A wide variety of equipment installed in or part of the Battleship NORTH CAROLINA (BB-55) is considered part of the collection such as a dough mixer, portable 35mm film projectors, table and floor lamps, typewriters, sextants, and lathes. An oak writing desk and an oak bookcase in the collection are from the Armored Cruiser NORTH CAROLINA (ACR-12).
TRIPTYCH - A gold leaf triptych originally hung over the Battleship's altar. The artist, Ethel Parson Paullin, painted a scene from the Last Supper in the center with biblical quotations on either side. At the beginning of World War II the Citizens Committee for the Army and Navy commissioned Paullin to create 30 triptychs (3 hinged panels) for temporary altars in barracks, hospitals and ships. She created this altarpiece in June 1941, soon after the Battleship was commissioned.
According to the artist, this triptych was originally going to be wood. But in the event of "strip ship" all flammable materials, including wood, would be removed from the ship and stored on shore. It did not seem right that church furnishings would be left on shore so the altarpiece was made from brass, covered with gold leaf, then painted with oils.
When not in use, the triptych hung in the Chaplain's stateroom where it "continued to speak its quiet message daily," according to Chaplain Albert.
BB1983.41
