Battleship North Carolina

On Monday, November 23rd, we left Wrightsville Beach with Southern Style to take her up the Cape Fear River to a boatyard for some bottom paint.  We left at first light so we could be there by around 9AM for our scheduled hall out.

Sun coming up as we leave Wrightsville Beach

 Coming through Snow's Cut.  This connects the Intracoastal Waterway with the Cape Fear River.

Heron fishing along Snow's Cut

Downtown Wilmington in view under the south bridge.  This bridge can lift straight up between the two towers you see to allow large boats to pass underneath.  Some clouds had rolled in by the time we got to downtown.

Southern Style in the slings at Bellhart Marine

This is the view from behind us while in the yard.  There are several tugs and the south bridge right where we are pulled out.

Here she is getting a spa day.

On Tuesday, November 24th while all the work was being done on Southern Style, I was really just in the way.  I decided to visit the Battleship North Carolina.  She is in her permanent berth across from downtown Wilmington about a mile from the boatyard.  She is now a memorial to all those from NC that served in WWII.

Battleship North Carolina

Her Kingfisher airplane was used for spotting enemy ships and planes, rescues, and supply drops.

You are allowed extensive access to the inside of the ship as well as the outside decks.

View from the control room

     The keel for the USS North Carolina was laid in the New York Navy Yard in October 1937.  She was the first of 10 fast battleships to join the American fleet in WW II.  When commissioned in 1941 she was armed with nine 16 inch/45 caliber guns, twenty 5 inch/38 caliber guns, sixty 40mm/56 caliber guns, and forty-eight 20mm/70 caliber guns.  She was 728 feet in length and 108 wide.  There were 144 commissioned officers and 2,195 enlisted men on board.  During WW II, the battleship North Carolina participated in every major naval offensive in the Pacific theater and earned 15 battle stars.  Her primary role as a fast battleship was the protection of aircraft carriers, and she excelled at this task.  In the battle of the Eastern Solomons in August of 1942, her anti-aircraft barrage was instrumental in saving the aircraft carrier Enterprise.  Although Japanese radio announcements claimed 6 times to have sunk the North Carolina, she survived many close calls and near misses.  On Sept. 15, 1942 her hull was struck by a Japanese torpedo, but the quick response of her crew allowed her to keep up with the fleet.  By the end of the war she had cover over 300,000 miles and lost only 10 men and had 67 wounded.

After the war she served as a training vessel for midshipmen for a short time.  By 1958 it was announced that the ship would be crapped.  This led to a statewide campaign in North Carolina to save the ship.  The Save Our Ship (SOS) campaign was successful and on October 2, 1961 she was pulled into her current berth across from downtown Wilmington, NC.  She is the North Carolina's State Memorial to all its WW II veterans and the 11,000 North Carolinians that died during that war.

They have done a very nice job of keeping her looking good.  Currently some work is being done on the hull by a contractor.  They have built a retaining wall around her so as to keep the water from the river away while they are working.  Here you can see the wall and her hull in the mud.

View of one of the churches in downtown Wilmington from across the river at the battleship

Ship coming down the Cape Fear River visible from the battleship park.

Looking down the Cape Fear River at sunset from the boatyard

Downtown Wilmington at dusk from the boatyard

The yard work was finished up and we were back in the water Wednesday morning.  We moved the boat back to Wrightsville Beach Wednesday, November 25th.  On Thanksgiving we left the boat and drove to Raleigh to spend the holiday with our good friends the Terrys.  Their daughter and son in law were also there for the holiday, so we had a houseful. 

Robin and daughter Lacey socializing by the fire pit on the Terry's back deck

Keith enjoying some oysters the Friday after Thanksgiving

And this cute doggy is June who belongs to Lacey and Davis.  She was wishing her people were less energetic.  Poor June is just exhausted from the festivities.

 It was a wonderful time visiting.  As always Miss Robin's Thanksgiving dinner was phenomenal.  We also had oysters with the Terry's and their neighbors John and Alison Grimes the day after Thanksgiving, which has become another Thanksgiving tradition we have done for several years.  Unfortunately we had to return to the boat Friday night.  The weather was promising for us to run the boat offshore to Charleston Saturday and that is what we did.  Saturday bright and early Southern Style left Wrightsville Beach and headed south.  Sanibel Island, Florida will be our winter destination.

Going out the inlet at Wrightsville Beach headed for Charleston Saturday morning