Visit with the USS North Carolina, BB-55, in New Hanover County
It's important that the SSN 777 Club respect and connect with the heritage of those who've gone before us, so we drove to Wilmington to visit the famous Battleship North Carolina, BB-55. I met with Dave Scheu and Walt Flippin of the US Naval Academy Alumni Association's Cape Fear Chapter. Both are retired Navy captains, submariners and Dave served as Executive Director of the Battleship North Carolina for nearly twenty years.
Aboard BB-55, we were introduced to the Executive Director and staff members; we enjoyed a fascinating tour of the archives which includes all ships named North Carolina: the 74 gun flagship of Commodore John Rodgers commissioned in 1824; the armored cruiser North Carolina (ACR-12) commissioned in 1908; BB-55, the most highly decorated battleship of World War II commissioned in 1941; and the most technically advanced submarine in our nation's navy, SSN 777, commissioned in 2008.
