Photo Hunters - Water
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Living in the port city of Portsmouth Virginia, this week’s assignment of “water” was easy! I just popped downtown and walked around a bit while the boys were having their book club at the library. 
This is a shot across the Elizabeth River, looking at Norfolk, Virginia. You can also see part of the world-famous Norfolk Naval Shipyard in this shot. We’ve got two celebrities in port this week!
From this little dock you can take a double-decker ferry across the river for just $1 per person. It’s a great ride, as you go past the shipyard and get to see all of the big impressive naval ships being restocked and repaired. It takes about 10 minutes to get across the water, and the ferry runs every half hour.
I love the weathering on this.
Here’s one of our celebrities: The USS Iwo Jima!
It’s hard to get an idea of just how massive this ship is from the picture. Her flight deck spans a full 2.2 acres, being 819 feet long and 119 feet wide. She boasts a full 600-bed hospital with 6 operating rooms, three dental operating rooms, x-ray rooms, labs, patient wards, and even a blood bank. You can find more facts on her armament and the vehicles she carries here. Standing on the other side of this little dock, a football player with a good arm could easily toss a ball onto her flight deck; I love being able to get so close to impressive ships like this.
Here’s a shot of her from the air while in deployment; check out all of those helicopters! (Photo courtesy of the Navy)
The Iwo Jima has served as President Bush’s flagship, and is only the second ship to be presented with the flag of the President.
A note on her history from her website:
On August 31, 2005, IWO JIMA was sortied to the Gulf of Mexico to provide disaster relief and to conduct support operations in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. IWO JIMA sailed up the Mississippi River to the city of New Orleans to directly support relief operations and act as the central command center for all federal, state, and local disaster recovery operations.
During this critical period, IWO JIMA also served as the region’s only fully functional air field for helicopter operations, conducting over one thousand flight deck operations; provided hot meals, showers, drinking water, and berthing to thousands of National Guardsmen and relief workers; provided medical services, including first aid and surgical services, for disaster victims; and conducted clean-up operations in the city and suburbs of New Orleans.
Also in port this week is the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier CVN-71, aka the USS Theodore Roosevelt. I couldn’t get a shot of her, though. Maybe I’ll take the boys on the ferry this weekend and see if we can get a shot. Here’s the little ferry that you can ride across the river - note the flags painted on the Iwo Jima behind her. The words under the flag say “Beware of Jet Blast and Rotors.” Ack!
What do you think? I wanna know! Please leave a comment :)
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Grandma said,
Wrote on March 30, 2007 @ 6:54 am
Great pics!
Margaret said,
Wrote on March 30, 2007 @ 10:47 am
Great pictures. It’s been awhile since I visited that area.
Heidi said,
Wrote on March 30, 2007 @ 2:47 pm
Great pictures. I love the close up of the rope.
incog & nito said,
Wrote on March 30, 2007 @ 3:36 pm
Beautiful pictures and stories with them. I love reading about other parts of the world. I really enjoy this photo hunt, it always reminds me of how eye catching our world really is. Happy weekend.
PowersTwinB said,
Wrote on March 30, 2007 @ 3:44 pm
Wow! that ship Iwo Jima is HUGE! how lucky you are that you can go to a dock and see that! wow!!! Great photos! Mine are up, please come and visiti soon
Sandy said,
Wrote on March 30, 2007 @ 6:09 pm
Great pictures and YES they went along perfectly with our theme this week. I have never been here before but saw your name on TN CHICK so decided to come and visit…Mine is not up yet but will be soon. Sandy
Friday's Child said,
Wrote on March 30, 2007 @ 8:00 pm
Great photos. Very well taken.
Mine is up too.
Ma said,
Wrote on March 30, 2007 @ 8:54 pm
Great photos! I love the ones of Virginia. the Carrier is great too. I love watching the ships sail out of Pearl Harbor in Hawai’i.
I’m up early too. Have a nice weekend.
Bobbie said,
Wrote on March 30, 2007 @ 9:22 pm
Amazing photos of the ships and tug!
I’ve never seen them in ‘person’
Teena in Toronto said,
Wrote on March 30, 2007 @ 10:04 pm
I grew up near the ocean anad miss it so!
Mine’s up too
Biker Betty said,
Wrote on March 30, 2007 @ 10:29 pm
These are really wonderful pictures. It’s funny. I just found out tonight that my husband was on the Iwo Jima many years ago. What kind of timing is that? Have a nice weekend.
Arlene said,
Wrote on March 30, 2007 @ 11:15 pm
Those are such pretty pictures!! My friend used to be stationed in Norfolk, but he never sent me such pretty pictures!
I played too
Linda said,
Wrote on March 30, 2007 @ 11:36 pm
Fantastic pictures and great history, too. I have always been impressed with how big aircraft carriers are. Hard to believe that something that big can float!
srp said,
Wrote on March 31, 2007 @ 2:01 am
Great pictures for this weeks theme. You are close to me… here in Virginia Beach. I don’t think I have ever been looking at Norfolk from this perspective, however. We do have a lot of water and a lot of Navy here. Love the history lesson too.
Pastormac's Ann said,
Wrote on March 31, 2007 @ 2:31 am
Wow, nice job on the water theme this week. Great collection of photos!
Imma (Alice) said,
Wrote on March 31, 2007 @ 4:03 am
Very nice photos. Thanks for sharing with us.
Dragonheart said,
Wrote on March 31, 2007 @ 5:37 am
Terrific selection of photos for the theme.
Thanks for sharing some of the history of the carrier as well.
Fizzy said,
Wrote on March 31, 2007 @ 9:19 am
I don’t miss living in Virginia Beach, and I don’t miss the military life, but I do miss seeing the ships. I can remember flying over the Norfolk base once and seeing all the ships in port lined up - it was amazing.
Anita said,
Wrote on March 31, 2007 @ 9:46 am
Great photos! So pretty!
kathy said,
Wrote on March 31, 2007 @ 10:04 am
Great Pictures!!! I enjoyed them; I haven’t been close to Navy or the shore (West coast) in years.. What a great view to share.
lessake said,
Wrote on March 31, 2007 @ 12:45 pm
The close up of the rope is wonderful!
It was nice of you to find the Navy photo of Iwo Jima - the photo itself is so powerful!!
Jennifer said,
Wrote on March 31, 2007 @ 6:42 pm
I loved your pictures. Both my grandfather and my aunt were stationed in VA but I have never seen pictures of the shipyard.
meeyauw said,
Wrote on April 1, 2007 @ 12:17 pm
I really enjoyed learning about the ships. That is one of the great things about the photo hunt. Your photos are great!