Venerable Old Ladies

Wilmington Island, Georgia
No LL

As we passed through Norfolk a couple of weeks ago, we saw two notable sights, both involving very old ships.



Just south of Newark we passed by a ship breaking yard. This is a place where they bring old ships, and where they are reduced to shredded scrap metal. The ship you see in the picture above was just starting the breaking promise. Here name, visible on the stern, was the SS Empire State. From the proud name and from her nice white paint job, she was obviously an object of great pride. It just seems rather tragic to me to witness such a once proud ship meet such an ignominious end. If Hillary wins the next election, they might pass a bill to send old conservatives like me to the breaking yard.

The ship below is the NS Savannah. She is a unique and once famous ship. She was the first, and last, nuclear powered cargo ship. She was commissioned in the early 1960s, a period of unbounded optimism about the future of nuclear power. Unfortunately, she was a huge failure. She was retired and no second attempt was ever tried, as far as I know. We last saw NS Savannah on the James River anchored with the US reserve fleet. Now she has been moved to an active navy yard. No doubt they are doing some kind of work to keep her afloat. Her reactor components must still be radioactive and hazardous, so she can't be sunk or abandoned or broken up.

p.s. It's so frustrating. The picture below shows the conditions we can expect if we go offshore right now, and for the next week. It just sounds too uncomfortable; I'm afraid we're stuck on the inside for a while. Look at the wave heights (click on the picture to see it full size.)