By lex, on March 28th, 2008
To go along with the “Green Water” vid
To go along with the “Green Water” vid below, SJ Bill sends along this pic from the past:
Here’s one of my old boat, the Essex, back in ’60. Note the brand spanking new C1A spotted aft for a deck run off the angle. I think the pilot was Horst Petrich, who pulled off this launch any number of times. During my day, LCDR Petrick was my asst CATCC officer.
During the next year or so, Essex snapped off her mast in a worse storm.
By lex, on September 21st, 2007
Got an email from occasional reader Steve, who was apparently in town for the graduation of the last OCS class in Pensacola. Sent along a neat pic from the Aviation Museum of 50 prospective ensigns.
By lex, on April 22nd, 2007
You’ll hear a lot in the next couple of weeks or so about how and why Blue Angel #6 went down yesterday at Beaufort. Most of it will be raw conjecture, not worth the pixels used to frame the text. Somebody has a good idea what happened, but he – or they – won’t be talking to the press. They’ll have an investigation to do, and they’ll do it the right way – out of the glare of the public view – in order to find out how the next mishap might be prevented. A board will be convened, gather evidence, weigh and sift conclusions and publish their results – privately.
By lex, on March 26th, 2007
If ever there was a ship that was ready for decommissioning, it was the “Big John” – a great warship that had been rode hard for maybe a bit longer than she ought to have been in a more nearly perfect world. With 18 deployments in her 30 years I think the country got their money’s worth, although it’s worth pointing out that Kitty Hawk – still operating on the tip of the spear – is entering her 46th year of service.
Filed under Best of Neptunus Lex, Lex, Naval History, Navy, Neptunus Lex
By lex, on December 18th, 2006
Our next generation aircraft carrier will be named the USS Gerald R. Ford, if a John Warner/Carl Levin-sponsored “sense of the Congress” has its intended effect: **
An 1819 act of Congress gives the secretary of the Navy responsibility for choosing ship names, a prerogative he still exercises, according to the Naval Historical Center’s Web site.
Posted by Lex, on October 25, 2006
Lots, especially when it comes to naming ships. In an (offline) article in the Newport Daily News, Peter Dujardin notes the upcoming struggle over the name of the next aircraft carrier – a struggle between veterans who manned ships, and the Congressmen who appropriate for them:
Filed under Best of Neptunus Lex, Carroll "Lex" LeFon, Carroll LeFon, Lex, Naval History, Neptunus Lex
By lex, on January 6th, 2004
I was coming in to work today and saw a ship, where my old ship used to be…
It looked like an aircraft carrier, only smaller…
The USS Midway (CV-41) arrived in town late last night – I thought she was going to Broadway Pier, but instead she was at Pier M/N, where my old boat used to moor, back before they decommissioned the old girl (snuffle).
