Naval Station Norfolk/BB-64/Nauticus Pictures

[J. Soca]

I�m back guys!! i got home late sunday night i had a good time and enjoyed the entire trip but having been on the road for more than a day really makes you think if you want to do it again on our way to Norfolk it was raining the whole time, we got to the hotel which was pretty close to Chesapeake bay around 10:30 PM and still was raining for a sec there i thought it was going to be one watery weekend, good thing it wasn�t. Saturday was awesome in both Norfolk and Wilmington, NC. Norfolk naval base tour is something you can�t miss it if you are heading that way unfortunately we missed the tour by water an this i truly regretted. The tour guide who was a sailor from the naval staff was a cool guy, i wouldn�t have wanted to be a marine on the bus though, he was making fun of them as soon as he stepped inside hehehe. The Wasp , Dwight Eisenhower and i believe the Truman ( carrier with golden anchors) were all docked. The Theodore Roosevelt CV-71 is having an overhaul. The Arleigh Burke class is magnificent, i simply loved the design in person, it has graceful and beautiful lines. At the Nauticus i went over the Wisconsin too bad they don�t let you in, still her colossal size is something to behold. I also had the pleasure of going over Bill�s Santee, magnificent model!! Among others the museum has in exhibition . There is a thing i must warn you though whatever you do DO NOT buy any food at the Nauticus we spend almost $40 oooouch in 3 burgers and drinks . I got more to tell but i�ll leave it for tomorrow or tonite when i get home from work.

Jose

[J. Soca]

be patient please i got more pictures, it's just im running out of time now, i'll try to post them tonite

Jose

[J. Soca]

that is the Theodore Roosevelt and from what i saw still got a long way to go..





this is the USS Wasp, these are nice looking carriers too bad i couldn't get a glance of the front.




sorry about the crooked image you only got seconds to take pictures inside the bus



i believe this is the Harry Truman, she was wearing golden anchors..


perhaps someone in here knows the name of this stealth craft? all i can tell you is a rented ship from Australia at least that is what the tour guide told us.



Big Kahuna's office



more to come tomorrow

Jose

[Cliffy B]

Truman is at the far end (Pier 14) with Teddy Roosevelt (in bad need of a yard period) next to her.

[Timmy C]

The little stealthy trimaran looks like a mini version of the HSVs.

[J. Soca]

i took this shot right from across the street



she is a huge girl alright





anybody who visit her must take a picture of her majestic bow




i think i can see the captain's chair







What?? no flat screen??



officer's mess hall, all looks to be pretty well maintained.


look at the size of people next to turret and structure.. truly impressive







Looks to me like the boarding ladder.

Jose

[Gilbert]

Jose,

Great pictures of Wisconsin . Thanks for sharing

Gilbert

[J. Soca]

More shots from inside the Nauticus museum, i still got all these pictures plus the ones i took on the North Carolina.


Bill's Santee at first sight, as soon as i got to the second floor i stumbled upon it. she is another masterpiece Bill










USS America






That is the after steering wheel from the Essex
more to come later on.

Jose

[gtb -red]

Thanks for shareing Jose. that America model is that wood or plastic?

[J. Soca]

Thank you Martin! opening a new thread solely for the pictures was a great idea

Mardis i'd be lying to you if i say she was built using only one of them i'm going to guess both, she is a pretty big girl you know the modeler on this one probably used wood and styrene. Hull and deck made out of wood and the upper structures with the gazillion of details made out styrene i think it sounds reasonable to me like that but since i haven't gotten to that point of scratchbuilding entire models at that size i'm basing myself on what i've seen around here from others.


artifact from Prinz Eugen,


USS Ranger

CSS Virginia

USS Monitor


nice model of the Maine




1898 Spanish torpedo , pretty old thing it's dented everywhere

Quite a character there fine representation of an 1800's ship of the line quarters. i was hoping someone would fill up my tin rattle for a toast but noone showed up


Jose

[AndrexP]

perhaps someone in here knows the name of this stealth craft? all i can tell you is a rented ship from Australia at least that is what the tour guide told us.

It's the M80 Stiletto, built by M Ship Co., LLC, of San Diego, California. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M80_Stiletto

So much for the informative tour guide...
(sigh)

[Cliffy B]

Remember how bad TR looks? She was just moved down the street to Norfolk Naval Shipyard for a RCOH (refueling complex overhaul) that will have her tied up for quite a while.

http://www.navy.mil/view_single.asp?id=75884

[J. Soca]

It's the M80 Stiletto, built by M Ship Co., LLC, of San Diego, California. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M80_Stiletto

So much for the informative tour guide...
(sigh)

Holy cow i got to show this to my father when he gets home,i remember when we got out of the bus he told us he never swallowed what the tour guy told us about this craft my old man was right after all and i hate when that happens

Remember how bad TR looks? She was just moved down the street to Norfolk Naval Shipyard for a RCOH (refueling complex overhaul) that will have her tied up for quite a while. thanks Andrex

http://www.navy.mil/view_single.asp?id=75884

she must've been taken there later in the afternoon if i hadn't missed that boat trip i probably would've seen her on its way there.. missing to check the boat tour brochure on time is something that still bothers me today

As i wrote before we also visited the USS North Carolina battleship memorial and i must say she is in a much, much, MUCH better condition than the USS Alabama. the inside of the turret fascinated me it's completely lit up and all painted silver maybe for protection against rust or better view of the inside in any case it looks twice as better than the one from the Alabama i checked.



That is one terrific model they got there






On our way to Wilmington we got lost and it took us almost 2 hours to find the battleship, don't ask how please anyways we got there close to 7:00 PM and i thought they weren't going to let us in but we were sooo lucky thanks to someones's wedding because of the wedding they let us stay onboard unti we got bored or sweated our butts off hehehe



after all those years this Bofors handles pretty well..

inside the turret


i couldn't believe those turret's binoculars still worked unlike the ones from the Alabama

conning tower and captain's bridge

thats my old man going up the ladder there


love this shot and i took right from inside the captain's bridge



i was hoping to go inside the conning tower but all you can do is see it through a grating gate

more to come later on


Jose

[Timmy C]

Now I know where I want to get married!

[J. Soca]

Now I know where I want to get married!

Timmy for all i know you could have your own kid baptized onboard


another view of the lattice work

and here we got the 1.1" /75 AA gun AKA Chicago Pianos

This shot is from inside the 5" twin gun turret, those are the breach loaders right there, when i got out i was able to move one of the closing hatches on the side and that thing probably weigths over 200lb real hefty thing.



Captain's quarters


down from inside the oven..


these battleships had it all from machine shops to shoe repair shops.

ready for a dive..

crew's bunks

cant remember what this place is a radio station perhaps those are messages tubes on the right side


this is the infamous CIC room, actually there were two rooms next to each other.



Gunpowder room, certainly a place you wouldnt want to have a smoke




powder bags go up through those

another place iniside the barbette


its not over yet i still got more, soon to come

Jose

[Dave Wooley]

Jose just picked up on these photos of yours , absolutely superb , great shots of Bills Santee . :thumbs
Dave Wooley _

[J. Soca]

Thanks Dave!!!

Last batch of them...


As i wrote before the gun powder bags go up through those.

there is alot of space in theses lavatories, you might think this guy is crazy by saying that. i've never been to a WW2 destroyer but i did get to see the Gato class sub at Mobile, AL and after seeing the battleship's facilities and sub's facilities those boys on capital ships were staying at a 5 stars hotel

another view of it

Thats not even quarter of the kitchen

we got there to late for chow

laundry room


can't remember what this place was, besides those bunks there was something else there

bunks and more bunks

This is one of the steering rooms inside the bowels of the North Carolina, impressive the size of those hydraulics



found these inside the ship


when we got out it was pitch black out there, stern was lit though since the wedding was taking place there



boarding ladder

we almost missed it and don't be fooled its says engine room but is not the whole thing this is only machine room #4!!







the exit!!!


took this shot when i was exiting the battleship



and this is it folks i hope you've enjoyed all the shots, it took me a while to upload all the pictures but i didn't want to leave anything behind and thats why i took my time.


Jose

[navydavesof]

perhaps someone in here knows the name of this stealth craft? all i can tell you is a rented ship from Australia at least that is what the tour guide told us.

Yeah, I know what it's called. It's called Stilletto, and it's a piece of :censored_2:. It's not on loan, we own it, and the Navy has been shifting it around from command to command, community to community, trying to give it to someone. SWCC said no, NECC said no, the ocean says no. I worked on it when they tried to sell NECC (Naval Expeditionary Combat Command) on the idea. It's a carbon-fiber hull-breaking piece of crap that doesn't work in heavy seas.

Yeah, it looks cool, but holy crap, it's like one of those Soviet toys that we got all worked up over, and it turned out to be a one-of-a-kind failure.

That...is Stilletto.

[J. Soca]

Yeah, I know what it's called. It's called Stilletto, and it's a piece of . It's not on loan, we own it, and the Navy has been shifting it around from command to command, community to community, trying to give it to someone. SWCC said no, NECC said no, the ocean says no. I worked on it when they tried to sell NECC (Naval Expeditionary Combat Command) on the idea. It's a carbon-fiber hull-breaking piece of crap that doesn't work in heavy seas.

Yeah, it looks cool, but holy crap, it's like one of those Soviet toys that we got all worked up over, and it turned out to be a one-of-a-kind failure.

That...is Stilletto.

whahahaha oh man i still can't say why he told us such lie if that craft is an authentic piece of crap like you said the guy was probably hiding the real truth behind it hehehe. thanks for chiming in

Jose

[navydavesof]

whahahaha oh man i still can't say why he told us such lie if that craft is an authentic piece of crap like you said the guy was probably hiding the real truth behind it hehehe. thanks for chiming in

Jose[/quote]

No problem, man. I volunteer with those guys on the Wisconsin, and they are fed bad information on ocassion. Sometimes they confuse one vessel for another. Stilletto, for instance, looks like the HSVs, or high-speed vessels, we use jointly with Austrailia. Those are around once and a while.