A day on my own after a four day conference. Hmmm. I know where I'm headed! Friday morning will be spent at the Mariner museum taking a look at the turret of the USS Monitor. I did a paper on her in grade school. At that time there was only an unconfirmed sighting of her sitting on the bottom. Today, not only has she been found, but her turret has been lifted of the bottom and is in conservation. Wow! A much better home for a critical piece of naval and American history!
For some reason, when ever I hear the name USS Monitor, my mind jumps to the CSA Virginia. Now Freredicksburg, Virginia may not seem like a naval stop over, but they do have one of the cannons from the CSA Virginia on display.
Where? Fredricksburg is on the path between D.C and here. Basically you drive south out of DC until you hit the bypass and curve around it. I'm headed back to the airport tomorrow night... Should be a quick detour, and would be perfect if it is displayed outside as I may be fairly late in the evening. Naval Tourism - the newest craze!
Correction, I went south through Fredricksberg then dodged around part of Richmond. Seems that the CSS Virginia's gun is no longer in Fredricksberg. It was moved late last year. The amusing part is that it was moved to the Mariner Museum and is visible at the back of the main conservation room. This isn't a good place but it looks to have a fresh coat of paint so my guess is they ran it through the baths to stabilize it and then gave it a coat of paint or sealer. It will probably be moved to the CSS Virginia hall fairly soon. There is an excellent cut away of part of the forward casement which really gives you a good feeling for the bulk of the armor. The Mariner Museum is a great place to go if you have an interest in marine history. Far more to see than just the Monitor exhibit. I'll post more and pictures when I'm not parked at the airport.
They move the cannon!!!!! I thought thta I had just seen it recently! I am going to have to drive by there today to see what is in it's place!
My two favorites I have been to so far are USS Cod and the USS Constellation. Lucky me, I have a wonderful wife that humors my naval history fascination... heck my fascination with history! The sadest maritime musuem I went to was the S.S. Keewatin. Sadly enough, She shows a good deal of neglect. Were planning on doing Chicago this summer so I am looking forward to seeing the U-505 there =D
My favorute was the USS Wisconsin in Norfolk, which i say on vaca with my parents. Thats ship is, well, its humbling. Those guns are HUGE!!!!!!!!
I enjoyed battleship cove with the USS Massachusetts. Mystic Connecticut seaport was really cool also.
Honestly I have to say I was pretty disappointed with the USS Constitution. I think it's probably because I wanted to see it ever since I was a little kid, and it failed to live up to my lofty expectations; although the Constellation here in Baltimore I thought was a much better tour. Among other ship tours I've really enjoyed were the USS Missouri when I was growing up in Bremerton, WA and the USS Lexington in Corpus Christi Texas. I don't really count the times friends and I snuck onto the USS Hornet while she was in Mothballs in Bremerton...not too much to see on a mothballed ship! I've still got a warm place in my heart for the ol Hornet, and one of these days, I want to make it down to Alameda to take a real gander at her
I've had the fortune and pleasure to tour the Hornet with my grandpa, who served on her sister the Yorktown, and with Firepower Dan, who helped scrap one of her sisters. They were both able to provide great details to augment the tour. My grandpa showed how the ship operated and she lived. Dan showed the structure of the ship and how she was put together, how she was born. Two very different but very interesting perspectives.
Ah the U-505... That brings back a lot of memories. Being a Chicagoian, I have seen her many times. The tour has changed a lot since the old days. The last time I walked through her, was back in '98. I was very disappointed. I am upset with the mayer of Chicago for getting rid of the USS Silversides. She can now be toured in Michigan. Now the USS Bowfin on display in Pearl Harbor was a nice tour. I was there back when Big MO was still on active duty, and stationed in San Fran. When I was active duty with the Air Force, we would stop in a Pease AFB a lot. I would rent a car and take the young airmen assigned to me on a tour of Boston and of course "Old Ironsides". The sailors conducting the tour were very nice to us and even took us to the lower decks that are not on public display. We were even in the powered room. I wounder if it was because we had our security clearance cards with us..... Just last year, I took the wife to the USS North Carolina, The USS Wisconsin/Kentucky, and the Constellation. I was disappointed with the Wisconsin because I had wanted to walk the "Bridge".
Well yea, the construction made it suck, but it was still pretty awesome. Rob, i didnt really enjoy Mystic, i live pretty close and it just wasnt all that thrilling the like 10 times ive been there.
One of my favorite stories about Big MO when she was stationed in San Fran. Happened while I was station at Castle AFB and one of the guys station with me had a brother in the Navy who was assigned to Big Mo. One weekend when Big Mo was in Harbor, we took a trip out to her. Us AF guys had never been a ship before let alone a Battleship. As we walked around we would say "Big boat you've got here!" The Navy guy would go balistic every time we would say it.
The North Carolina is worth the trip, as is the Yorktown. Bonus if you go see the Yorktown at PAtriot's Point, SC, is that the USS Laffey is there, a Coasty ship, and one of the GUPPY mod subs. I'm planning to go see the Alabama after the next quarter gets over in 3 months. But I took about 200 pics aboard the NC (love digital cameras!) as reference photos. I'll post them someday I will take probably twice that many on the Alabama.
The Texas is one I really want to see. The big BBs are all the same era of technology...but the Texas...now that's an entirely different generation!
Patriots Point in Charleston SC is a really great stop for anyone who wishes to see some good Naval History. Seeing both the Yorktown and the Laffy is a real plus. Last time I was there I did not get to appreciate the Laffy as well I was really young and we all know that the big ships impress a kid more. I really want to go back there to see all the ships and then take a swing north to see the NC. The Texas and the Salem are on my list of to see ships. I want to see the Salem as it is the Sister of the Daisy Mae which my Grandfather served on. I hope to get him to take the trip with me to see the Salem. I know I will get a great amount of history from him with him there.
The Foxtrot class submarine next to the Queen Mary in Long Beach is probably the best sub I've ever visited. At least when I was there several years ago, very little of the boat was blocked off by Plexiglas barriers like is the case on every other sub I've been to. You can get up close and check thinks out. The Queen Mary, on the other hand, was somewhat of a disappointment.
The USS Cod was REAL nice the only place blocked off was the conning tower. At one point it wasn't. But they blocked it off so no idget would fall and sue them =(
I saw the USS Wisconsin in Norfolk. Very amazingly huge. Its cool that they put Tomahawk launchers on her. What was more interesting though was the HMS Belfast on the Themes river in London. Though smaller, you can tour the entire ship, engine room, turrets and all. They even let you look through the targeting periscope deliee on the bridge!
I was very disapointed with all the times I had walked across "Tower Bridge" and see HMS Belfast sitting there, I was never able to board her.
