NCMS Member – Temple Allen uses Maintenance Technology to Refurbish Floating Museum
Cele Bryan, General Manager of Temple Allen, is taking a suite of ship deck refurbishment tools to the S.S. John W. Brown, a World War II floating museum. The three innovative SAM (Stand-up Abrading Machine) tools in the solution suite are the SAM Scaling Tool, the SAM Dual Rotary Tool, and the SAM Dual 6” Tool with Differential Contact Control, all which received rave reviews at a demonstration at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard last October.
One of only two surviving fully operational Liberty ships preserved in the United States, the S.S. John W. Brown is the product of an emergency shipbuilding program during WWII that produced more than 2,700 cargo ships, able to carry two-thirds of all the cargo outbound during the war. The ships used what became the “Liberty” design because the first ship was named the Patrick Henry.
Currently docked in the Baltimore Harbor, the S.S. John W. Brown is in need of a sprucing up. Bryan and her team of Temple Allen volunteers will use their three SAM tools to help get the S.S. John W. Brown ship-shape by removing the current deck non-skid surface so that a new and safer surface can be applied.
“I’m happy to use the SAM family of tools to help this piece of floating history,” says Bryan. “The crew of the Brown were thrilled when we offered our time and services and we’re happy to show others how well this technology works.”