US Navy Seal Extraction

"Here's a video of a U.S. Navy SEAL Extraction. It was filmed from inside an MH-47 Chinook helicopter.. The pilot has lowered the ramp, dipped the tail end into the water to partially flood the compartment (a maneuver that requires quite precise flying) and awaits the Navy SEALs to board in their F470 Zodiac."

Aircraft Carrier

My friend, Mike, is visiting NYC right now and sent me this photo from the Intrepid aircraft carrier.

Navy SEAL Snipers

Article about Richard Phillips' rescue

USS Missouri - Part 5

Recall that the ship is anchored beside the USS Arizona Memorial, which represents the start of World War 2.

The USS Missouri represents the end of World War 2 because it was on this ship, on September 2, 1945, while docked in Tokyo Harbor, that the Japanese signed an unconditional surrender.








At the conclusion of the tour our guide, Marc, personally thanked each & every one of the men & women in the Navy on our tour for their service and commitment to America and other nations around the world. I concurred wholeheartedly and afterwards had the great honor to talk with him at length about the U.S. Military and its profound role over the past 200+ years.

Without a doubt the Radical Left both within America and without condemn the U.S. Military every chance they get. There's no better way to describe these people than the term used by the USSR's Joseph Stalin: "Useful Idiots". Anyone who thinks that the freedom enjoyed by Americans and many other billions of people around the world is not related to the strength of the U.S. military truly has consumed copious amounts of that special "Kool-Aid" I often mention on this blog!

It was a proud day for me to visit the USS Missouri and I'm greatly indebted to Marc and the rest of the staff there!

---

Here's a video I've put together of my tour:

USS Missouri - Part 4

We got to go inside several parts of the ship. I found the control room to be the most fascinating.

One of the young Navy guys said something hilarious to his buddy about these 2 red phones: "That phone on the left is a direct line to the President. The other one is a direct line to Domino's!"

The display on the top - which is completely old school by the way (not a computer screen) - represents the position of every gun on the ship.

Marc turned off the regular lights and showed us what the blue ones look like. Apparently the blue ones are on most of the time, day or night.

The remainder of the photos in this section I took on my own, outside of the tour.








This is the dining room for the senior officers.
And their lounge immediately adjacent.

USS Missouri - Part 3

Here you will see several photos taken from assorted decks of the Missouri. As mentioned previously, the ship is 108 feet wide. "Why this width?", our tour guide, Marc, asked. The reason is that the Panama Canal can accommodate ships up to 110 feet wide, so this leaves one foot of clearance on either side but that's enough to get her through!

He also pointed out that the main deck is made of teak wood, not metal. This has much to do with keeping the lower decks below much cooler.

USS Missouri - Part 2

Here are some exterior shots of this enormous battleship. It truly is an amazing piece of technology! It participated in 3 wars:

• World War 2
• The Korean War (1950 - 1955)
  
• The Gulf War (1990 - 1991)

Because of this, there's a variety of different technology from different eras onboard.

Also interesting is the fact that between 1955 - 1984 the USS Missouri was decommissioned and sitting in the harbor in Bremerton, Washington, just across from Seattle. So though Honolulu is home to her for now, there's no guarantee that the Navy won't take her back in the future.

USS Missouri - Part 1

The USS Missouri is an Iowa-class battleship of the US Navy, the 4th such ship to carry that name. Also known as "The Mighty Mo", it is 887 feet long and 108 feet wide.

On both of my previous visits to Honolulu I had visited the nearby USS Arizona Memorial but this time I wanted to visit the Missouri. I arrived at Pearl Harbor a little before 9:00am and was on the first shuttle bus to be taken over to the ship.


The USS Arizona Memorial is right beside the Missouri, and represents America's entrance into World War 2, when Japanese airplanes attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

Initially I just paid $16 for the self-guided tour. But then after I got off the shuttle bus I opted to pay $7 more for a guided tour. It was a wise investment, as you'll soon learn.


There were a large number of Japanese tourists visiting the Missouri. I imagine this is because of its historical significance to the path of their country, which I'll explain later.


Originally I was supposed to be on a small tour with a few other civilians but when I walked over to the gathering area I was welcomed onto a special tour for US Navy personnel and their families by our tour guide, Marc.
Here's a future sailor. She was the daughter of one of the US sailors on our tour.
Here's our group walking up the staircase to get onto the ship. Note the different uniforms, though all were in the Navy.