The Ship that Got Underway

Normally I like to use my own photos in posts but since I can't go back in time to take these, I will have to rely on the US Navy Historical Archives.

Today is the 75th Anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.  This was the action that finally drew us into World War II although I am still of the opinion that the United States would have been in the war within 6 months to year of Pearl Harbor had it not happened.  As it was, the United States was slowly inching its way to war with Germany.

There were eight battleships docked at Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7th, 1941.  Seven of these ships were in what was called Battleship Row.  The other ship, the USS Pennsylvania was in drydock at the time but she wasn't spared from attack.  Of the seven ships that were docked in battleship row, only one of them managed to get underway on that fateful morning.

The morning of December 7th, 1941 was like any other morning for the nation prior to her entry into World War II.  As the sun rose over the Hawaiian Islands, the USS Nevada raised her colors and her band played the Star Spangled Banner.  The end was sped up as the Japanese planes started to drop bombs on the harbor.  The USS Nevada was not alongside any other ships and this led her to her special place in history.

But first....let's go a little further back in time....

 On March 4, 1911, Congress authorized the $5,895,000 that would be required to build the new battleship.  She would become the first second generation battleship in the US Navy.  She was twice the size of the USS Connecticut that was built in 1904.  The was the first US battleship to be equipped with triple gun turrets.  She was also the first US battleship to be fueled by oil instead of coal.  This gave her a much longer range than other battleships.
Her keel was laid at the Fore River Shipbuilding Company in Quincy, Massachusetts in November 1912.  She was launched in July of 1914 and her sponsor was Miss Eleanor Anne Seibert who was the niece of Governor Tasker Oddie of Nevada.  There were also several other people in attendance including the Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

 Her sea trials began in November of 1915 and after completion of those, she was sent to the Boston and New York Navy Yards for the rest of her equipment.  She was commissioned in March of 1916 at the Charlestown Naval Yard with her Captain William S. Sims.

 She would not see much service in World War I as there was a fuel shortage in Britain, so many of her coal fired sisters were used.  She was used to escort the George Washington who was carrying President Woodrow Wilson to the Paris Peace Conference in 1918.

In the between the two wars, she would serve in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.  In 1930, she was modernized, and given the superstructures in the picture above.  She also received scout planes and her armament was improved.  She would then serve in the Pacific for the next 11 years.

 On the morning of December 7th, her officer of the deck Ensign Joe Taussig (son of an Admiral) ordered a second boiler to be fired off.  The plan was to switch power from one boiler to the other around 8:00 in the morning.  As the engineers started to raise steam, the first Japanese aircraft struck.  It wasn't long after that when the Nevada's gunners started to man her anti-aircraft guns.  She was hit by a torpedo but her gunners managed to shoot down the plane that hit her.  The torpedo caused some damage and a slight list, but her damage control party was able to counterflood and right the ship.

She was able to get underway around 8:40 in the morning, by that time her gunners had shot down four planes.  Ensign Joe Taussig lost his leg during the fighting but played a large role in all of this.

As she made her way towards the channel to leave Pearl Harbor, she attracted the attention of Japanese pilots who tried to sink her there in an attempt to bottle up the harbor.  It probably wouldn't have worked as the channel was too wide and water was too deep.  After taking several bomb hits, it was decided it would be better to beach her rather than lose her in deep water.  Over the course of the morning, she lost 60 men and another 109 were wounded.

She was refloated in February of 1942 and temporary repairs were made so that she could sail to Puget Sound Naval Yard for permanent repairs and modernization. In 1943, she sailed up to Alaska where she was used for shore bombardment in the retaking of Attu.  In June of 1943, she sailed to Norfolk, Virginia for further modernization.

 After Norfolk, she was used on convoy duty for a while.  Older battleships were used to protect convoys in case the Germans decided to dispatch a capital ship to deal with them.  That never happened.  In April of 1944, she sailed to Britain where she prepared for the Normandy Invasion.  She was used as Rear Admiral Deyo's flagship for the operation and also for shore bombardment.  She was also used against German shore defenses.  She was praised for her highly accurate fire.  The Nevada was the only battleship at both Pearl Harbor and the Normandy Invasion.
Later in 1944, she was used to support the Allied Landings in Southern France.  There she participated in a battle against one of the French Fortresses and defeated it.    She then returned to New York to have her guns relined.
In March of 1945, she was used as fire support for the Okinawa invasion.  It was during that battle, that she was hit by a kamikaze which killed 11 men and wounding another 49.  She also lost a turret.  She remained on station though.  In August of 1945, she was positioned off the Japanese mainland but never bombarded them.  After the war, she returned to Pearl Harbor and was declared too old to continue service.

It would be nice if such a decorated ship had a happy ending but that's not the case.  She was designated to be a target ship for the Bikini Atoll atomic tests in July of 1946.  This test was to see the effectiveness of atomic bombs against ships.  The Nevada was designated to be the bombardier's target for the test, as a  result she was painted the color seen above.  Even though, she was painted as above, the bomb missed it's target by 1,700 yards and struck a transport instead.  She also survived the second blast which was detonated from below.  She was heavily damaged and irradiated.

She was later towed to Pearl Harbor and decommissioned on August 29, 1946.  In July of 1948, she was used as target practice for the Iowa and two other ships but was not sunk.  She was administered the final blow by an aerial torpedo on July 31, 1948.  She quietly slipped beneath the waves.

Riding on the California Zephyr - Day One

So the next leg of my journey would be the California Zephyr.  This will make the third time that I've ridden on the California Zephyr.  I remember when I first was looking to do this and someone said that if you were going to take one train ride in your life, it has to be the Zephyr.  I wasn't quite what to expect then and I wasn't sure what to expect this time although I had a better idea.  All I knew was that the scenery would be beautiful.

The California Zephyr originally started out in 1949 and was a joint venture between the Western Pacific, Denver-Rio Grande and Western and the Chicago-Burlington and Quincy Railroads.  The WP ran the train from Oakland to Salt Lake City, the DRG&W ran it from from Salt Lake to Denver and the CB&Q ran it the rest of the way.  Scheduling was set up so that the train would run through the really nice parts during the day.  Another part of the route was a group of train hostesses called the Zephyrettes.

Even the famed Zephyr couldn't hold off the advances of air and car travel.  Operations were ceased in 1970, although the Denver-Rio Grande continued to run its portion of the route until 1983 although it was called the Rio Grande Zephyr.  This would be the last privately run passenger rail service in the US.

When Amtrak took over in 1971, it wanted to run the original Zephyr run but couldn't, so it ran a similar route.  When the Denver-Rio Grande finally acquiesed to Amtrak, Amtrak started to run a route similar to the original route.  Currently, it runs from Emeryville in California to Chicago.

 And so the second to last leg of my journey would start in Emeryville.  The station here is pretty nice although not as nice as some of the other stations.

 And so the Zephyr approaches the station.  It is pretty much a standard configuration for the distance trains.  There are a number of sleeping cars, coach cars, the dining car and sightseeing car.

 A shot of the main engine.  This is pretty much the standard Amtrak Engine.

 My only shot of the Golden Gate Bridge and it was through the fog.  If you squint hard enough, you can see it.  I guess this means that I will have to return.

 Another shot across the bay and still pretty foggy.

 I just loved the way this boat was looking in the light.

 Another shot of the pair of bridges on the way.  I wish I knew what bridges these were though.

 The C&H Sugar Factory.  I play a board game called "Empire Builder".  It is a game where you draw your tracks on the board and one of the more lucrative runs is the sugar run.  I assume that this is where you would pick up the sugar.

 A fishing boat practicing its trade.

 Another pass by the motball fleet.  The lighting was a little better for me this time.

The fleet has shrank in size since the last time I took the Zephyr though.  I guess I should have mentioned that on the Starlight portion.

 The former Southern Pacific Locomotive works in Sacramento.

 An engine that is run by Amtrak California.  It looks similar to the one I saw in Oregon.

 And we pass a highway as we leave Sacramento.  Off in the distance, you can see Sacramento's skyline.

 And we started to enter the mountains.  This is the part of the trip that makes it worth it.  I think we pass through some spots that are pretty much untouched by humans.  Based on some of the states of dress of people we passed, that was pretty much confirmed.

 Another shot of the mountains.  I just love how we pass by some really cool looking valleys.

 I think this is Interstate 80 as it snakes through the mountains.

 Another one of the mountains.

 Another shot of the interstate as it passes  through.

 This is probably my favorite part of the trip, Donner Lake.  It is named after the famed Donner Party that were trapped here and ended up eating each other.  It is now a major recreational spot.

 Another view of the lake as we move on.  At some point there is an eagle's nest that is fairly close to the track.  I saw the eagles but I couldn't quite get a shot of them since I didn't have the right lens with me.

 And we move further along.

 One more shot of Donner Lake.  It's funny because it was all snow covered the last time I passed through.  It's amazing the difference that the lack of snow can make, although it is still pretty beautiful.  Right after the lake, we went on a horseshoe curve and we got to see the track that we just left.

 We are passing through the Sierra Nevada mountains.  One of these years, I'm going to stop here and take pictures.  I can only imagine what they look like at a closer distance.

 I believe this was Truckee, California.

 A river snakes through the valley.

 A shot of the same river a little later.

 And we cross over into Nevada.  While not quite as beautiful as the scenery we just passed through, the desert's not too bad.

 I'm not sure what highway we were paralleling here.  I think it still may have been Interstate 80.

 Another desert mesa.

 I couldn't quite get a shot of the alkali flats.

 Another desert mountain.

 A lone Union Pacific train in the middle of the desert.  I love the backdrop for this picture though.

 The sun was starting to set.

 I kind of liked the tranquil water and the reflections the mountains were casting in it.

 Sadly the sun was reflecting off the windows, but I still like this shot.

 The reds of the sky as the sun sets.

 A little bit of the salt flats.

One more shot before the sun set.  During the night, we made a stop in Salt Lake City.  I woke up briefly enough to see an ambulance stopped by the side of the train.  Earlier in the day, there was a guy that was having issues with oxygen and he ended up using the supply of oxygen on the train.  I think the ambulance was there to give him more oxygen.  Interestingly enough, he made it a point to smoke at all the smoke stops.

The California Zephyr - Part III

And now the continuation of my journey. This covers roughly from western Utah until Emeryville (near San Francisco). This is my favorite part of the California Zephyr and is what made the trip worth it. The portion that follows is the part that covers the Sierra Nevadas. If you are going to take one train trip in the United States but don't want to spend a couple days on the train, I would recommend catching it in Emeryville and getting off in Reno. That is roughly 1 day. Anyways.....

I don't remember if this was western Utah or Eastern Nevada but at any rate, I liked the shot, so here it is.

I didn't take too many pictures of Nevada this time as that is pretty much desert and I figured I would get some similar shots when I would take the Southwest Chief back. This is as we were getting closer to the Sierra Nevadas.

You can definately see the snow capped mountains.

This is Truckee, CA which is also the stop for Lake Tahoe. This is at the eastern end of California and the Sierra Nevadas. I was amazed to still see quite a bit of snow given that it was almost June.

This is just outside of Truckee. You can see the snow on the trees still which means it just fell.

A portion of Donner Lake which was named after the famed group of settlers that ended up eating each other. This was probably the highlight of the route.

Another portion of Donner Lake.

I already posted this shot before, but I liked it so much that here it is again. It is kind of hard to compete with beauty like this.

My last shot of Donner Lake as we were pulling away.

Some of the moutains.

Another portion of the mountains. I am happy that I was passing through this on a train, I can't imagine what it would be like to do this in a covered wagon. I'm also glad that I was passing through on a modern train because there were a few cases of trains getting stuck up here.

Another one of the mountains.

I'm not sure what highway that is below us, but the trucks give you an idea of just how high we are.

It took me long enough but I finally got a shot of the train. I think the train was a couple cars shorter this year, so I wasn't in a good spot to get a picture of it.

Seeing this picture makes me want to go back already. Maybe this time, I'll stay here and get a few pictures up close.

I'm not sure what lake this is, but I liked the picture.

We were getting out of the Sierra Nevadas. I think we had just passed Colfax at this point.

Back on the ground and passing a Union Pacific Railyard.

The Davis Train station.

The area as we were approaching Emeryville. It is amazing how much farmland is in this country.

One of the things I was waiting for...the Naval Boneyard.

Another shot of the boneyard.

A tanker offloading.

It is pretty cool to pass some of the train stations because they have what I call gate guardians.

I'm not sure what bridges these are but I kind of like the effect.

Another tanker.

We were getting closer to Emeryville. This is the Golden Gate Bridge. I think we are far enough out that it doesn't look like it.