Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 22, 1990 TAG: 9004220277
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: F-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long
Many of the ships seem impossibly huge. Hard to believe anything so massive can even float, much less move under its own power.
Anyone who grew up watching naval battles in war movies will be thrilled to see so much sea power in one place.
Some might find the ships ominous, especially when you consider their tremendous destructive firepower, which no one says very much about.
Conservatives concerned about our military strength might sleep more soundly after a visit. But they also may worry about the potential vulnerability of so many ships docked in such close proximity. Shades of Pearl Harbor!
Even liberals who think the U.S. military budget is grossly bloated and hope most of the ships soon will become dinosaurs in our rapidly changing times can't help but be impressed.
Some visitors may even feel a flicker of old-fashioned, patriotic pride.
Norfolk, with the world's largest naval base, is home port to 123 ships. Nearly half are at the base at any time.
Twenty-three different types of ships are based here: aircraft carriers, helicopter carriers, battleships, destroyers, frigates, guided missile cruisers, submarines, submarine tenders, oilers, floating dry docks, repair ships, amphibious assault ships, even a food-storage combat ship.
Unfortunately, for many visitors it's a look-but-don't-touch situation. And you have to look fast. Even a slow-moving tour bus passes the ships too quickly. You are not allowed to get out of the bus for a better look. Except on weekends, you can't drive around the base to see the ships on your own.
Navy spokesmen acknowledge some visitors get upset because they can't always go aboard. That's understandable. A fleeting glimpse isn't enough to satisfy anyone fascinated with the Navy's great ships.
"This is not a mothballed fleet," explained Petty Officer John Rapoport, a Navy spokesman. "These are active warships. They are not museum pieces."
On weekdays, the ships are not open to the public because crews are busy working aboard them.
Despite the limitations, visitors can make the naval base the focus of a full day in Norfolk - especially on weekends, when you can get aboard a ship or two. In addition to bus tours, offered daily at this time of year, you can visit the base museum in your own car. You also can drive into the heart of Norfolk to take a harbor cruise that passes the base.
The naval base is one of Norfolk's top two tourist attractions, according to Deborah Wakefield of the city's visitors' bureau. She said three harbor cruises are the city's other top attraction.
The base is on Hampton Roads, a deep channel between the mouth of the James River and Chesapeake Bay. Hampton Roads is where the Union Monitor and the Confederate Merrimack clashed during the Civil War. It also is where President Theodore Roosevelt launched the Great White Fleet in 1907.
Its round-the-world cruise established the United States as a major naval power. And it is where the first biplane took off from a ship in 1910.
The ships are the stars of the Navy base, including the USS Abraham Lincoln, the Navy's newest and largest carrier.
Nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers are the most popular ships, said Linda Pounds, a tour bus driver for 16 years. "I still find it fascinating to see people get excited about the ships," she said. "They come from all over the United States."
The USS Vulcan, the oldest active commissioned ship in the Navy, is based here. The 48-year-old vessel was a cruise ship, but the Navy turned it into a repair ship during World War II. Norfolk also is home of the USS Iowa, the battleship whose gun turret blew up last year, killing nearly 50 sailors.
Visitors also may see military ships from other nations. Even the Soviet navy visited Norfolk last summer, Master Chief Billy Kinder said.
Another highlight of the bus tour is the adjoining Naval Air Station. Kinder said it is one of the world's busiest airports, with a plane or helicopter landing or taking off every three minutes. The air station is home base for nearly 150 planes - 10 percent of all Navy aircraft.
Visitors may not see fighter planes because they are based at the nearby Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach. But they can see many helicopters (Sea Kings, Sea Knights, Sea Sprites, Sea Stallions and Super Stallions), E2-C Hawkeye weather and surveillance planes and other aircraft.
No photography is allowed when buses pass through the Navy Aviation Depot, where attack and fighter aircraft - like F-14 Tomcats and A-6 Intruders - are rebuilt and repaired.
Kinder said about 71,000 military and 20,000 civilian personnel work at the naval base. Wakefield said about one-third of Norfolk's residents are on active duty with the Navy or are civilian employees of the military.
The bustling base, a city within a city, covers more than 5,000 acres. It has a shopping mall, fast-food restaurants, chapels, quarters for officers and enlisted men, galleys, schools, theaters, libraries, gymnasiums, warehouses, fire stations, communications centers, command posts and an anti-submarine warfare training center.
Heat-carrying steam pipelines are in open view and suspended in the air; much of the base is designed for function, not beauty.
One of the nicest areas is Admirals' Row, a series of handsome homes where the Navy's top brass reside. They were built by different states in 1907 as part of the Jamestown Exposition marking the 300th anniversary of the founding of the Jamestown colony in Virginia. The naval base was established 10 years later in 1917.
Last year, 62,000 people took a naval base tour on buses. Sailors usually serve as guides, though bus drivers sometimes do the narrations. Bus tours cost $4, $2 for children under 12, senior citizens and the handicapped. They usually last less than 1 1/2 hours.
In colder weather, no one may show up for some tours. But in midsummer, all buses may be full and extras may be put into service. Seats are available on a first-come, first-served basis. On summer days, all tours often are booked by noon. Someone arriving at 11 a.m. may not get on a bus until 2:30 p.m. or not at all.
In warm weather, harbor cruises depart several times each day from Norfolk's Waterside festival marketplace, which has more than 120 shops and five major restaurants.
Cruises are offered aboard the Carrie B, a reproduction Mississippi riverboat; American Rover, a 135-foot topsail schooner; and the new Spirit of Norfolk, a sleek vessel that features dining, dancing, entertainment and sightseeing.
by CNB