Posted on 07/16/2016 9:43:27 PM PDT by rey
Has anyone done the tour of the Hornet in Alameda. What did you think? Was it enjoyable? Would you recommend it?
Thaks
I forgot to ask about the naval museum there as well.
I did, about 15 years ago. It was a memorable experience.
I visited the USS Ranger in NYC in the mid-60’s and the Stennis in San Diego about ten years ago. Definitely enjoyable, but only if you’re interested in ships. They don’t have fine art nor African gazelles. You’re expecting...?
Alameda, Colorado? No ocean there and reservoirs are not set up for Naval vessels.
Our,Cub Scout pack slept over on tne Hornet about 18 years ago. It was quite memorable. Really fun being on tne ship at night.
There doing a ghost thing there at night soon. I think it is a couple hundred a pop. Not into ghosts but I have a young one interested in military history.
Thanks for you input and all the others as well.
Alameda, Colorado? No ocean there and reservoirs are not set up for Naval vessels.
Other than some streets, there is no place named Alameda in Colorado.
You stepped on it.
Attended a Cub Scout overnight with my two boys a few months ago. Both kids loved it, but the tour was a bit late/long for my younger son (8yo). The staff is great for the most part, enjoy what they do, and love getting questions.
Reminds me of a weird scene in Star Trek IV where the crew went back in time to 1986 San Francisco. Uhura and Chekov were asking people on the street and a cop where Alameda was. I say “weird” because both of them went to Starfleet Academy in San Francisco, so their not knowing where Alameda is is as bizarre as someone in Manhattan not knowing where Brooklyn or Queens is.
As to Rey, I say do the tour. Naval vessel tours are great. My father’s former Naval buddy used to conduct tours of the Hornet before his death.
I remember that episode. Thanks for pointing that “weird” bit of trivia. I love trivia like that.
I never thought about that before, but you’re right, that makes no sense. Unless Alemeda gets wiped off the map at some point, annexed or renamed.
It is nice. Also when you’re there you will notice some MSC ships tied up next to the hornet. The Algol and the Capella are two 45 year SL7 class steam ships that can still reach 34 knots.
Impressive for their age.
Get a docent-led tour (and ask to see the brig, it's vewy skewy). You will learn lots, and have an appreciation for just what goes on on a history-laden flat-top.
My buddy and I (both with Navy "kids") got there early on a weekday, and were not disappointed.
I might tend to avoid Oakland, and indeed the whole East Bay. (Crime rate is a useful guide.)
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Did the tour a couple times when we lived in the Bay Area. It is a great ship with an interesting history. Lots of things to see on it especially if you get on some of the special tours.
Do it. You begin on the very spot where Doolittle’s B-25s were winched up onto the original Hornet.
You’ll see an updated Essex class carrier. You’ll see a good aircraft collection. You’ll see a great Apollo 11 exhibit and an Apollo capsule.
Get there at the right time and ride the main elevator from the flight deck down to the hanger deck.
Fantastic experience.
I don't find the scene bizarre, it makes sense given how far back in time they've traveled. Yes, Starfleet Academy is located in San Francisco, but they're from the San Francisco of 2286 -- 300 years into the future! The San Francisco of 1986 likely bears little resemblance to the San Francisco they know, aside from a few iconic landmarks scattered here and there like the Golden Gate Bridge.
Just imagine if someone who attended present-day Rockefeller University had to navigate around New York City of three centuries ago: c. 1716, long before Rockefeller University ever existed. The neighborhoods, community areas, and streets of that time period bore little resemblance to modern New York. They'd be entirely lost. And yes, they WOULDN'T know where Queens is, since the present-day boundaries of Queens was established in 1899 and it was entirely different back in 1716. Even going back to the civil war area, what is the present-day lower Manhattan commercial district and the former site of the World Trade Center was a seedy lower-class immigrant neighborhood called the "Five Points" filled with gang warfare (as seen in films like Gangs of New York).
>> Unless Alemeda gets wiped off the map at some point, annexed or renamed. <<
Given the events of Star Trek's future timeline (earth was devasted by a third world war in the mid-21st century that killed over 600 million people and wiped out most of the present-day major cities in the world -- with a handful of exceptions like London and San Francisco), I think that is likely what happened. It's probably not even called "Alemeda" anymore in the time period Chekov and Uhura are from, and may not even exist anymore. It certainly isn't used as a naval station in 23rd century, judging by their reactions. (incidentally, if you went BACK in time 300 years from the present-day, that would also be the case -- what is now Alemeda Island was originally a peninsula connected to present-day downtown Oakland, and it wasn't renamed Alemeda until 1853).
I have to vigorously disagree with this. Alameda is not some obscure spot on the map. It is an island, a city and is the premier East SF Bay county. Even if the town was renamed (or merged with Oakland at some point in the distant future, for which it would still likely would be referred to as the “Alameda” section, just as different neighborhoods in NYC retain their names), it makes no logical sense that they would not be familiar with the name, even if they didn’t happen to visit it at some point.
I think it was a bad goof by the screenwriters attempting to do a comedic scene. I was wise to it the moment I first saw it (I was 12) with the same thought, “They’ve all lived in San Francisco ! They all have apartments there. Sulu was born there. How could they not know Alameda ?” They all knew Sausalito, where the (doesn’t exist in reality) Cetacean Institute was, and that is far more obscure a place.
Remember, these are all supposed to be highly educated folks, and even if Alameda were renamed, they certainly would’ve learned that in basic geography/history or just learning about the lore of San Francisco of 20th Century yore. Add to that, when they showed the visual computer maps of the bay at SF HQ in their “present (23rd C.) day”, Alameda Island stood out on the (unlabeled) screen, which made it all the more baffling.
Maybe I make a big deal of it since #1, my father and his first wife lived there; #2, my half-sister grew up there and got married there; #3, my father was stationed there throughout the ‘60s.
I’d consider that even if it is kind of pricey if I ever make it out to CA.
Only recently from a club that I’m somehow a member of but never go to that there is a good sized armor museum up in Virginia a few hours from me.
I’d like to go there for some events. Juggling the spouse’s sports addictions and my on-call schedule will be the big determining factors.
Check out the Midway parked in San Diego if you get a chance. Wife and I spent a day aboard this unique aircraft carrier.
The deck features more than a dozen Navy airplanes, including a rarity, the RA-5 Vigilante.
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