A Stop at Lamberts Point

Another highlight of my trip was trying to get to see the Norfolk Southern yards.

 As I was researching places to go see, I saw that there was a park that was just off the main yards.  I figured that I would try it out.  Sadly, I had to shoot over the fence but it worked pretty well.

 I'll have to say that the lighting was perfect for me.

 Just off this yard is the coal dock.  This load was actually heading out.

 Another pair of engines.

I didn't have too much time to dally, so I took one more shot.  It actually looked like this would be a good spot for trainwatching.

Norfolk Harbor Cruise Part II

This is the part of the cruise that I was waiting for.

 Naval Station Norfolk was established in 1917 after the Navy bought the land used for the 1907 Jamestown Exposition.  However, there were Naval facilities here prior to this.  During the Civil War, the Naval facilities were highly contested.  In fact, it was from one of those where the Confederates got the hulk for the USS Merrimac which would eventually become the CSS Virginia, one of the first ironclad warships.  It was near this spot where the USS Monitor and CSS Virginia fought to a draw in the first battle between two ironclad warships.  The base now supports ships that operate in the Atlantic, Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean.  Currently there are four aircraft carriers, three helicopter carriers and several support ships.
In this picture alone, I think there are more warships than many countries have ships.

 The USS Normandy is one of several Ticonderoga Class Warships.  She was commissioned in 1989 and was sent to Operation Desert Shield during her maiden voyage.  She was the first cruiser since 1945 to do so.  She is equipped with the Aegis combat system and can track multiple targets at once.    In 1998, she was awarded with the most Tomahawk fired by a US Navy Cruiser.  She was part of the 50th Anniversary of the Normandy Landings celebrations.    She holds multiple awards.

 The USS Gettysburg was commissioned in 1991.  She is another Ticonderoga Class guided missile cruiser.  She has participated in some of the anti-piracy operations.

 The USS Oscar Austin was named after another Medal of Honor recipient.  He was a Marine Private First Class.  He died while defending an observation post in Vietnam.  He saw that one of his fellow Marines was wounded, so he lept from his safe spot to try to rescue him.  As he was close, he saw a grenade landing, so he jumped between the grenade and his comrade.  He was mortally wounded by the grenade.

 This is the USS Arleigh Burke, which is the lead ship of the class.  She was commissioned in 1991 after her construction at the Bath Iron Works in Maine.  It was decided that there needed to be a destroyer version of the Aegis defense system.  Her hull has some stealth characteristics.  The Admiral graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1923 and would get a Masters Degree in Engineering from the University of Michigan.  He was known as 31 knot Burke which was reflective of his hard charging nature.  He was able to witness the launching of the ship named after him.  He died in 1994 and is buried at the Naval Academy.  His gravestone bears the epitaph of "Sailor".

 The Cape May is similar to other ships with similar names.

 The rear of the Oscar Austin.

 The US Coast Guard Cutter James was in Norfolk after some repairs.  She is named after Joshua James who was a part of the Lifesaving Service (one of the predecessors to the Coast Guard) and helped save 600 people.  She was commissioned last year.  The James is one of the Legend Class National Security Cutters.

 The USS Tortuga is one of the Whidbey Island Class Landing Ship Docks.

 Another angle of the Burke.

 Another angle of the James.

 The USNS William McClean is named after a physicist who helped develop the Sidewinder missile.  She serves as a dry cargo ship for the US Navy.

 More on the this ship later.

 Another shot of the McClean.

 I think this is another replenishment ship.

 The USS Cole is another Arleigh Burke Class Destroyer.  She is named after Marine Sergeant Darrell Cole who was a Machine gunner killed on Iwo Jima.  In October of 2000, she was the target of an Al Queda attack carried out by two suicide bombers who detonated their boat next to her hull.  Seventeen US sailors were killed in this attack.   She would go through extensive repairs and return to service in 2003.

The USS New Orleans is a San Antonio Class Amphibious Transport Dock.  She was commissioned in 2007.

 The USNS Lewis B Puller is the first Expeditionary Mobile Base.  She was delivered last year.

 The USS Bataan is a helicopter carrier.  She can carry a number of heavy helicopters and Harrier Jump Jets.  I believe she can also carry a number of amphibious assault ships.

 Another angle of her.  This was probably the highlight of the tour.

 More on this ship later.

 The USS George Washington is a Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier.  If I could have gotten a better angle of her, this would have been the highlight of the tour for me.  She can carry 72 aircraft comfortably and more if she is just shuttling them.  She is one of 10 aircraft carriers servicing the United States currently and each one represents more of an air force than most countries have in total.

 Another tug.

 More on this ship.

 The USS Laboon is named after Father John Francis Labbon who was a US Navy Chaplain who served on the USS Peto during World War II.  He was awarded the Silver Star for rescuing a downed aviator in mine infested waters.  He was ordained a Priest after the war.

 It was pretty cool catching a ship as she was leaving.  It made for better pictures than docked ships (although I like the other shots).

 One more shot of her.

 The Surrie Moran.

 The USS Churchill is named after British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.  I believe she may be the only US Warship named after a non-US Citizen.

 Another shot of the Jason Dunham.

 And a head on shot.  I would certainly hate to be an enemy ship facing this side.

 Another of the Comfort.

 A tugboat.

And this is the boat that I took for the cruise.

Anyone who follows this blog for a long time knows that I love ships.  While I like the ships of the Great Lakes, I love the ships of the Navy.  Ever since I was little, I would read about the exploits of our Navy.  So it was pretty cool to see a bunch of Navy ships.

It was cooler to look up the people behind the names of some of our ships.  This is a reminder that the hardware we have is nice but it still comes down to the people that man it.

I would like to take another trip to Norfolk at some point.  There is so much that I missed.

Norfolk Harbor Cruise Part I

As I was looking at my options to see the Navy ships, I discovered that there was a harbor cruise.  I figured that would be my best chance to see them.  It ended up being a two hour cruise and I took a bunch of pictures, so it will be split between two posts.

 The first vessel I ran across was the tug Dauntless II.  I don't have much information on her other than she was built in 1953.  She was pushing a barge of some sort.

 The American Rover is a three masted schooner that was built in Panama City, Florida in 1985.  She was built with an all steel hull.  She is also equipped with two diesel engines.  When she was built, she was the largest passenger schooner.  She operates mainly out of Norfolk.

 The USS Mitscher is an Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyer.  She was the second ship to be named after Admiral Mitscher who was the Captain of the USS Hornet at the time she launched B-25's to attack Tokyo.  She has one 5" gun, two Phalanx guns and vertical launch system that can carry 91 missiles.  Surprisingly, she's been on this blog before from when I saw Fleet Week.

 One of a couple drydocks at the General Dynamics shipyards in Norfolk.

 The Fort Pike is another tugboat.  Again, I don't have much information on her.

 From the left to right, we have the Nancy McAllister, Michael McAllister and Mary L. McAllister.  The Nancy McAllister was originally built as the Seaboard for the Cheasapeake and Ohio Railroad in 1979 by the Jakobson Shipyard of Oyster Bay, New York.  She acquired her current name in 1986.  The Michael McAllister was built in 1971 in Houston, Texas by the Halter Marine Services.  She was originally named the Mister Harold.  She was acquired by her current owners in 2006.  The last tug was built in 1968 for the McAllister Towing company but she was named Marjorie McAllister.  In 1969, she sank with all hands and was salvaged by the DonJon Company.  She was renamed the Tracy Anne Witte.  In 1999, she was reacquired by her original owners and given her current name.

 The Captain Ron L. is another tug.  I'm not sure about her history.

 A better shot of the Michael McAllister.

 The Portsmouth Lightship was built by the Pusey and Jones of Wilmington, Delaware in 1915 as the Charles.  She served as a lightship in Cape Charles in the Chesapeake Bay from 1916 until 1924.  She was moved to Overfalls, Delaware where she served from 1926 to 1951 as the Overfalls.  In 1951, she was moved to Stonehorse Shoal where she served until her decommissioning in 1963.  In 1964, she was donated to the city of Portmouth where she was given her current name.  She currently serves as a museum ship.

 The James Williams was named after Petty Officer First Class James Eliot Williams.  He was a Medal of Honor recipient during the Vietnam War.  He was the Commander of River Patrol Boat 105 (if you ever seen Apocalypse Now, you have the idea).  He was conducting a river patrol when they came under attack by the Viet Cong.  He would go above and beyond the call of duty and would become the most decorated enlisted man of the US Navy.    After the war, he would become a US Marshall and died in 1999.  The ship named after him was commissioned in 2004 and was sponsored by his widow.

 It looks like she is undergoing some pretty serious maintenance.

 But it made for some cool pictures that I don't normally see.

 The Spirit of New Jersey is a cruise boat.  She kind of reminds me of the Ovation on the Detroit River.

 A research boat belonging to the National Oceanic and Atmosphere

 This is the MV Cape Race.  She was built as the MV Seaspeed America for the Transocean RO-RO Corp in 1977 in Japan.  She was purchased by the Navy in 1993 and is currently part of the Ready Reserve Fleet.  She is what is known as a RO-RO ship which means Roll On, Roll Off which is exactly what it sounds like.

 The Gulf Coast which is another tug I don't have any information on.

 The Cape Rise has a similar history to the Cape Race.

 The USS Gunston Hall is a Whidbey Island class Landing Ship Dock.  This type of ship is used in amphibious assault operations.  She was commissioned in 1989 and built by the Avondale Shipbuilding Company.  In March of last year, she suffered a fire but was quickly returned to service.

 The CSL Spirit is owned by the International Version of Canada Steamship Lines.  She was built in 2001.

 The USNS Comfort is one of two hospital ships that serves the US Navy.  She can handle up to 1000 patients and is equipped with 956 Hospital Staff.  She is unarmed and it would be considered a war crime to fire on her.  Her capabilities are between that of a field hospital and a proper hospital. 

 As I got home, I noticed that I got a porpoise in front of her.  Since this is something I don't see around here, I blew it up.

 The USS Jason Dunham is named after a Marine Corps Corporal who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for actions in Iraq.  He saved the other men in his group by jumping on a grenade.  He died in 2004.  His namesake ship was commissioned in 2010.  She was sponsored by his mother.

 The is the SSG Edward A. Carter and is owned by the Maersk Lines.  She was named after another Medal of Honor recipient.  She serves as a Maritime Pre-Positioning ship.

 Another angle of the CSL Spirit.

 Another angle of the Carter.

 This ship is used to carry large cargo like trains.

 The Payton Grace Moran was built in Boothbay, Maine in 2015.   Her owners have a Great Lakes connection in that one of their Vice Presidents is the Chairman of Interlake Steamship Company.

 Another angle of that tug.

 The Kaye E. Moran is named after Kaye E. Barker of Interlake Steamship fame.  Her husband is James R. Barker who is the Chairman of Interlake.  The Great Lakes ship is named after her and I would imagine that would be quite a thing to have two vessels named after you.

 The Bunny C.

 The Petalon is docked at the Norfolk-Southern Coal Dock. 

 The Lexington is a dredger.  She is currently dredging the harbor.

 the Susan Moran is another tugboat owned by the Moran Towing Company.

 The USNS Big Horn is a fleet replenishment oiler.  This type of ship will be used in the underway refueling of US Navy ships.  She was launched in 1991 from the Avondale Shipyards in New Orleans, Louisiana.  She serves with a civilian crew as part of the Military Sealift Command.

 And the Patricia Moran.

The Tasman is a container ship.  This is definitely something I wont see on the Lakes.