Forging Anchor Chain

[NOBLNG]

Went down a rabbit hole and found this. Apparently the USS Gerald R Ford has a chain that is 1440 feet long.🤯

 

[Ace-Garageguy]

That's some serious hardware there, mister.  

But...gee whiz...wasn't there a time when America made stuff like this day-in, day-out, no big deal?

It seems I remember that world, somewhere in the dim recesses of the past...  

 

Edited August 15 by Ace-Garageguy

[bobss396]

That takes up some serious electric power 🔌. Looks like all was done by induction welding. 

[espo]

Great job in the winter months, might be a little uncomfortable working in those conditions in the summer. 

[meechum68]

Love this stuff! And over a quarter mile of chain.. damn!!

 

[bobss396]

And to think that ships have used massive chains for at least 100 years. I'd like to see how they were done back then.

[NOBLNG]

2 hours ago, bobss396 said:

And to think that ships have used massive chains for at least 100 years. I'd like to see how they were done back then.

The outfits that certify these chains, the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) has been around since 1862, and Lloyds Register (LR) was founded in 1760. I too wonder how they were made back in the 1700’s? They certainly weren’t this massive, but they also didn’t have any hydraulic equipment then either.

https://www.solarnavigator.net/anchor_chain.htm

 

Edited August 16 by NOBLNG

[Ace-Garageguy]

1 hour ago, NOBLNG said:

I too wonder how they were made back in the 1700’s? They certainly weren’t this massive, but they also didn’t have any hydraulic equipment then either.

Kindof amazing that there was once a civilization on Earth that could actually make stuff out of iron with not much more than an open forge, an anvil, and some hammers.

[slusher]

We didn’t make boat chain we made master links for slings bigger than the boat chain. Our biggest link was 1 1/25 8 pounds per link..  I worked in quality in testing..  Thanks for posting.

[89AKurt]

Huge energy used!  Plenty of opportunity to get crushed to death. 

[Bugatti Fan]

Gt Britain...... The cradle of the Industrial Revolution.        Well, back in Victorian time it was !

[John M.]

The ship I served on in 1st Division while in the Navy needed it's anchor chains painted when needed which was one of the many jobs that I had to do. 

[Bugatti Fan]

A thought ater my last post.   The guy working on the anchor chain picture reminded me of a very famous picture featuring anchor chain.

It was of the renowned Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel standing in front of the gigantic chains of his ship the Great Eastern whilst it was being built.

Edited October 13 by Bugatti Fan

[NOBLNG]

4 hours ago, Bugatti Fan said:

A thought ater my last post.   The guy working on the anchor chain picture reminded me of a very famous picture featuring anchor chain.

It was of the renowned Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel standing in front of the gigantic chains of his ship the Great Eastern whilst it was being built.

 

[LennyB]

During the American Revolution hand wrought chains were floated across the Hudson River to keep the British from getting up stream  the links were anywhere from 15” to 36” long and weighed as much as 100lbs each   

 

[Big John]

Not sure how useful those tiny tongs will be in moving a half ton of red hot iron.

[Ace-Garageguy]

On 10/9/2025 at 12:39 AM, 89AKurt said:

Huge energy used!  Plenty of opportunity to get crushed to death. 

Is that what they mean when they talk about all the "opportunities" if / when heavy manufacturing comes back to the USA?

Asking for a friend.  

Edited Thursday at 01:41 PM by Ace-Garageguy
punctiliousness

[89AKurt]

On 10/16/2025 at 6:37 AM, Ace-Garageguy said:

Is that what they mean when they talk about all the "opportunities" if / when heavy manufacturing comes back to the USA?

Asking for a friend.  

😂 No, A.I. centers are the new energy hog, so no room for smelting and forging heavy metal unless Area 51 dumps their tech onto the human species.

[Ace-Garageguy]

6 minutes ago, 89AKurt said:

😂 No, A.I. centers are the new energy hog, so no room for smelting and forging heavy metal unless Area 51 dumps their tech onto the human species.

Yeah, anyone with any semblance of a brain knows it's vastly more important to be able to get 12 contradictory answers to any question, run talking customer-service bots that have even less clue than minimum-wage humans, and generate deep-fake videos of things like Teddy Roosevelt charging up San Juan hill with a regiment of genetically-engineered opposable-thumbed cats than to be able to actually make things in the physical realm.

[Mike C]

I've seen that video too.