How mighty! A port bow view of the battleship IOWA (BB 61) undergoing reactivation and modernization construction at the Litton/Ingalls shipyard Pascagoula, Mississippi. Seen in the background is the Spruance class destroyer HYLER (DD 997)
How mighty! A port bow view of the battleship IOWA (BB 61) undergoing reactivation and modernization construction at the Litton/Ingalls shipyard Pascagoula, Mississippi. Seen in the background is the Spruance class destroyer HYLER (DD 997)
In 1981 I had my guys down at Dam Neck, VA for Naval Gunfire Support Training. The LT comes in one morning and says, "No training today. We have another task." "What's up sir?" "President Reagan's bringing the battleships back and we have to find the trainers."
I didn't know why we were doing this but took it in stride. It took us about 15 minutes to find the training devices in the warehouse and 45 minutes to trundle them across campus and get them up the elevator.
We plugged them in and they WORKED. They were built in the early 40s. As a reward we got to do most of our GNFS training using the MK8 Fire Control System for the Iowa-class battleships.
I volunteered to do a back-to-back sea tour if I could get orders to the Wisconsin but the answer was "no". That's my battleship story.
WWG1WGA
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)