A steel beach picnic or steel beach party is a tradition in the United States Navy. Such events are often department-sponsored barbecues held on the deck of the ship, hence the name "steel beach". They are often held on the flight deck or in a large hangar bay for carriers, much like a day at the beach with volleyball and other sporting events. [1]
A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature food and beverages, and often conversation, music, dancing, or other forms of entertainment.
USS Texas (BB-35) is a museum ship and former United States Navy New York-class battleship. She was launched on 18 May 1912 and commissioned on 12 March 1914.
USS Bennington was a member of the Yorktown class of steel-hulled, twin-screw gunboats in the United States Navy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She was the first U.S. Navy ship named in honor of the town of Bennington, Vermont, site of the Battle of Bennington in the American Revolutionary War.
Protected cruisers, a type of cruising warship of the late-19th century, gained their description because an armoured deck offered protection for vital machine-spaces from fragments caused by shells exploding above them. Protected cruisers resembled armored cruisers, which had in addition a belt of armour along the sides.
Landing craft are small and medium seagoing watercraft, such as boats and barges, used to convey a landing force from the sea to the shore during an amphibious assault. The term excludes landing ships, which are larger. Production of landing craft peaked during World War II, with a significant number of different designs produced in large quantities by the United Kingdom and United States.
Nakagusuku Bay is a bay on the southern coast of Okinawa Island on the Pacific Ocean in Japan. The bay covers 220 square kilometres (85 sq mi) and ranges between 10 metres (33 ft) to 15 metres (49 ft) deep. The bay is surrounded by the municipalities of Uruma, Kitanakagusuku, Nakagusuku, Nishihara, Yonabaru, Nanjō, all in Okinawa Prefecture. In 1852, while visiting the Ryukyu Kingdom, Commodore Matthew Perry mapped Okinawa and labeled Nakagusuku Bay as "Perry's Bay". During the final months of World War II, the bay became a U.S. Navy forward base, and was nicknamed "Buckner Bay".
The landing craft, tank (LCT) was an amphibious assault craft for landing tanks on beachheads. They were initially developed by the Royal Navy and later by the United States Navy during World War II in a series of versions. Initially known as the "tank landing craft" (TLC) by the British, they later adopted the U.S. nomenclature "landing craft, tank" (LCT). The United States continued to build LCTs post-war, and used them under different designations in the Korean and Vietnam Wars.
Landing Ship, Tank (LST), or tank landing ship, is the naval designation for ships first developed during World War II (1939–1945) to support amphibious operations by carrying tanks, vehicles, cargo, and landing troops directly onto shore with no docks or piers. This enabled amphibious assaults on almost any beach.
This glossary of nautical terms is an alphabetical listing of terms and expressions connected with ships, shipping, seamanship and navigation on water. Some remain current, while many date from the 17th to 19th centuries. The word nautical derives from the Latin nauticus, from Greek nautikos, from nautēs: "sailor", from naus: "ship".
Beer Day is the term applied to an event where a United States Navy or Military Sealift Command vessel's personnel are issued, and authorized to consume, beer.
The Virginia Beach Sportsplex is a sports complex in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The name is most commonly attached to the main stadium within the complex, which opened in 1999. It has a permanent seating capacity of 6,000, on two decks of seating, though it can be expanded upwards to 17,000 for American football games. It was the first soccer-specific stadium built from the ground up in the United States. The Sportsplex is located across the street from the Princess Anne Athletic Complex and near the Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater.
USS Harlan County (LST-1196) was a United States Navy tank landing ship of the Newport class. Entering service in 1972, the ship was active until decommissioned in 1995 and transferred to Spain. Renamed Pizarro, her Spanish service ended in 2012 and in 2013 it was reported that she would be sold to Angola as part of a package with the Spanish aircraft carrier Príncipe de Asturias. This sale was not completed and, after further attempts to sell the ship were unsuccessful, she was sold for scrap in April, 2016; she was completely dismantled by November, 2016, in El Puerto de Santa Maria, Spain.
National Maritime Day is a United States holiday created to recognize the maritime industry. It is observed on May 22, the date in 1819 that the American steamship Savannah set sail from Savannah, Georgia on the first ever transoceanic voyage under steam power. The holiday was created by the United States Congress on May 20, 1933.
An amphibious assault ship is a type of amphibious warfare ship employed to land and support ground forces on enemy territory during an amphibious assault. The design evolved from aircraft carriers converted for use as helicopter carriers. Modern ships support amphibious landing craft, with most designs including a well deck. Coming full circle, some amphibious assault ships also support V/STOL fixed-wing aircraft, now having a secondary role as aircraft carriers.
An amphibious warfare ship is an amphibious vehicle warship employed to land and support ground forces, such as marines, on enemy territory during an amphibious assault.
USAMP Major General Wallace F. Randolph, sometimes also known as MG Wallace F. Randolph, was a 188.2-foot (57.4 m) mine planter built by the Marietta Manufacturing Company, and delivered to the United States Army Mine Planter Service in 1942. The ship was transferred to the U.S. Navy in 1951, placed directly into the Atlantic Reserve Fleet without being commissioned classed as the auxiliary minelayer ACM-15, then reclassified minelayer, auxiliary (MMA) and named MMA-15, and finally given the name Nausett without any active naval service. After being stricken from the Naval Vessel Register, the ship was transferred to different owners, and eventually was scuttled off the coast of Florida as an artificial reef and fish aggregating device. The site is currently known as the Thunderbolt Wreck, and is considered to be an excellent and challenging dive site for advanced divers.
MV Macdhui was a steel-hulled passenger and cargo motor ship built by Barclay Curle & Company at the Clydeholm Yard, Whiteinch, Scotland for Burns, Philp & Company, Limited, Sydney NSW, Australia. She was launched on 23 December 1930 and completed during March 1931. She operated with the company's Burns, Philp Line with service to Papua and New Guinea. She was sunk in 1942, as a result of damage suffered by being hit by bombs from Japanese aircraft, near Port Moresby.
HMS Misoa was a Maracaibo-class LST Mk.I tank landing ship of the British Royal Navy during World War II. A converted Lake Maracaibo oil tanker, she took part in the invasions of North Africa, Sicily, and Normandy.
USS PC-552 was a class-461 patrol craft ("PC") that was at the forefront of the naval efforts during the Normandy invasion. It served as convoy protection in the North Atlantic and as one of about ten PC control vessels off Omaha Beach during the Normandy invasion. PC-552 was among the first ships to reach waters off Omaha Beach. PC-552, primary control vessel for Fox Green sector of the beach, was forced into rescue efforts and recovery of bodies at the departure line for Fox Green when the Duplex Drive tanks that survived the initial disastrous launch were swamped at the line with only two surviving. The PC was diverted into this effort for forty-five minutes and ultimately only five tanks, the two that survived the launch disaster and three that were aboard LCT-600 whose commander raised his ramp when the first off foundered and instead landed them on the beach, reached the beach.
HMS Tasajera(F125) was a Maracaibo-class Mark I landing ship, tank of the Royal Navy during World War II. A converted Lake Maracaibo oil tanker.
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