the grand prize of $5,000 will go to the student or team with the best overall injury -- entry, a deadline is generally 20, 2017 so mark your for more information, go to her website, studentcam.org. >> each week, american history tv takes you to museums and whatric places to learn artifacts reveal but american history. the uss wisconsin, one of the largest battleships built by the u.s. navy, was launched in 1943 and saw service through world war ii through the gulf war. we toured below deck to see where the crew lived and worked. >> welcome aboard the battleship wisconsin. we are here today in norfolk,

virginia. we are going to go below to look at the navy life and how some sailors lived here and reacted during the gulf war. we will be joined by matt palmer, a veteran of the call for era. gulf war era. follow me. matt: i am matt palmer, a former crew member of battleship wisconsin. i serve the navy for 30 years. from 1980ioned aboard to i had the privilege of 1990. the navy.th my wife and i settled here in norfolk. now, i am a volunteer docent. i would like to welcome me to one of the hot heads of activity on a ship when deployed, the post office.

day, snapchat, instant messenger, all of those things we are accustomed to -- they did not exist. your lifeline to everything back in the states came through the post office. it was exciting to have a mail call. a helicopter would drop off a cargo net. we would form the working party and have sailors standing next to each other and pass the packages to the post office. our clerks would sort them out for the different divisions on the ship. each division and department would send representatives to pick up the mail and when that person got back, mobbed. they would get mobbed. everybody wanted the mail, find out how the kids were doing, was the dog potty trained? a lot of fun and excitement.

our lifeline to the states when we were deployed. one of the most interesting about the battleship wisconsin is the service to our nation. three different times of service, world war ii, the korean war, and desert shield/desert storm. if we think about the technological changes from the 1940's to the 1990's, it is amazing the evolution of the ship and how spaces were repurposed. the post office was a hub in world war ii, when they were 290,000 -- 290 sailors aboard and same for the korean war. same for desert storm desert shield, around now, if you think 600. about the sleeping accommodations for a warship, it is not a cruise ship. where the sailors sleep is not a priority compared to navigation ability, the war fighting ability and survivability. the way it is configured is as

in the 1990 happy 1991 time. i want to show you some of those racks. follow me, please. if you were a junior sailor, you had a rack is close to the post office, you knew that it would be noisy. watch out for this anklebiter. these were the racks installed. it was during the 1980's come when the ship was recommissioned for the third time. we call them coffin racks. they look over the bit like a coffin, especially in that it opens up. when you open it up, this is where sailors would store everything they needed for deployment, or the three months or eight months, this is your storage area. your skivvies, dress uniforms, and dress uniforms going here. by the way, we change uniforms

from summer to winter, so you have to have a couple of those and working uniforms. not a lot of room. sailors are inventive and they learn how to pack well. there would be a little bit of privacy afforded to the sailors in these racks with blue curtains. not noise reducing. it keeps it a little more quiet. not a whole lot of privacy. the good news is you did not spend a lot of time in a rack. you had so made different things , responsibilities and jobs you had to go to and tend to. by the time you got to your were so tiredlors that it did not matter what noise was around. they could sleep pretty well. in world war ii, they were not here. cramped conditions, much more so, then you see here, maybe five to six high. so close together that you have to decide if you are going to sleep on your back or stomach is

you cannot rollover. in addition, some people had to when you share your bed with the shipment. hopefully come you work different shifts. you come back to the bed, turn your mattress over and good to go in your uncle made is often in the workcenter. is often in the workcenter. additionally, they issued hammocks. of the evolution, and as you luxurymagine, this was accommodations in the 1990s, compared to what wwii and korean soldiers had to go through. one thing i think is interesting is the number of people. it is like a small city. the ship that has to go to sea has to have everything that a small city would have. we have a number of restaurants galleys. , we had a bank. recall that this person.

we had a newspaper. "public affairs ."we had a chapel. we had a hospital. we had a dental clinic. that is nearing due to my heart because i had the privilege of being the junior dental officer. i would like to show you where that is spent my ship's nickname was "tooth fairy." a term of endearment, so proud to be the tooth fairy and it cost me a lot of money, sliding coins and we took was them teeth out. -- took wisdom teeth out. oh, i am wearing my original hat. please, follow me. this is what i called home for 8.5 months for desert shield desert storm. in the navy, only large ships have dental officers. anddestroyers, cruisers

submarines generally did not have dental offices. next toight at home this chair because during desert shield/desert storm, my team and i treated 4000 patients. we saw an additional 247 patients from coalition countries. when only the large ships have services like dental, you offer those up for your battle group partners and provide those services for fellow sailors. in the case of desert shield/desert storm, the coalition. in the history of the battleship, these dental spaces or hipper world war ii and the korean war. dentistry itself changed a lot. it was into a things during world war ii and the .orean war a lot of extractions, emergency surgeries and that nature of things. the nature of dentistry changed

with chloride, high-speed handpiece and things that we find interesting but perhaps the general public doesn't. we shifted towards a preventative nature. we did over fillings. 4000both silver and the white composites. we did root canals. we did surgeries. weighted periodontal surgeries. a full-service dental clinic here. i was a junior dental officer. was then officer commander and retired captain jeff turner, a very dear friend of mine. we worked hard and diligently. we had five dental assistants. they made sure he kept on her schedule, cleaned up after us, and they helped us with all of the procedures and they were a great group. very focused on providing the highest dental care for the what we consider to be the world's most deserving patients. men and women serving in the united states military. i think it is important to understand that the mission of a

is first and foremost, and the primary job of everyone on board, and as important as i know dental health to become a when the ship had another major operation, dental care took second place. if i had scheduled patients and we went to general quarters, general quarters goes first. part of thet was punishment, when a ship was bringing supplies to us, then that is where the patient needed to be. the mission of the ship comes first and making sure that the sailors are ready to do their mission is a paramount focus. i would like to show you a little bit about what our normal day is. we had a routine hours and they were subject to change depending on the needs and mission of the ship and events that were going on for the day. let's check out main street, usa and see what the daily life of

sailors included. please come with me. ladies and gentlemen, welcome to head of main street, this is the chapel. this was originally not a chapel. this was originally a galley. and at the restaurant for the chief foreign officers aboard the battleship. in the mid-1980's, it was repurposed and made a chapel. we had two chaplains on board. they would lead services here. in nice weather, on the san tale. certainly for special events and holidays, a crowd would be too big to fit in here, but this was the home base. additionally, the band would practice in here. ship hasce on the multiple purposes. throughout the history of wisconsin, some areas were permanently changed, like the chapel at the head of main street area and i want to thank you all for visiting. i want to turn you over to

mr. clayton allen. clayton: welcome back to the battleship wisconsin. today, we want to talk about navy life. to some degree, this is confused by the fact that we are a war-fighting machine. however, the sailors that run the ships have to lead their lives, including legal affairs. legal affairs dealt with wills, powers of attorney, and reviewing cases brought against sailors committing some type of offense. this is the office. wisconsin is a city at sea. all the sailors to live, you have seen several items, including the dental office, the chapel, and legal affairs. in addition, there is a public affairs office, the newsroom,

and that determines what is let off the shelf, including newspapers. here, we find ourselves in the dispersing office. essentially the bank. money is important to sailors. albeit the cannot spend a lot, we do have ship stores. that allows them to buy personal items and food items that they could keep in the rack area, although they are not supposed to, as well as articles of clothing and replacement toothbrushes, toothpaste and things of that nature. it is personal and allows the sailor to have some semblance of morale and home life away from home. next, we go to the education office, where sailors could sign up for respondents courses, college courses or sign up for the tests for promotion. follow me. welcome to the educational services office.

a place for advancement. here is where sailors would come in to request to sign up for college courses, correspondence courses and advancement tests, which can be proctored by other personnel. it is not uncommon on the capital ship to have a professor brought to the ship. he would be able to teach several disciplines in a few weeks. sailors would have to make arrangements with the division to allow them to the class for eight hours a day for several weeks until they knocked out the credit course. in the library, we have key features, including the dewey digital decimal system. some people remember the tours to look at the file cards. we have the carousels, which can be used to study for a test and proctored protests as well. it is not uncommon for the chaplain to be assigned to take care of the library.

when sailors with entered the space, they would say, you have a library? we have a box. they are impressed we have one on board. is ais a q space, which designated. we could throw all of this overboard and turn it into a regular room, which is not uncommon when you have casualties, flooding, or combat. we find ourselves in the machine shop. like every good city, you have to have a maintenance department to help the city run. some of the equipment in this space is from world war ii. some of it was updated as years went by, but much is built in place and cannot be removed without drastic improvements. we leave it here. it is usable. it could be used. that said, this is a small

family in a large city and we are shipmates. we have to work together. in a small city, you have lots of monuments to what you have done and that honors what has been accomplished in past years. it is not uncommon for sailors to conduct artwork, plaques, things of that nature. i wish we had time to see all of the sailor art. of course, it is not authorized. it must be tastefully done. in the machine shop, we have a plaque that the sailors from the gulf war made to my left. we are in another part of the machine shop. over me is an i-beam that threads its way through the ship and down to the machinery space in the engine rooms. very large quitman could be brought up to the space and repaired and then sent back down.

additionally, as a very large battleship, other ships did not have this affordability, so if they had parts that needed to be repaired, they could send them over by hi-line and have them repaired. it is like the dental office, where we could bring others over and have their teeth fixed. we have a 20 bed hospital as well down below. every city has a hospital and a dental office. we have the machinery space to accommodate other ships in the battle group. we are at the head of a serving line. interestingly enough, this city has four restaurants. this one serves bulk of the enlisted men in the galley. you notice that we passed through a single door passageway, and now there are two doors. the two doors allow men to stand in line as they would for food.

the line would extend to the deck, especially world war ii when you had upwards of 2900 men on board. even in the gulf war era, they would be men down deck waiting for food. they would pick up their trait in this space. we have the example of world war ii and the gulf war trays. the obvious difference is one is metal and one is plastic. however, note the food portion size. coming out of the depression and men are small. we want them to take a lot of calories, and they're working hard on a non-air-conditioned ship, burning a lot of calories so they need to eat more. when i come into the service, not so much. they want me to eat less. as we leave, we will pass by a doughnut shop. it used to be a butcher shop, processing beef and hog. in the gulf war era, things came prepackaged. we do not need to butcher shop

anymore, so it turned into a donut shop for a bigger really good with coffee, the fuel that runs the navy. follow me. here, we can see the entire galley. it is difficult to see, but on the far side, there is another serving line. depending on the internet you served, the lines shift back and you served, the lines would go back and forth. a traditional meal includes starch, vegetable, meatloaf, chicken, things of that nature. on the other serving line, you might have fast food like sliders. pizza, corndogs, junk food, and you might think most sailors would go to that line. however, mealtime is your personal time, so you try to get

to your job. you would choose the shortest line that would allow you to get caught up on sleep or study. additionally, some sailors may have to get that quickly brother watch and they may get awarded a chip that lets them get to the front of the line. it would allow them to get out of the space and back to their job. they do not have enough supplies for all of the meals in this space. they are stored in the third and second floor aft. enough food is brought up to be able to serve the next 24 hours. we do have a walk-in cooler. it is on the other outboard side. about 1:00 a.m. to 2:00 in the morning, they would bring enough food for the next day up. cooker's, so we could take a turkey. ship steam runs all of this.

we have ovens for both sides. french fry makers, as well as prep tables. there is a dichotomy of old versus new. it presents itself. given the galley. the ship's steam powered, so we are able to use the steam to run the entire ship. --t to me are koppers coppers. it was the only metal soft enough to hammer out to cook and up stupid the crew. they are stainless steel, but they allow us to make large quantities of food, rice, beef stew, and they cannot be burned. they are a double boiler with ship steam. this theme is, in theory, a closed loop. we do lose some. it returns to the engine rooms below, where it is cycled and

reheated in the boilers. hotel steam is everywhere. today's ships, they no longer use steam. it is effective. we can propel this ship at 33 knots. however, it is not very efficient. most ships today this size are nuclear. like aircraft carriers. others use diesel turbines. now we need to go sit down and partake in our food and enjoy it. follow me as we go into the mess area. we passed by the salad bar. additionally, the bakery provided cookies, cakes, pies on the desert racks .when we step

into this mess area, you would collect your silver and a glass for your drinks. you might have things on the morning ship that include orange juice, grapefruit juice, milk. another thing that may came into play at lunch would be bug juice or kool-aid. all-important tool that runs the navy, the coffee mess. follow me. here we have a large coffee urn. i want to talk about the tables where the men would sit. in this area, we have four man toles with i liken them

mcdonald's chairs. swivel chairs. the koreanr ii and war, there would have been picnic tables, maybe eight men to each side. and those tables of bequest it into the overhead and it would allow for this place to be spic and span. one of the worst enemies on the ship is illness. keep the ship extremely clean at all times and guard against rodents and vermin. additionally, in world war ii, there was also a bar. this is one of two mess deck. today, there are about 310 swivel chairs available. in the gulf war, with the gulf war, with a crew of 1000 men, he only had 15-20 minutes to partake. if your mouth is moving, it is time to move out. this is not a sit and get happy

place. you need to go back to your job. from here, even continue into the scullery area, to drop your dishes and the go back to your job. follow me. now, we have come to the end of the food service line. this color it. it is a unique name. the navy never cause anything by its name. this is where you drop off your dishes and silverware. you return to your job. the floor is a deck. these walls are bulkheads. the ceiling is not the ceiling but an overhead. the bathroom is not a bathroom. it is a head. some in unique names on the ship. it is hard to learn the language of the navy. continuing with our team of the city at sea, there are many things we don't have time to include, the brig, a master at

arms, and laundry room. how to keep all the laundry clean for the sailors on board? we have a barbershop. everybody needs a haircut every 10 days to 14 days. that is one of the ways we keep the ship clean. to recap, we have seen a lot of this battleship wisconsin. we have seen the post office. men would increase their morale through mail and other forms. we have seen the dental office. we have seen the chapel. we have seen the public and offices.airs we have been to where the bank is that. he has seen education and the couple of the restaurants on the ship. all of these are essential to help the city at sea stay alive and run. all the ships have this today. however, this ship is a stalwart. it is 72 years old today and they have been used throughout three wars.

we thank you for coming along today and enough part of this tour. >> you can watch this and other american artifacts programs by visiting our website at www.c-span.org/history. weekend on american history to be on c-span3, this evening, before 7:00 eastern, ohio state university's michael benedict talks about the 1866 supreme court case, or they rolled it unconstitutional to track military personnel in court. >> it was part of this debate. publicd to prove to the that the danger was real and that therefore, the military trials were justified. know, it worked.

won the election. >> and the 8:00, the origins of the gay-rights movement. >> the gay liberation front is playing and building on all of the lessons that the whole other array of social and cultural movement from this period are developing, the antiwar movement , the civil rights and black power movement, women's liberation movement. they are taking the best aspects of those in building upon them. >> sunday evening at 6:00 on american artifacts, the tour of the woodrow wilson house and washington, d.c., with the executive director, where the 20th president retired in 1821 and died three years later. >> he respond to that crisis by sending aid to armenia. the people are grateful and a group of armenian women raising money for armenian charities in

the united states or here in 1917, just after we declared war, and presented this painting the president wilson. >> at 8:00 -- ♪ >> neil oxman, president of the campaign group incorporated, talks about the history of presidential campaign ads, beginning with right is and how are -- beginning with dwight eisenhower's tv jingles. for a complete schedule, though the c-span.org. >> each week until the 2016 election, the road to the white house brings you archival footage of the presidential races. next, from 1984, the second and final debate between incumbent president ronald reagan and his challenger walter mondale. the candidates answered questions from a cow of -- a panel journalists on

defense and foreign-policy issues including involvement in cia activities in central america negotiations with the soviet union on stockpiles, and strategic weapons systems and fighting terrorism in lebanon and the broader middle east. the republican team of ronald reagan and george h.w. bush defeated walter mondale. they won the popular vote 59 240 -- 59% to 41%. this debate from kansas city is just under an hour and a half. [applause] ms. ridings: good evening. good evening from the municipal auditorium in kansas city. i am dorothy ridings, the president of the league of women