Tuesday, June 07, 2011

THATs more like it PAO!


110603-N-SH953-653 BOSTON HARBOR (June 3, 2011) USS Constitution greets USS Carr (FFG 52) in Boston Harbor during an underway Battle of Midway commemoration. The underway honored approximately 200 members of Gold Star Families who lost loved ones in Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom and the Navy's victory at Midway Island in World War II. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Kathryn E. Macdonald/Released)
Nice pic MC2.

Hat tip Lee.

40 comments:

  1. Glad to see she has regained her plummage!

    Glad my skepticism was dead square wrong.

    Hopefully its a harbinger of better things....

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  2. UltimaRatioRegis08:57

    Wouldn't it be great to also see Olympia make the weather turn in the decades to come? 

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  3. ewok40k09:47

    great shot! now can we add some warbirds in 1942 era cammo overhead?

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  4. Retired Now09:49

    Recall that when USS CONSTITUTION was dispatched by President Thomas Jefferson,  the mere sight of this well armed frigate off the coast of Tangiers, caused some of the Barbary pirates to surrender without even a fight.   The Emperor of Tangiers immediately released all the American sailors he held as prisoners as well as renouncing his demands for paying tribute by the young democracy called United States.

    USS CONSTITUION was a well armed, well built warship, made in America and she was not sensed to be bluff by our brand new country.   The year was 1802-1803. 

    Can you imagine an LPD, DDG, or LCS lasting over 200 years ?

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  5. John10:38

    Nice ship!

    Some in Congress will ask why we need more since we have one already...  and can we really afford to keep even this one in commission?

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  6. ewok40k10:41

    back then she was top-of-the line ubercruiser, think German pocket battleships... she could go against any frigate ore even 2 and evade any man-o-war...

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  7. Spade10:52

    I could see a LCS ending up like Constitution. They're already pretty similar. Spend most of the time tied to a pier, getting worked on, or needing a tug to get around.

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  8. Kristen11:05

    What a beautiful picture to enjoy over morning coffee!  Thank you for sharing it with the porch.

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  9. Anonymous12:12

    Honestly, I think this fine old sailing ship could sink LCS-1 in a battle far out at sea somewhere.  Why ?  because LCS would run low on fuel while going forth to meet this battle, (after a day or so underway), and then she would slow down to conserve any remaining fuel, and then her high speed diesels would sieze up because they are being run at such  slow rpm's and the CO would not dare light off even one of those gas guzzling Briitish-made turbines, so the little LCS would eventually go DIW as each propulsion engine failed and USS CONSTITUTION would sail by and give USS FREEDOM one cannon shot, which would hit the aluminum superstructure and kill the delicate, pervasive LAN system onboard LCS-1 which controls both machinery stuff air conditioning, vacuum flushing toilets, fuel tank remote monitoring,  as well as combat system stuff and the $650,000,000.00 "corvette" would be helpless  when the 200 + year old sailing vessel arrived at the contested location for battle.

    (sorry for the run-on sentence), but the LCS waste, fraud, and abuse corporate welfare program is bothering me again this year.  

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  10. whats the bit with the "sponsons" back aft on the captains quarters?

    is that only on this ship or were they common back in the day?

    C

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  11. DeltaBravo12:58

    Who gets the privelege of sailing her?  Or riding on her?  How does that happen?  And who mans her and where do they teach that?

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  12. Squidly13:45

    Great pic!  
    Why is CARR backing down?
    Who dips whom in this scenario?
    Too bad they had to have a tug alongside to "sail" CONSTITUTION...

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  13. Squidly13:53

    Vaguely recall that CONSTITUTION's ISIC is BUPERS.  There is a selective program to man her. They teach pretty much everything organically.  Might be that some of the unusual tradecraft stems from outside schools, but most is OJT.

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  14. Smoke 'n' Oakum13:58

    As I understand it, DB, it's special duty. Constitution is skippered by a Commander, if memory serves, and since she only makes it out of her berth once or twice a year, it's mostly a public-affairs mission, though a perfectly worthy one, in my judgment.

    If they ever opened any job on that boat to civilians, I'd quit my job to apply. (Or, better yet, if they installed wi-fi on her, I wouldn't have to.)

    Oh, and spaces for "seats" on her rare departures from port are awarded by lottery (again, if memory serves.)

    If I'm wrong about any of that, or if things have changed, please feel free to correct me.

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  15. C-dore 1414:00

    DB, URR and Boston Maggie probably know the current details but years ago the crew was made up of regular sailors who did well in boot camp, received orders there as a reenlistment incentive, or were from the New England area and preparing to retire.  The two COs that I knew were both good guys who did hard jobs well but had failed to screen for Commander Command at Sea.  After the post-Cold War draw-down CONSTITUTION became a "Special Mission CDR Command".

    As I remember it, they had a fairly intensive "school of the ship" program to teach new crew members about the ship and her history.  Most of the people who sought assignments there were serious about learning these thing (or they didn't last long).  In the late '90s, when they were preparing to actually rig for sail, they arranged a program with the USCGC EAGLE for the crew to actually go to sea on a full rigged ship.

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  16. Smoke 'n' Oakum14:02

    And she and her sister ships were regarded by the Brits as "a bundle of pine boards under bits of striped bunting", to paraphrase.

    This later became notable in history as America's first LOL.

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  17. Bubba Bob14:41

    What contractor built this ship?

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  18. CDR Salamander14:42

    Never ... never underestimate the strenght of Live Oak.  The great North American advantage in the time of wooden ships.

    Try splitting the stuff ... ungh.

    This fall, I had a mixed woodpile of sweetgum, magnolia, maple, black walnut, water oak, and live oak from clearing a corner of my land.  Yes, you can tell the difference when the axe falls.  Amazing stuff.

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  19. Smoke 'n' Oakum14:54

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Humphreys

    A brief historical note, if you've seen the Russell Crowe "O'Brian" flick, the Acheron is pretty obviously based on these same "fir-built frigates". Making the Americans the "bad" guys didn't work for Hollywood, though, so they made her a French privateer. You can tour the movie's HMS Surprise (formerly HMS Rose) in San Diego.

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  20. DeltaBravo14:58

    Thank you, gentlemen.  Very interesting.  What an experience for them!

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  21. FDNF Squid17:23

    What a beauty! (and the Fig looks good too)

    CDR Sal is spot on IRT the PAO here, BZ!

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  22. andrewdb17:37

    DB - not the Constitution, but a buddy of mine worked for the Gov. of Cal. a few (15?) years ago and scored me and him tickets when the Star of India went out under sail from the San Diego Maritime Museum.  The 3- and 4-stars literally were lining up to have their picture taken with the Captain.  Great time.

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  23. I love that ship, and seeing her underway is great, but...

    Seeing her without her full sailing rig, and being towed by a tug, takes a something away from that proud vessel.  It's like seeing an old warrior in a wheelchair.

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  24. James21:40

    As a man of the south who has cut ALOT of wood iunderstand completely....Tennessee....we have tree's.........ALOT OF FREAKING TREE'S

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  25. SCOTTtheBADGER22:22

    I would think that one of the reasons that she is being pushed through the water by a tug is that her reactors are so old that they are probably no longer safe to put online, after all, parts must be almost impossible to find. 

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  26. James22:29

    LOL Dork.

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  27. DeltaBravo22:52

    Tons of oaks here in Texas.  Say no more.

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  28. Navies used to cultivate "oak groves"...

    Naval Live Oaks.

    Where the schools are at the old Chevalier Field, there used to be a pond where heavy oak planks were stored submerged...

    When they were rediscovered in the '80s, they were used on the old Constitution.

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  29. Grandpa Bluewater.01:15

    They are the windows.  One of the luxuries of command. 

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  30. Byron04:27

    LCS-2 is STILL tied to the pier at Mayport. Heading fast towards seven months now. Hey, here's an idea, let's get SECNAV to tell everyone that Mayport is her new homeport! I mean, all those folks from  the builders have pretty much settled into their new homes after all this time and all, it would just be a kindness to them. Story I get is that she's having warranty work problems...snort.

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  31. WaywardSailor07:52

    They are known as "quarter galleries" and serve the dual purpose of holding the captain's seat-of-ease and of allowing the captain to observe the set and draw of the sails without having to appear on deck.  They were common from about the mid-17th to the mid-19th century on sailing vessels in general and warships in particular.

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  32. Surfcaster09:03

    "<span>Making the Americans the "bad" guys didn't work for Hollywood"  A rare time for implementing this clause.
    </span>

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  33. Smoke 'n' Oakum09:14

    Even better: the "Acheron" was literally modelled on Old Ironsides. I didn't know that. Very cool.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_and_Commander:_The_Far_Side_of_the_World#Development

    "the film's special-effects team took stem-to-stern digital scans of USS Constitution at her berth in Boston, from which the computer model of Acheron was rendered"

    As for the rest....hush. This is America, and everyone's entitled to their opinions, and besides: haven't you heard? Even Rush Limbaugh is decrying "hate-filled partisanship" these days.  /mom-voice

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  34. Bubba Bob15:36

    Strong nations need strong navys.  Nations need naval shipyards to build their own naval ships. 

    Unless the United States opens a shipyard where we can build our own ships, we will not have an effective shipbuilding program.

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  35. Grandpa Bluewater.16:02

    Actually, Bubba Bob, we have several. The fault lies not in our yards, but rather in ourselves.

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  36. Byron18:40

    The only thing with the naval shipyards is the unions that screw them up. Ask anyone who was on Saratoga when she was at Philly getting her SLEP.

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  37. tell us about the boiler job byron. out here on the west coast we heard all kinds of stuff including that the skipper of the sara clapped a number of sandcrabs in the brig for impersonating boiler repair mechanics.

    remember we inherited the red head from philly a bit afterwards.

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  38. Tom Mowry06:59

    It's time for a new generation Frigate. They may not be the sexiest things on the seas but I will take an OHP or even a Knox over an LCS any day.

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  39. Steel City13:32

    I missed SARA's SLEP by two years but lived with the sea stories and repercussions for her next two deployments.

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  40. Bubba Bob13:57

    Best. Post. Ever.

    <span>Julius Caesar (I, ii, 140-141)</span>

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