My brother, Robert, and I were lucky enough to be invited to the final Tiger Cruise of the USS Enterprise CVN-65. The Tiger Cruise is a special short trip that the Navy ships do as a fun thing to do for the families of the Sailors on board, usually at the end of a deployment. This year, the Tigers (that’s us) met the ship at its final port call in Mayport, Florida to come back on board to the homeport of Norfolk, Virginia.
We boarded the bus that would take us to Florida at Norfolk Naval Station and left about 1800, or 6 pm. We rode in more or less quiet for about an hour and a half, until we hit a dead buck lying in the road. So we pulled over and stopped, and the four other buses behind us all stopped as well, I guess they had to stick together or something. We hung out around the side of the road for a while until they determined that the tire was too flat and the headlight was too shattered and a bunch of other things were broken and it was unsafe. So we turned around and all drove to a gas station about a mile back, where we sat around outside wrapped in blankets and drinking ice cold lemonade because the gas station had it on sale. After about two hours of this, the replacement bus came and we got back underway.
We pretty much did nothing for a while until we remembered that we had brought The Avengers with us. Instantly popular, we watched that and then sat around and swapped stories, most of which were probably grossly exaggerated. We then just dozed off until about 1 am, when we got to a rest area. We spent about an hour here because someone on the bus didn’t call loud enough when they took roll, so we were waiting for her for a while until it was finally realized that she was on board and had been for an hour. By now it was about 2 am, so it was decided that we should see a video about safety on board the ship; so not walking through propeller blades, not crossing certain points on the flight deck, etc. I guess some people paid attention, though I personally was mostly asleep. After 16 hours in the bus and 18 hours with no food, we finally arrived and were rewarded with Krispy Kreme doughnuts, courtesy of the ship. The security dogs ensured that all the baggage was safe and we boarded the proud Big E.
The first thing we did was on board was eat, and trust me, those galley officers can cook like you wouldn’t believe. Even the fish on board is delicious, and the macaroni and cheese is marvelous. The galley officers on the Enterprise could make a meal out of nothing but Brussels sprouts, fish, and fried squash and it would be the best thing you could imagine.
At about 12, the ship pulled out of port. The helicopters were out circling and the security boats were patrolling for about an hour before, making sure that the area was secure. The little tugboats latched to the sides of the ship and pulled her out away from the pier. We turned out to sea and headed away. There are other ships that go out with the Enterprise, and we could see them out a little ways past. In addition to their regular ship functions, the smaller ships have the extremely important job of being ready to rescue anyone who falls overboard from the flight deck and any pilots from downed aircraft. Since the Enterprise is too big to safely retrieve people, they rely on the battleships, helicopters, and lifeboats.
There was an air demonstration, of course. It was really awesome, though, and not like a typical air show at all. For one thing, it was over water, and we got to see the planes take off and land while on the flight deck. There were helicopters that dropped flares that are used for search and rescue and to light up an area to make sure it’s ok to land. There were some planes that did some really neat flight patterns. The coolest thing though was that they were able to drop bombs. Nothing powerful was used, of course, and all way out over the ocean, but enough to make a big boom and cause everyone on the ship to jump. They also demonstrated how Sailors and Marines slide down from the helicopters. It was sooo awesome!
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