We have found that taking a guided tour of these great exhibits gives you so much more information than you get by taking a self guided tour – in our opinion. We were so lucky that our tour guide on this day was retired from the Navy and actually served on the sister ship to the USS Wisconsin, the USS Iowa! He was so delightful and shared so many personal stories of his time aboard the Iowa and could compare and contrast the differences between the two ships! For example, did you know that the USS Iowa is the only ship in the U.S. Navy to have a bathtub? Yep, that’s right, the Navy installed one for President Franklin D. Roosevelt during WW II as this was the ship that FDR used to travel to Europe to meet with Churchill and Stalin. At that time, air travel was considered too risky for the President to travel across an ocean so they equipped the Iowa with a bathtub for the President.

The tour lasted several hours and it was hot as we climbed deep down into the bowels of the Battleship to the engine room and beyond! Throughout the tour, we would find this “graffiti” that was originally painted by the crew of each department! Some of it was very creative and clearly showed the pride that Sailors felt for their ship

Below – If the Battleship called “General Quarters, this is where they would go to continue “steering” the ship! It’s almost like a “bunker” built into the ship with a thick steel door (see below) that would house the crew that would look thru small portholes and a tiny periscope to see where they were going!

Over the years, the Wisconsin was updated with new weapons systems to keep her “in the fight”. Tomahawk cruise missiles and Harpoon anti-ship missiles were added. Some of the Tomahawks may have been tipped with a nuclear warhead but the U.S. Navy will neither confirm nor deny those rumors!

Once we returned to the main deck, we were allowed to explore on our own and you get a real feel for the sheer size of this Battleship! Everything about her is BIG, including the anchor chain! It was an amazing experience and to know that over 70 years ago, sailors aboard this ship worked tirelessly to protect the freedoms that we enjoy to this day – GO NAVY!

After a wonderful stop in Portsmouth and Norfolk, it was time to move North again. Join us next week as we cruise up the Potomac on our way to our Nation’s Capitol!

Our cruise up to Norfolk from Charleston took just over 44 hours, was 436 nm in length and involved 2 overnights of travel. It was a wonderful cruise and even though some folks thought we were crazy to go around Cape Hatteras, we were fortunate and made it without a hitch – thankfully!

Once in the Chesapeake and headed to Norfolk we took in the sights and sounds of the Bay. Certainly, seeing two warships at the entrance was exciting, but little did we realize that in a few miles, we would be passing the largest U.S. Navel Base in the world – Norfolk, Virginia!

It’s about a 12 nm run into the Chesapeake before you make the turn South towards Norfolk and Portsmouth. You actually go OVER two highways that are tunnels underneath the Bay! We followed the main shipping channel West to Hampton, and then made the turn South which put us right along side the Norfolk Navel Base and oh, what a sight! U.S. Navy ships for the next couple of miles docked and getting work done. One of the ships docked was the new aircraft carrier – USS Gerald Ford, finishing up commissioning and preparing for sea trials.

We docked across from Norfolk in Portsmouth at the Tidewater Yacht Marina (https://tidewateryachtmarina.com) where we were warmly welcomed and became quick friends. There was a nice water taxi close by that would run us over to Norfolk every 15 minutes.

We found Portsmouth to be a charming town with a nice main street that was tree lined with lots of shade along with restaurants & shops. It was a busy area and on Saturday mornings, there was a wonderful Farmers Market filled with local vendors and lots of shoppers out.

While exploring Portsmouth, we came across our first “light ship”. Not knowing what this was, we had to go check it out and what a find! Early on in the 1800’s as commerce by water became more prominent, the U.S. Government needed a way to help ships safely find their way thru the various inlets and waterways. These light ships were used at various points up and down the East Coast to help warn off ships from dangerous shoals. Imagine if you will, a floating light house that would be manned 24/7/365 by a crew in all weather conditions! This would not be our last encounter of a light ship! See link for more information – https://portsmouthlightship.com/

Next week, join us for a tour of a U.S. Battleship!

We departed Charleston around 12:30 pm in order to time our arrival at the Chesapeake at sunrise two days later. Day 1 matched the forecast with light winds and high clouds making for a great first day. The sunset didn’t disappoint either and as usual, I’m sharing a few shots!

Day two matched the forecast as well and we picked up a few “hitchhikers” along the way! I’m sorry, but having dolphins ride the bow or in our wake NEVER gets old!!! In this instance, we had several dolphins riding in our bow wake and they stayed with us for over 20 minutes!!!

Day 2 was uneventful as we settled in to our 3 hour watches for the second day. When we hand over a watch, I will conduct an engine room check looking for any leaks or components that are running hotter than normal. I use an infrared temp gun to check the temperatures at about 16 different spots on the engines, generators, hydraulic system and shafts. We also record the vital temperatures of the engines and generators so we can track any patterns that might give us an early warning of something about to fail.

It was an uneventful night on this run. I was on watch till midnight and then Leslie took over for the 24:00 – 03:00 watch while I tried to get some sleep on the settee just behind the helm. At 03:00 I woke up, started making some coffee and then headed down to the engine room to check that everything was running smoothly and that we didn’t have any issues. After about 15 minutes inspecting the lazarette (rudder posts, steering gear) and engine room I headed back up to the galley to grab my coffee and then I relieved Leslie of her watch. Fortunately, she had already recorded all of the data from the engine, transmissions and hydraulics so I was left with keeping the watch till 06:00 while she tried to catch some sleep.

We were slightly ahead of schedule due to the gulf stream as we had planned to arrive in the Chesapeake at dawn. Since it was our first transit into the Chesapeake, we wanted to enter at daylight knowing it was a busy waterway with lots of ship traffic. As we approached the mouth of the Bay, it was still dark, so I slowed Steppin’ Out down to around 6 knots and pointed us due East until it started to get light, which was only about 45 minutes.

I could see the lights of ships all around us heading into the Chesapeake plus all of the commercial ships were “squawking” on their AIS system. AIS (Automatic Identification System) is an electronic signal that a ship sends out notifying other ships in the area of the name of the vessel, location, speed, and heading. Steppin’ Out is equipped with an AIS as well so other ships can “see” us on their screens and we’re also able to see them. It provides another layer of situational awareness, especially at night or in poor visibility.

Well, as dawn arrived, I turned Steppin’ Out back to the West and towards the “mouth” of the Chesapeake Bay. Now it was at this time that the silhouettes of two ships started to come into focus. They had shown up on AIS but instead of a name, there was only their MMSI number so I didn’t have any idea who or what they are. Much to my surprise, it was two U.S. Navy Warships – LHD 5 (USS Bataan) and LHD 3 (USS KearSarge) – LHD 3 was on our port side and LHD 5 was on our starboard side, effectively sandwiching us in between (with a few miles of distance of course)!

As I’m waking up Leslie to see these Navy ships up close, the VHF radio springs to life – “Steppin’ Out, Steppin’ Out, Steppin’ Out – this is Warship 5”! I quickly respond with “Warship 5, this is Steppin’ Out” and they reply back with “Switch to channel 13” I make the switch to channel 13 and I hear Warship 5 again – “Steppin’ Out, Steppin’ Out, Steppin’ Out – this is Warship 5 – state your intentions”

Now at this point, I’m thinking “my intentions”??? So I respond, “Warship 5 I’m headed into the Chesapeake and then on to Norfolk”. After a few moments of silence they come back with “Steppin’ Out maintain your course and speed, we are coming around you” to which I replied, “copy that – Steppin’ Out maintaining course and speed”. I switched back over to Channel 16 and we watched Warship 5 pass us on the starboard side and come within ½ mile of our bow.

How cool is this, we’ve got 2 U.S. Navy ships on either side of us so I opened the starboard command bridge door to get a couple of pictures (see above) and as I’m closing the door, I hear on the VHF radio “Steppin’ Out, Steppin Out – Warship 5” – so we switched back to channel 13 and I respond – “Warship 5, this is Steppin’ Out” – I then hear ” Steppin’ Out – do you have a drone aboard”… Now I’m thinking, a drone aboard??? I’m sure this U.S. Nave Warship has several different systems aboard to counter any possible threat that little ole’ Steppin’ Out could be in possession of but I respond, “Warship 5, negative, we do not have a drone aboard.” They responded with “Copy that, maintain course and speed” and we switched back to Channel 16 as we entered the Chesapeake Bay.

Wow – talk about making an entrance! We were so excited to be in the Chesapeake and to encounter two amazing U.S. Warships was just an incredible feeling. We didn’t realize at the time but our Fall would involve several interactions with our Navy – some current and many from the past!

Next week – Welcome to Norfolk!