Made obsolete in 1964 by modern navigational aids, it now sits high and dry a few yards inland and has become a museum. Across the Elizabeth River in the sister city of Portsmouth is an old lightship - essentially a floating lighthouse. (Something to think about as you drive through the tunnel.)Īfter all that bigness at the naval station, it's nice to celebrate the petite.
![virtual sailor 7 tugboat virtual sailor 7 tugboat](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/SRTLJH39u2Q/maxresdefault.jpg)
But my favorite statistic is that at low tide, there is only 5 feet of clearance between the top of the Hampton Roads tunnel and the bottom of a large aircraft carrier. The guides relate many impressive statistics: The base covers 5,000 acres there are four chapels, two bowling alleys and 70 dentists.
![virtual sailor 7 tugboat virtual sailor 7 tugboat](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/yHZUToB4SEI/hqdefault.jpg)
Shutters click at the aircraft carriers, cruisers and submarines tied up along the piers, as well as at the fighters and attack planes in the adjoining air station. But you still can get some great pictures from the bus. embassies overseas and the USS Cole disaster, it is no longer possible for the public to roam the base at will. How large? Some 54,000 active duty military personnel work there. Young petty officers, some apparently contemplating civilian careers as standup comedians, narrate a 45-minute bus tour of the world's largest Navy base. There is more Navy gray to see at the Norfolk Naval Station, located about 10 minutes north of downtown. After all, a tug is basically an engine with just enough boat around it to keep it afloat. You can go on board and inside Huntington and admire the huge diesel-electric engine. Huntington used to shove the Wisconsin around when they both were active in Norfolk.
![virtual sailor 7 tugboat virtual sailor 7 tugboat](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/89/94/60/8994601881d9506b8350a08b5b93e102.jpg)
It must have looked like a Boston terrier badgering a sumo wrestler. This little powerhouse once pushed freighters and tankers around. In the slip on the other side of Nauticus from the battleship is the tugboat Huntington, now serving as a mini-museum. Visitors, for example, are able to see and touch sharks.
![virtual sailor 7 tugboat virtual sailor 7 tugboat](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/fa/4e/77/fa4e770366367d38ab7db8763ad569dd.jpg)
Other Nauticus exhibits deal with the natural occupants of the seas. Nauticus is about much more than the Wisconsin, and one of my favorite elements is the Hampton Roads Naval Museum's comprehensive exhibit on the Civil War battle of the ironclads Monitor and Virginia (aka Merrimack). In the "City at Sea" area, actors will demonstrate the realities of life aboard a battleship. In another interactive theater, visitors will be taken back in time to the eve of World War II and will design an Iowa-class battleship based on intelligence reports about foreign navies. The audience will make choices, using buttons on a console, and will see the results of their decisions. In the Aegis Theater, actors will guide visitors through various battle scenarios. The view will include details below deck as well as some operations, such as the firing of the guns, that otherwise might be difficult for a ship to do while tied up in downtown Norfolk. Using eight devices known as "battlescopes," visitors on the Nauticus balcony can focus on the ship at one of 12 points, which magically will give way to a video presentation showing how that particular weapons system functions. To get an inside view, you need to go virtual.