Are we diving now?

Since it's a stiffling 102 in Concord, I went out to 72 degree Alameda and visited the USS Hornet. Great view of the city from the flight desk, original Sojus capsule, Apollo capsule, and the Airstream NASA converted into the quarantine pod for the astronauts. Getting up and down all those freaking ladders took almost 4 (interesting) hours.

The engine room was a bit underwhelming--I was looking for something like in Titanic, but unfortunately, they used steam turbines which are a lot smaller and don't have any of these dishy crank shafts.

The funniest moment was when the retired commander who ran the tour rang one of the communication bells in the boiler room:

Female--who's only there for her husband and has watched way too much Das Boot--: "Are we diving now?"

CDR: "Ma'm, this is an aircraft carrier. If it is diving, we are in real trouble."

People on the tour we still breaking out in church giggles when we reached the flight deck 30 minutes later.