Battleship North Carolina

It was a partly cloudy day yesterday, and we were bored from having spent the whole day in the RV the day before. We decided to head out to see the battleship North Carolina. It took nearly the whole day because the battleship is a hulking structure, multi-leveled, and maze-like. I took a lot of pictures while we were there, but I'm only showing you a small percentage of them. I'll say more about that in just a minute, but let's just back up to the beginning.

The price of admission was $10 each for us old geezers. There was a small museum just past the ticket booths with some displays of the North Carolina's predecessors and some of her statistics.

Crossing over to visit the ship itself, we looked left and saw this:

Once on board, we read this plaque.

This is a ship built for fighting. Everywhere one looked on deck there were guns...guns of all sizes, including these, the biggest of all. These cannons were on a turret and the whole thing could turn.

On this day, the turret was opened, and we could climb up inside. Here, I took a lot of pictures, but I'm not posting them. They're really just a tangle of pipes, wires, dials, switches, etc., and I can't explain any of it. The pictures wouldn't make any sense at all. Instead, I'm giving you my ignoramus tour of the ship. You can experience it the way I did...in awe of its size and complexity...keeping in mind that it was launched in 1940, long before computers or anything as magical as the internet or iPhones existed.

Inside the turret, one could sit where a gunner might have sat and look through the scope where they did their siting. This is what my camera could see. That bright white rectangle in the middle is a Coast Guard ship docked across the way from the battleship.

Here is some information about these big guns...

and some statistics about the shells they fired. Sorry for the picture being so off-kilter. Sometimes I'm shooting from off to the side because someone else is standing there reading what it says. I'm always tempted to shove them out of the way, but I only do that when Mike is the one doing the reading.

And there were guns everywhere...guns of all sizes...guns of many purposes. Some were for shooting down aircraft. Some were for piercing armor. Some could fire a large projectile clear across the horizon.

Aft of the ship (like that nautical term?) was this float plane. This being Black Friday, Santa was on board greeting the kiddies. (Who brings their kid to see Santa on a battleship?) Anyway...we couldn't get back to read the signs about the float plane, and neither of us has a good understanding of its function. Mike surmised that it could have been used to drop shells below water???  No idea. Maybe one of you knows something about this.

Standing to the left of the float plane and looking across the deck, you can see the many levels of artillery.

It was cold standing here. If you look at the image above, you can see two yellow signs next to the Coke machine near the middle. There, we could go below and tour the lower decks. These were self-guided tours with yellow signs that had arrows pointing the way. It would have been easy to get lost. Oh yes, and there were lots of stairs and ladders. Very steep and sometimes circular.

Many decks down, we could see the projectiles those big guns fired. They were tall as an adult man. The floor rotated so they could be rotated into place to be hauled up and loaded.

The ones above required six charges to fire them. The image below shows a single charge. They were transported in those containers you see above the charge. Each one held three charges.

In the image below, you can see a single shell with six charges loaded behind. Above it is a smaller one requiring only two charges. Above that one was another small (relatively) projectile that required only a single charge.

So imagine the sailor, one of over 2,300, at sea for months at a time. How did they live? These were small cities with all the components of a city. Below is an image of the kitchen. Imagine cooking three meals a day for that many men. (I wondered if women served on board. My Google search would indicate that they did not.)

Imagine all the things you need to conduct your life on a day-to-day basis. They were, for the most part, available on board. There was a post office, two stores where various sundries and tobacco could be purchased, a print shop, a soda fountain, a movie theater, a chapel, and even a small police force. Below is a sign that was mounted on one of the water fountains. (You know I love learning the origin of words and idioms we use all the time without wondering what they mean.)

Here is the room where worship services were conducted. There was a row of pews just off to the right side of the image.

And there were lots of stairs and ladders to climb.

Here's why I'm not posting more of my pictures. So many looked just like this...a tangle of wires and pipes.

The ones above happen to be color coded. You can see below to learn what flowed through them.

Often, we were standing on a grid where the deck below was visible. Some women remarked they felt uncomfortable standing here. I was more uncomfortable standing below with people walking overhead.

As you might guess, the Resident Retired Engineer was fascinated by all of this.

Here is one of the berthing quarters. These kinds of quarters were reserved for enlisted men. Chiefs had a few more amenities, but not many.

Below is the tailor shop. There was also a cobbler.

I knew you'd want to see the sewing machine. It's a Singer.

And everywhere, one had to step over these doors to pass through.

This was the ice cream machine below. There was also a soda fountain.

And movies.

You can see the projector there toward the back in the image below.

We need a sign like this for the RV when we're camping in the Wal-Mart parking lot.

Okay, and on this Black Friday, the tour included using "vintage" typewriters to type letters to Santa (although he was up on deck...so I don't know why you'd need to type a letter too).

Don't you hate it when "vintage" is the word used to describe a product you learned to use in your 9th grade typing class? I mean, what are they implying?

Back on top, we stood at the fore of the ship (showing off all my nautical terms) where we could see the huge chains used to drop anchor...and always more big guns.

I tried to move to the fore as much as possible to take in the full length of the North Carolina.

We were cold on deck and our eyes were full after hours of walking, climbing, looking, and reading. It seemed a good time to leave and go in search of some North Carolina Barbecue.

Now that we're into the barbecue scene, we're sampling it from all over. From what I'm told North Carolina Barbecue is notable for its vinegar-based sauce. Yelp users liked this place.

Out front was the life-sized blue pig.

And since our South Carolina experience, I've been informed that the best way to eat barbecue is on a bun with a heap of coleslaw slapped on top, and so that's what I ordered.

It was delicious. Now I'm anxious to head down into George and give theirs a try...or maybe Georgia doesn't do this sort of thing. We might have to wait until we get to Texas and sample it the way they eat it in the Lone Star State.

After lunch, we headed to a Jo-Ann store, which was just a mile away. I was there for five yards of jumbo black rick rack. Now here's the thing I hate about Jo-Ann: While I was waiting in line, I checked my Jo-Ann app and found a coupon for 50% off one item, and my by-the-yard rick rack constituted a single item. The receipt handed to me by the woman who did the cutting had the price at $14.50 for my five-yard cut. I'm thinking I'm going to be all smarty-pants and get 50% off, but no. The item was already on sale, and so my coupon couldn't be used. That is the story of my life in Jo-Ann.

Now, you might ask if the sale price was 50% off the original price. No. No, it was not. It was very tempting to request to pay full price and use the coupon because it would have saved me more money. I've been saying for a long time that I think Jo-Ann is dishonest in this way...using a tactic awfully close to bait and switch with the many coupons they offer up. Get to the store, and most of them cannot be used. Everything is on sale, almost all of the time. But I have my rick rack, and I'm only slightly more bitter about it than I was yesterday.

We need to do some grocery shopping today, but otherwise, I think it will be another day of sloth and sewing. Tomorrow we'll be on the move again.