We spent a couple hours on Thursday morning touring the ships docked along the shore of San Diego Bay.
Star of India
This is the oldest ship in the world that still sails regularly. It was launched in 1863 and served at various time as a cargo ship and an immigrant carrier.
HMS Surprise
A replica of a British frigate from the Napoleonic Wars, this ship was used in one of my all-time favorite movies — Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.
The scenes in the movie that took place below-decks were shot in a studio and not on board the ship. There was an exhibit on the lower deck about Pacific exploration, and I could find nothing on board about the movie.
B-39 Soviet Attack Submarine
This is a diesel-electric attack submarine launched in 1974. It was used to shadow U.S. Navy vessels around the world during the Cold War. It occasionally carried low-grade nuclear missiles.
I was struck by how severe everything was. Very little or no effort had been expended to make things comfortable. If you enlarge the center photo below, you’ll see a circular opening at the end of the passageway. There were four or five of these — about three-feet in diameter — that we had to clamber through as we made our way along the sub.
Check out this cabin (left, below). I took this photo from the main passageway. To get into this bunk, you’d have to edge past the large metal bit on the right, climb onto the bunk from the end and extend yourself down the narrow space between the wall and the fan, or whatever it is — which would probably be making all sorts of racket. You can see more luxurious accommodations on the right.
