Battleship cove

[hminsky]

We took the kids to Battleship Cove today, for a picnic and to visit the battleship exhibits. Our daughter is ten and our son is five.

As we were walking around the battleship we made our way to the front of the ship, and it turns out there is a little restaurant in the mess room. My daughter went up to the counter, and ordered a root beer float.

My wife and I were surprised, because we'd never ordered one of those before, and as far as we knew our kids hadn't ever had one either.

When my wife asked her, my daughter told her that she had been talking to my dad, who was in the navy in WWII, and had asked him what they ate. And he had told her that he they made root beer floats on the base he was at, and that was his favorite thing to eat!

So it was pretty funny, her ordering a root beer float...I guess she just assumed that is what you get when on a battleship.

 

[Joe G]

My son's Cub Scout pack did an overnight on the Massachusetts last year. We ate in the ward room, slept in the 4-high racks, and wandered all over the ship. The restoration they have done on the ship is amazing. I had gone there as a kid; the difference between then and now is incredible. One overnight is nowhere near enough time to do the battleship itself justice, let alone exploring all the ships that they have in the cove.

My son and the other boys there were not of an age to be as impressed by what they saw. They spent most of their time spinning one of the 40mm AA guns around. I on the other hand poked in every spot I could. It seemed that not many people knew that you could climb into the rear 16" turret. The entrance was a hatch on the underside at the rear. Once you were in you could check out the sighting telescope, the mechanical firing calculator, and the breeches of the big guns. They even had a film loop of how they would load and fire them.

I would love to go back there and check it out again.

Disclaimer: I have a personal interest in the Big Mamie as my grandfather helped build it.

 

[SKS Ray]

I love battleship cove. We should get an NES members trip in order!!!!

 

[tele_mark]

Wow, memories! Me and Mamie go back quite a ways, 1971 to be exact. I used to go there every few years for a visit up until about the mid 90's.

A couple shots I just dug out:

In the background, you can see the rear turret guns are horizontal. There was a staircase in front of one of the guns so you could climb up and look down. There was a lightbulb in the breech. The whole thing was too tempting, and when no one was looking on this trip, I shimmied about 5 feet down the barrel. I think I could've made it the whole way but got paranoid about being caught and backed out. I'm a little more than 16" wide now.

 

[Cross-X]

Years ago my scuba diving wreck diver's class took a tour there. What a memorable trip!

 

[Raoul Duke]

My son's Cub Scout pack did an overnight on the Massachusetts last year. We ate in the ward room, slept in the 4-high racks, and wandered all over the ship.

Those are some nice stories indeed-particularly about the root beer float.

I remember doing that same overnight as a scout in 1980...wow, hadn't thought about that in years. I think it was one of my favorite trips as we did it a few times.

Thanks.

 

[TimJ]

I've done to Cub Scout overnights on her now-well one time we stayed on the JP Kennedy, which was really neat, too.

A good time was had by all.....a great way to spend the day!

 

[Firetarr]

"Get off the superstructure!"