Pinned post for Q&A :)

'Stealing' stuff is quite common when de-commissioning.  I decommed 2 ships, and skirted away with tools, plates and other mementos- many of which I still have.

30:55 I'm picturing a couple of dock workers trying to work out the best way to steal a 16inch triple turret.

28:06 Another loose tradition associated with decommissioning a ship, that ended with USS Long Beach (CGN-9), was the 'plank owner' -- the first crew of a ship after its commissioning (and sometimes after recommissioning) would receive certificates designating them as 'plank owners' (procured by and issued to the crew, not something the Navy itself did). As part of the decommissioning and disposal for a ship, the Navy used to remove a small portion of the deck as a traditional reminder of the days when "wooden ships and iron men" were a key part of the Navy (the last major vessel known to have been fitted with a wooden deck being USS Long Beach). The Naval History and Heritage Command's Curator Branch received the wooden deck planking from major vessels, and a sailor or ex-sailor could present proof of their plank ownership to the Curator Branch and receive a section of a deck plank from their ship. The Curator Branch no longer does this distribution; it worked with various veteran reunion groups to donate planking to these groups for distribution, and surviving plank owners can contact their respective reunion group with proof of service to receive a section of deck plank. With the transition to metal-decked ships, the Navy no longer preserves  deck or structural sections, so the certificates are the only recognition of being a member of a ship's commissioning crew.

Its actually quite scarey whats left on board when a vessel  heads for scrapping/ mothballed? I know of one guy who got all the life boat flares !🥺 silly bugger got caught at the airport security!  Was at a refit where over 100K of tools walked from the vessel, and not just tools, every electrical appliance, every radio and most of the bridge stuff went walkies.
The amount of personal gear was amazing, clothing  ,footwear  and personal equipment kept me in goodies for yonks, not to mention "adult" materials( mags, videos,  cds,) laptops ,tablets were common place,and drugs and alcohol were common place!

While not a scrapped ship, my beer opener mounted on my wall made from USS New Jersey's original teak deck I bought off Ryan Szimanski remains an amazing souvenir since it does its job darn well as well as being a conversation piece.

One interesting thing re: Ships fitting under bridges: USS Massachusetts didn't quite fit under the Braga bridge that it had to go under to get to battleship cove, so the radar etc had to be removed when it was towed in, as well as when it was removed for drydocking.

I recently started taking classes to work in the marine industry and hopefully be a Captain one day.  This channel had a hand in motivating me to do that.  Thanks Drachinifel!

I lived in an improvised apartment under a house in San Francisco that featured beautiful oak doors (I stripped them down and refinished them) with brass hardware that had walked away from the local shipyard.

Regarding ships that couldn't pass beneath certain things: it's a bit trivial, but HMS Rodney needed to have the top of her mast removed to pass under the Forth rail bridge on her way to becoming razor blades. However this wasn't the case as designed, and she only required it to be done because the secondary guns had already been removed and as a result the freeboard had increased.

Re:  ships not fitting.  My dad was chief engineer on Collett as a plank holder in 1944 in Boston.  She was sent to the Pacific, escorting one of the new carriers (no idea which, Dad didn't remember) thru the canal.  The carrier was designed to fit thru the canal, but retrofitted at build with mor 40mm gun tubs.  When they got to the canal, they found  she  would fit thru the canal, but wouldn't clear the lightposts along the lock sides.  The CO asked Washington what to do, and was told "proceed at all  speed'..So Collett, hearing 'SNAP, SNAP,, SNAP all the way as she picked off the  light posts one by one.

57:32 - "Smile and wave, boys, smile and wave - yes, Elevator Operator #2, you too!"

Concerning people stealing from ships about to be scrapped, I got this very amusing mental image of a Looney Tunes-esque attempt by some sailors trying to scoot off with something ludicrous, like a battleship anchor. All set to "Pink Panther" music, of course.
"What do you got there?"
sweating "Nothing"

in reference to the Elevator the Panama Canal wasn't built with Essex and Iowas and my father read something that the first one through ripped down telephone and light piles and they didn't care they needed the ship in the Pacific they refunded and rebuilt afterwards.

Never thought I'd hear Strike Witches from a Drachinifel video

Remember seeing a book in my granddad's collection which dealt with laws for military inheritance in Tsarist Russia (he himself worked in International Merchant Law for some time)… among other things, there was a list of which officers (unless otherwise stated) would get which element of ship Memorabilia in the case of a ship's decommissioning... The Watch-Bell, The Name plaque, The Ships Wheel, Sextant etc.
I heard that sometimes parts of a ship lost in action would also be given as part of a medal.

I don’t have experience with scrapping a ship in the navy but iI have been the employee of a few companies that were closed and liquidated so I can give some insights there.
When I worked for a sporting goods store that was liquidated, the managers actually gave tacit approval for employees to make certain items to disappear such as demo items, dealer samples, and such not, on the pretext that technically they were never part of the sales inventory or equipment inventory.

I love it when you  ( figuratively )  get out your slide-rule and pencil and start engineering. 😀

My grandfather was on a US LST in the pacific at the end of WW2. The navy gave the ship to the Japanese to ferry their soldiers back. Anyway basically anything that wasn't bolted/welded down was removed by crew. I have a engine room porthole clock, and somewhere is a gasket making set.

The pick of USS Yorktown - Yes deck-edge elevators are designed to lift vertically to cover the side-hatch of the hanger. This allows them to be stowed for narrow passages (such as canals and narrows) as well as rough seas (such as riding out a hurricane) that horizontal triangle just above the line of aircraft is the roof of the building in the background not part of the elevator.