Nuts, Now I KNOW I'm getting old!
Photo of the USS Emory S. LandThis story here brought that point home;
ROME (AFP) — The US Navy has all but ended its presence at a nuclear submarine base in Sardinia with the departure of support vessel USS Emory Land with 1,500 sailors aboard, press reports said Sunday.
Some 400 sailors will remain at La Maddalena naval base until the end of February, when it will be fully shut down after 35 years, to the relief of pacifists and environmentalists but to the chagrin of some of the 200 workers it employed.
"We will miss you" read a banner as the Emory Land pulled out of the harbour on Saturday.
At the same time, Sardinia Governor Renato Soru asked: "What kind of people are we if we need a military force and nuclear submarines to create a job?"
La Maddalena, located within a pristine wildlife and marine reserve, was the source of controversy notably after two incidents involving nuclear-powered submarines based there.
The USS Oklahoma City collided with a commercial Norwegian vessel in the western Mediterranean in 2002, and the USS Hartford ran aground while on manoeuvres in La Maddalena harbour in 2003.
The following year, a French research institute CRIIAD found exceedingly high levels of the radioactive element thorium, used as a nuclear power source, in seaweed samples.
Riding a wave of public anxiety over the base, Soru was elected in a landslide in 2004 on the slogan "The Americans are our friends, but in future we'd like to welcome them here as tourists."
In 2005, the regional health department found higher than usual levels of cancer in the area.
The base was set up at the height of the Cold War, in 1972, under a secret agreement between Rome and Washington.
FWIW, I was stationed aboard the USS Orion at La Madd back in 89-91. I'd always heard La Madd was a pit and just to check things out, I volunteered for duty there (yeah, no brain and no pain). It wasn't too bad once you realized you weren't in CONUS. Would have stayed there but for my oldest son who wanted his dad home. Whatever.
Let's see, every naval craft I was stationed on is now razor blades. That includes the two I commissioned! Of the bases I was stationed at or made runs out of, half are now shut down. That includes the San Diego boot camp facility, Charleston Naval Base, La Madd and Holy Loch. Rota is still open (last I heard) but no subs go out of there. They keep threatening to close the base in Groton, CT. (and they should, IMHO it's a security nightmare) but the local citizenry has stopped it so far.
The Strip in Norfolk is history, as is Rivers Ave in North Charleston, Hotel Street in Hawaii has been cleaned up, same with Bank Street in New London.
Shit, I'm getting old. Beats the alternative though.
ROME (AFP) — The US Navy has all but ended its presence at a nuclear submarine base in Sardinia with the departure of support vessel USS Emory Land with 1,500 sailors aboard, press reports said Sunday.
Some 400 sailors will remain at La Maddalena naval base until the end of February, when it will be fully shut down after 35 years, to the relief of pacifists and environmentalists but to the chagrin of some of the 200 workers it employed.
"We will miss you" read a banner as the Emory Land pulled out of the harbour on Saturday.
At the same time, Sardinia Governor Renato Soru asked: "What kind of people are we if we need a military force and nuclear submarines to create a job?"
La Maddalena, located within a pristine wildlife and marine reserve, was the source of controversy notably after two incidents involving nuclear-powered submarines based there.
The USS Oklahoma City collided with a commercial Norwegian vessel in the western Mediterranean in 2002, and the USS Hartford ran aground while on manoeuvres in La Maddalena harbour in 2003.
The following year, a French research institute CRIIAD found exceedingly high levels of the radioactive element thorium, used as a nuclear power source, in seaweed samples.
Riding a wave of public anxiety over the base, Soru was elected in a landslide in 2004 on the slogan "The Americans are our friends, but in future we'd like to welcome them here as tourists."
In 2005, the regional health department found higher than usual levels of cancer in the area.
The base was set up at the height of the Cold War, in 1972, under a secret agreement between Rome and Washington.
FWIW, I was stationed aboard the USS Orion at La Madd back in 89-91. I'd always heard La Madd was a pit and just to check things out, I volunteered for duty there (yeah, no brain and no pain). It wasn't too bad once you realized you weren't in CONUS. Would have stayed there but for my oldest son who wanted his dad home. Whatever.
Let's see, every naval craft I was stationed on is now razor blades. That includes the two I commissioned! Of the bases I was stationed at or made runs out of, half are now shut down. That includes the San Diego boot camp facility, Charleston Naval Base, La Madd and Holy Loch. Rota is still open (last I heard) but no subs go out of there. They keep threatening to close the base in Groton, CT. (and they should, IMHO it's a security nightmare) but the local citizenry has stopped it so far.
The Strip in Norfolk is history, as is Rivers Ave in North Charleston, Hotel Street in Hawaii has been cleaned up, same with Bank Street in New London.
Shit, I'm getting old. Beats the alternative though.
8 comments:
Things have been changing really fast- there's a ton of places closing down, not just because of age and nuclear waste, but because of this administration and the last one. Gotta love BRAC and whatever new down-sizing term they come up with to sugar coat it. I don't know how much nostalgia I'd feel over a radioactive waste puddle though... ;-)
Heck, they don't even send cadets through Lackland AFB anymore for their officer's field training. They'd been doing that...well... a long time (I only went in 2001 and I think they stopped after the next year). I can see how its hard being Navy, where ships are these mammoth, seemingly eternal things... I wouldn't expect anything to be scrapped if the hull is still sound. The AF sells all its old stuff to "developing nations" (ie- our future enemies).
Airplanes, on the other hand, one wouldn't expect to have around forever- though the AF (and those countries) has been defying logic (and probability) by keeping some of these things in the air. My brother-in-law is an engine mechanic who is going to be switching to C-130s soon. I can't wait to hear some of the stories behind those... :-)
i don't know of any nuclear submarines that use thorium as a fuel.
and you feel old? let's see.
the school where i learned to be a nuke? closed
the prototype? decommed
the boat i spent 6 1/2 years on? razor blades.
the shipyard i went to work at after the navy? decommed by brac
the air force base that i went to after the yard closed? decommed by brac.
the research facility i ended up at? been through 3 employers there in the last 11 years.
i'm kind of getting the feeling it's not such a good idea hiring me.
YOU'VE BEEN TAGGED!
I hope they don't close Groton. I loved SubSchool there. I slept through classes every day and went over the fence every night, after they put us to bed.
It was the only place I ever was stationed where the local ladies really liked sailors.
It's not a security nightmare, just very friendly.
reddog, ROFLMAO. I'll give you this, it was one of the few places I was stationed that didn't have the "sailors and dogs...." mentality.
bothenook, thanks. Now I feel better knowing there's someone older than myself schlepping around the blogs.
falcon_01, yeah I'd guess the life of an airplane is considerably less than that of a naval craft.
Cheif, Things ain't that great on my perimeter neither!
My specialty was so new when I signed up, I was in the third class out of the artillery school.
Then they developed a whole new family of technologies to get steel on target. We went back to school and entered the age of digital and laser warfare.
Now all the hoo-haa new stuff I learned to use is out of the inventory, and my specialty doesn't even exist!
Heck, I've never even seen the planes they jump out of now!
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