A smorgasbord of ships

Reminds me of my reservist deployment to NAS Sigonella at the start of the war 4-5 years ago now... so many different aircraft from multiple NATO nations, tankers, heavy helos.... all uptempo, going on/off all the time... my unit building location was 1/4 mile from the main landing strip...shame we could not take pics :(  You really get a sense of size (how frigging big the large tankers are! it is a sight to see them take off...), and color (yes, there ARE dozens of shades of "gunship gray" or "aircraft gray" out there), as well as weathering (yes, they DO get pretty dirty very quick).

I wonder if you can use Google Earth to "see" them now?

Thanks for sharing, cheers!

Would you be able to post a couple of pics to share with us?

I have never been anywhere close to a port to see any kind of shipping activity.

I think that would be awesome to see.

Mike

Unfortunately, I am not able to take any photos while I am here as cameras are not allowed. But the funny thing is that there are regular tours running through here all the time and the tourists are merrily clicking away. The ban on us is because of how close we are to the ships and that we have access to the intimate areas of the ships. I could probably draw fairly detailed drawings of several nuclear reactors and their supporting machinery spaces just from memory if I had to (but I won't, o' Ghost of Rickover).

'Speed in excess of 20 knots, depths in excess of 400 feet',  its one of those security responses drilled into you.

In the end it is your own honor, integrity, care, and vigilence is that which secures such  classified information.

"very high and very fast" was the one I learned at the naval air station.. and not to say when you could not sleep due to the constant taking off of the heavy tanker aircraft

of course, all it takes is some bozo to forget the shroud and the propeller is out for everyone to see thanks to Google Earth.... I still do NOT understand why the "space" above military installations is not off limits....

And another expression drilled into memory "I can neither confirm or deny the presence of special weapons aboard this command". Seems I still remember that one along with my old military service number (before we switched to using Social Security numbers) Rick Martin