FReeper Canteen ~ National Maritime Day (May 22nd) ~ 23 May 2016

Serving The Best Troops and Veterans In The World !! | The Canteen Crew

[Kathy in Alaska]

~ The FReeper Canteen Presents ~

~ National Maritime Day (May 22nd) ~

STEAMSHIP SAVANNAH - 1819

On May 22, 1819, the SS Savannah left its home port of Savannah, Georgia on its way to Liverpool, England. The ship "put to sea with steam and sails" and reached Liverpool in 29 days and four hours, becoming the first steamship to cross the Atlantic. While the steam engine performed faultlessly, it was not the only means of propulsion; historians have estimated that the Savannah was under sail 80% of the time. Nonetheless, it was an impressive achievement, one that signaled the beginning of the era of steam, and American technological leadership. The holiday was created by the United States Congress on May 20, 1933.

Canteen Mission Statement

Showing support and boosting the morale of
our military and our allies military
and family members of the above.
Honoring those who have served before.

UNITED STATES MERCHANT MARINE ACADEMY

The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA), established in 1943, is operated by the Maritime Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation. The mission of the Academy, located on 82-waterfront acres 20 miles from New York City, is to educate and graduate officers and leaders of honor and integrity to serve in America's merchant marine, maritime and intermodal transportation industries, and the Armed Forces.

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US MERCHANT MARINE IN VIETNAM

In February 1951 the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) aircraft carrier Windham Bay, was the first large ship to navigate the Long Tam River since 1925. While the ship was docked at Saigon (French Indochina) 17 hand grenades were tossed at the ship by terrorists.

The Military Sea Transportation Service was established in 1949 to provide sea transportation to the military as a successor to the Army Transportation Service. MSTS operated a fleet of ships and had charter agreements with commercial shipping firms. MSTS was succeeded by Military Sealift Command.

In 1954, after the partitioning of Vietnam, MSTS evacuated Vietnamese refugees from North to South Vietnam. USNS Howze was one of many MSTS ships involved in "Passage to Freedom" bringing 300,000 refugees and 200,000 tons of Cargo from North Vietnam. [Your webmistress arrived in the United States in 1949 on the USAT General R. L. Howze as a refugee of World War II.]

The Military Sea Transportation Service had the job of bringing war supplies to Vietnam -- 10,000 miles from the Pacific coast. MSTS had four separate customers to serve: the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. MSTS ships were staffed by "civilian" crews, but carried 95% of the supplies used by our Armed Forces in Vietnam including bombs and ammunition into combat zones under fire. Crew members were given Navy grades and rank identification in event of enemy capture. During Vietnam, MSTS first utilized roll-on/roll-off ships and container ships which speeded loading and unloading.

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US MERCHANT MARINE IN WORLD WAR II

One way to understand the Second World War is to appreciate the critical role of merchant shipping... the availability or non-availability of merchant shipping determined what the Allies could or could not do militarily.... when sinkings of Allied merchant vessels exceeded production, when slow turnarounds, convoy delays, roundabout routing, and long voyages taxed transport severely, or when the cross-Channel invasion planned for 1942 had to be postponed for many months for reasons which included insufficient shipping.

Had these ships not been produced, the war would have been in all likelihood prolonged many months, if not years. Some argue the Allies would have lost as there would not have existed the means to carry the personnel, supplies, and equipment needed by the combined Allies to defeat the Axis powers. [It took 7 to 15 tons of supplies to support one soldier for one year.] The U.S. wartime merchant fleet. . . constituted one of the most significant contributions made by any nation to the eventual winning of the Second World War.

In the final assessment, the huge US merchant fleet... provided critical logistical support to the war effort.

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In spite of their service and their sacrifices, merchant mariners were not accorded veterans' benefits, and for many years were excluded from celebrations of Veterans' Day, Memorial Day, and other days recognizing members of the Armed Forces. One merchant marine veteran who felt the exclusion very keenly was Walter Oates, who became Public Affairs Officer at the Maritime Administration. The Maritime Administration is the successor agency to the War Shipping Administration, which oversaw the shipbuilding and merchant marine operations in World War II. Mr. Oates was a wartime graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, the only one of the federal service academies to send its students into war before graduation. One hundred forty-two of those students were killed in the war, and one of them had been Mr. Oates's roommate.

In 1970, at the instigation of Mr. Oates, the Maritime Administration sponsored an observance of Maritime Day, a solemn ceremony honoring veterans of the merchant marine, and those who gave their lives in service to the United States. That observance has been held every year since then.

After a long court battle, merchant marine veterans were accorded some rights and privileges of veterans on January 19, 1988. Ten years after that, in 1998, in recognizing veterans from the Persian Gulf War, Congress included more rights and privileges for veterans of the merchant marine. The U.S. Navy Memorial in Washington, D.C., dedicated in 1987, integrates recognition of the U.S. Merchant Marine. At the dedication of the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., in 2004, Maritime Administrator William G. Schubert represented the merchant marine as chief of service.

Please remember that The Canteen is here to support
and entertain our troops and veterans and their families,
and is family friendly.

[radu]

They've been rambunctious since Friday. Nothing's been broken but plenty has been knocked over. The main instigator is brat Lily. She's a lil firecracker and it shows in her eyes. LOL!

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, ML...((HUGS))...did Lynn-Dah have her play date yet?

I’m having Mom issues this afternoon and evening.

[radu]

I love that album!! I have it but with no turntable, I haven’t heard it in years.
Good choice!

[left that other site]

Play date is this Friday.

Meanwhile...prayers for you and your Mom!

[radu]

Ruh roh. Mom issues. That doesn’t sound good. I’d hoped her new petunias would make for a good day for both of you.

[PROCON]

LOL, Lily's a real trouble-maker, huh?! Kittehs are such a crack-up.

OBTW, son and I "save the world" from my place, LOL.

I mowed today over at their place and then they both showed me their Hawaii pictures. His Mom and he had a blast!

[mylife]

gnight gang

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=lunar+sea&&view=detail&mid=6A7805492D1C4C0EB4686A7805492D1C4C0EB468&rvsmid=47504E1EEFD1BBD7420947504E1EEFD1BBD74209&fsscr=0&FORM=VDFSRV

[mylife]

its all here.

an underrated band

[radu]

She’s a trouble-maker to the nth degree! LOL! Probably why she was tossed out by whoever dumped her here. You reeeeeally have to love kittehs to put up with some of her shenanigans. And we do love her, even though she’s a brat.

So you finally got to see the pix from Hawaii. Cool! Bet they had a bunch of them, didn’t they? Glad they had a great time while there were there.

[SandRat]

NS Savannah - Virtual Tour

Welcome to the Nuclear Ship Savannah, the world's first nuclear-powered merchant ship. Savannah was a signature element of President Eisenhower's Atoms for Peace program. She was constructed as a joint project of the former Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and the Maritime Administration. She operated from 1962 to 1965 in experimental service, at which time the AEC issued her commercial operating license number NS-1. Savannah continued in demonstration service as a cargo ship until 1970 when she ended her active career. She was defueled in 1971 and her reactor made permanently inoperable in 1975-76. About 95% of the power plant is intact and remains onboard ship. Savannah is still licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC is the successor to the AEC), and will remain so until nuclear decommissioning. The defueling, active clean up work and natural decay over 30 years has left only small amounts of radioactive material aboard ship. This material is located in only a few, well monitored locations aboard ship. Savannah was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places in 1981. She was named a Mechanical Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1983. She was named a Nuclear Engineering Landmark by the American Nuclear Society in 1991. And finally declared a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. National Park Service on July 17, 1991. Savannah is presently located in the Port of Baltimore, Maryland, under a long-term lay berth contract with Canton Marine Terminals. The U.S. Maritime Administration Savannah Technical Staff of the Office of Ship Disposal manages the activities onboard the ship, with strong emphasis on licensed facility operations and pre-decommissioning planning. The Maritime Administration intends to maintain Savannah in protective storage for some years into the future; however, under current law and regulation the decommissioning process must be completed and Savannah's operating license terminated no later than December 2031. In the normal course of NRC regulation decommissioning would include the complete dismantling of the reactor. The historic ship community would like to see an exception made to allow for cleaning, then preservation of Savannah's historic nuclear reactor aboard ship. We hope this online tour will provide you with a glimpse of what life was like for the passengers and sailors aboard this remarkable vessel. It will also enable you visit many spaces that have never been opened to the public because of the vertical ladders, confined space and radiological controls. Although not open for visiting on a regular schedule at this time, the Savannah Technical Staff schedule periodic tours provided that these can be accommodated without interference to normal ship's business. For more information about touring the ship, please send an e-mail to: Savannah@dot.gov and include "Tour Request" in the subject line. Your virtual reality tour of the NS Savannah begins in the Purser's reception area. To provide the best experience possible without knowing what software is installed on your computer, or how fast your internet connection is, we have several viewing choices. (Fast photos works without Flash or HTML 5. It is great for slow internet connections and for visually impaired users with an Internet reader.)

[radu]

I pulled up YouTube and have the full album playing now. :-)

[radu]

WOOHOO!! SandRat bags #50!

[SandRat]

Enjoyable album

[mylife]

801

https://youtu.be/_GA89EfQ0Pg

[radu]

It IS an enjoyable album, isn’t it? I bought it when it first came out and played it a LOT.
Soooooo nice to hear it again.

[Freedom56v2]

Was going to ping you, but see you are on the list!

Happy National Mariner Day :)

Hope all is well.

[radu]

Hadn’t heard this before. Very cool stuff! But then, with Eno involved, it couldn’t help but be good!

[mylife]

Gnight radu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4svA6Rzhd_U

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, Janey...((HUGS))...did you have a fun family weekend?

[radu]

How did I miss these guys back then? GOOD stuff! I’ll check out more of their music now that I know about them.
Thanks for posting it.

Good night and have a good Monday.