ehr@uncecs.edu (Ernest H. Robl) (09/17/89)
From: Ernest H. Robl <ehr@uncecs.edu> Background: Over Labor Day weekend, I was in the Norfolk/Portsmouth (Va.) area, and saw a large number of naval vessels. In Portsmouth the USS Preserver, a Navy salvage and rescue ship, was docked in the downtown "Portside" area and was open for tours. A harbor tour on the commercial tour boat Carrie B. -- $10 and well worth the money -- went past both shipyards doing work on naval vessels and piers at the Navy base itself where everything from submarines to aircraft carriers could be seen. One of the things that made the tour boat trip worth while was that the tour narrator was quite knowledgable and pointed out many interesting features of the various ships. My own military background -- and therefore knowlege of things military -- is basically from the Army, with some contact with Air Force activities, too. One of my few contacts with the Navy was nearly 20 years ago in Vietnam when our unit traded the Navy a truckload of frozen pizzas for a boat complete with outboard motor. (But, that, as they say, is a story for another time.) Question: The trip to the Norfolk area raised a number of questions as to how Navy vessels are designated and/or numbered. I noticed that on the hull the Preserver -- the rescue/salvage vessel open for tours -- was designated as "RS 8." (The RS was in small letters; the number 8 much larger.) On the gangplank, however, a canvas banner gave the name of the ship and showed the designation as "ARS 8." Why the difference? What if anything does the "A" mean? Also, later at the Navy base, I noticed that some ships had numbers painted on the bow, some didn't. Of those that did have numbers, some had those numbers accompanied by a letter designation, others didn't. (1) Is there default type that is assumed if no letter designation is provided? (2) Is there some place where one can find in one place a list of what the letter designations mean? (For instance, docked among the submarines was the "S 36" -- which presumably is a submarine supply ship.) For anyone interested in the Carrie B. Harbor Tours, the departures are from both downtown Norfolk (Waterside area, near the municipal marina off Waterside Drive) and the Portsmouth downtown area (Portside dock). Fares are currently $9-$10 for adults, depending on length of the tour, with departures approximately every two hours. Departures are more numerous during the summer, but the tours operate all year. If you are already in downtown Norfolk, the Elizabeth River passenger ferries ($.50 each way) will take you over to Portsmouth to see any Navy vessels there. My understanding is that there is usually a vessel open to visitors each weekend. The passenger ferriers are operated by the regional transit system and go past dry docks where commerical and military vessels are being worked on. -- Ernest P.S.: I understand that there is also a tour available of the Navy base itself, but I didn't have time for that. If anyone has been on that tour, I'd like to hear about it, since I home to go on that the next time I get to that area. My opinions are my own and probably not IBM-compatible.--ehr Ernest H. Robl (ehr@ecsvax) (919) 684-6269 w; (919) 286-3845 h Systems Specialist (Tandem System Manager), Library Systems, 027 Perkins Library, Duke University, Durham, NC 27706 U.S.A.
clayj@microsoft.UUCP (Clay Jackson) (09/19/89)
In article <27297@amdcad.AMD.COM> ehr@uncecs.edu (Ernest H. Robl) writes: >Question: The trip to the Norfolk area raised a number of questions >as to how Navy vessels are designated and/or numbered. I noticed >that on the hull the Preserver -- the rescue/salvage vessel open >for tours -- was designated as "RS 8." (The RS was in small letters; >the number 8 much larger.) On the gangplank, however, a canvas >banner gave the name of the ship and showed the designation as >"ARS 8." Why the difference? What if anything does the "A" mean? The "A" means "Auxillary", as opposed to a "normal" ship, which is expected to be capable of fighting. It's quite often dropped. The "RS" in this case stands for "Rescue - Submarine" (I'm not 100% sure of the "S", it might be "Salvage". >Also, later at the Navy base, I noticed that some ships had numbers >painted on the bow, some didn't. The ships in active service should have numbers on the bow, unless they're just back/going someplace "in harm's way", in which case they're often painted out (I don't remember the rules about when they can/should be, but I KNOW that the numbers on submarines are ALWAYS painted out when the submarine is on patrol. The "S36" was a submarine tender (supply and repair ship). I don't my reference books here at work, so I can't look up the name. What you might have seen, particularly if you saw a large number of ships all "nested" together; was the "Reserve Fleet", which consists of ships that have been "mothballed" (taken out of commission and stored, in case of conflict, or change in national policy, ala the Missouri and the Iowa). Clay Jackson