Sharpening a pencil on a lathe - GIF and comic

[Toolmaker51]

Saluting WmRMeyers, and our many other veterans.

In case anyone had a long period feeling safe on West Coast........
USNRD SAN DIEGO, NAVAIRSTA MEMPHIS, USS ENTERPRISE, USS KITTY HAWK, USS INDEPENDENCE, USS CONSTELLATION, USS FLATLEY,
CONSTRUCTION BATTALION PT. HUENEME, ACU-1, NAVWEPSTA PT. MUGU,
SIMD's @ CORONADO - SAN DIEGO - PUGET SOUND - LONG BEACH;
NAVSTA LONG BEACH, NAVSTA ROOSEVELT ROADS, NAVSTA SUBIC BAY, USCGSTA TERMINAL ISLAND,
NAVAIRSTA KEY WEST, NAVAIRSTA NORTH ISLAND, NAVAIRSTA PT. MUGU....
.........but I had help, lol. 26 years worth.
Some barely objectionable, two a bit worse, NONE more asinine to what have transpired lately.
Whole stinking world knows three of them, for sure.

[mklotz]

Speaking of the Kitty Hawk, Toolmaker...

Sadly, she's being towed from Bremerton to the breakers in Brownsville, TX via Cape Horn (too big to go through canal). They stopped off briefly in Long Beach Harbor where these photos were taken.

The first photo shows what the harbor looks like now. It's a virtual forest of container cranes. In the second photo you can see the Spruce Goose dome in the background with a cruise ship moored in front. The other cruise ships are empty; just killing time until Covid subsides.

[Toolmaker51]

Yeah, Kitty Hawk era past some time back, now at anchor, that'll be used just one more time.
I don't mind too much, lots of terrific experiences aboard those varied stations. Nothing that works so hard lasts forever. Ships can be replaced.
I don't think one thing ever angered me more than the BRAC; disposing of property that cannot be replaced. Who looked at the West Coast, comparing San Diego with Coronado bridge in the way, Puget Sound that could easily be netted and mined, or weak San Francisco; and sacrifice Long Beach? The only true deep water port on the entire coastline. Yeah, couldn't have been any BS going on there. Shipping containers? Uh huh, Human trafficking, stores full of crappy toys, huge security issues, unreal traffic by rail, the poor Harbor & Long Beach freeways plus all the last 10-15 miles of intersecting freeways, meanwhile we financed the CCC we face today. What kind of ROI is that?

Marv, next time available, treat special guests and yourself for tour of The IOWA, SS Lane Victory, Maritime Museum area, all generally in San Pedro. It'll take a succession of trips. Confident you'll get 'that feeling'. In September, Lane Victory puts out with paying guests aboard. I've been out twice, XO of Haven Division US Naval Sea Cadets. NO ghosts, just a lot of veterans and volunteers keep her seaworthy. The best living history ever.

I've been haze gray almost half my adult life, all kinds of been there done so and so. Just thinking about that I described, 1700 miles away again, still makes me feel just one inch tall.

[mklotz]

...
Marv, next time available, treat special guests and yourself for tour of The IOWA, SS Lane Victory, Maritime Museum area, all generally in San Pedro. It'll take a succession of trips. Confident you'll get 'that feeling'. In September, Lane Victory puts out with paying guests aboard. I've been out twice, XO of Haven Division US Naval Sea Cadets. NO ghosts, just a lot of veterans and volunteers keep her seaworthy. The best living history ever....

I live on the Palos Verdes peninsula and the view from the family room includes all of Long Beach, the port and a chunk of San Pedro. I've toured the Lane Victory several times, even organized a tour for our metalworking club, have a great collection of photographs from my visits on the Iowa, and the Maritime Museum was right next to one of our favorite Mexican restaurants, sadly now closed.

I've always been fascinated with the Navy. As a kid I built a miniature navy of my own with Revell plastic ship models; learned a lot of terminology and function from that. Later I graduated to wooden sailing ship models and that work fostered my DIY tool building efforts.