Things to See on the Titanic Trail-- Part 1: The Titanic Was Here

From the May 20, 2012, New York Daily News "Even after the centennial there's still plenty to see on the Titanic Trail" by Sharon King Hoge.

BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND-- The Titanic was built here 1909-1911. At the time, the Titanic was the largest moving man-made object in the world. The area where it was built is called the THE TITANIC QUARTER and you can take walking and river tours.

There are exhibits at the former White Star office where the plans for the giant ship were made. Local restaurants offer versions of the last meals served.

The ship, and her two other sister ships, were made at the Harland & Wolff shipyard, which has the TITANIC BELFAST which has three sister ship prows representing the Titanic, Plympic and Britannic.

On a cruise around the British Isles several years ago, Belfast was one of the stops, and the ship we were on docked right across from the drydock where the Titanic was built. It was huge. Sure felt close ti that old ship at this place.

--Cooter

Lots of World War I Wooden Ships

From the Oct. 21, 2013 shipbuilding site "Wooden Ships and Barges." While doing research on the Fulton Shipyard for my World War II blog, I came across this interesting sidenote for World War I. //// Toward the end of World War I, U.S. contracts were placed for over 1,000 wooden ships, tugs and barges, but many of the contracts were cancelled after the war ended. Only 589 were completed. //// Many of the ones finished were converted to barges and many others scrapped on the ways are burned. Many of the completed ones were sold for scrap but many were just abandoned to rot. //// Mallows Bay, on the Maryland bank of the Potomac River just downstream from Quantico, Virginia, has countless of these ships slowly rotting away. //// --Cooter

The Repairs of the Battleship USS North Carolina-- Part 2

From the June 10th WWAY TV.

The USS North Carolina has been sitting for decades in the Cape Fear River mud and is now in dire need of work on the hull. Plans until now had it being towed to Norfolk or Charleston for dry docking.

The ship's commander, Terry Bragg said, "If you take it away it would leave us with nothing but a big hole in the ground." They have come up with a way to keep the battleship in Wilmington and save $11 million. They now intend to build a cofferdam around the ship with work starting this fall and continuing for three years.

Bragg believes that if the North Carolina Shipyard could build all those Liberty Ships in Wilmington during World War II, they can restore the hull of one battleship.

Sounds Like a Win-Win Situation to Me. --Cooter

World War II Sites in the US

In the earlier posting, I wrote about the crew members of the US ship who died in Southport, NC. In the article I got from the HMdb (Historical Marker database), they wrote that there weren't a lot of WW II markers in the US since essentially no fighting took place here.

True, but even so, there was plenty of war effort going on here, along with the battles with U-Boats in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. Shipyards sprang up all along the coasts. Two ships on the Great Lakes were converted into aircraft carriers for Naval aviators to practice landings and takeoffs.

German and Italian prisoners were held in various towns, training camps sprang up all over as well. Our coasts also had fortifications. Then, there were the Rosie the Riveters and children participating in war drives.

I've also come across an article about a woman who recently donated the bottle with which she christened the Liberty Ship SS Calvin Coolidge to a museum in Vermont.

One thing I have definitely come across in this blog, is that there is the need for lots of markers that to be erected in this country.

Here's Hoping. --Cooter