The U.S.S. John F. Kennedy, also known as ‘Big John’ has made Boston her last port of call prior to decommissioning on March 23 of this year. Boston.com has a decent gallery of photos you can view here.
I was aboard the JFK along time ago, as a guest of my uncle who was flying from the Kennedy with VFA-14 (if I remember correctly) at the time. I can’t recall the exact year but it must have been after 1974 (when the Tophatters transitioned to Tomcats). I can’t remember much from that trip – after all I was only four or five, maybe six, at the time. What does remain with me, long after the details have faded away, is a vague of impression of bigness (for lack of a better word.) The JFK is impressive for an adult to gaze upon; to my five year old self it must have been the biggest thing in the world.
N.B: the title of the post comes from the Masefield poem ‘Sea Fever.’
WOW! Cool! Thanks for linking to the photos. So sorry I’ll just miss Big John.
There’s a special place in my heart for the Navy. My Dad worked as a civilian for the Navy when we lived in San Diego, and his father was an Ensign in WWII – unfortunately, he went down with his plane (a Catalina PBY-5A) before my Dad was born.
We don’t have that much information about the accident, but fortunately, someone has written about it – see: http://www.vpnavy.com/vp92_mishap_1940.html
23 NOV 43, Ens.George Edward Custer AOP USNR.
You may surmise how much I romanticize the Navy…
It’s nice to be able to track down family history like that.
Wikipedia has a decent entry on the PBY Catalina here…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PBY_Catalina
…including some very nice pics of the Catalina landing and at anchor.