a refinery on Kent Avenue, between North 7th Street and North 8th Street.
On the evening of January 8, 1882, much of the Havemeyers & Elder refinery was destroyed by fire, especially the block between South 3rd Street and South 4th Street, where the refinery had originated more than two decades earlier. The loss, valued at more than $1.5 million, included the 200-by-150-foot-long refinery and finishing house, as well as machinery and structures devoted to storage and shipping. Insurance was estimated to cover about half the value of what was lost. Enormous crowds gathered in New York and Brooklyn to watch the blaze and the event gained national attention. According to Theodore A. Havemeyer, who handled most media inquiries, 1,200 men had been employed in the refinery, as well as 2,500 to 3,000 men in related jobs.
Most historical accounts state that the Filter, Pan & Processing House was built to replace structures destroyed by the fire. Research, however, indicates that this was not completely true and that Theodore A. Havemeyer was already planning to expand the refinery. On November 19, 1881 - less than two months before the fire - he filed plans with the Brooklyn Bureau of Buildings for a "ten-story brick sugar house," probably the Filter House. The estimated cost was $100,000. Construction began at once and accounts described the site as already "in the course of development" when the fire occurred.
Plans for a second structure were filed with the Bureau of Buildings less than two months later, in March 1882. Described as a "nine story brick sugar house," it would become the Pan & Finishing House. Measuring 250 by 70 feet, the estimated cost was the same as the Filter House. In most refineries, the Filter House and the Finishing House stand side by side, suggesting that Havemeyer intended to construct them together, in close succession, or as soon as economic circumstances permitted. Urban factories were often built this way. Master plans were rarely prepared and refineries grew as demand increased and nearby properties became available.
The Filter, Pan & Finishing House were most likely designed by Theodore A. Havemeyer, the firm's senior partner. Contemporary listings identify both "T. H" and "F. A." Havemeyer as the architect. This was a probable misspelling, or misreading, of T. A. Havemeyer. There is no evidence that he trained as an architect, but he did have twenty-five years experience working with this type of structure and many nineteenth-century factories were constructed under similar circumstance. The Brooklyn Eagle, reported that the "plans were perfected under [his] immediate direction and supervision."
In terms of the builder, different individuals were credited. The November 1881 application lists "Thos. Winslow and J. E. James" as builders, but the March 1882 application has "J. James" (along with Havemeyer) as architect, with no builder. Havemeyer collaborated with them at least tree times during the early 1880s. Little is known about Woodruff or James, though James may be J. K. (John King) James, who was part of the architectural firm James & James, active in New York, Kansas City, and other locations, from the 1880s to the early 1900s.
His brother, Arthur, was trained in England and moved to the United States in 1878. For a brief period, he worked in the Boston office of H. H. Richardson. It seems likely that Havemeyer planned the layout and interiors and a builder was hired to address structural issues, or perhaps, prepare renderings for submission to the Bureau of Buildings. They were also assisted by the engineer John Van Vorst Booraem (1838-1923), who worked for Decastro & Donner from 1870 to 1882, and long-time refinery superintendent Ernest Gerbracht.
Insurance paid some of the costs but other expenses were covered by Frederick C. Havemeyer, Jr. who sold stocks, bonds, and property to finance reconstruction. At the time of the fire, it was estimated that the work would take twelve to eighteen months to complete. This estimate proved accurate; the "monster chimney" reached a height of one hundred feet in October 1882 and the rest of the refinery was nearing completion, less than a year later, in July 18 83. The Brooklyn Eagle reported that Theodore:
. . . personally superintended the erection of the present structure, which Phenix [sic] like arose from the ashes of the old one . . . When the refineries were completed Mr. Havemeyer in May [1884], departed for the continent to take a needed rest.
At this time, his younger brother, Henry Osborne, became the firm's chief partner. Refinery Design
New York City was a bustling port in the nineteenth century and various types of utilitarian structures were built to support the maritime trade, including store and loft buildings, warehouses, and factories. Store and loft buildings were the most common and many distinctive examples can be found in the Tribeca and SoHo Cast-Iron Historic Districts. Built to serve retail and wholesale functions, the upper stories were frequently used for storage and related commercial purposes. While some early examples were located in converted dwellings, most date from the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Schemerhorn Row, part of the South Street Seaport Historic District, is an early group of warehouses, also called "counting houses." Built in 1811-12, these simple brick buildings resemble Federal-style residences but were used as offices and commercial storage. A significant group of later examples can also be found in Brooklyn: the Empire Stores (1865-85) in the Fulton Ferry Historic District and the quarter-mile-long Beard Street warehouse (1864-73) in Red Hook. Constructed on piers or alongside the East River, these large brick buildings have arched window openings through which goods could be easily hoisted.
Sugar refining became a significant local industry during the mid-nineteenth century. In New York City, the earliest known surviving structure is 79-101 Laight Street (now apartments), between Washington Street and West Street, in the Tribeca North Historic District. Built in 1853-54, it is the last remaining component in the Grocers Steam Sugar Refinery. Nine and ten stories tall, it has thick brick walls, regularly- spaced round-arched windows, and iron shutters - common features in subsequent refineries.
New York City prospered in the 1880s, attracting a great number of large factories to the waterfront, where delivery and shipment of goods was convenient. Twelve thousand factories were in operation by the mid-1890s, scattered along Manhattan's west side, and in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. King's Handbook of New York observed:
But perhaps few people recognize that a prime distinction of New York is its preeminent position as a manufacturing city, crowded with ingenious artificers, and pouring its multifarious products all over the Great Republic. While one section of the city includes its financial powers . . . several sections are given up to manufactories.
Sugar and food production was important, as was publishing and the manufacture of clothing and musical instruments. Most companies occupied low-rise horizontal structures, often distinguished by a single vertical element that identified the owner. Clock towers were popular and notable examples include: Joseph Loth & Company Silk Ribbon Mill (Hugo Kafka, 1885-86) in Washington Heights, Manhattan, Estey Piano Company Factory (A. B. Ogden, begun 1886-86) in Mott Haven, the Bronx, and the Sohmer & Company Piano Factory (Berger & Baylies, begun c. 1886) in Astoria, Queens. All are designated New York City Landmarks. Other substantial complexes that survive from this period include the Eberhard Faber Pencil Factory (begun 1870s) in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, the former New-York Biscuit Company (now retail and offices, later known as Nabisco, begun 1880s) in Chelsea, Manhattan, and the Ansonia Clock Company (now apartments, begun 1880s) in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
The Filter, Pan & Finishing House were designed to give the appearance of a single, monumental structure. The Brooklyn Eagle called the new facility "colossal" and claims were made that it had "the largest capacity of any refinery on either continent." Of various factories that survive from the 1880s, the Filter, Pan & Finishing House stands out, not for only its massive, approximately 250 by 150 foot, dimensions, but for its height. One hundred and fifty five feet tall (plus chimney), in 1883 it was said to be the tallest building on the Brooklyn waterfront, approaching the height of early skyscrapers in Lower Manhattan's financial district. Refineries were normally taller than factories; owners not only wished to maximize storage potential but this vertical arrangement allowed them to exploit gravity as part of the refining and packing process. In Philadelphia, the Havemeyer & Company Refinery was ten stories tall, and in St. Louis, the twelve-story Belcher Sugar Refinery (1882) incorporated six million bricks and was said to be the "strongest and highest building of its kind in the nation."
The reddish brick elevations tower above the narrow Williamsburg streets. Without setbacks, there are relatively few horizontal elements and most of the ornamental brickwork is concentrated on the upper floors. This type of treatment was practical, allowing construction to proceed with a minimum of delay and handiwork. Russell Sturgis, the noted architectural critic, admired this straightforward aesthetic, writing in 1904 that "one cannot but care for these [structures] because every great surface of hard, rough, well-burned bricks of dusky red color is attractive." To demonstrate this point, he used a photograph of a similar refinery in Greenpoint, Brooklyn - also owned by the Havemeyers - and designed by Theodore in the late 1880s.
Along Kent Avenue, smooth shallow pilasters rise from the ground story, dividing each floor into wide and narrow bays. Above the fifth floor, a small vertical recess divides each pilaster, creating a shadow that accentuates the upper part of the fa?ade. It draws the eye to the roof, especially toward the simple arches that crown two bays, as well as the corners. The elevation that faces west (toward Manhattan) is the more decorative one, especially near the base of the chimney. Less expensive than cast iron or carved stone, the bricks are set at different depths, forming rows, rectangles, squares, and chevrons. The corners were originally capped with pyramidal roofs, constructed with black brick, a variant of red brick that gained popularity in the 1870s and 1880s. Occasionally, bluestone was used to accent the brick - dirty though visible - as keystones, belt courses and simple triangular forms that rest above the arched window openings at the top story.
Aligned in long rows, the relatively wide spacing of the windows strengthens the visual impact of the walls, creating a subtle yet insistent rhythm. Like the Estey and Sohmer piano factories, the windows in the Williamsburg refinery are small, evenly spaced and round arched, similar to the kind that Theodore A. Havemeyer might have seen in buildings that he visited during his trips to Germany. Based on classical and medieval sources, this kind of treatment was an American variant of the German Rundbogenstil, also called the Romanesque Revival style. Known through pattern books and other illustrated sources; it influenced the design of all refineries built by the Havemeyers, from Van Dam Street in the 1840s to Williamsburg and Greenpoint in the last quarter of the nineteenth century.
Brick was the material of choice in most industrial buildings. It was inexpensive, durable, and easily supplied. More importantly, brick was resistant to fire. The walls were four feet thick at the bottom and two feet thick at the top. Most windows were deliberately crowned by brick arches, permitting the elimination of potentially flammable wood lintels. Similar goals shaped the design of the interiors. While many local factories continued to be built with wood joists and brick bearing walls, Havemeyer made extensive use of iron. The structure was quite sophisticated:
The floors are of brick, being a series of flat topped arches of 5 feet sweep, and they are supported by a labyrinth of cast iron columns and wrought iron beams and girders which are braced to sixty-six cast iron columns, each capable of standing a strain of 400 tons . . . In order to make the building as fireproof as possible all material of a flammable nature was eliminated in its construction. The entrance archways are secured with double iron doors and the hundreds of windows are supplied with doors of the same material. So well assured is Mr. Havemeyer of the safety of his building from fire that he will not insure them.
Other safety features included fire hoses and fire escapes, as well as more than four hundred electric lights. Less dangerous than gas lighting, there was considerable enthusiasm for the new technology and the buildings in the refinery were some of earliest in Brooklyn to be lit by electricity. Since no central generating plant existed in Brooklyn at this time, it seems likely that Havemeyers & Elder produced its own power.
From Manhattan, the most visually prominent feature was, and remains, the chimney. Originally one of the tallest in the metropolitan area, it was surpassed by only the twin chimneys of the New York Steam Company (demolished), constructed the same year. Fueled by coal, the height of the chimney was determined by the type of coal used and the need to vent smoke safely. Enormous quantities were used to power the plant and the refinery operated a fleet of ten barges to transport the fuel, each named for a different sugar producing country. Built as the centerpiece of the west fa?ade, the chimney was flanked by corner towers, which were of a similar shape, height and width. Like clock towers, it served both a functional and promotional purpose. Near the base, just above the top floor, was a prominent sign, visible from the East River and Manhattan, identifying the refinery and the date of construction. The chimney and the sign, however, were altered in the 1920s. About one third taller than the original, the upper section is constructed from curved, radial brick. Larger in size than conventional brick, such chimneys were introduced around 1900 and were stronger and less expensive to build.
Processing Sugar
These connecting buildings formed the nucleus of the Havemeyers & Elder sugar refinery. At the time of completion, the daily capacity was estimated to be 1,200 tons. Directly west of the Filter House was the boiler house (demolished), a two-story facility that powered the plant, as well as piers, where incoming "hogsheads" of raw sugar and deliveries of coal were unloaded into large bins throughout day and night. Immediately east was Kent Avenue, a street served by various street car routes. Workers entered the plant here, through a series of archways that lined the ground story of the Pan House & Finishing House, using stairs and elevators to reach their steamy posts.
The first stage of processing occurred in the Filter House where the raw sugar was combined with water to create a dirty sweet solution. It was then strained and pumped to the uppermost floor to fill a "metal tank ten feet high and eight feet in diameter." These circular containers were called blow-ups. During the next stage, aided by gravity, the liquid ran downward, filtering through canvas into more than one hundred cast-iron tanks with a "layer of boneblack at the bottom." Twenty-feet-tall and nine feet in diameter, these filters could be automatically filled and emptied.
Next, the solution flowed into the Pan House, at the southwest corner of Kent Avenue and South 2nd
Street. Planned for nine or ten floors, it had one set of stairs and reached a height of approximately one hundred feet, with a twenty-foot deep cellar. This structure accommodated six or eight vacuum pans, each measuring sixteen feet in diameter. At $25,000 per unit, it was the most costly machine in the complex.
Heated by copper coils, the solution was boiled and reduced to the thickness of honey and emptied into sixty- four centrifugal machines that spun and separated the molasses and sugar.
The final stage occurred in the Finishing House, a structure that was designed to be virtually indistinguishable from the neighboring Pan House. At the northwest corner of Kent Avenue and South 3rd
Street, it was also planned for nine or ten floors and has a footprint that is approximately square in shape. In this building the sugar passed onto granulating machines where the grains were separated, roasted and dried. A reporter for the Brooklyn Eagle wrote in 1884, that he:
Examined and [ate] some of it and was satisfied that however filthy it had first been and however revolting some of the mixtures to which it was subjected were [,] it had been last become quite pure enough to be eaten by the most fastidious.
The refining process was now complete and the sugar was moved by conveyor to nearby buildings for storage, packing, and sale. These structures were located on both sides of Kent Avenue, as far south as South 4th Street.
Workers and Working Conditions
The Havemeyers & Elder refinery was an immense operation. It covered approximately eleven acres and required thousands of workers. All types of sugar were produced "from the dominoes and cubes of cut loaf, through the various grades of hard sugars, down to the cheaper grades of yellow, or straw-colored sugars." It was a major Brooklyn employer, hiring primarily untrained labor. The great majority were men and recent immigrants. They worked around the clock, in ten-hour shifts, at minimum. The New York Tribune strongly criticized conditions in the plant, writing in 1894:
. . . the severity of their labors is shown by the fact that they are nearly all thin and stooped and rarely above middle age, it being a well-known fact that men employed in the refineries rarely live to old age. They are nearly all new immigrants when first employed, and before work is given them, they must be found perfectly docile and obedient . . . Then begins a life of perpetual torture as long as he remains in the refinery, and not infrequently death comes quickly to his relief.
The earliest group, like the owners, came from Germany and "notices from management were printed in both English and German." Toward the end of the nineteenth century, the workforce became increasingly diverse, with recent arrivals from Ireland, Denmark, Poland, Hungary, Greece, and later, the West Indies. The Brooklyn Eagle observed in 1900:
There is little about the manufacture of sugar that calls for skilled labor, and the work has been lightened and conditions modified within fifteen or twenty years by improved machinery . . . the Pole has, therefore, arrived in time to benefit by these changes, though he would have taken the work just the same had it been twice as hot or hard.
Many workers lived in the vicinity of Kent Avenue, or along trolley lines that led to the waterfront, occupying former single-family residences that had been converted to boarding houses and tenements. Despite low wages, approximately $13 per week, the average length of service in 1900 was more than eight years. Such wages, one writer observed, would insure "a good living" elsewhere, but not in Brooklyn.
Refinery workers also had hardly any job security. Thousands were temporarily laid off due to the 1882 fire (and during subsequent conflagrations), as well as during periods when raw materials were in short supply. Increasing labor unrest, especially in the mid-1880s and after 1900, eventually led to wage increases and the creation of a pension plan in 1912 for disabled and retired workers. By 1920, approximately ten percent of the workforce was female, with many involved in clerical positions or packaging. Compared to their male colleagues, their working conditions were portrayed as comfortable:
In the final packing for grocery orders a number of girls find employment. They attend the machines that automatically pour, weigh, and seal small packages of sugar, enabling two girls to do the work recently done by eight, and do it more accurately. Some of the sugar is put up by them in bags and some in paper boxes. These girls have most of a room to themselves, with good dressing rooms, and free from heat.
The American Sugar Refinery Company was one of Brooklyn's largest employers. With 4,500 workers on the payroll in 1919, threats to move to New Jersey in the late 1910s and early 1920s were taken seriously and the government permitted the closing of two streets, between Kent Avenue and the river, as part of a major expansion. The number employed, however, fell steadily after the Second World War. By 1959 there were 1,500 workers, 450 in 1996, and less than 300 in 2001. Not only was the demand for sugar hurt by the increasing popularity of corn syrup and other sweeteners, but to increase efficiency, only liquid sugar - first processed in Baltimore - was refined in the Williamsburg plant during the 1990s.
Subsequent History
The great capacity of the Filter, Pan & Finishing House gave the Havemeyer family a significant competitive edge and it was soon able to negotiate a merger of historic proportions. Rather than rebuild what existed before 1882, a much more ambitious structure was created, one that positioned Havemeyers & Elder as the dominant American firm for decades to come. Though published estimates of the cost of reconstruction and machinery were reportedly $2.5 million, Theodore A. Havemeyer later admitted that almost three times that amount, $7 million, was spent.
The Sugar Refineries Company, also known as the Sugar Trust, was established in October 1887. Henry Osborne Havemeyer was the first president and most members of the board of directors were drawn from the Havemeyer family or long-time business associates. It was renamed the American Sugar Refining Company in 1891 and King's Handbook of New York called it "without doubt . . . the greatest and most important manufacturing industry in the United States." Originally consisting of as many as twenty firms, it was a monopoly - similar to that of the Standard Oil Company or the American Tobacco Company - that sought to control labor costs and sugar prices, as well as to influence government policy.
Efficiency was critical to the new organization and following a six-month assessment only the five most productive refineries, including the recently-constructed Williamsburg plant, were allowed to operate. This strategy proved to be a great success, and within two decades the company controlled 98 per cent of the refined sugar produced in the United States. Though claims were made that such techniques substantially lowered consumer prices, the trust immediately began to attract the attention of state and federal investigators. Antitrust legislation, followed by litigation and related scandals, would damage American Sugar's reputation, and ultimately, its market share.
The "Domino" brand name was introduced in 1901. Though Havemeyers & Elder continued to manufacture their popular "H & E - Eagle" brand for many years, Domino became the company's best-known product and by 1974 all other labels had been retired. The Williamsburg refinery complex was modified continuously throughout the twentieth century, including, under chair Earl D. Babst, a major reconstruction program in 1926-27. Costing $3 million, these improvements had relatively little impact on the exterior of the Filter, Pan & Finishing House. Increased productivity was the primary goal and according to the Brooklyn Eagle, the older manufacturing buildings were remodeled and "reequipped."
After the Second World War, the sugar business experienced considerable change, impacting both the American Sugar Refining Company and its Williamsburg branch. Paper cartons were introduced in 1915 and the shipping of sugar in wood barrels ceased in 1946, causing the closure of the cooperage. The research and development division moved to Philadelphia in 1958, but the company remained committed to operating in Brooklyn, and several new structures, costing $16 million, were erected during the early 1960s. American Sugar changed its name to the Amstar Sugar Corporation in 1970 and a year later moved the New York City office from 120 Wall Street, where it had been since 1930, to 1251 Sixth Avenue in Rockefeller Center. Tate & Lyle acquired the American Sugar Division of Amstar, consisting of the Williamsburg, Baltimore and Chalmette refineries, as well as other facilities, in 1988. It was renamed the Domino Sugar Corporation in 1991. Florida Crystals Corp., headed by Alfonso and J. Pepe Fanjul, purchased the company in 2001. The Williamsburg refinery closed in 2004 and the property was acquired by C. P. C. Resources, the development arm of the Community Preservation Corporation.
Description
The former Havemeyers & Elder Filter, Pan & Finishing House is located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on a block bounded by the East River, Kent Avenue, South 2nd Street and South 3rd Street. Each is a separate building connected by common party walls. The facades are built of reddish brick, patched with both historic and non-historic brick. Most of the windows are crowned by projecting brick segmental arches and some are trimmed with bluestone. The wood-framed windows, mostly painted blue or green, are historic, while the brown and silver aluminum windows are non-historic. At each corner, the brickwork is arranged to create tower-like forms. Each corner bay frames a pair of windows. Immediately below the top floor, the windows are rectangular. Here, the brickwork becomes more dense and lively, with keystones, multiple belt courses, and crenellated forms.
The west elevation of the Filter House faces Manhattan. The base is partially obscured by the former Boiler House (not part of the designation). A large chimney projects from the center of the fa?ade. The upper oval section, above the roof, is not original but historic, probably dating from before the 1930s. The base of the chimney is rectangular and embellished with decorative brickwork on all sides. A rusting metal sign, set below a wide brick arch near the eleventh story, displays the name: "HAVEMEYERS & ELDER."
The letters have been almost entirely lost, but screws or pegs that once held them remain. To the north, from South 2nd Street to the chimney, four bays are visible, divided by projecting brick piers into groups of 2/3/2 window openings. The northernmost bay is crowned by a windowless red brick box, possibly a parapet. At the base, the lower three stories are obscured by the former Power House (not part of this designation). To the south, from the chimney to South 3rd Street, four bays are visible, separated by projecting brick piers into groups of 3/2/3/2 window openings. The base of this section is separated from the former syrup station (not part of this designation) by a passage that leads toward the base of the chimney stack. On the right side (east), the lower floors are visible. The north and south ends of the fa?ade suggest towers, with window openings grouped in pairs.
The Pan House & Finishing House are located on Kent Avenue and face east. This fa?ade is symmetrical and divided into three sections. The north and south sections are divided by projecting piers into three bays, each with a pair of round-arch window openings. The center section has nine round-arched window openings. At the south end (above the Finishing House) are brick bulkheads, as well as an iron frame. A single row of non-historic white metal ventilating units are located on the roof of the Pan House, arranged from north to south. The east fa?ade of the Filter House, visible above the Pan & Finishing House, incorporates non- historic brick and four floors of non-historic fenestration. Some windows, especially at the lowest floor, appear to be sealed. Viewed from the east, the rear of the chimney is visible, as well as brick parapets at the north and south ends.
The north elevation faces South 2nd Street. The nine-story east section is divided by projecting brick piers into three bays. The wide center bay has three windows at each floor. The eleven-story west section is separated by projecting brick piers into three bays. The east bay has a single window opening at each floor. The center and west bays have a pair of window openings. From the base to the roof, the windows diminish in size.
The south elevation, facing South 3rd Street, has been altered with non-historic roll-down gates, metal conveyer tubes connected at 5th and 6th floors, and additions to the base. Above the west tube, at the 7th and 8th
floors, the fa?ade has been opened and filled with wood. To the west of these openings, a pair of openings has been sealed with brick. The taller section, to the west, is divided by projecting brick piers into three bays, with, from west to east, 2/2/1 window openings. Like the south bay of the west elevation, it resembles a tower with brick courses dividing it into four vertical sections. From base to roof, the windows diminish in size. A substantial number of windows are historic, though many have been modified or sealed, and one has been enlarged. At the south end of the roof, a large non-historic blue and white metal cylinder is visible.
- From the 2007 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report
Commonwealth Oil Refining Company, Inc. (CORCO) was an oil refinery established in the towns of Peñuelas and Guayanilla in Puerto Rico in the middle of the 20th century. The project started as part of Operation Bootstrap with the first unit being constructed in 1954. The company started operations in 1955 and was finally incorporated on May 19, 1963. Corco represented an investment of $25 million and had the capacity to refine 23,500 barrels (3,740 m3) of oil daily. Hugo David Storer Tavarez was one of the men in charge of the CORCO being established in Puerto Rico.
The refinery is located in an 800-acre (3.2 km2) site, and consists of numerous storage tanks and waste treatment units typical of petroleum refineries. CORCO has been inactive since 1982, and now functions as a terminal for the marine transportation and land-based storage of crude oil and petroleum products.
After the refinery ceased operations, an entity called Desarrollo Integral del Sur (South Integral Development) began developing a long-term plan for the reuse of the terrains and properties.
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Refining my own technique is proving to be challenging, but it's a start. Thank you, beautiful Teena Silverweb, for being my guinea pig! <3
PS - Reflecting on this pic... I would not have done quite so much with the hair, but as I said... It was an experiment. Teena, I promise to try again as I get better! ;)
See more photos of this, and the Wikipedia article.
Details, quoting from Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird:
No reconnaissance aircraft in history has operated globally in more hostile airspace or with such complete impunity than the SR-71, the world's fastest jet-propelled aircraft. The Blackbird's performance and operational achievements placed it at the pinnacle of aviation technology developments during the Cold War.
This Blackbird accrued about 2,800 hours of flight time during 24 years of active service with the U.S. Air Force. On its last flight, March 6, 1990, Lt. Col. Ed Yielding and Lt. Col. Joseph Vida set a speed record by flying from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., in 1 hour, 4 minutes, and 20 seconds, averaging 3,418 kilometers (2,124 miles) per hour. At the flight's conclusion, they landed at Washington-Dulles International Airport and turned the airplane over to the Smithsonian.
Transferred from the United States Air Force.
Manufacturer:
Designer:
Date:
1964
Country of Origin:
United States of America
Dimensions:
Overall: 18ft 5 15/16in. x 55ft 7in. x 107ft 5in., 169998.5lb. (5.638m x 16.942m x 32.741m, 77110.8kg)
Other: 18ft 5 15/16in. x 107ft 5in. x 55ft 7in. (5.638m x 32.741m x 16.942m)
Materials:
Titanium
Physical Description:
Twin-engine, two-seat, supersonic strategic reconnaissance aircraft; airframe constructed largley of titanium and its alloys; vertical tail fins are constructed of a composite (laminated plastic-type material) to reduce radar cross-section; Pratt and Whitney J58 (JT11D-20B) turbojet engines feature large inlet shock cones.
Long Description:
No reconnaissance aircraft in history has operated in more hostile airspace or with such complete impunity than the SR-71 Blackbird. It is the fastest aircraft propelled by air-breathing engines. The Blackbird's performance and operational achievements placed it at the pinnacle of aviation technology developments during the Cold War. The airplane was conceived when tensions with communist Eastern Europe reached levels approaching a full-blown crisis in the mid-1950s. U.S. military commanders desperately needed accurate assessments of Soviet worldwide military deployments, particularly near the Iron Curtain. Lockheed Aircraft Corporation's subsonic U-2 (see NASM collection) reconnaissance aircraft was an able platform but the U. S. Air Force recognized that this relatively slow aircraft was already vulnerable to Soviet interceptors. They also understood that the rapid development of surface-to-air missile systems could put U-2 pilots at grave risk. The danger proved reality when a U-2 was shot down by a surface to air missile over the Soviet Union in 1960.
Lockheed's first proposal for a new high speed, high altitude, reconnaissance aircraft, to be capable of avoiding interceptors and missiles, centered on a design propelled by liquid hydrogen. This proved to be impracticable because of considerable fuel consumption. Lockheed then reconfigured the design for conventional fuels. This was feasible and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), already flying the Lockheed U-2, issued a production contract for an aircraft designated the A-12. Lockheed's clandestine 'Skunk Works' division (headed by the gifted design engineer Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson) designed the A-12 to cruise at Mach 3.2 and fly well above 18,288 m (60,000 feet). To meet these challenging requirements, Lockheed engineers overcame many daunting technical challenges. Flying more than three times the speed of sound generates 316° C (600° F) temperatures on external aircraft surfaces, which are enough to melt conventional aluminum airframes. The design team chose to make the jet's external skin of titanium alloy to which shielded the internal aluminum airframe. Two conventional, but very powerful, afterburning turbine engines propelled this remarkable aircraft. These power plants had to operate across a huge speed envelope in flight, from a takeoff speed of 334 kph (207 mph) to more than 3,540 kph (2,200 mph). To prevent supersonic shock waves from moving inside the engine intake causing flameouts, Johnson's team had to design a complex air intake and bypass system for the engines.
Skunk Works engineers also optimized the A-12 cross-section design to exhibit a low radar profile. Lockheed hoped to achieve this by carefully shaping the airframe to reflect as little transmitted radar energy (radio waves) as possible, and by application of special paint designed to absorb, rather than reflect, those waves. This treatment became one of the first applications of stealth technology, but it never completely met the design goals.
Test pilot Lou Schalk flew the single-seat A-12 on April 24, 1962, after he became airborne accidentally during high-speed taxi trials. The airplane showed great promise but it needed considerable technical refinement before the CIA could fly the first operational sortie on May 31, 1967 - a surveillance flight over North Vietnam. A-12s, flown by CIA pilots, operated as part of the Air Force's 1129th Special Activities Squadron under the "Oxcart" program. While Lockheed continued to refine the A-12, the U. S. Air Force ordered an interceptor version of the aircraft designated the YF-12A. The Skunk Works, however, proposed a "specific mission" version configured to conduct post-nuclear strike reconnaissance. This system evolved into the USAF's familiar SR-71.
Lockheed built fifteen A-12s, including a special two-seat trainer version. Two A-12s were modified to carry a special reconnaissance drone, designated D-21. The modified A-12s were redesignated M-21s. These were designed to take off with the D-21 drone, powered by a Marquart ramjet engine mounted on a pylon between the rudders. The M-21 then hauled the drone aloft and launched it at speeds high enough to ignite the drone's ramjet motor. Lockheed also built three YF-12As but this type never went into production. Two of the YF-12As crashed during testing. Only one survives and is on display at the USAF Museum in Dayton, Ohio. The aft section of one of the "written off" YF-12As which was later used along with an SR-71A static test airframe to manufacture the sole SR-71C trainer. One SR-71 was lent to NASA and designated YF-12C. Including the SR-71C and two SR-71B pilot trainers, Lockheed constructed thirty-two Blackbirds. The first SR-71 flew on December 22, 1964. Because of extreme operational costs, military strategists decided that the more capable USAF SR-71s should replace the CIA's A-12s. These were retired in 1968 after only one year of operational missions, mostly over southeast Asia. The Air Force's 1st Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron (part of the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing) took over the missions, flying the SR-71 beginning in the spring of 1968.
After the Air Force began to operate the SR-71, it acquired the official name Blackbird-- for the special black paint that covered the airplane. This paint was formulated to absorb radar signals, to radiate some of the tremendous airframe heat generated by air friction, and to camouflage the aircraft against the dark sky at high altitudes.
Experience gained from the A-12 program convinced the Air Force that flying the SR-71 safely required two crew members, a pilot and a Reconnaissance Systems Officer (RSO). The RSO operated with the wide array of monitoring and defensive systems installed on the airplane. This equipment included a sophisticated Electronic Counter Measures (ECM) system that could jam most acquisition and targeting radar. In addition to an array of advanced, high-resolution cameras, the aircraft could also carry equipment designed to record the strength, frequency, and wavelength of signals emitted by communications and sensor devices such as radar. The SR-71 was designed to fly deep into hostile territory, avoiding interception with its tremendous speed and high altitude. It could operate safely at a maximum speed of Mach 3.3 at an altitude more than sixteen miles, or 25,908 m (85,000 ft), above the earth. The crew had to wear pressure suits similar to those worn by astronauts. These suits were required to protect the crew in the event of sudden cabin pressure loss while at operating altitudes.
To climb and cruise at supersonic speeds, the Blackbird's Pratt & Whitney J-58 engines were designed to operate continuously in afterburner. While this would appear to dictate high fuel flows, the Blackbird actually achieved its best "gas mileage," in terms of air nautical miles per pound of fuel burned, during the Mach 3+ cruise. A typical Blackbird reconnaissance flight might require several aerial refueling operations from an airborne tanker. Each time the SR-71 refueled, the crew had to descend to the tanker's altitude, usually about 6,000 m to 9,000 m (20,000 to 30,000 ft), and slow the airplane to subsonic speeds. As velocity decreased, so did frictional heat. This cooling effect caused the aircraft's skin panels to shrink considerably, and those covering the fuel tanks contracted so much that fuel leaked, forming a distinctive vapor trail as the tanker topped off the Blackbird. As soon as the tanks were filled, the jet's crew disconnected from the tanker, relit the afterburners, and again climbed to high altitude.
Air Force pilots flew the SR-71 from Kadena AB, Japan, throughout its operational career but other bases hosted Blackbird operations, too. The 9th SRW occasionally deployed from Beale AFB, California, to other locations to carryout operational missions. Cuban missions were flown directly from Beale. The SR-71 did not begin to operate in Europe until 1974, and then only temporarily. In 1982, when the U.S. Air Force based two aircraft at Royal Air Force Base Mildenhall to fly monitoring mission in Eastern Europe.
When the SR-71 became operational, orbiting reconnaissance satellites had already replaced manned aircraft to gather intelligence from sites deep within Soviet territory. Satellites could not cover every geopolitical hotspot so the Blackbird remained a vital tool for global intelligence gathering. On many occasions, pilots and RSOs flying the SR-71 provided information that proved vital in formulating successful U. S. foreign policy. Blackbird crews provided important intelligence about the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and its aftermath, and pre- and post-strike imagery of the 1986 raid conducted by American air forces on Libya. In 1987, Kadena-based SR-71 crews flew a number of missions over the Persian Gulf, revealing Iranian Silkworm missile batteries that threatened commercial shipping and American escort vessels.
As the performance of space-based surveillance systems grew, along with the effectiveness of ground-based air defense networks, the Air Force started to lose enthusiasm for the expensive program and the 9th SRW ceased SR-71 operations in January 1990. Despite protests by military leaders, Congress revived the program in 1995. Continued wrangling over operating budgets, however, soon led to final termination. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration retained two SR-71As and the one SR-71B for high-speed research projects and flew these airplanes until 1999.
On March 6, 1990, the service career of one Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird ended with a record-setting flight. This special airplane bore Air Force serial number 64-17972. Lt. Col. Ed Yeilding and his RSO, Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Vida, flew this aircraft from Los Angeles to Washington D.C. in 1 hour, 4 minutes, and 20 seconds, averaging a speed of 3,418 kph (2,124 mph). At the conclusion of the flight, '972 landed at Dulles International Airport and taxied into the custody of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. At that time, Lt. Col. Vida had logged 1,392.7 hours of flight time in Blackbirds, more than that of any other crewman.
This particular SR-71 was also flown by Tom Alison, a former National Air and Space Museum's Chief of Collections Management. Flying with Detachment 1 at Kadena Air Force Base, Okinawa, Alison logged more than a dozen '972 operational sorties. The aircraft spent twenty-four years in active Air Force service and accrued a total of 2,801.1 hours of flight time.
Wingspan: 55'7"
Length: 107'5"
Height: 18'6"
Weight: 170,000 Lbs
Reference and Further Reading:
Crickmore, Paul F. Lockheed SR-71: The Secret Missions Exposed. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 1996.
Francillon, Rene J. Lockheed Aircraft Since 1913. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1987.
Johnson, Clarence L. Kelly: More Than My Share of It All. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1985.
Miller, Jay. Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works. Leicester, U.K.: Midland Counties Publishing Ltd., 1995.
Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird curatorial file, Aeronautics Division, National Air and Space Museum.
DAD, 11-11-01
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What’s an example of a great pitch that a wine brand could use for reaching out to the media?
When wine brands are reaching out to media outlets, they need to refine their pitches so that they are selling the right story at the right time. While there is no surefire, perfect pitch that is likely to win over every single media outlet, there are certain approaches that tend to do well, according to an all-star panel of media insiders who gathered at the 2016 USA Trade Testing Conference.
Knowing the audience of the media publication you are pitching is paramount. This automatically gives you insights into the types of stories that would be considered “newsworthy” by top editors. First and foremost, says Felicity Carter of Meininger’s Wine Business International, you have to keep in mind the “global significance” of the wine being sold if you want her to cover your wine’s story. That’s because the audience of her publication is very international, with readers all over the world.
It also helps to piggyback on top of current events and trends. As W.R Tish of Beverage Media Group points out, one great example of this was the recent 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio. At the time, the big trend was around anything Brazilian, so it made sense to cover Brazilian wines. At any other time of the year, a pitch about Brazilian wines might have fallen flat, but not when the eyes of the world were on Rio.
For wine brands, it’s also helpful to understand the different publication cycles of both print and digital publications. A print publication, for example, will have to have all the layout and printing done a full month before publication, so you need to provide plenty of lead time if you want your story published. In some cases, says David Ransom of The Tasting Panel and The SOMM Journal, pieces will be assigned anywhere from 3 to 6 months before publication.
The publication cycle is shorter for digital publications. Gregg Glaser, editor of Modern Distillery Age, says that, for an e-newsletter going out on Friday morning, he can accept breaking news stories up until Thursday night. There’s always room, he says, to include a “breaking news” item that’s particularly relevant for readers.
It’s also helpful to take a look ahead at stories that might be popular several months from now. For example, says Felicity Carter, any stories surrounding Donald Trump and the Trump Winery would be examples of story pitches you might have been able to anticipate months in advance.
The consensus appears to be that a successful pitch has to occur at the right place and the right time. It’s more than just avoiding a pitch about a heavy red Bordeaux in the middle of summer – it’s about understanding the types of stories that comprise a news cycle, and when stories are likely to be relevant to readers. Ultimately, media publications provide a service to readers, and so any media pitch has to take this into account.
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Saturday, the Big day, After this comes arrange the tools for usage, charge all batteries, gather the notes, purchase the tickets. refine the game plan, Inflate the Imagination. I used the new display today, refined the adjustments to mimic the I-Mac . the smiles bigger ! Enjoy!
Catania
The Evo 3 (by DR Motor) is a rebadged JAC Refine S2, which was sold in some European markets with electric drivetrain as the JAC iEV7s or eS2.
Italian postcard. ASER (A. Scarmiglia Ed., Roma), No. 106. SAGFS. Photo by Pesce..
Giuseppe Porelli (1897–1982) was an Italian film, theatre, radio and TV actor, who worked in almost 120 films and TV series.
Giuseppe Porelli was born Giuseppe Porcelli in Naples, on 24 Novembre 1897, as the son of Giuseppe Porcelli and Teresa Fiore. Porelli attended l'Istituto Tecnico superiore and found employment at the National Railways. In his free hours he recited with a drama company. In 1918, driven by a passion for the stage, he left his job to join as generic actor the company of Irma Gramatica. Changed his surname from the inconvenient Porcelli to Porelli, he landed in the brilliant genre by reciting in different formations directed by Picasso, Palmarini, Falconi and Tofano, refining his role as co-protagonist in which he would be particularly appreciated.
In the early forties he joined Enrico Viarisio, whom he physically resembled and was often mistaken for him, and Isa Pola. He then composed, in 1949 another successful company together with Ave Ninchi and Andreina Paul. Together with Margherita Bagni, Giulietta Masina, Franco Scandurra, Lea Padovani and Carla Del Poggio, he performed the theatrical adaptation of Alberto Moravia's novel Gli indifferenti. He also experienced an extraordinary season of success at a riper age, acting in musical comedies written by Garinei and Giovannini such as Al Grand Hotel in 1948 and Rinaldo in campo in 1962, frequently returning to the theater where he had particular success with Liolà by Pirandello in 1971.
Porelli was also very active in cinema, where he made his debut in 1926 with Garibaldi, l'eroe dei due mondi /Anita, directed by Aldo De Benedetti. But his real start in film began in the early sound era of Italian cinema, from the film La telefonista (1932) onward. He would continue for about half a century to interpret countless character roles of sympathetic and communicative characters - albeit petulant or bad-tempered and clumsy (Parigi è sempre Parigi of 1951 by Luciano Emmer) - while on other occasions people of rank and sophistication (the Totò film Miseria e nobiltà by Mario Mattoli in 1954), however almost always positive. Porelli was directed by Carmine Gallone, Mario Camerini, Giorgio Simonelli, Mario Monicelli, Vittorio De Sica, Camillo Mastrocinque and above all by Mario Mattoli.
Porelli was also very active on the radio and in several prose TV shows. He also played a successful television edition of Questi Fantasmi alongside Eduardo De Filippo, Biblioteca Studio Uno, as well as the TV mini-series L'Alfiere (1956), Scaramouche (1965), and The Buddenbrooks (1971). His last film part Porelli had in the Giancarlo Giannini comedy Stasera mi butto (Ettore Maria Fizzarotti, 1967), also with the comical duo Ciccio and Ingrassia. Giuseppe Porelli died in Rome on 5 March 1982.
Sources: Italian WIkipedia, IMDB.
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Robert J. Arrotta--The Mightiest Corporal in the Marine Corps
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Photo by Charles J. Schneider, courtesy of Joanne Schneider
Description: Robert J. Arrotta .Author: Beth Crumley
“Close air support was considered the most important mission of Marine aviation, and the Marine Corps focused the lion’s share of its aviation effort on refining and developing its close air support capabilities. As the senior aviator in the Marine Corps [Major General Keith B. McCutcheon] put it just months before the siege of Khe Sanh, ‘Marine aviation is a tactical air arm. Its sole mission is to provide support to ground forces.’ ”
—LtCol Shawn P. Callahan,
“Close Air Support and the Battle for Khe Sanh”
Marine Corps History Division, 2009
At no time would Major General Keith B. McCutcheon’s words about the importance of close air support ring truer than during the siege of Khe Sanh Combat Base and the surrounding, strategically important hills during the Vietnam War.
By December 1967, the North Vietnamese presence around Khe Sanh Combat Base had grown considerably. The 304 and 325C divisions had crossed into South Vietnam and were approaching from the west. To the east was the 320th Division, operating near the Rockpile, as well as an enemy regiment and an additional battalion whose mission it was to prevent movement along Route 9.
This buildup in enemy strength was monitored closely by Lieutenant General Robert E. Cushman Jr., the commanding general of III Marine Amphibious Force. By 9 Dec., 3d Battalion, 26th Marine Regiment was diverted from another mission and sent to Khe Sanh. Elements of the battalion strengthened key hilltop outposts. Company K, 3/26 was positioned atop Hill 861 and immediately began patrolling west of Khe Sanh.
Farther to the west was Hill 881S. The highest of the surrounding hills, it was key to Khe Sanh Combat Base defense. Khe Sanh was dependent upon resupply and reinforcement by air. Should the NVA hold the hill, aircraft taking off or landing from the west would be extremely vulnerable to enemy fire. The mission of holding the hill fell to the men of “India” Co, 3d Bn, 26th Marines. Among them was Corporal Robert J. Arrotta, who, during the 77-day siege, would earn the title “The Mightiest Corporal in the Marine Corps.”
In 1967, Arrotta had finished a disappointing freshman year in college when he received his draft notice. He volunteered for service in the Marine Corps, telling his family, “If I am going to go to Vietnam, I want to go with the best.” He arrived in country 15 Aug. 1967, assigned as a radio operator to Headquarters and Service Co, 3/26. He began training as a tactical air controller.
The North Vietnamese Army had launched a series of assaults against Marine positions in and around the Leatherneck Square area, a roughly square piece of ground bordered by Con Thien and Gio Linh to the north and Cam Lo and Dong Ha to the south. By the end of August, 3d Bn was ordered to Con Thien. Enemy ground activity in the area had increased significantly. It was there, during Operation Kingfisher, that Arrotta had his first real taste of combat. Hit hard in heavy fighting with the 812th NVA Regiment, 3d Bn sustained more than 240 casualties, including 56 killed in action. Arrotta later wrote about his experience:
“On 10 September I was with Mike Company when the battalion was attacked … by an entire NVA regiment. No medevacs could get into my landing zone because of overwhelming enemy firepower. I spent the night in the LZ with the battalion’s most seriously wounded and all of the dead that were able to be brought to the LZ. The next morning we had to retrieve the dead that couldn’t be brought to the LZ. … To carry these bodies and put them on waiting helicopters was the hardest thing I had to do in my life.”
Badly mauled, 3/26 moved to Camp Evans to rebuild. During that time Arrotta received additional training that would make him a legend on Hill 881S. During the heavy fighting near Con Thien, the battalion had lost its forward air controllers. In late September a CH-46 pilot, First Lieutenant John Root, was assigned to 3/26 to serve as a forward air controller. Root used the extended time at Camp Evans for training the radio operators in the fundamentals of bringing in close air support, aiding Marines on the ground. In late 1967, when the battalion deployed to Khe Sanh, Arrotta and his best friend, Cpl Terry L. Smith, both radio operators, were assigned to Hill 881S.
On 20 Jan. 1968, Captain William Dabney, commanding officer of India Co, 3/26, conducted a reconnaissance-in-force up Hill 881N. India Co engaged an entire NVA battalion moving south. The siege of Khe Sanh and the surrounding hills had begun. Both the combat base and the hills were completely dependent on resupply by air and close air support to keep enemy forces at bay.
A few days into the siege, the forward air controller on 881S was hit by shrapnel from an incoming mortar and was medically evacuated. Dabney later stated:
“At about the same time, the weather socked in, and it was several days before [we] could bring in helicopters. When it did clear, we got the radio batteries we needed to talk to the close air support aircraft but no new forward air controller. When I remarked on the lack of a FAC, Bob [Corporal Robert J. Arrotta] told me he could handle it. I had nothing to lose, plenty of targets, and all the CAS aircraft we could use, so I stood by and watched as he ran the first few missions—flawlessly. I was impressed not only with his technical knowledge but also with his demeanor as a corporal giving instructions to officers through the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was assertive and unfailingly professional.”
It wasn’t long before the Marines of India and Mike companies began calling Bob Arrotta “The Mightiest Corporal in the Marine Corps” for the vast amount of firepower he could bring down upon the enemy. First Lt Richard Dworsky, Weapons Platoon, I/3/26, recalled: “Bob and a couple of others looked like Energizer bunnies moving around and coordinating multiple air and fire support missions. It was dangerous, but always needed, work. … The hardest part was trying to keep all the fire support in order to prevent midair collisions.”
Despite the skill of the young corporal, there was at least one close call. Both Dabney and Arrotta trusted the close air support skills of Marine Corps pilots. As a rule, however, they usually ran both Air Force and Navy flights on targets two or more kilometers from the hill. Early on during the siege, an Air Force pilot dropped his ordnance without being “cleared hot” by Cpl Arrotta. As Dabney and Arrotta stood together on the hill, someone shouted a warning. The two Marines looked over their shoulders to see the aircraft coming right at them on the hill.
“Just as we caught sight of him, four bombs dropped from under his wings, and we dove for the bottom of the trench with Arrotta calling, ‘Abort! Abort!’ on the radio. Too late. Dust, shrapnel, tree stumps flying all over the place, both of us—and many others—were deaf for hours. Had he been accurate, we’d have lost perhaps 100 Marines. I lost my cool instead,” Dabney remembered.
In February, Arrotta suffered a loss that would impact the rest of his life. In a recording made on Hill 881S he stated, “I grew up a lot today. My best friend died in my arms.”
Cpl Terry Smith was in a bunker with Arrotta when a helicopter approached the landing zone where the North Vietnamese had registered heavy mortars. Approaching the hill without prior notice, the helicopter’s mission was to pick up resupply nets that had been dropped the previous week. The two young Marines usually took turns running out to the landing zone to attach the external slings to the “birds.” Enemy mortars registered on the hill were lethal.
“We could usually hear the [mortar] tube pop, and we had about 25 seconds from pop to impact, so it was vital to get the birds out in 20 seconds maximum, then take cover,” Dabney explained. Realizing the danger to the helicopter crew, Arrotta attempted to contact the pilot by radio, but was unsuccessful. Smith prevented Arrotta from leaving the safety of the bunker and ran across open ground, signaling to the helicopter to take off immediately. As the helicopter took off and before Smith could take cover, he was hit by shrapnel from the incoming mortar rounds.
Many years later Arrotta wrote, “I held onto Terry and yelled and screamed into the radio for the helicopter to come back and pick Terry up. The chopper returned and the corpsman and I picked Terry up and threw him on the chopper while the mortars were impacting all around us. … I don’t believe there has been one day in the last thirty years that I haven’t thought about that horrible day. I remember how helpless I felt and how it should have been me lying there dying, and not Terry.”
Dworsky noted the toll that day took on the young corporal. “I was wounded late in February and had to go to the small hill [where Mike Company was] to get medevacked. Bob and I carried another wounded Marine to the LZ. We all got out, although [we] took quite a bit of fire on the way. I asked Bob … why he went to the new LZ especially since they already had another team there. He told me that he didn’t want the wounded and dead to be alone. He believed that it was part of his duty as a Marine to perform that simple act of faith. He never was satisfied that he could do enough to help.”
Years later, Colonel Dabney, who was awarded the Navy Cross for his leadership on Hill 881S, commented on the service of Arrotta. “During the Siege of Khe Sanh, an operation called Niagara was in place. Essentially, it required that any close air support aircraft returning from aborted missions in the general area check in with the Khe Sanh Direct Air Support Center [DASC] before pickling [dropping] their ordnance.
“Since it was the end of the monsoon season and there were many bombing missions along the DMZ [Demilitarized Zone] and in North Vietnam that had to be aborted because of bad weather, plenty of aircraft with all sorts of ordnance [was available almost] every day. The base at Khe Sanh itself was in a bowl, so [they] couldn’t use [that ordnance] unless they had an airborne forward air controller, so they’d often pass them off to us … sitting atop a 3,000-foot hill, we didn’t need an airborne FAC, and we always had plenty of targets.
“Several times we got two or three flights of bombers passed off to us simultaneously. Bob got quite adept at ‘stacking’ them based upon how much fuel they had left and using them based on the ordnance they were carrying. Sounds simple, I guess, but under fire, without prior notice, it took superb organizational skills to both manage the air assets and direct the marking rounds our mortars fired to designate the targets for the bomber pilots.
“Bob did all of that in his head, sometimes juggling as many as three flights at once. My input was simply to tell him what targets to hit. He’d take it from there, stack the flights, range the mortar marking rounds and run the bombers in. In effect, he was his own DASC.”
In his 77 days on Hill 881S, Cpl Robert Arrotta had the tactical call sign of “India 14,” identifying him as the close air support representative of the company. During this long siege, he directed some 300 close air support missions, all resupply of the hill by helicopters, and in coordination with the helicopter support team, all medical evacuations.
Arrotta left the Republic of Vietnam in the autumn of 1968. During his tour he was awarded a Bronze Star medal, as well as a Navy Commendation Medal.
The latter’s citation states: “Assigned to Company I, Third Battalion, Twenty-Sixth Marines as a Forward Air Controller while that unit was located on Hill 881 South during the siege of the Khe Sanh Combat Base, he repeatedly distinguished himself by his courage and composure under fire. On numerous occasions, he fearlessly exposed himself to enemy artillery and mortar fire in order to direct Marine tactical air strikes on hostile positions and coordinate vitally needed helicopter resupply and medical evacuation missions. As a result of his diligent and tireless efforts, the combat effectiveness of his unit was greatly enhanced.”
Years later, still carrying the emotional wounds of Vietnam, Arrotta wanted to be close to a Marine Corps base, and in 1980, he moved to Southern California.
“It was at that time I realized the effect helicopters had on me. All sorts of military aircraft fly up and down this coastal community. But it’s always the Hueys, or the sound of their rotors, that causes me to flash back to Vietnam. I stop whatever I am doing and stare at the sky, waiting to see the ‘bird’ and remembering.”
In 2006, Major William C. Hendricks, assigned to the Air Officer Department, Marine Aviation and Weapons Tactics Squadron 1 at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Ariz., invited Arrotta to speak to the Air Officer Course. Arrotta agreed and suggested that former Sergeant Glenn Prentice, an artillery forward observer, also be included. The presentation, which included a series of photographs depicting life on 881S and the critical role played by close air support in their survival, was successful, and they were invited to speak to numerous classes.
Arrotta was extremely proud of his continued service to the Marine Corps, and, in addition to his work at MCAS Yuma, he addressed a number of fixed-wing and helicopter squadrons prior to their deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. To those in the audience, Arrotta “knew what it was like. Having him speak to us tied together the legend of the Marine brotherhood.”
Robert J. Arrotta died unexpectedly in November 2009, at the age of 64. He had been scheduled to speak at MCAS Yuma in April. Instead, prior to a brief given by Glenn Prentice, Maj Thomas Campbell asked everyone in attendance to take a few moments to reflect on the service and sacrifice of “The Mightiest Corporal in the Marine Corps.”
Col John Root said, “Bob was almost relaxed on 881S even as he was dealing with mortar fire, small arms and sniper fire, trying to get helos in and wounded out. He was very composed and a highly professional Marine who lived up to the highest traditions of the Marine Corps.”
Staff Sergeant Nathan Jacobson, who met Arrotta at MCAS Yuma, said simply, “He was a living legend, an inspiration, a real man who did amazing things. I was humbled to be in the same room as Robert J. Arrotta.”
First Lt Richard Dworsky, who also served with India Co, said, “Bob was honored by the love of the people who attended his funeral. All were veterans and Khe Sanh survivors. There was a flow in how Bob lived his life and how he viewed the Marine Corps. Duty, honor and teamwork were bigger than the individual.”
While naval doctrine has never evolved in a vacuum, the simmering conflict between the first and second Accord Wars provided an ideal opportunity for both the Empire and Accord to refine and test their doctrines in relatively low-risk engagements. The extended time period also allowed for numerous ship classes to be requested, designed, procured, and deployed on both sides, often specifically to counter a new strategy, tactic, or element of naval hardware.
Given the smaller size of the Accord Republican Navy, it was unsurprising that they adopted strategies relying heavily on fast carrier strike packages that could conduct attacks on relatively poorly defended Imperial assets, despite the Accord carriers often being little more than converted freighters. After a time, more and more Imperial picket corvettes and frigates were produced and utilized, massively increasing Accord losses and protecting Imperial interests at a relatively affordable price. At the same time, the constant reconnaissance struggle continued to escalate as well; the standard sensor drone swarms augmented by heavy strike fighters and even modified corvettes, deployed to both protect the sensor drones and also to intercept hostile scouts. The Assault Reconnaissance Corvette was conceived as an attempt by the Accord to solve both of these problems, though the eventual proliferation of Accord heavy fleets saw the Empire adopt its own variants.
The ARN-27 was not the first Assault Reconnaissance Corvette deployed by the Accord, but it was the first designed specifically for the purpose, learning lessons from previous conversions that had not filled the role as well as had been hoped. At the core of its mission brief was to locate the hostile fleet, destroy hostile anti-recon forces, and then destroy hostile picket forces. While the first two tasks could be performed relatively well by most corvettes or frigates, the latter task had proven far more difficult. Generally, any ship large enough to engage a hostile picket frigate was also going to be vulnerable to the capital grade weapons from the fleet that the picket frigate was protecting. Combat experience showed that even a corvette needed to be relatively fast and agile to be immune to capital grade weapons, leaving naval designers with precious few options.
Among the five bids placed on the contract, only Eclipse Industries and Siugniedrev Industrial Works designs made it past initial testing. While the SIW design was in effect a very large stealth bomber, and would go on to see further development in another program, the EI design utilized four mass plasma drivers in a mostly fixed configuration. Even most frigates did not mount weapons of such size, and the extensive cooling arrays and power generation required for the weapons made the ARN-27 more expensive than most other options. However, due to the relatively few hulls required and the economic boom in the Accord at the time, the higher cost was deemed a worthwhile investment.
Initial development, like with any military project, was not without teething issues. During high stress atmospheric maneuvers, the weight of the plasma drivers caused warping in the cooling arrays they were mounted on, leading to further strengthening. The lower sensor arrays were removed to add four light missile tubes for better defense against light craft and missiles when it was determined that the four twin laser turrets were not sufficient. The largest change was to the top of the hull however, where both an external access airlock and an enlarged deployable sensor dish was added. Given the crew capacity of six and the provision of both a cargo hold and full living quarters aboard the vessel for extended recon operations, the inability to dock outside of a hangar bay was deemed unacceptable by operational commanders. Other features, such as the enlarged rear comms array were present from the start, specifically designed to provide a datalink back to the fleet in the face of heavy hostile jamming.
Though undeniably effective against Imperial forces when it was first deployed, the same economic boom that allowed such an expensive and specialized corvette to be developed was also the ultimate reason it was sidelined. The increased military budget of the Accord saw proper battleline ships built and deployed, first battlecruisers to escort the carriers then proper battleships, making the role of punching through pickets far less important than it had been previously. Still, as one of the largest ships to have the commander and pilot be the same person and a combat profile much more akin to a giant heavy fighter than a traditional corvette, it remains a popular posting for certain officers among the Accord.
Manufacturer: Eclipse Industries
Crew: 6 - 1 Pilot/Commander, 1 Weapons Officer, 1 Communications/Sensors Officer, 2 Engineering Officers, 1 Marine.
Length: 89 meters
Maximum Speed: 1185 m/s
FTL Capability: 14335 AU/h
Engines: 4x FierthXP-3000 Ion Drives
Armament: 4x License Built SIW FlameSpike Mass Plasma Drivers, 4x twin GS Gneiss Laser Cannons in turrets, 4x various Accord missile systems depending on mission profile.
Made for my Graviton setting.
Designers Note: I worked on this one off and on for over a year and it is the largest design I have done yet. It was supposed to be something I could afford to build out of physical bricks, but I clearly got carried away.