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Pictures 1
The USS Midway, my first ship. I included this shot for a size perspective. The upright blob under the arrow is a person.
The picture was taken from the deck of the last ship I served on during Desert Shield, the USS Mobile Bay.
The size perspective is needed to truly appreciate the shot below.
It doesn't take much imagination to realize that something is definitely not right in this shot. The flight deck is a number of stories higher than the waterline of the ship, yet we have whitewater coming over the bow in *calm seas.* Our leaders, in their "infinite wisdom," had decided to raise the waterline of the ship by welding "blisters" to the hull. What they apparently failed to consider was that by raising the ship higher in the water, the center of gravity is *also* raised. We were routinely taking 10-15 degree pitches and rolls. Within days of this shot we were running from a typhoon in the Sea of Japan. Seeing an opportunity to "prove a point" to our Captain, the Westpac commander (who was onboard) ordered the Captain to turn abeam the waves (waves impacting the side of the ship rather than the fore or aft). This was a BAD IDEA. The unofficial roll taken during that incident was 33 1/2 degrees. On paper, a carrier capsizes at 25 degrees. We were not amused.
This shot was taken from the observation deck above the bridge.
The USS Midway (left) and the USS Iowa shortly before she was decommisioned for the final time.
Shot taken from the deck of the USS Mobile Bay.
Tanker escort duty in the Persian Gulf. Note that the F18 is armed. This was taken in 1987 when Sadaam was still our "ally" against Iran.
KA6 tanker (right) performing in-flight refueling on an EA6B
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