What are these drainpipes on BBs for?

[Glig69]

I wonder if anyone can satisfy my curiosity here? Almost all of the WWI era battleships in my port seem to have downcomers hanging over the sides of the ship - like oversized drainpipes (see the attached picture).  What are they for?  The design doesn't look suitable for discharging rainwater, so are they used as chutes for discarding something else?

 

On a side note, if you are interested in what the clockfaces are, that are sometimes present high up on the superstructure, they are range dials (see http://www.dreadnoughtproject.org/tfs/index.php/Range_Dial).

 

 

 

[Major_Damage225]

Long ago bad sailors had to walk the plank right, these are modern vesions, skipers used these to shove the bad sailors into 

 

But yee i also wondered what these are for 

[invicta2012]

It's a rubbish chute, isn't it?

[Smeggo]

This nice apparatus allows the seamen to piss against the wind and still stay dry. 

[Glig69]

I can see that this could run and run.  Perhaps somewhere to put the mother-in-law?

[CptBarney]

Collecting salt, after getting 'compliments' from the enemy team.

[Major_Damage225]

54 minutes ago, Glig69 said:

I can see that this could run and run.  Perhaps somewhere to put the mother-in-law?

Hmm, litle too mondane for a mother in law in it, better to just shove her ina barrel and fire, the whole enemy fleet would run away seeing motherinlaws flying theyr way. 

 

Since were on the topic heres a quick one. 

What dose a mother inlaw have in common with a potato......... 

.... They both belong underground.... "badum-tsst" 

[BLUB__BLUB]

I think they are sort of rubbish shutes, probably that is where they shoved the spent cartridges.

[ZoidFile]

I always thought those would be the outlet of the bilge pumps (Or whatever the English equivalent of a "Lenzpumpe" is called.)

[FixCVs_Nautical_Metaphor]

Vor 43 Minuten, BLUB__BLUB sagte:

I think they are sort of rubbish shutes, probably that is where they shoved the spent cartridges.

Brass was a valuable war resource and would only be ditched in an emergency, like on a submarine needing to crash-dive under air attack or something (compare e.Hirschfeld: The Secret Diary Of A U Boat, a great read in many respects.) Usually the crew would certainly be ordered to gather the spent cases and bring them back, at least in the navies which suffered heavily from raw materials shortages (so basically all but the Americans).

[Glig69]

Yes - that seems to be it - see the annotation on the picture below, from a document on the HMS Dreadnought (https://epdf.tips/battleship-1906-1920.html).  Colloquially referred to as "gash chutes".

[Cyclops_]

6 hours ago, ZoidFile said:

I always thought those would be the outlet of the bilge pumps (Or whatever the English equivalent of a "Lenzpumpe" is called.)

Bilge pumps exit just above the water line through the side of the ship, saves pumping it up to deck height.

[Cambera_1]

5 minutes ago, Cyclops_ said:

Bilge pumps exit just above the water line through the side of the ship, saves pumping it up to deck height.

But on a warship that puts a hole in the armour - better to pump it to deck level

[mil71]

I thought it was for putting letters from the crew off ship fast when they are at port.

[Cyclops_]

10 minutes ago, Cambera_1 said:

But on a warship that puts a hole in the armour - better to pump it to deck level

As ex Royal Navy I can assure you that there are sea water intakes below the waterline ( water cooling for the engines, sea water also used for flushing toilets etc ) engine cooling water exits along with bilge pump water, water from showers, toilets and from the galley etc all exit through the side of the ship just above the water line.

[Cambera_1]

1 minute ago, Cyclops_ said:

As ex Royal Navy I can assure you that there are sea water intakes below the waterline ( water cooling for the engines, sea water also used for flushing toilets etc ) engine cooling water exits along with bilge pump water, water from showers, toilets and from the galley etc all exit through the side of the ship just above the water line.

Intakes are below the waterline - of course - but did your ship have 30" armour belt pierced for bilge water?

Or are we talking about a modern frigate that is unarmoured?

[BLUB__BLUB]

4 hours ago, Glig69 said:

Yes - that seems to be it - see the annotation on the picture below, from a document on the HMS Dreadnought (https://epdf.tips/battleship-1906-1920.html).  Colloquially referred to as "gash chutes".

"Gash"chutes seems to be some sort of áll other rubbish' chutes. 

[invicta2012]

It's a term with many meanings, best not used outside of naval circles, for sure! 

[250swb]

Well the 'gash chutes' makes sense, if you just threw the rubbish over the side much of it would either blow back or trickle down the sides of the hull. Who would want to be reminded of last nights dinner scraps, or even last months dinner?

[AirSupremacy]

Bad players get flushed through the pipes...

[sgtmarple]

Best topic in a long time, well done OP

[Cyclops_]

16 hours ago, 250swb said:

Well the 'gash chutes' makes sense, if you just threw the rubbish over the side much of it would either blow back or trickle down the sides of the hull. Who would want to be reminded of last nights dinner scraps, or even last months dinner?

Gash is (was) always ditched over the stern, not the side. Normally Gash could not be ditched till permission was granted from the bridge

“Gash may now be ditched”.

In todays modern ships all gash is compressed and stored till the ship gets alongside.

[BLUB__BLUB]

3 hours ago, Cyclops_ said:

In todays modern ships all gash is compressed and stored till the ship gets alongside.

I'd just stick it in 'special' shells... 

[Cyclops_]

21 minutes ago, BLUB__BLUB said:

I'd just stick it in 'special' shells... 

 

Afraid not, the “Special Shells” would come under the Chemical Warfare umbrella, so are banned 

[piritskenyer]

On 5/18/2019 at 3:33 PM, ZoidFile said:

I always thought those would be the outlet of the bilge pumps (Or whatever the English equivalent of a "Lenzpumpe" is called.)

 Nah. Way too big to be bilg pump outlets, plus they go directly from the weather deck down, while bilge pump outlets were a bit above the waterline but not up on high. The square shape also indicates that it is more likely to be a solid material chute (square profiles are more advantageous for ditching solids, circular profiles are better for fluids or fluid-likes as in grain)