The Showboat

Just getting around to posting this, but a few weeks ago, Sherry and I toured the USS North Carolina.  And here are some pix of the boat known affectionately during WWII as "The Showboat."

There was a Coast Guard plane passing nearby...

Acting as her "spotter", I helped Sherry scare him away...

I remember visiting the Memorial as a wee lad, but didn't remember the float planes (Note plane in background racing for cover after Sherry riddled his fuselage with bullets)...

Please continue to more pix and video beyond the fold...


It was a great day for touring and for pictures on The Battleship...

Old Glory is mighty proud to be flying over The Showboat...

A warship has to have every service on board, even a dentist's office...

The Kills Board...Sucks being you, Mr. Jap Pilot...

Got your tickets yet?

Tickets to what?

To the Gun Show!...

"Fifty feet long and a 2-ton anchor..."

Back in the 1980's, my friends had a favorite band named The Woods.  I guess they were my favorite, too.  We went to dozens of their shows in Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Raleigh, Asheville, and elsewhere.  I got to know the artists, and they got to know me some, too.  I'd go so far as to call them friends, but I think I was more a friend to them that they were to me.  But that's no big thing...Rock Stars can't go around being friends with every schmuck that thinks they know 'em.

Terry Anderson, drummer for that band, penned a song that the Georgia Satellites popularized called Battleship Chains.  It was a great song, maybe it's fair to say that it still is.  The Woods were a great band to hear live, but mostly (in my opinion) because of David Enloe's guitar playing.  Anyway...

Don't know if it's true or not, but rumor has it that The Woods had requested permission to film a music video ON the USS North Carolina for their version of Battleship Chains, which was denied.  If you get to tour the Battleship, and you certainly should do that some day, you'll appreciate that it's a Memorial to the men who fought (and some who died) on that glorious Battleship.  Would it be appropriate to film a "purty luv rock" (what I call most of The Woods' catalogue) video on the deck of that Boat?

Not in the slightest.

Do I fault the keepers of the Memorial for denying them the opportunity to film their little video?

Again, not in the slightest.

Would it perhaps demean the memory of those brave men by having their Memorial reduced to being a prop for a music video?

If I was one of those heroes (and I ain't ashamed to call them that...quite the contrary, I'm proud to do so), I'd take umbrage at the request.

On the other hand, we learned on our tour that there is also currently another Boat named the USS North Carolina.  It's an Attack Sub.  How cool is that?!  There are undoubtedly sailors on that vessel who might be interested in appropriate material for their ipods.  The Woods' Battleship Chains fits the bill nicely.

Dear Sailors on the active USS North Carolina.  Thank you for your service.  Enjoy this video...



Tied, tied...woo hoo!