wfooshee
O, Woe is me!!
Got an email from patriot Friday, a ride he was going on got cancelled, he suggested we meet in Pensacola. Looking at the weather, it was still kinda iffy. The weather was why the other ride was cancelled, I think. Big storm expected through Mike's neck o' the woods Saturday, maybe Sunday, too.
I suggested Mobile, instead, closer for him, and I hadn't been to the Battleship park since I was a kid in the '70's.
Battleship it is, then, but we still weren't sure until later in the evening, watching the forecasts.
He got there first, I was a quarter-hour tardy. For all I know, he'd only been there 35 seconds, or waiting 35 minutes; he didn't say. Obligatory FJR content:
They've got a WWII sub, too, which we ended up not going aboard, the USS Drum:
You go through the ships on self-guided tours, directed by a sheet they give you when you buy your ticket. The tour for the sub is "Go down the forward hatch, head aft and walk through the spaces, climb out the aft hatch." The tour for the battleship is 3 pages of step-by-step instructions, and you follow numbered colored arrows painted on walls, hatches, and ladders.
At the entrance to the gift shop/snack bar/ticket office is this example of a 16-inch shell thrown by the big guns.
Before starting the tour, we wandered the aft deck, and I climbed into the turret.
Mike manning a 20mm station, which needs cleaning, I must say.
You climb into the turret through a hatch in its floor, at the rear of the turret. Stepping up you see the rangefinder tube running across the turret, and here is the rangefinder view station. I've only now realized that I didn't even try it to see what it looked like.
Another turret station, who knows what for? According to a sign we saw elsewhere, each turret needs 140 men through 5 decks to operate it.
You duck under the rangefinder tube and go forward towards the hatches to the breech compartments. Here's a view to the end of the rangefinder showing one of the lens set looking out. Another set is at the other end, when the rangefinder operator matches the images from each lens, he's got the distance to what he's looking at.
One of the breech compartments. What a way to make a living!!! The shell and six powder bags made a shot, and they were supposed to be able to fire twice per minute.
Enemy spy on a 20mm gunsight. I thought it was dried up dead husk, but then it moved, and eventually flew off.
Starting the superstructure tour, following yellow arrows. Here's a set of 40mm guns
Mike figuring how to arrange a handlbar stem mount for a set of 40s.
The conning tower, an armored compartment from where the ship could be navigated during battle. Thick armor walls and small viewing slits, with a wheel and speaking tubes
View forward from the open bridge, the space surrounding the conning tower. We are 4 decks up from the main deck.
5-inch guns along the side. These were aimed by radar.
"Well, I've already got a gremlin bell and an air horn, but holy crap! wouldn't those be awsome!!!??!?!"
Views aft and forward from 8 levels above the main deck. I think that's the roof of the armored conning tower visible in the forward view.
Inside one of the 5-inch turrets
Below decks now, in a berthing space. Racks were four high here.
According to the sign, this is the only place in the world where the public can get access to the barbette space of the turret. Crew access is by a manhole and a vertical ladder, and they installed a pair of rather tight spiral stairs here to give access.
Here is the powder hoist, where powder drums are lifted to the breeches 2 decks above. Powder is delivered from the magazines through hatches seen on the outer walls, with a package waiting in a tray. The deck we are standing on is part of the rotating turret, the deck below is stationary.
A couple of displays showing the turret layouts. These are bigger images than the rest because shrinking them too much made them illegible.
A crew mess station near the main galley, and another berthing area
After touring the ship we rode down the road a mile or so to a place called Felix's Fish Camp and had a late lunch. Mike had a crusted fish, and I had grilled chicken strips (how appropriate!) on alfredo pasta, both meals shown here well into consumption.
It rained hard while we were at lunch, and we had a bit of wind and lightning, too. This is the view towards my ride homeward.
It was just a squall line, though, and passed quickly. We got on the bikes and headed back to see the aircraft pavilion. We'd left helmets hanging on the mirrors so cheek pads were soaked. My gloves were stuffed under the top case and got soaked, too. Had a spare set in the side case, though.
View on entering the aircraft pavilion, starting with one of the Alabama's Kingfishers on the left.
A Viet Nam river boat
YF-17 prototype. After losing the lightweight fighter contract to the F-16, Northrop enlarged the airframe and it became the Navy's F/A-18, replacing the A-7 and F-4. Enlarged again, the F/A-18E and F replaced the F-14, and the F/A-18 now performs all of the Navy's fast jet functions, from attack to fighter to tanker to electronic warfare.
A-12, predecessor to the SR-71
It was raining again on the horizon I was headed to as we left, so I donned the rain suit. Pulled in at Spanish Fort across the bay to gas up, sweating like a pig in the rain suit in 85 degrees and 100%, even with the jackets opened up. It had stopped raining by the next exit, and at the next one I pulled off and stowed the rain suit. By Pensacola I had broken clouds with sky peeking through, and by Navarre I was in full sun.
I think Mike had some drizzle and wind on his way home. It was a good day, a lot of unaccustomed exercise, which I'm feeling today: thighs and calves are useless, but nobody's home so I still have to feed myself, which means getting up and trying to walk through the house. Well, F-1 and Moto-GP on the TV today, so it's not all bad!
I suggested Mobile, instead, closer for him, and I hadn't been to the Battleship park since I was a kid in the '70's.
Battleship it is, then, but we still weren't sure until later in the evening, watching the forecasts.
He got there first, I was a quarter-hour tardy. For all I know, he'd only been there 35 seconds, or waiting 35 minutes; he didn't say. Obligatory FJR content:
They've got a WWII sub, too, which we ended up not going aboard, the USS Drum:
You go through the ships on self-guided tours, directed by a sheet they give you when you buy your ticket. The tour for the sub is "Go down the forward hatch, head aft and walk through the spaces, climb out the aft hatch." The tour for the battleship is 3 pages of step-by-step instructions, and you follow numbered colored arrows painted on walls, hatches, and ladders.
At the entrance to the gift shop/snack bar/ticket office is this example of a 16-inch shell thrown by the big guns.
Before starting the tour, we wandered the aft deck, and I climbed into the turret.
Mike manning a 20mm station, which needs cleaning, I must say.
You climb into the turret through a hatch in its floor, at the rear of the turret. Stepping up you see the rangefinder tube running across the turret, and here is the rangefinder view station. I've only now realized that I didn't even try it to see what it looked like.
Another turret station, who knows what for? According to a sign we saw elsewhere, each turret needs 140 men through 5 decks to operate it.
You duck under the rangefinder tube and go forward towards the hatches to the breech compartments. Here's a view to the end of the rangefinder showing one of the lens set looking out. Another set is at the other end, when the rangefinder operator matches the images from each lens, he's got the distance to what he's looking at.
One of the breech compartments. What a way to make a living!!! The shell and six powder bags made a shot, and they were supposed to be able to fire twice per minute.
Enemy spy on a 20mm gunsight. I thought it was dried up dead husk, but then it moved, and eventually flew off.
Starting the superstructure tour, following yellow arrows. Here's a set of 40mm guns
Mike figuring how to arrange a handlbar stem mount for a set of 40s.
The conning tower, an armored compartment from where the ship could be navigated during battle. Thick armor walls and small viewing slits, with a wheel and speaking tubes
View forward from the open bridge, the space surrounding the conning tower. We are 4 decks up from the main deck.
5-inch guns along the side. These were aimed by radar.
"Well, I've already got a gremlin bell and an air horn, but holy crap! wouldn't those be awsome!!!??!?!"
Views aft and forward from 8 levels above the main deck. I think that's the roof of the armored conning tower visible in the forward view.
Inside one of the 5-inch turrets
Below decks now, in a berthing space. Racks were four high here.
According to the sign, this is the only place in the world where the public can get access to the barbette space of the turret. Crew access is by a manhole and a vertical ladder, and they installed a pair of rather tight spiral stairs here to give access.
Here is the powder hoist, where powder drums are lifted to the breeches 2 decks above. Powder is delivered from the magazines through hatches seen on the outer walls, with a package waiting in a tray. The deck we are standing on is part of the rotating turret, the deck below is stationary.
A couple of displays showing the turret layouts. These are bigger images than the rest because shrinking them too much made them illegible.
A crew mess station near the main galley, and another berthing area
After touring the ship we rode down the road a mile or so to a place called Felix's Fish Camp and had a late lunch. Mike had a crusted fish, and I had grilled chicken strips (how appropriate!) on alfredo pasta, both meals shown here well into consumption.
It rained hard while we were at lunch, and we had a bit of wind and lightning, too. This is the view towards my ride homeward.
It was just a squall line, though, and passed quickly. We got on the bikes and headed back to see the aircraft pavilion. We'd left helmets hanging on the mirrors so cheek pads were soaked. My gloves were stuffed under the top case and got soaked, too. Had a spare set in the side case, though.
View on entering the aircraft pavilion, starting with one of the Alabama's Kingfishers on the left.
A Viet Nam river boat
YF-17 prototype. After losing the lightweight fighter contract to the F-16, Northrop enlarged the airframe and it became the Navy's F/A-18, replacing the A-7 and F-4. Enlarged again, the F/A-18E and F replaced the F-14, and the F/A-18 now performs all of the Navy's fast jet functions, from attack to fighter to tanker to electronic warfare.
A-12, predecessor to the SR-71
It was raining again on the horizon I was headed to as we left, so I donned the rain suit. Pulled in at Spanish Fort across the bay to gas up, sweating like a pig in the rain suit in 85 degrees and 100%, even with the jackets opened up. It had stopped raining by the next exit, and at the next one I pulled off and stowed the rain suit. By Pensacola I had broken clouds with sky peeking through, and by Navarre I was in full sun.
I think Mike had some drizzle and wind on his way home. It was a good day, a lot of unaccustomed exercise, which I'm feeling today: thighs and calves are useless, but nobody's home so I still have to feed myself, which means getting up and trying to walk through the house. Well, F-1 and Moto-GP on the TV today, so it's not all bad!
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