presidential history. thank you all very much. [applause] >> you are watching american history tv, only on c-span3. >> up next, we are onboard the uss orleck. it is one of only two surviving gearing class destroyers that invites visitors on board the ship. we will take you on a tour and show you how to launch torpedoes at enemy ships. >> when the guys come and bring their families and first step on the ship, it is like the view of the ship, the smell of the ship it brings back memories. most of them say this is where i became a man. the orleck was built just 31 miles west in orange, texas. this was launched may 12, 1945 as world war ii was winding down. we believe this was the last

destroyer completed while the war was still going on. we believe they built about 39 destroyers during the war over at the shipyard. victory in europe day was may 8, 1945. the ship was launched and christened by mrs. orleck on may 12, 1945. it was commissioned on september 15, 1945, after the japanese had signed to the surrender the -- on the missouri in tokyo bay. it was in the water and getting getting shakedown while the pacific war was still going on. it is a gearing class, which gave it greater fuel capacity, reach, and so forth. during the korean war, they started what they called the train buster club, blowing up supply trains.

it earned four battle stars during the korean war. the destroyers were smaller ships that would defend the larger ships. they would travel in the fleet around the aircraft carriers and battleships. one of their jobs is to defend the aircraft carriers and keep the enemy away from the larger ships, which were delivering the other weapons systems. over the years, the destroyers did a lot of different things. we forget sometimes about the past space missions where we had spacecraft splashing down in the ocean and a fleet would be in the area to pick up the astronaut, a helicopter would pick up the astronaut, but normally a destroyer would come along the space capsule and pick

up the space capsule from the water. the orleck was part of the gemini recovery in the early 1960's. it never got a chance to pick up a gemini capsule because it was sent to vietnam to fire on the gun line, as they called it, supporting our troops on land. we are on the stern of the ship. this is the area where we have the after gun mount, the 52 gun mount. this is a five inch, 38 gun mount, which is a five-inch diameter projectile that it shoots and delivers a projectile that weighs about 56 pounds. these are multipurpose weapons because they can shoot up in the air at airplanes. they can shoot down in the water at ships. they can shoot a distance of 10 miles. they can sit off the coast of korea or vietnam and shoot at targets on land. the ship was also a top gun in vietnam and shot more bullets with these five inch guns then any other navy ship.

this is the gun mount, the 52 gun mount. you had four men in the middle here, two loading each gun. -- ammothe animal come come of, in the projectile, the bullet, would come up through hoist.hole eas was loaded, it would come appear and it was ready to fire. the record was 50 rounds in a minute. that means 25 bullets from each gun in a minute. that is probably a very specially trained team trying to set a record. typically, i think is more like 10 or 12 rounds a minute. we are on the deck.

it is an anti-submarine rocket. this is a rocket launcher right here. eight compartments holding rockets. it would launch rockets that therapy does or depth 2000 yards1000 or and could drop those in the oceans to destroy enemy submarines. now we will proceed back to the magazine where they store the rockets and the torpedoes. first, we have big racks for the rockets. back here we have submarines. torpedoes,he mark 44 and these are the homing torpedoes that would hone in on the sound of a submarine and chase after it. you had room for 12, maybe 15 if stacked up on the top. we have 11, so another one here and three more on the top.

hopefully you only needed one. these were carried by a drone helicopter, which is out on the helicopter deck, and this is the remote control for the helicopter. they would have a man operating that remote control that would get it in the air and off. when it returned to the ship, he would land it. now we will proceed out to the helicopter deck. out here is one of our drone helicopters. this is one of the weapons systems that was designed in new york. this could carry to torpedoes. -- two torpedoes. this helicopter could be sent off where they detected submarines and dropped torpedoes and destroyed enemy submarines. this is a 1962 drone, that is why it was so big. they were rather big and bulky.

two drones, you had to have a pretty strong helicopter. you had to have a gas turbine andne to lift the payload the helicopter itself weighed somewhere between 900-some pounds. i believe they could be pretty effective because they could deliver the torpedo close to where the enemy submarine was at , and the torpedo was a homing torpedo and faster. it would chase after and destroy conventional submarines. the last one i will show you, this is the combat information center. this is where you have radar repeaters and stations. the enemyicking up targets. this information is being plotted on the big board in the corner and the officers up here would be making decisions that

these are enemies, what weapons would be fired at certain enemy targets. back here in this room, the control system and the computer for aiming the rockets and firing the rockets. they would use this equipment to select a weapon, get it ready, and when they were ready to be fired, they would go to standby, which would sound the siren. that would let everyone know the rocket launcher was being fired. then they would go to fire in the rocket would be fired. in the midst of an attack, there would be two men stationed here. probably a third one relaying information, and probably an officer or two in here also instructing the men and overseeing the actions of the men. you also have sonar back here, which is detecting the enemy

submarines and that would be information used to aim the rockets. in a battle situation, this is really where you are controlling the battle. the men and the officers are controlling some of the major weapons systems. they are also -- not only the rocket launcher and the torpedoes, but they would also be instructing the men in the gun mounts on firing the runs. -- guns. this is where you are controlling the weapons systems. that also control the battle you were in. >> i hope that visitors get an appreciation of the ship history and share this with their children and future generations. it's really important that we preserve this history, this naval history, and we can honor the sacrifice of those who went >> our cities to her staff

recently traveled to lake charles, louisiana to learn about its rich history. learn more about lake charles and other stops on our tour on c-span.org/citiestour. historyatching american tv, all weekend, every weekend on c-span3. next, historians talk about westward expansion after the louisiana purchase in 1803, and the political reasons for traveling west. they also talk about kit carson and other mountain men, and the impact that westward expansion had on the civil war and slavery. the aspen institute hosted this 40 minute talk, part of a conference in aspen, colorado on the american west. >> welcome back this early morning follg