Sometime in the ‘80s I was sitting on the beach at Virginia’s First Landing State Park which looks out toward Thimble Shoals where all of the ship traffic leaving Norfolk and Newport News going to the Atlantic has to pass. I saw a beautiful new warship go by with a sharp aggressive bow. It was an impressive sight. A few hours later, I saw the same ship being towed back the other way, looking far less impressive.
Every year we spend a few days at Fort Story which is right next to where you stayed. We were driving the road running along side the beach when I looked left and saw The USS Harry Truman, CVN-75 which was returning from a deployment. I pulled in where there is a lookout over the beach and got a few fine photos of that great warship.