A MARINER'S TRIP

 SS Master Member  Jim Conwell made two mariner related trips by car in 2007 in the South Atlantic and Gulf States. The first started and ended in Atlanta. The trip took two weeks and covered two thousand miles. The second started and ended in Houston. That trip took three days and covered eight hundred miles. Place names underlined were overnight stops, mainly for two nights.

  CHARLESTON, South Carolina 

Patriot’s Point Naval and Maritime Museum The centerpiece is the aircraft carrier Yorktown (CV-10) 1943-1970. She was in the battles for the Phillippines, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. In 1968 she recovered the crew of Apollo, the first manned spacecraft to circle the moon. She starred in the legendary film about her “The Fighting Lady” There are so many exhibits aboard, that one could easily spend a whole day aboard just this ship. Also on display are the destroyer Laffey, the Coast Guard cutter Ingham, and the submarine Clamagore. The Laffey (DD-724) 1944-1975 was a Sumner class destroyer. She participated in the D-Day landing at Normandy. In April 1945 she earned the nickname “The Ship That Would Not Die” At Okinawa she took direct hits from five Kamikaze suicide planes in just one hour! The crew managed to keep her afloat while shooting down 11 aircraft. The O’Brien (DD-725), which was commissioned right after the Laffey at the Bath Iron Works, Maine was named for Captain Jeremiah O’Brien as was the Liberty Ship now in San Francisco. She replaced the previous O’Brien (DD-415) torpedoed and lost off Guadalcanal in 1942. Captain O’Brien commanded the ship that captured the first British ship in the Revolutionary War. The Ingham (WHEC-35) 1936-1988 was the most decorated vessel in the Coast Guard fleet and is the only cutter to be awarded two Presidential Unit Citations. During WW II she sank a U-boat while protecting merchant ships. She was in service more than 50 years! The Clagamore (SS-343) 1945-1975 was commissioned toward the end of WW II.She operated in the Mediterranean and Atlantic and patrolled tense Cuban waters during 1962. Twice modified, she survived as one of the last diesel-powered subs.  

WILMINGTON, North Carolina

The battleship North Carolina (BB-55), first of two ships to be designed, built, and commissioned after the end of World War I. The Washington (BB-56) was the second ship of this class.

The North Carolina was commissioned in 1941 and known as “The Showboat” She earned 15 battle stars and participated in every major naval offensive in the Pacific.

Most of ship, including part of engine room, is open and well described. Recommend her over the Wisconsin described later.

 Wilmington was the site of the North Carolina Shipbuilding Co., which built 243 cargo ships between 1941 and 1946. One hundred and twenty-six were Liberty Ships and sixty C-2 types. Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co operated the shipyard. Employing over 23,000 in 1943, it was the largest war industry in NC. After the war, the Cape Fear River near Wilmington was one of the eight sites for Mothball Fleets in the country. 

SOUTHPORT, North Carolina

The North Carolina Maritime Museum at Beaufort, described later, has a branch at Southport, which is at the mouth of the Cape Fear River. The museum exhibits memorabilia pertaining to nautical history of Lower Cape Fear area. However, there are exhibits on the North Carolina Shipbuilding Co. Also Blackbeard, the pirate is a popular subject here and at Beaufort.

 A memorial in Southport honors merchant seamen killed when a German submarine torpedoed the oil tanker SS John D. Gill on 12 Mar 42.

BEAUFORT, North Carolina

The North Carolina Maritime Museum has exhibits on the history of the U. S. Life-Saving Service. There are also full-sized watercraft and models from sailing skiffs to commercial fishing boats. The museum is located just of the Intercoastal Waterway.

OUTER BANKS, North Carolina

Took the Cedar Island-Ocracoke Ferry from Mainland to Outer Banks, a 2 1/4 hour trip. Ocracoke is the most southern island in the Outer Banks. Then a 40 min. trip on the Ocracoke Island-Hatteras Island Ferry. Parts of both islands are included in the National Seashore, which stretches over 70 miles of barrier islands.  Blackbeard, the pirate, hung out here

 Viewed the historic (1870) Cape Hatteras Lighthouse guardian of Diamond Shoals. The ocean current forces southbound ships into the shoals, a twelve-mile long sandbar. Hundreds of shipwrecks in this area have given it the reputation as the “Graveyard of the Atlantic” The lighthouse at 208 feet is the tallest in the US. During World War II German submarines sank so many Allied cargo ships that these waters earned a second sobering name, “Torpedo Junction” On the way to Newport News, stopped at The Wright Brothers National Memorial. Kitty Hawk was made famous on 17 Dec 03 when the brothers made the first controlled, powered airplane flight four miles away near the sand dunes known as the Kill Devil Hills.  The aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk (CV-63) and the aircraft transport ship Kitty Hawk (AKV-1) were named for the town. The latter was a conversion of the ship Seatrain New York in WWII. 

NEWPORT NEWS, Virginia

The Mariner’s Museum is considered one of the finest nautical museums in the United States. The permanent galleries total over 120,000 square feet of space. The five galleries are Age of Exploration, Defending the Seas, The Great Hall of Steam, The Nelson Touch, and Chesapeake Bay. In addition there is the USS Monitor Center, the final home of the Civil War Ironclad.

NORFOLK, Virginia

At the Hampton Roads Naval Museum is the Wisconsin (BB-64), one of the four Iowa–class battleships. She was commissioned on 16 Apr 44 and involved in the liberation of the Philippines and supported the landings on Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

She was recommissioned in 1951 for the Korean War. Then reactivated in 1988 and in 1990 took part in Operation Desert Storm.

Wisconsin remains in the Inactive Fleet, reserved for national emergencies. As a result no interior spaces are open. Only the main deck and sections of two upper decks are open for a tour.

Adjacent to the Wisconsin is NATICUS, The National Maritime Center. Naticus is a maritime themed science and technology center that explores the economic, naval, and natural power of the sea.

A two-hour cruise past the largest naval base in the world aboard Victory Rover also starts at Naticus.

The rest of the trip was inland.

 YORKTOWN, Virginia 

Site of the last major battle of the American Revolution. On 19 Oct 1781 British General Cornwallis formally surrendered his army. The carrier Yorktown was named for this battle.

OAK, Virginia

Visited with Army buddy

WASHINGTON, D. C.

On the way to Dulles, viewed the WWII, Korean War, and Vietnam Memorials. They are near one another on the Mall.

DULLES, Virginia

 The Udvar-Hazy Center (named for a major donor) is an annex to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum on the Mall in Washington, D.C. The Mall museum contains only ten percent of the collection. Most of the remaining is now on display at this spectacular facility near Dulles. 

The center, which will be approximately 760,000 square feet when completed, currently consists of The Boeing Aviation Hanger, which is ten stories high and the length of three football fields; the 80-foot-tall James S. McDonnell Space Hanger; and the Donald D. Engen Observation Tower offering views of the Washington Dulles Airport.

 One of the best things about the Center is that so many large aircraft too large to be displayed in the National Mall building are now on exhibit. They include the B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay, an Air France Concorde, and the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. 

FAIRFAX, Virginia

 Nearby to Dulles is the National Firearms Museum. Exhibits highlight the gun maker’s artistry with richly engraved and inlaid firearms and stocks of finely figured wood. Handcrafted pistols, rifles, and shotguns used by competitors in the Olympics are also featured. Time allowed taking Skyline Drive for 65 of its 105 miles through the Shenandoah National Park instead of the most direct route to Charlottesville. This is a beautiful section of the Blue Ridge, which forms the eastern rampart of the Appalachian Mountains. Many parking overlooks and clear weather presented panoramas of the Piedmont to the east and the Shenandoah to the west. A 35 mph speed limit does not seem too slow because it allowed some sightseeing on the two lane road. Most of the route is between 2,000 and 3,000 feet in elevation! 

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Virginia 

 Visit with cousin.  Toured Monticello, the estate of Thomas Jefferson. It appears on the back of the U.S. nickel (5 cent coin).  Returned directly to Atlanta. Fortunately got through Lynchburg, VA just an hour before Jerry Falwell’s funeral. He was a well-known fundamentalist Christian pastor.  Near Lynchburg is Bedford, VA where the National D-Day Memorial is located. Bedford was chosen because it proportionally suffered the nation’s severest losses on D-Day. Unfortunately my schedule did not permit a visit. Next time! The above-described trip followed one to Houston in February, again to greet a newly arrived grandchild. While there visited the Texas (BB-35) and on a side trip to New Orleans, stopped briefly in Baton Rouge to tour the Kidd (DD-661) While in New Orleans visited the D-Day Museum. 

HOUSTON, Texas

 The Texas is the only surviving US naval vessel to have seen service in both World Wars. She was commissioned in 1914. Propulsion was reciprocating engines, then thought to be more economical. In 1925/27 she was converted from coal to oil burning. In WWII, she saw action in the African invasion, at Normandy on D-Day, and in the bombardment of Iwo Jima and Okinawa.  

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana

 The Kidd is a Fletcher class destroyer, the backbone of the US destroyer force in WWII. She was launched in 1943 and named for Admiral Issac Kidd who was killed aboard the Arizona at Pearl Harbor.  Her missions brought her to Wake Island, Rabaul, the Gilbert and Marshall Islands and the landings on Bouganville, Aitape, Hollandia, and Guam. She also participated in the invasion of the Philippines. Off Okinawa she was part of the air defense screen when a Kamikaze crashed, killing thirty-eight crew. 

New Orleans, Louisiana