USS North Carolina

Today, we went to Wilmington, in North Carolina, about 56 miles from Myrtle Beach, to see the Battleship USS North Carolina.  It was well worth the visit.  The North Carolina was active for only seven years.  In that time, it had nine captains, all of whom made the rank of Admiral.  All of them but one were promoted on leaving the North Carolina.  One wasn't but was made admiral later.  The North Carolina has been in Wilmington for over 50 years, and is still owned by the United States Navy. 

Going aboard the ship is like going back in time.  You get a really good sense of what it would have been like, with a full crew of 2300.  We climbed from the bridge to the engine room and back again.  Walter was really interested in the engine room, but I found it hard to take.  Even after all this time, and with air conditioning aboard some areas of the ship, the engine room still smelled of oil or fuel (I'm not sure which), and I started to get a bad headache after only a few minutes there.  Still, I'm glad I did it.

What really, for me, set this ship apart as a museum, were the crew's memories.  These are posted in various places throughout the ship, and certainly brought a personal point of view to life aboard the ship.  The crew were not allowed to keep diaries ( I suppose it was a security breach if they fell into the wrong hands), but they did, and developed some ingenious ways of hiding them.  Another interesting little bit that we learned, the Master at Arms (the ship's police force) stored the beer for the crew in the brig.  It was a great way of keeping discipline among the crew, because if anyone did anything to require spending time in the brig, the Master at Arms had to throw the beer overboard to make room in the brig for the miscreant.  And since no one wanted to lose his beer, it was quite the incentive for everyone to behave! 

Afterwards, we had lunch at the Front Street Brewery, a great little bar restaurant.  Of course, Walter had a beer, which he enjoyed.

 Walter on the bridge.  Full steam ahead!

 

 One of the ovens for making muffins.  Each oven in the stack of six could make 30 muffins at a time. 

 

 One of the officer's quarters.  I forget which function the occupant was responsible for, but whatever it was, he didn't leave this room much. His bunk was above his desk. 

 

 The ship's big guns had a range of 23 miles. 

 

 On the deck - cold and windy.  I can't imagine what it would have been like on the open ocean.  Those decks behind me are teak, and had to be swabbed on a regular basis.  That and painting (the job that never ends) kept the crew busy when they weren't engaged in any other activities.

  

 

 Relaxing on shore with a glass of beer.