Youth visit Norfolk Naval Base
Published 10:11 am Friday, July 6, 2012
BY FRANK A. DAVIS
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
NORFOLK—More than 40 youth and staff members of the Franklin Summer Super Jam took a tour of Norfolk Naval Base Tuesday.
After the hour-long tour the group headed to the galley for lunch. There the galley manager, as well as the assistant galley manager, Franklin resident Level Reynolds, greeted the group.
The group was also taken on a guided tour of the USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier, a Nimitz Class carrier named after the 41st President, who was a naval aviator during World War II.
The carrier was commissioned in January 2009 and built by Northrop Grumman in Newport News.
The carrier is 20 stories tall and has a 4.5-acre flight deck, roughly the length of three football fields, and carries about 80 combat aircraft and a crew of over 6,000.
After boarding the ship on the hangar deck level, the youth had to climb about 10 flights of stairs to reach the tower operation center.
There the tour guides explained detail on the operation of the ship, pointing out seating locations of the 20 people required to operate the ship.
On the flight deck, their guide explained how the planes are launched, and the landing procedures were also explained.
The Franklin Summer Super Jam program is jointly sponsored by the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeastern Virginia and the Franklin Department of Parks & Recreation.