Naval Undersea Museum – Keyport, Washington

Mary is no longer available for RV traveling, but we remain good friends.
Because we have 4,000+ postings, I’ve invited her to continue posting entries on this blog.

I’m currently in my 21st year of full-time RVing and my lifestyle is changing, For more info click Here

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The motorhome is parked at Thousand Trails Mount Vernon RV Resort in Bow, Washington. I’ll depart here August 9th. I’ve been here a number of times in past years.

 

I’ll be hanging out in this general area until about the beginning of October, taking maximum advantage of my Thousand Trails membership and very agreeable weather.

 

(Note: I’m currently a little discombobulated right now. My normal mode is to blog what I experienced yesterday. Right now, I’m a number of blogs behind my experiences. I expect to be back in my normal mode in about three weeks.)

 

 

Today’s subject…

A couple of weeks ago I spent an enjoyable three hours at the Naval Undersea Museum in Keyport, Washington.

 

I particularly enjoyed this museum because in my earlier life, I worked at General Dynamics, Electric Boat Division at Groton, Connecticut where they build nuclear submarines. For about three years in the mid 1960’s I worked as a Radiographer…that’s an industrial x-ray person. Using radioactive materials Iridium 92 and Cobalt 60, I and others non-destructively tested the welds, castings, piping and other components of a nuclear submarine.

I did radiography on about 25 different submarines during this period. It was a very interesting job, however, I think it was in 1966 because of government financial cutbacks on military spending, I got laid off. I promptly went across the Thames River to Waterford, Connecticut to work on Unit #1 of the Millstone Nuclear Power Station…which led to my quality control career in commercial nuclear power construction for the next 15 years.

 

I was particularly looking forward to visiting this museum. Primarily because in the first photo below you will see the sail of the now decommissioned 637 boat…the USS Sturgeon. I think I can safely say I logged more of my radiography hours on the 637 than any other boat.

 

This is a great museum and you should make the time to visit if you find yourself in the area.

 

Here are some of the photos that I took…

 

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also did a lot of radiography on the USS George Washington, the first Nuclear Ballistic Missile Submarine…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also did some radiography on the USS Nautilus, the first nuclear powered submarine, when it entered the shipyard for repair work…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can see the other 142 photos that I took by clicking on the below photo…

 

 

 

 

 

Naval Undersea Museum – Keyport, Washington

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can read all about the museum by clicking the below link…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Undersea_Museum

 

 

I hope you enjoyed the photos!

Yesterday was mostly sunny and 73 degrees. Forecast for today is cloudy with a few showers and 69 degrees.

Enjoying nice weather is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

The red dot on the below map shows my approximate location in the State of Washington. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures with low humidity most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

My current travel rig is a 2006 Fleetwood 26′ Class A Motorhome and a towed 1986 Ford Bronco II, Eddie Bauer Model. This photo was taken in the desert at Slab City near Niland, California…

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

If you would like to see my YouTube videos, click this link… http://www.youtube.com/user/JimJ1579/videos

There are more than 700 photo albums in my Picasa Web Albums File. To gain access, you simply have to click this link… https://picasaweb.google.com/jimjrver

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

For more information about my books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

All original works copyrighted – Jim Jaillet 2016

RV Trip Favorite Photos #307-315

Jim says:

While Mary and I are taking care of business here at her home…there is little “new stuff” to Blog about daily. So I’ve decided to share with you some of my favorite photos from our recent 298 day, 16,000+ mile RV trip around the United States.

Since scenery and people snapshot-type photos require little special photography skills…and being limited by the abilities of my digital camera…I none the less took some photos that I really liked. They are presented in no special order of favoritism. If you desire to see more associated photos and information about this area, you will need to find this date in the archive files of this Blog.

Today’s photos were taken at the Submarine Museum in Groton, Connecticut on August 7, 2010……

In other news…
67 degrees, mostly sunny. Re-shampooed motorhome bedroom carpeting. Hauled firewood to house for wood-stove.

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2010
My three books may be purchased at http://www.lulu.com
Just enter Jim Jaillet in the search box.

RV Trip Favorite Photo #3

Jim says:

While Mary and I are taking care of business here at her home…there is little “new stuff” to Blog about daily. So I’ve decided to share with you some of my favorite photos from our recent 298 day, 16,000+ mile RV trip around the United States.

Since scenery and people snapshot-type photos require little special photography skills…and being limited by the abilities of my digital camera…I none the less took some photos that I really liked. They are presented in no special order of favoritism.

Today’s photo was taken at the Chiricahua National Monument in the wilderness of southeastern Arizona, January 14, 2010.

Here’s today’s photo…

In other news…
99 degrees yesterday, fortunately there was only 12% humidity. Nonetheless after an early morning walk and a trip to the dump, by 10:00 AM we stayed inside the house, which meant more reading. I began reading the largest physical-sized book of my life. I bought it at the Submarine Museum in Groton, Connecticut in August. It’s about the first 100 years (1900-2000) of the United States Submarine Service. It’s 352, 11×14 pages and weighs 6.5 pounds. It’s so large I couldn’t comfortably read it in the motorhome, so I saved it to read now.

It’s so heavy I have to set it on a pillow in my lap to read. Because of the large pages with large type and many photographs it’s an easy read and I read 105 pages yesterday. In the 1960’s I worked at General Dynamics, Electric Boat Division at Groton, Connecticut and worked on several of the submarines mentioned in this book including the USS Nautilus, SSN 541 the world’s first nuclear powered submarine and the USS George Washington, SSBM 588, the world’s first nuclear ballistic missile submarine.

The forecast is for 101 degrees, so I’ll do lots more reading today!

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2010
My three books may be purchased at http://www.lulu.com
Just enter Jim Jaillet in the search box.

Nuclear Submarine Nautilus and the Submarine Force Museum, Groton, Connecticut

Jim says:

Yesterday, on a delightful sunny day of 79 degrees, moderate humidity and a wonderful breeze, Mary and I visited the Nuclear Submarine Nautilus and the Submarine Force Museum located on the Thames River at Groton, Connecticut.

A bit of my history. I spent my first year in the U.S. Navy stationed at the Submarine Base… 51 years ago! From about 1963-1966, I worked at General Dynamics – Electric Boat Division in Groton as a Radiographer…x-raying a number of submarines and their parts during their construction. I also worked on the Millstone #1 & #2 Nuclear Power Stations in nearby Waterford, Connecticut. I accumulated about 10 years of living in the New London-Groton area.

I took this photo off of the Nautilus Website.

Here are a number of photos I took yesterday…

The Nautilus at its permanent location as seen from the parking lot.

Diameters of submarines. The small one represents the USS Holland from 1900 and the large one an Ohio Class submarine of today.

The retired sail from the first Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile Submarine George Washington. I worked on this boat in the mid-1960’s.

Mary drives the boat in a simulated control room.

Mary looks through a periscope.

I took this photo through the periscope. I’m ready to fire a torpedo into the rear of my Bronco!

A model of the first submarine…David Bushnell’s Turtle.

A painting of the Nautilus departing the from Groton-New London into the Atlantic Ocean.

Admiral Hyman G. Rickover is known as the Father of the Nuclear Navy.

Mary on the deck of the Nautilus. The submarines depart under the bridge into the Atlantic Ocean.

Mary steps through a water-tight compartment hatchway.

The Groton Submarine Base as seen from the Nautilus.

Here’s the official Nautilus website link…
http://www.ussnautilus.org/

Here’s a Wikipedia informational link about Admiral Hyman G. Rickover…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyman_G._Rickover

Here’s a Wikipedia Informational link about Groton and General Dynamics Electric Boat…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groton,_Connecticut

To see the other 49 photos I took, click this link…
http://picasaweb.google.com/jimjrver/SubmarineMuseum080710#

Finally here’s a photo of a coffee-table book about the first 100 years of the United States Naval Submarine Service. The lady behind the counter told me it’s now out of print and knows of no more plans for further publication. I got it for only $25!

This book is 352 11×14 pages and weighs 6.5 pounds!

You can buy this book for only $61 on Amazon…
http://www.amazon.com/United-States-Submarines-David-Hinkle/dp/0883631032/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1281262962&sr=1-1

It was a most enjoyable day for me reliving my past of 40+ years ago with Mary.

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2010
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.panamaorbust.com