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Hanging around in Norfolk for a week...

By The Armorer on March 29, 2007 | | Comments (14)

It's not been "All Wisconsin, all the time" while I'm here.

She's *big* ain't she?

My paper presentation went well, to the, oh, 10 people at the conference who didn't find one of the 13 or so other papers more compelling...

I haven't been exclusively focused on the BigBoat 64, USS Wisconsin - I did visit another pair of famous Americans.

A nice little museum, if the movie about General MacArthur is, well, interesting. Made by the MacArthur Foundation, it obviously glosses over some elements of the General's career - which is okay, it's a paean, after all. But the sight of the Dauntlesses apparently bombing Pearl Harbor, the Marines landing in the Phillipines (and apparently there were some rogue Marines helping the Japanese on Bataan, too) was a little startling. I was completely unaware that Pearl Harbor was an "own goal" in that sense. I mean, I know all about Roosevelt setting it all up so we'd get in the war and all, but I didn't realize the Navy had bombed itself, too! Nor that Marine flamethrower detachments were helping the Japanese in 1942... But I did get to indulge my small arms jones at both the MacArthur Memorial *and* the Naval Museum of Hampton Roads (in Nauticus, a Navy museum associated with the USS Wisconsin).

Being the Armorer, I did of course find some cannon (recovered from the waterfront during renovations, and carriages thoughtfully provided by the Norfolk Rotary Club).

I took a trip on the Norfolk-Portsmouth Ferry and got to see several naval vessels in various stages of overhaul and repair. An unidentified Aegis cruiser Arleigh Burke-class destroyer getting a pretty thorough working over, the Iwo Jima, and what I think is the USS Cape St. George.

All in all, a good trip. I got to get "re-blued" a bit in my favorite work activity - military modeling and sims-based training (which I get to back to, perhaps, on my next task, yay!) and odd as it sounds, this was my first "trade" convention, so to speak. Too much to do during the day, not enough time to do it all. The vendors were cheap, though. Not enough trinkets!

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14 Comments

By Brad on March 29, 2007 8:57 AM
As a former Virginian, I would also suggest the Yorktown battlefield as well as Jamestown, which is getting ready to celebrate its 400th anniversary. And of course, you can always join the colonial militia at Williamsburg. At least try to see the governor's mansion there.
 
By Brad on March 29, 2007 8:59 AM
Unless of course, you're already back.
 
By John of Argghhh! on March 29, 2007 9:02 AM
Nope. But I've been to Yorktown, Jamestown, etc, and don't have time to do Williamsburg (besides, SWWBO'd kill me if I did that by myself without her). While I wait for flight time to arrive, I may drive across the Cheaspeake.
 
By Brad on March 29, 2007 9:14 AM
You can walk around Williamsburg and get inside some buildings if you don't want to pay admission, you might get lucky and see the fife and drum corps. I think NASA Langley has a very small museum but its been a while, or you might be able to watch them drop test an aircraft or schmooze your way into the hangar there as well. Or just watch the Raptors take off all day from the Air Force side. If you have time you can drive 1.5 hours to Richmond and see the Museum of the Confederacy before they move it to Roanoke and change the name.
 
By BloodSpite on March 29, 2007 9:21 AM
One place I loved to go as a kid when my dad was stationed at NAS Oceania was Hampton Roads museum. I got my first Monitor & The Merrimac model to assemble there. A short jaunt up the road is Ft Eustis and the Transportation Corp Museum. (I say short. I'm using my A-typical Georgia Boy Country mileage variation) I liked living in Virginia many years ago. Lots of history and battlefields. Lived across for Norfolk little town called Pungo off the Bay.
 
By Neffi on March 29, 2007 9:21 AM
You can't have too many trinkets... especially the kind *you* like!
 
By BillT on March 29, 2007 9:37 AM
Trinkets are a *good* thing. Except if you travel with KtLW. Two years ago, I hadda pay the equivalent of an additional seat in coach just to get her souvenirs back stateside. My souvenirs fit on a 1 gig chip.
 
By Brad on March 29, 2007 9:41 AM
Oh hey, don't forget Ft. Monroe, there is coastal artillery involved! http://www.monroe.army.mil/Monroe/sites/installation/museum/Casemate_Museum.aspx
 
By Marine6 on March 29, 2007 9:54 AM
I'm entirely on your side on "histerical" films. It drives me up the wall when I see things on the History Channel, or elsewhere, that are just plain factually incorrect. Unfortunately, the current generation of film producers don't know squat about the military and seem to believe that anything that floats must be a battleship, and if it walks and has a rifle it must be US Army, unless, of course, we want it to be German, or Japanese, or whatever. And I get sick and tired of shots of aircraft that weren't even on the drawing boards yet used to illustrate specific battles. There is a wonderful story about Ian Fleming getting a letter from a gentleman after his first book was published. The writer took Fleming to task over a number of serious errors concerning weapons in his book. Fleming decided that he would rather not look like an idiot in the future and actually asked the man to proofread his future efforts to ensure accuracy. Fleming then wrote the gentleman into future books as "the Armourer." So, perhaps, you might have yet another career ahead of you. Marine6 Sends
 
By LarryK on March 29, 2007 9:56 AM
The Coastie-son has spent a good amount of time at Yorktown. The USCG has a big (for the CG) school there (United States Coast Guard Training Center) where they train boatswainmates coxswains and a lot of other stuff. If you had time they might be persuaded to give a tour. Of course their boats aren't as big as the ones you have taken pics of .. but size doesn't matter does it?
 
By J.M. Heinrichs on March 29, 2007 5:13 PM
I think your U/I Aegis cruiser is a Burke-class desptroyer. Cheers
 
By Barb on March 30, 2007 12:03 AM
The DDG-70 is one fine example of a Burke-class destroyer - the USS Hopper. Named for Adm. Grace Hopper.... the mother of computing. A friend of mine was present at a gathering at which Adm Hopper was the keynote speaker. She passed around Nano-seconds for everyone ... a piece of wire cut to the length which light travels in a nanosecond - just under a foot!
 
By John of Argghhh! on March 30, 2007 9:35 AM
CAPT H, yer right. I'm wrong. It's a new-fangled thing. At least I got the other two right...
 
By J.M. Heinrichs on March 30, 2007 12:14 PM
Hopper nanosecond = 11.2 inches, according to the one I have, in a box somewhere. Cheers