I recently wandered by the U.S. Coast Guard operated Alki Point Lighthouse in West Seattle and noticed they were running tours. I joined one for a great little tour run by members of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. The original light station was established here in 1887. Back then it was literally just a small lamp…
Category: Maritime
Admiralty Head Lighthouse
Located within Fort Casey Historical State Park in the Coupeville area of Whidbey Island in Washington state, Admiralty Head Lighthouse was first constructed in 1890, then rebuilt in 1903. The brick lighthouse only had a short career being deactivated in 1922 and later used as a building for the training of working dogs by the army….
Seattle from West Seattle
Here comes the sun! Seattle, Washington in all it’s glory on a sunny Spring day today, as viewed from the West Seattle waterfront.
Soviet Foxtrot B-427 Scorpion Submarine
In Long Beach, California right alongside the Queen Mary sits Podvodnaya Lodka B-427 Scorpion (“Podvodnaya Lodka” is Russian for Submarine). This is a former Cold War era Soviet Project 641 Foxtrot class diesel-electric attack submarine that was once the nemesis of the US Navy Pacific Fleet. B-427 once protected Soviet Fleet warships and nuclear missile submarines from…
Wandering the decks of the Queen Mary
A few years ago I was in Auckland, New Zealand at the same time the Queen Mary 2 was in port. One mighty and extremely luxurious cruise liner (launched in 2003 the 75,000 tonne, 1,132 feet / 345 metre long QM2 can carry 2,620 passengers along with 1,253 officers and crew)! It always stuck in my mind that I should…
The Battleship USS Iowa (BB-61) “The Big Stick”
During World War Two the US Navy built 4 of the 45,000 tonne Iowa Class Battleships to dominate the oceans and Axis navies. Having visited three of the sister ships in 2013: USS New Jersey (BB-62 in Camden, New Jersey), USS Missouri (BB-63 in Pearl Harbour, Hawaii ) and USS Wisconsin (BB-64 in Norfolk, Virginia) I needed to complete the set and visit the class…
The Battleship USS Missouri (BB-63) “Mighty Mo”
The USS Missouri (BB-63) is an Iowa Class Battleship launched January 29th, 1944 and commissioned on June 11th, 1944. She served in the US Navy until 1955 when she became part of the ready reserve “Mothball Fleet” but was recommissioned in 1986 and went back into service until 1992. At 270.4 metres (887.3 feet) in length with a displacement of 45,000 tonnes she is a big…
Pearl Harbour 1941: Past to Present
“Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date that will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.” – US President Franklin D. Roosevelt Pearl Harbour, Oahu, Hawaii 1941 On December 7th, 1941 the Imperial Japanese Navy conducted a surprise attack upon the US Navy…
The Demise of Captain James Cook
Captain James Cook (1728-1779) of the Royal Navy was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer. He joined the navy in 1755 and served in the Seven Years War (1754-1763, it was called that as the main fighting during the war occurred from 1756 onwards) that was fought out between the main European powers in their quest for…
U-505 “Das Boot”
In the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago is one of the most impressive museum displays I have ever seen. U-505 the only captured World War Two era German U-boat (Unterseeboot or submarine) in the USA is presented within a purpose-built wing of the museum in all its enormous glory. I was here 12…
Thar She Blows! Whales in Massachusetts
Nantucket the island off the coast of Cape Cod in Massachusetts was from the 1700’s to the mid 1800’s the whaling capital of the USA (and the subject of one or two dirty limericks!). It met a sharp decline after this as the whaling industry itself was in the decline (natural resources were being discovered elsewhere)…
Hello Indianapolis!
Two Aussies on a road trip across the heartland of America from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Chicago, Illinois. After departing Cincinnati in Ohio we headed for Indianapolis, Indiana a city I knew very little about apart from the Indy 500 car race. What a cool city it turned out to be with impressive and scenic sights to take in, many…
Deano In America 