This is the second installment of our day out to sea. There was just so much to cover, I had to split it in two just so I could manage it. And I was thinking of you, too.
We'd ridden the ferry over to Bremerton just for fun and when we got there, we found this, The Puget Sound Navy Museum, right next to the ferry terminal.
What the heck, let's go!!
Out in front of the museum was this, the sail of the nuclear-powered submarine, USS Parche, the most decorated ship in the history of the United States Navy. Parche earned this distinction while conducting many special operations between 1976 and 2004, all of which remain classified to this day.
Fun Facts: The Parche sail is 31 feet long and 18 feet tall and weighs approximately 60 tons and is specially hardened for breaking through ice when surfacing in Arctic waters. The sail supported many functions. It contained the fair water planes used to maneuver and maintain depth, and the periscopes and masts used for navigation and communication. The sail is free-flooding - no crew would be inside when the sub was submerged. When operating on the surface, a team of three to four officers and crew stood watch on the bridge located in the forward part of the sail.
More Fun Facts: The USS Parche was built in Pascagoula, Mississippi and was commissioned in August, 1974. In 1991, the Mare Island Shipyard modified the vessel by adding a 100-foot section to the hull. Parche was decommissioned in 2004.
USS Parche operated in both the Atlantic and Pacific fleet. Parche's original mission was to find and destroy enemy submarines. She was equipped with an advanced sonar system capable of searching for and detecting surface and undersea targets at great ranges, as well as a computer-controlled weapons system. After modifications, Parche received a new mission of research and development. During her time of service, she participated in missions of great importance to the United States. The missions included Cold War and post-Cold War intelligence-gathering operations that remain highly classified to this day.
The Navy built Building 50 on the shipyard in 1896. It served as the first Administrative Headquarters for Shipyard commandants. The building has been relocated three times: first when Dry Dock 2 was built in 1910, second in the 1930s to Farragut Avenue where it served as apprentice classrooms and administrative offices and third in 2006 to its present location.
The Museum officially opened in Building 50 on August 25, 2007.
The Puget Sound Navy Museum collects, preserves and interprets the naval heritage of the Pacific Northwest from 1840 to the present.
This Museum, quite naturally, features a lot of exhibits from the Shipyard.
And when you come in, you get to meet some of the volunteers manning the Museum. We had a nice conversation with them and got some good information about the Museum and the Shipyard.
The fellow on the right was pretty congenial, for a sailor. Hahaha, it never ends, does it? We traded gentle barbs as sailors and Marines have done for years and years.
Believe it or not, that's a steam engine. I honestly thought they'd be a bit more substantial.
The men and the women who waged war at home through their work at supporting the war effort.
Back in the day, you'd use a clock like this to document your time into and out of work. Hahaha, the times, they sure have changed.
I can remember reading the Sunday Funnies and thinking how cool it would be to have a two-way wrist radio like Dick Tracy. If you had told me when I was 12 all that was waiting for us in the future, I would have laughed in your face.
Liar, liar, pants of fire.
The ship's bell was an important part of the ship's routine as it sounded out the time and was used for setting the ship's watch.
Hahaha, an early teletype machine. I waltzed around with a little bit more modern version of this machine when I was in the Marines. Hahaha, now look at how we can send messages and documents.
I'm sorry, but there is no way in the world I would go under the water with just this thing providing air to me.
Uh, uh!! Nope!!
Can you imagine looking around in that sort of thing. Turn your head the right and look out that porthole and then look up to see through the skylight. Hahaha, not cool, man. Not cool at all.
They did a good job with their presentations, their exhibits. You sometimes forget the enormous effort put into war production when you study the history of World War II. There's no doubt the war caused a great upheaval in the American culture; from women breaking away from the kitchen to the large movement of Blacks from the South to the Industrial North.
Things would never be the same and it started, in part, here in this shipyard and yards and factories like it all around the Nation.
It was an interesting insight into the War at Home. I hadn't realized how much the government propagandized the people at home. From buying bonds to working while you weren't feeling well, they pushed hard for the war effort.
And, deep inside the museum, they had a room for the kids with little kid-sized uniforms they could try on and lots of other hands-on activities.
Remember the deep sea diver? Carol tried it out . . . she did OK and so I decided to be a brave little solder and give it a go myself.
Hahaha, it wasn't all that bad.
My Dad had a bunch of pictures of sailors Crossing the Line, the crossing of the Equator. First time sailors, or Guppies, had to be initiated into the club; y'know, pay their dues. In my Dad's experience, they had to swim through some swill and, after some other trials, they had to come up and kiss King Neptune's greased up belly.
Hahaha, but once you Crossed the Line, you never had to do that again.
And the Navy, being the Navy, went and made a huge deal of it with certificates . . .
.
. . . to commemorate this very big event.
I am guessing because I do not know, but Bremerton must have been the home port for the submarine fleet. They had the sail from the Parche and then they had several exhibits documenting the life of sailors aboard the boats.
Defenders Down Deep
This was illuminating, comparing them to a known landmark, The Seattle Space Needle. The USS Parche was an Ohio class sub, the 560 ft. one shown in the chart below.
I really had a good time in the museum and I learned a little something. I've had the opportunity to study the many different theaters, battles and men who waged World War II but I've only given a perfunctory nod to the men and women who stayed home and waged war in their own fashion. I saw enough to pique my interest. Maybe, in my leisure days on the beach, I may try and find a book or two on the home front.
Here's some of the cartoons published in this yard during the war designed to inform and motivate the folks building the ships and other tools of war for those on the front.
Hahaha, She wasn't hairless until careless!!
Short and to the point; very effective. Sad thing is, these cartoons, silly as they are, were probably a reaction to some accident that had already occurred.
Sticking with the theme of Feminine Looks, they even put out this cartoon warning women to dress appropriately for work. For, uh, safety reasons.
In this one they have our old pal,Yard Bird, but they've introduced a new personality, The Super Bee, to help our heroine out in . . .
Dressed to Kill . . . (Herself)
It was World War II and you had to make the enemy just a bit less than you were so it would be easier to kill them. It's not nice but it is a fact of war.
Notice who drew this cartoon?
This one was published in June, 1942 and the pain of Pearl Harbor was still very fresh to the American Psyche.
I had not thought of it, but medals, recognition and awards were probably as important to the guy working in the shipyard as they were to the men on the front lines. Everyone, regardless of their job, likes to be recognized for achieving something or for contributing to something worthwhile.
It took me a moment but I finally realized that the $18.75 he's talking about is the amount it takes to buy a bond. It worked, tying what you do at home to what happens to the guys doing the fighting.
I'm thinking that Ray Hurd contributed the idea for this cartoon to the artist, Bradshaw.
All of these were drawn in 1942 and 1943. It's amazing how quickly America transformed itself, in every way possible, into a war-fighting and war-producing Nation. It touched everyone, I think. I know it did with my Mom. She graduated high school and went to a nursing school during the war. I'm sure she was thinking that she would contribute in some way to winning the war . . . in the end, she had to leave the nursing school because she . . . shudder . . . got married.
Yep!! True story!! They were totally justified in kicking her out!!
Hahahaha...
Hahaha, I guess they weren't worried about spreading the flu or whatever was ailing you. Times were different. Honestly, if we were to drop a 22-year old college graduate from today back into, say, 1939, I don't know that they would be able to function.
Hahaha, I guess they'd figure it out but they would be miserable. Very, very miserable.
They also had exhibits showing life on board the USS Stennis, an aircraft carrier. They were, truly, floating cities. I hadn't thought of it, but they must have had to really micro-manage every inch of space on that flight deck.
They used this model to help them stage and manage their resources. It had to be an interesting job. Kinda like playing chess.
'Hmmmm, I'll just move these two over here and then we'll free up that area over there.'
Hahaha, a little feng shui for war.
But it wasn't all work and no play. One things about Squids, they ate well while at sea. Look at this mess taken from the Stennis. Not bad, buddy. If you think this was tough, go eat some C-Rations.
Hahahah, those C-Rations weren't called Ham and @#^$*$%!~ for nothing.
And if the Mess wasn't enough, you could stop by the Gedunk for some Pogey-Bait.
That's World War II Navy talk I got from my Dad. The Gedunk was a small store selling candy, coke, cigs, magazines, whatever you might get from a small store. Pogey-Bait was the candy and other stuff like chips and dip. Hahaha, times changed from my Dad's Wooden Deck Navy to the modern, nuclear Navy of today.
Inside Historic Building 50. I know they've remodeled this old beauty but they did keep some things from the past like this bannister on the staircase.
Of course we had to stop by the Tourist version of the Gedunk. Hahaha, I don't need any of that stuff but I sure do like looking. Almost bought a Marine cap. Almost.
You can learn a lot just looking. Classes of ships and the Emergence of the SuperCarrier.
I didn't know we had a SuperCarrier!!
The United States Marine Corps . . . and the Navy, a Department of the Corps, used to ferry them here and there so the Marines can do the Heavy Lifting.
'Nuff said.
And I saw these. I can't help it, I see them and think of Michelle. Funny thing is that Michelle is nuts about Lighthouses, she really likes them but she doesn't have a lot of lighthouse related stuff in her house. Still, I see this stuff like this lighthouse-themed candleholder, I think of her.
When we left, we went out through the Harborside Fountain Park.
Fun Facts: The fountains were created by WET Design based in Sun Valley, CA. WET Design is known worldwide for designing contextual, one-of-a-kind, landmark water features.
The copper clad fountains in the park were initially conceived to reference an armada of battleships and submarines leaving the Bremerton Naval Shipbuilding Yard and heading out towards the Sound. Intentionally abstract, the water expressions also reference whales and the volcanic activity of the region.
Oh, the guys that built these fountains also designed the Fountains of the Bellagio in Las Vegas.
Unfortunately, they had the fountains turned off today. But you can see where they can be impressive when they're up and running.
Yeah, I can see the armada thingie.
So we had a great time there. It's a fun museum that entertains, challenges and informs the visitor. All the things a museum should do. Plus, and I like this, like the Museum at the Coast Guard Station, this one was manned entirely by volunteers.
Heading to Seattle? Take some time for an ocean voyage to Bremerton. It's almost an hour each way and you'll have plenty of time to sit and enjoy a leisurely lunch while on your cruise with some great views.
We had a great time.
Life is good.
Hooah!!
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