THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 5, 1995 TAG: 9504040344
SECTION: MILITARY NEWS PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DENNIS JOYCE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines
Metal clanks against metal inside the ship's compartment as a cage shaped like a trash can spins upward to load ammunition.
The process is routine for the crew of the destroyer Conolly - guiding 75-pound shells into the 5-inch gun on deck so they can be hurled at targets miles away.
But what is Terry Heidtman, a 47-year-old hospital administrator from Michigan, doing in here?
``I've seen `Hunt for Red October' too many times,'' quips Heidtman, scrunched up against a metal wall with half a dozen other people.
Nearly 100,000 people a year with no official business on Navy ships are getting a look inside ammunition rooms, galleys, even the bridge. They are taking public tours that the Navy offers at Norfolk Naval Station, Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base and - under a new program - the Nauticus pier downtown.
For the visitors, it's a chance to see ships and sailors on the job. For the city of Norfolk, it's a major draw. For the Navy, it's good public relations - maybe even the source of a few new recruits.
Heidtman was one of 850 civilians who climbed aboard the Conolly last weekend at Norfolk Naval Station. With the same efficiency they show in loading ammunition, tour guides like Seaman Jason Botts rotated groups of six to eight from deck to deck.
This day they ran the gamut - tourists in sweat shirts, Boy Scouts in uniform, a blue-capped Navy reunion group, even a VIP - the ship's maid of honor, Ann Feibusch, granddaughter of the Conolly's namesake. She's on aboard for the first time since she took part in the ship's commissioning 16 years ago.
Heidtman, fresh from the darkened maze of video terminals known as the combat information center, said: ``It's an amazing tour. To see the location of every ship in the area on one screen - I wouldn't think they could do that.''
The tour took visitors through the helicopter hangar, where Petty Officer 1st Class William Gross was selling Conolly paraphernalia from a folding table.
``Don't you have little ones for babies?'' asked Karen Fireman of Columbia, Md., holding up a Conolly sweatshirt.
``It's mainly for the crew, so they're adult sizes - BIG adult sizes,'' Gross explained.
Fireman settled for a patch and bumper sticker, mementos for her 2-year-old son.
All visitors are warned to watch their step. Even the commanding officer can crease his forehead or trip if he isn't careful walking through a hatch. And you can't wash the anchor grease from a pair of slacks, no matter how hard you try.
With downsizing claiming support personnel, sailors are busier than ever between cruises when their ships are in port. How can they spare time for tours?
``We like to show off,'' explained Chief Petty Officer Timothy Sheridan, who has given hundreds of tours in European and U.S. ports.
``The guys love doing it,'' added Lt. Cmdr. Stephen Hampton, the Conolly's executive officer. ``Besides, if they weren't doing this, they'd be out here with deck tools, chipping away.''
Fighting ships like the Conolly are more popular among visitors than service ships like oilers or troop-carrying amphibious ships. Ever-popular aircraft carriers are open to the public on some federal holidays at the Navy base.
The visits to the Nauticus pier, which was designed with Navy ships in mind, have become a major downtown attraction and may surpass the numbers for the base.
``That's the equivalent of several sold-out baseball games,'' said Karen Scherburger, executive director of Festevents. ``It's a very good economic benefit for the community.''
The attraction, Scherburger said, is that ships are living, moving things, enhancing permanent downtown features like Nauticus and Harbor Park.
This summer, Scherburger hopes to bring to the waterfront a vessel like Heidtman dreamed of seeing. Never mind that submarines, featured in ``Red October,'' are generally off limits to the public because they're difficult to get around in.
Said Scherburger, ``We're working on it.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
RICHARD L. DUNSTON/Staff
Seaman Jason Butts, 21, tells visitors aboard the destroyer Conolly
about the warship's 5-inch guns. Fighting ships like the Conolly are
more popular among visitors than service ships like oilers or
troop-carrying amphibious ships.
by CNB