THURSDAY JUNE 24TH

 

Despite the heat, we decided to take the bikes and ride the ferry across the river to Norfolk. The price was $1.50 one way. What a bargain!

The temperature today is 102 degrees with a heat index of 112 degrees. A perfect day to spend indoors at The Nauticus museum.

It is another museum devoted to maritime history of the area and the seas themselves. Ships were built from wood until the late 1800’s when other countries started to build ships out of metal. Our Navy was falling behind, so President Theodore Roosevelt commissioned the building of The Great White Fleet. 16 coal powered battleships painted white to reflect heat. He then sent them on a good will world tour. Most of the fleet was built in the shipyards of this area.

Permanently moored next to the Nauticus museum is the Battleship Wisconsin. The Wisconsin was built here in Norfolk in response to the discovery that Japan was running sea trials of the Battleship Yamato. The League of Nations had agreed upon battleships of limited displacement and with a maximum of 14-inch guns. The Yamato had 18-inch guns and over twice the displacement size as agreed upon. More bad news, the Japanese intent was to conquer the world.

America ingenuity prevailed, despite being limited on the size of a ship since it had to pass through the Panama Canal to reach the Pacific. So what the ship maybe lacked in displacement, they made up for in speed. The Wisconsin could pass through the Panama Canal with 12” on either side. Since she was smaller, her guns could only be 16” guns. These guns each weigh 3,000 tons!! Wow!







But they put spiral rifling in the guns,
which increased velocity, range, accuracy
and penetration capacity of the shell.
So maybe our guns were smaller, but we
could outrun the Yamato.










Hey Mom! I joined the Navy.

Each one of the shells fired by the Wisconsin weighed 1900 pounds. The approximate weight of a vintage VW Beetle.

The Wisconsin saw duty in three wars. WWII, The Korean War and Operation Desert Storm.

As we walked on to the Wisconsin, we warned about the heat. Them temperature on the deck was 150 degrees. No that’s not a typo, 150 degrees. Needless to say, we didn’t dawdle with our walk. With all the steel, it was a giant heat reservoir.






 The shells needed to be moved with a cart because of their weight.

Each shell is loaded in the gun.

Followed by these silk wrapped bags of smokeless gunpowder. 9 bags in all.


















These were for firing Tomahawk Cruise Missiles in Iraq.










The deck is covered with over 4 acres of teak wood!













Ross on the very aft deck.

We passed many of these decorated mermaids
as we rode around. After photographing
a few, I realized they were everywhere!!
So here are a few of them.

Caught the ferry back to Portsmouth. Sat up top where there was a breeze, even if it felt like a blast from a furnace.