#USS San Francisco

[lonestarbattleship]

USS SAN FRANCISCO (CA-38) departing Pearl Harbor, Hawaii for Kwajalein.

Date: January 22, 1944.

Admiral Furlong Collection

Digital Archives of Hawai'i: PPFUR-3-15-020

[carbone14]

Le croiseur lourd USS San Francisco (CA-38) au large de la Corée – 28 septembre 1945

Photographe : Official U.S. Navy Photograph

©Naval History and Heritage Command - 80-G-495711

[mareislandfoundation]

A Legacy

It is in the heart of the first United States naval base on the Pacific Ocean and it stands on the same foundation as the original commandant’s mansion. The first mansion was the home of one of the most famous naval officers in US history, Admiral David Glasgow Farragut, and it was destroyed in the Mare Island earthquake of 1898. Today’s mansion still stands on that original foundation, but much has changed from the days when that first mansion was constructed in the 1850’s. The mansion has transitioned from outdoor to indoor plumbing, oil lamps to electric lighting, carriage houses to garages etc. Of course, most of those changes were the result of the labors of public works employees or contractors, but the 10,340 bricks that constitute the walkways that meander through the spacious gardens were the work of one man who happened to command the naval base.

Vice Admiral Lowry was a man of small stature, but he was also a highly decorated naval officer who saw service in both World Wars. He was awarded the Navy Cross for extraordinary heroism and distinguished service as Commanding Officer of the Heavy Cruiser USS Minneapolis (CA-36), during operations at the battle of the Coral Sea only 5 months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Following that attack Japanese forces had been rolling nearly unopposed across the Pacific. Then on 7 and 8 May 1942 his ship inflicted considerable damage on the Japanese and rendered vital protection to the US aircraft carrier USS Lexington to which it was assigned. The Battle of the Coral Sea was important as it was the first pure carrier-versus-carrier battle in history as neither surface fleet sighted the other. Though a draw, it was an important turning point in the war in the Pacific because, for the first time, the Allies had stopped the Japanese advance and lines of communication to Australia and New Zealand were kept open.

Admiral Lowry later commanded the invasions on the other side of the world at Salerno and Anzio (Italy). Lowry's Task Force 81 contained over 250 combat-loaded vessels and amphibious assault craft of all sizes and descriptions. Admiral Lowry also commanded the 74 vessels of Task Force X-Ray, assigned to see American forces safely ashore and to support their beachhead operations at Anzio. With the war ended, Admiral Lowry was soon put in command of Mare Island Naval Shipyard where he indulged one of his great passions, gardening. Admiral Lowry commanded Mare Island for 2 ½ years from 1947 to 1950 and during that time he constructed all the brick pathways that interlace the gardens behind the mansion.

Dennis Kelly

[rabbitcruiser]

Talk Like a Pirate Day 

Brush up your sea-farin’ vocab and talk like a pirate for a day. Ahoy, yo-ho-ho, and avast ye matey! To port! To starboard! Bring a spring up on ‘er! Whatever that means.

Yar harrr! Ahoy there ye lily livered blaggards! It be Talk Like a Pirate Day, and that means it’s time for pillaging and the imbibing of rum!

Pirates have been all the rage in recent years and out of that particular fascination came an insane and completely pirate-oriented idea: that there should be a day dedicated to keeping the piratical language alive and, more importantly, the tradition of all things related to pirates.

So Talk Like a Pirate Day was invented. And now it’s time to celebrate with all of the pirate talk that can be mustered in one day!

History of Talk Like a Pirate Day

It was June 6, 1995, and a group of men were playing racquetball at Albany in Oregon. All throughout they were shouting encouragement to each other. On this particular day, for reasons unbeknownst to them, they started shouting piratical slang at each other. From there it just kind of took on a life of its own, and they realized by the end of the game that it was necessary that they establish a holiday to celebrate that encouraged the use of such a fine vernacular. The first thing they needed was a date, and it just so happened that the date selected was the birthday of his ex-wife.

For the next seven years they honored this holiday, in relative obscurity, until they happened upon the email address of one Dave Barry, a syndicated columnist and author of a great number of books. He also happened to be hilarious, like any good pirate should be. From there it’s all history, Dave Barry promoted the holiday, and it’s been one amazing year after another as people all over the country celebrate this auspicious holiday.

How to Celebrate Talk Like a Pirate Day

Getting involved with this day is sure to be a LOAD of fun! Because it’s just a silly day, be sure to involve all of the pirate-like silliness that can be mustered. Try out some of these ideas for enjoying Talk Like a Pirate Day:

Talk Like a Pirate

Ahoy, Matey! This obvious application of the celebration might be a little more difficult than one might think. Because, who actually knows what pirates sound like when they talk?! Some phrases are more commonly known, like “pillage” or “landlubber”. But others are a little harder to understand. Here’s some vocabulary and lingo to help get novice pirate talkers started:

“Son of a Biscuit Eater”. This is what pirates might call someone they don’t like, the idea being that a biscuit eater is refined and, well, not a pirate.

“All Hand Hoy!” Upon hearing this, everyone needs to get on deck to help out.

“Bring a Spring Upon ‘er”. A phrase meaning to turn the ship in another direction.

“Grog Blossom”. A person who has a red nose because they drink too much alcohol (probably rum).

Read Some Pirate Tales

Even people who are land-dwellers can certainly use their imaginations to read about different pirates and their escapades. From classic to modern, stories about pirates are bound to be exciting and adventurous! Surely reading some books about pirates will help to build up that Talk Like a Pirate Day vocabulary.

Take a look at these classic pirate novels to get started:

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. The Scottish author brought pirates to life in 1881 with his talk of buccaneers and buried gold.

Peter Pan by JM Barrie. Infused with run-ins with Captain Hook, the original Peter Pan stories from 1904 are much darker than the Disney animated remake films.

The Pirate by Sir Walter Scott. Written by another Scottish author, this 1821 novel features Captain Cleveland, a shipwrecked captain in the setting of the island of Shetland.

The Life, Adventures, and Piracies of the Famous Captain Singleton by Daniel Defoe. The first book written on this list, the 1720 book tells the story of an Englishman who was stolen, raised by gypsies, and eventually takes to life on the sea.

Watch Pirate Films

Not into reading? That’s okay! Plenty of films about pirates have been created so that individuals and groups can spend a couple of hours hearing all kinds of pirate-speak.

The Pirates of the Caribbean series of films can take up a nice chunk of time with its 6 different movies in the franchise. Or for an inspiring one-off, try a modern day somewhat-true-to life pirate story starring Tom Hanks, Captain Phillips.

Invite Friends to Celebrate All Things Piratey

Well mate, celebrating talk like a pirate day can be as easy as a day in the tropic. Simply work to turn up that pirate-speak vernacular, pour a few fruity drinks with umbrellas in them, and gather with friends to celebrate the day in your piratey best clothing! There are songs to be sung and wenches to be clenched, and who can resist a backyard barbecue with grilled pineapple, salmon made by walkin’ the plank, and a perhaps inappropriately large amount of pure sugar cane rum? Talk Like a Pirate Day is comin’, are you ready to pirate it up? This is certainly the perfect day for it!

Source

[sheltiechicago]

The Monaco is a 40-foot ship with three-masts with working sails. A mini replica of the USS Raleigh captured by the British during the American Revolution. SF Bay Area artist Greg Barron constructed the ship built over a 1983 GM Monaco.

Burning Man 2022: Inside The Outrageous Mutant Vehicles Of The Future

From the Burning Man series by photographer Scott London

The Rhino Redemption built by Petaluma artist Kevin Clark around the chassis a 1974 Chevy pickup. The art car made its first appearance at Burning Man in 2014. It has since been outfitted with startling new flame effects that cast big shadows even in broad daylight.

The Shark Car

Two burners with a colorful art car stop to admire "Totem of Confessions," a sculpture by Bay Area installation artist Michael Garlington.

[stra-tek]

Random spoilerific reasons to read Star Trek novels, with little to no context:

Ro/Quark is a thing

A Jem'Hadar joins DS9, tries to fit in but eventually snaps and tries to kill everybody

You learn the origins and final fate of the Borg

A thinly-veiled Dr. House clone joins the Voyager crew

Geordi briefly has 2 girlfriends at once (due to different writers not co-ordinating enough, but still)

There's a TOS book that's a musical

There are YA stories about Jake and Nog making mischief on DS9

YA stories about Worf, Geordi, Picard, Beverly, Kirk, Spock and McCoy at SFA

YA series about the Kelvinverse gang (including Gaila!) as cadets, taking on a drug problem at SFA and a very unique Borg scout in San Francisco

We very briefly meet the people who are to Q what the Q are to humanity

Janeway/Chakotay is a thing

Kirk's first mission in command of the Enterprise! Erm, at least twice.

Kirk was married between TOS and TMP

Her name was Lori

In the future, you have yearly marriage contracts that you either update or you don't and I think that's amazing

Trip didn't die! He faked his death to join Section 31 and go undercover as a Romulan

It's not great, tbh

The ENT books get better after the Romulan wars though, it's proper founding of the Federation stuff

We meet Jack Crusher (erm, the OG) when 4 timelines start overlapping and he's a bit unhinged

Teenage Kirk stole a car and his choice was go to jail or join Starfleet

What happened when Voyager got home? Seven broke up with Chakotay like 30 pages in

Kirk gets cloned, and his clone becomes the sub of an evil invincible super genius and its all very gay

George Kirk was Robert April's first officer on the first ever mission of the unnamed starship with the Naval Construction Contract 1701

Robert is a hard-core pacifist and has to turn command over to George whenever it's time to fire weapons

Data becomes fully human for a couple of days and it's really sweet

They never say "wristwatch" or "phone", it's always "wrist chrono" or "personal comm"

There are gays but they don't say that word because it's the 1990's and Rick Berman runs the franchise

Spock has a son in the past with Zarabeth

Everyone in the post-Nemesis era does spy missions all the time non stop, as if Starfleet has abandoned exploring the cosmos for doing Space Mission: Impossible

Bashir does it better than anyone else, he takes on Section 31 from the inside

Remember Control? It's from the novels, except the novels do it SO MUCH BETTER.

Remember how we never found out who Future Guy was? We do.

It's very underwhelming, nobody we know

We find out how the Romulans and Vulcans split

Surak was a Vulcan internet blogger

A Borg Cube eats Pluto

Janeway dies

Janeway gets better

At least one TOS book features a wizard

There's a Star Trek TOS/Here Come the Brides crossover novel

It had cameos from The Doctor (as in, Who), Han Solo, Starbuck and others

Whole book series about Section 31

Whole book series about the Department of Temporal Investigations

One time they do the Bill and Ted thing to escape confinement and it works

Wanna know how Riker and Troi met?

Wanna know what Picard got up to on the Stargazer?

Andorians have 4 sexes and it's very complicated

Data comes back from the dead as Data 2.0, and it was fresh and exciting because it happened long before ST: Picard did it twice.

Lal comes back too and we get father/daughter android stuff! They have a home and everything but keep having to save the universe

One time Mirror Seven is led around on a leash naked on Terok Nor

Geordi becomes captain of the USS Challenger, decides it's not for him because plot, and goes back to engineering on the Enterprise

Kirk is shot on the bridge and dies

Kirk gets better

They watch 3D holos of old Doctor Who episodes in the Enterprise rec room

The Enterprise also has an AI named Moira, which was Zora long before Zora

The TOS crew get together for one last mission. About three times.

There's a Perry Mason book except it's about Kirk's lawyer from that TOS episode

Data 2.0 owns and runs a massive gambling empire on Orion

Spock keeps randomly showing up everywhere in the TNG era

Scotty keeps randomly showing up everywhere in the TNG era

Bones keeps randomly showing up everywhere in the TNG era

You're on Tumblr so you already know about Killing Time

There's a guy named McKenzie Calhoun and he's a total badass and captains a ship of weirdos and misfits

Kirk comes back from the dead, saves the galaxy repeatedly, has an intersex child (who identifies as male) with a Romulan/Klingon hybrid

Kirk beats up Worf

Kirk's child has superpowers

Kirk's child saves the galaxy at age 6

The Kirk stuff is 100% ignored in the other novels

About 50% of the novels are ignored in the other 50%, and the ones that are meant to be in direct continuity with each other aren't always quite

Just like the TV shows and movies, then

Lwaxana Troi meets Q, and it goes as well as you'd expect

Someone tells Data, yes you idiot you had emotions all along and he's like, oh shit you're right

McCoy is left in command of the Enterprise as a joke by Kirk, who is then immediately kidnapped

Ro Laren is captain of Deep Space Nine

Picard/Beverly is a thing, they get married and have a child named Rene. No running away and raising your kid in secret here

Riker and Troi are married, serve on the Titan together with a bunch of adorable weirdos and have a daughter named Tasha

You get to watch all the 24th century characters die horribly in the end along with their entire universe. Holy fuck it's a bleak horror show. Personally, I love it. But if that's not your cup of tea I'd skip the Coda trilogy

[judgemark45]

USS Missouri is seen on her way to San Francisco for recommissioning in the late 1980s.

[captain-price-unofficially]

USS Intrepid departing San Francisco, California, packed with vehicles, equipment, and aircraft including SBD Dauntless, F6F Hellcats, C-45 Expeditors, PV-1 Venturas, and P-61 Black Widow. 9 June 1944

[whirligig-girl]

Slimes at a San Francisco Star Party

Attacking @uss-feynman and @headphones-lifeform's mellanoid slime worm OCs T'oumii Ela'as and Lacus T. Raen for art fight 2024!

[supplyside]

USS Boxer enters San Francisco Bay

[lonestarbattleship]

USS CALIFORNIA (BB-44) and USS TENNESSEE (BB-43) passing beneath the "Golden Gate Bridge" enter San Francisco Bay, California.

Photographed sometime between January and June 1937.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command: NH 73001, NH 73002

[frogblast-the-ventcore]

Lieutenant Sayako-34 Madison - Tied for the title of youngest member of the USS Sorcerer's senior staff at only 27 years old, and serving as Chief Flight Controller, Sayako-34 began their Starfleet career as a shuttle pilot on Earth Spacedock.

Graduating Starfleet Academy in 2407, Sayako-34 spent 2 years shuttling VIPs to and from San Francisco. Quickly growing bored with this routine, the young Hermat requested that they be re-assigned to a long range Starfleet vessel. Their request would be granted on July 7, 2409, the day before the Iconian War would begin, joining the crew of the Defiant-class USS Belfast (captained by Captain Va'Kel Shon, later famous for captaining the USS Enterprise-F during the Iconian War). The Belfast would be destroyed in one of the first battles of the war. Sayako-34 would survive the Belfasts' destruction, though injured. Once they recovered, they were re-assigned to the USS Sorcerer in 2410, fighting alongside the crew during the rest of the conflict, meeting their eventual fiancee Lieutenant Elsie Madison, now the Sorcerer's Chief Operations Officer, in the process. Again surviving the crippling of their starship during the Battle of Midnight, this time uninjured, Sayako-34 and Elsie would be re-assigned to the ship when it was recommissioned in 2416.

[mareislandfoundation]

A Ghost Story

Drive onto the former Mare Island Naval Shipyard located in the northern San Francisco Bay Area, head south and you will drive by many handsome brick buildings located in the heart of the first US naval base on the Pacific. Some are occupied with new businesses, some are vacant, and one is home to a ghost.

Lieutenant Commander Samuel Wilson died in Japan and was buried in China in 1891. Then he was exhumed to be buried in the Mare Island cemetery. Some say he has been wandering the former ordnance storehouse on the island ever since his body arrived back for burial months later aboard the steam warship USS Iroquois. We don’t know the circumstances surrounding the death of Lt. Cmdr. Wilson, but it couldn’t have been pretty. According to a 1930 story in the old “Vallejo Chronicle,” Lt. Cmdr. Wilson’s body hadn’t been buried long when it was exhumed and was shipped “well packed in three boxes.” The Iroquois was to be decommissioned and laid up at mid-channel off Mare Island, so her armament was shipped off to the ordnance storehouse, a two-story brick structure built in 1870 and designed by the same engineer that designed the granite dry dock, Calvin Brown.

Lt. Cmdr. Wilson left behind a grieving wife and seven years later she sent a headstone to the shipyard to mark her former husband’s grave in the cemetery. Things began to unravel when yard officials were unable to locate the grave of Lt. Cmdr. Wilson. Then, Mrs. Wilson traveled to Mare Island to find the missing body of her former husband. The search eventually located those three boxes in the ordnance storehouse where they had apparently been stored and forgotten. Lt. Cmdr. Wilson’s earthly remains were finally interred in the Mare Island cemetery, but that wasn’t the end of the story.

It seems Lt. Cmdr. Wilson either liked the ordnance storehouse or resented having been left there for seven years. Whatever the reasons, strange sounds were heard from the building, the fire alarm rang for no reason, and ghostly figures were reported moving around. In addition, an unusual pattern of unexplained accidents happened within the building. The strange occurrences so frightened the workers in the building that they successfully petitioned the Shipyard Commander to have the building illuminated inside and outside both day and night. The practice of illuminating the building when empty only lasted for several years, but workers were still reporting the building as haunted well into the 1980’s.

Dennis Kelly

[rabbitcruiser]

International Museum Day 

Visit a local museum and learn about anything from art to ancient history to aerospace. Many museums also offer virtual tours online, if you can’t get out.

Few places in our world are more educational than museums. After all, where else could we hope to see so many pieces of actual history that tell so many stories about our ancestors? From prehistoric spears to Egyptian mummies, from ancient Greek sculptures to medieval armor, and from the first radio to the first planes used in war during WWI, museums have it all. Unfortunately, there are millions of people with direct access to museums that have never even visited one.

There are many possible reasons for this–perhaps they think just looking at old things would be boring, or perhaps they are unaware just how different the world was in the past and see no reason to take an interest. Whatever the reason for not taking advantage of the incredible amount of tangible knowledge museums offer, and regardless of age, International Museum Day is the time to invest in education in its most fascinating form.

Many people may ask why they would invest in something like International Museum Day when modern technology can give them all the answers that they may need. Well, to answer that fairly, all you need to do is a little Google search.

Nowadays, if you need to find an answer to something, you can surely just jump online and get it right? Well, yes, but what you need to realize is that the answer you get is quite possibly wrong.

A study conducted in 2016 on how many of the historical facts you find online were true, had some shocking results. It seems as of November 2016, over 48% of all available historical facts available online are inaccurate or downright wrong. So, taking this into account, you may want to place your fair elsewhere.

The truth is, education is important, so days like International Museum Day should be something to get yourself and your young ones excited for; after all, while there will be children filling their heads with nonsense, you have the ability to fill your children with knowledgey goodness.

History of International Museum Day

The International Council of Museums (ICOM) created International Museum Day in 1977. The organization chooses a different theme for the day and coordinates every year. Some of the themes include globalization, indigenous peoples, bridging cultural gaps, and caring for the environment.

Every year since 1977, all of the museums in the world are invited to participate in this day to promote the role of museums around the world, by organizing enjoyable and free activities around the year’s theme.

International Museum Day has become steadily more popular since its creation, with International Museum Day 2009 being participated in by 20,000 museums in over 90 countries. In 2012, the number of participating museums had jumped to 30,000 in 129 countries.

As the years have gone by, we have been blessed to live in a society where while technology seems to want to take over, there have been certain things that are now considered cool that were once reserved for a very target demographic.

While the numbers of participants were slowly climbing almost a decade ago, over the last five years, the numbers are climbing at an even more rapid rate. When we look at this, we may ask ourselves why, and the truth is simple, history is now something that is classed as cool.

Yes, we may live in a technology-driven society, but it seems that the more technology has reigned over the world, people have started to gravitate towards the things that connect them to a world they are scared of losing.

Today, there are more visitors to museums all over the world than ever before, and more than this, there are now more people studying history at degree level than at any point in history.

Now, it may be possible that this is just a point where geek chic is in, and students want to seem more cultural and in touch with the world, but if we stop for a brief moment, could it not be possible that International Museum Day has played a small role in helping entire new generations fall in love with history once again?

The truth may, in fact, be both, but one thing we must remember is that While it may not be as popular as some days, International Museum Day is something that should be held in high importance.

The further we move forward, the more we leave behind, and with all of the things that are now long behind us, we need something to help us remember where we have been, that way, we can take the journey ahead of us with more confidence.

How to celebrate International Museum Day

There is no better way to celebrate International Museum Day than to take a trip down to a nearby museum, either alone, with friends, or even your children if you feel they are old enough to appreciate the place. Depending on where you live, the museums you might be closest to could be ones connected with anything from farming to fashion, from astronomy to archaeology, from art to natural history. If it turns out that the museums in your immediate area are not ones that would interest you, maybe you could consider a day trip to a nearby city to visit a museum better suited to your interests? Carpooling with a friend or two will make the trip cheaper and very possibly more interesting.

Another thing to think about is how well you tolerate crowds. International Museum Day is an increasingly popular worldwide event, so it is quite probable that many of the larger and better-known museums will be pretty crowded on this day, especially since many museums do not charge an entrance fee then. If you do not feel like standing in long lines to see every single thing or having to maneuver your way through crowds of people, paying more attention to not stepping on anyone’s shoes than the objects on exhibition, you may want to visit the museum of your choice a few days before or after International Museum Day.

On weekdays, museums are often quiet places where one can come to study our ancestors’ lifestyles and contemplate what motivated them to behave and develop as they did. However you decide to celebrate Museum day, don’t let this opportunity to find out about the history of the human race go to waste!

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[thoughtlessarse]

A geoengineering technique designed to reduce high temperatures in California could inadvertently intensify heatwaves in Europe, according to a study that models the unintended consequences of regional tinkering with a changing climate. The paper shows that targeted interventions to lower temperature in one area for one season might bring temporary benefits to some populations, but this has to be set against potentially negative side-effects in other parts of the world and shifting degrees of effectiveness over time. The authors of the study said the findings were “scary” because the world has few or no regulations in place to prevent regional applications of the technique, marine cloud brightening, which involves spraying reflective aerosols (usually in the form of sea salt or sea spray) into stratocumulus clouds over the ocean to reflect more solar radiation back into space. Experts have said the paucity of controls means there is little to prevent individual countries, cities, companies or even wealthy individuals from trying to modify their local climates, even if it is to the detriment of people living elsewhere, potentially leading to competition and conflict over interventions. The recent sharp rise in global temperatures has prompted some research institutions and private organisations to engage in geoengineering research that used to be virtually taboo. In Australia, scientists have been trialling marine cloud brightening strategies for at least four years to try to cool the Great Barrier Reef and slow its bleaching. Earlier this year, scientists at the University of Washington sprayed sea-salt particles across the flight deck of a decommissioned aircraft carrier, the USS Hornet, docked in Alameda in San Francisco Bay. This experiment was halted by the local government to allow it to evaluate whether the spray contains chemicals that might pose a health risk to people or animals in the Bay area.

continue reading

Nice how they can think of the consequences of actions taken in one part of the planet could affect other parts. Shame they didn't think about it earlier when we knew burning fossil fuels would affect the whole planet but especially the poorest parts.

[the-gumiho-martian5]

My OC Starship

USS Helldriver (NCC-2701)

In 2267, Starfleet commissioned a new ship to be built and launched. The ship was to be called USS Helldriver (NCC-2701).

In 2269, it launched with Neil Thompson assigned as Captain. The Helldriver was designed to be the safest of the Constitution Class with design changes made during construction due to lessons learned from ships like the Constellation and Defiant with a thicker hull and has the ability to detect anomalies like what caused the Defiant’s disappearance. But two weeks after launch and not even half fitted, it was laid up at its builders, the San Francisco Fleet Yards for many months before being sent to the scrap yard because Project Helldriver was scrapped. 

In 2270, Starfleet decided to restart Project Helldriver as an experiment for the Constitution Class refit so NCC-2701 was towed to San Francisco Fleet Yards to undergo a refit with Captain Min Jeong’s First Officer, David Armstrong being recommended by Min Jeong to be the captain and the Copernicus Chief Engineer, Alex Hansen also overseeing the refit and the registration was changed back to NX-2701.

In 2271, After 18 months of being refitted, the USS Helldriver (NCC-2701) launched on its test mission under Captain David Armstrong, who previously served on the USS Korea and USS Copernicus. He was recommended by Captain Jeong to be the captain of the Helldriver. The ship was equipped with an experimental capability; the ability to land on Planets in one whole ship and to separate the saucer. It also experimented with a vertical warp core and extended crew capacity and new warp nacelles and bridge module. It also featured a new photon torpedo bay and new transporter as well as new shuttle crafts.

In 2273, The Helldriver warp core broke down and had to be towed back to Earth. Another 18 month refit was needed.

In 2274, history repeated itself from a year prior with another incident and the Helldriver was the only ship in range so Min Jeong took command of it and after the mission, the ship finally started it full mission.