The USS Hornet (CV-12), berthed at the former Alameda Naval Station and now a museum with exhibits dedicated to the exploits of this storied aircraft carrier. The Hornet that has served the US Navy in World War II (Pacific), Korean War and the Vietnam War. The Hornet was also the carrier that received the Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 astronauts on their return to Earth. The above picture is of the Hornet during a beautiful summer day in Alameda. On January 13th, however, Jenn and i visited the Hornet under a much different setting, visiting the Hornet at 1900 to join in a flash light tour of the Grey Ghost.

January 13, 2012 - Alameda. It took quite a trial to get to the Hornet on time. The Bay Bridge, as usual, was an impediment to traffic free commute. One can not begin to describe the feeling of futility one feels as red brake lights fill one's vision and the time to destination calculations on the Navigation GPS keeps increasing... 30 minutes, 1 hour and 15 minute, tic toc tic toc tic. As luck and traffic would have it, we showed up at the Hornet with 1 minute to spare and found out that indeed we weren't the last one to get there (there were two other groups who has not shown up yet). The Hornet has a very different vibe at night, instead of the feeling of vast openness one gets in the day time, at night one keenly feels the night, the cold, the dark nibbling at the edge of the light. Shadows danced in every corner and on every surface. Perhaps the first indication that we had signed up for a tour that had something more going on was when a volunteer docent walked by and told us that he hopes there will be some "activity" tonight. i have long heard that the USS Hornet is a haunted ship (reputed to be the most haunted ship in the US Navy). i believe i've even seen an advert for an episode of Ghost Hunters that took place on the Hornet, but i've never thought more about it nor have any inclination for taking the so called Hornet "Mystery" Tour. It was a great relief for both Jenn and i when, after a brief orientation and a head count of the tour participants who had forgotten to bring a flashlight, it was announced that there will be a "history" tour (which does not have the paranormal aspect) and a "mystery" tour (which has the paranormal aspect but not much of the history aspect - the key of the "mystery" tour seems to be "keeping an open mind", as it was repeated over a dozen times in the orientation chat). Jenn and i quickly peeled away from the main body of the civilians and joined docent Todd (a retired Navy veteran after 25 years of service) and program director Heidi (who turns out to hold an advanced degree on Civil War history). After a few brief moments, it became clear that the majority of the civilians were here for the "mystery" tour and that the "history" component consists only of Jenn and i. 

Our volunteer docent Todd is a strongly built fellow with a great sense of humor and a easy smile and laugh. During the course of the tour, it was revealed that he joined the Navy to comply with a judge's orders ("i caused a lot of trouble when i was younger" he said) but got turned down by the Marines due to his incomplete high school education (the Navy is less discerning it seems). In the Navy, he worked as a flight engineer serving on a number of aircraft carriers (the Nimitz Class Carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) being one of them) before being trained as a Navy Corpsman and serving in a number of combat theaters with the Marines. After he retired from the Navy, he found himself at the Hornet and now he lives full time on board and serves as a crewman, leading tours, helping to fix and restore the Hornet and the aircrafts she has on her. He berths in the fo'c'sel, has a view of the SF skyline for morning coffee and afternoon/evening adult beverage aided relaxation.

Program director "the boss" Heidi is a young woman who has boundless energy and exudes excitement about the Hornet. Her excitement about the various areas of the ship is infectious and she is keen on showing off the grand lady (or as Todd calls her, "my girl") in every aspect. She is also an expert on the history of the US West during the Civil War.

After we four made introductions, Heidi and Todd conferred as to the route of the tour, well, at least the first stop of the tour. As Todd said to Heidi, "your the boss, you decide".

Combat Information Center (CIC) was our first stop. The CIC is the brains of the Hornet. This is a

clearance required area where all combat pertinent information that is received and produced by the myriad of sensors/detectors/observers on the Hornet is compiled and analyzed. Because this is a flashlight tour, normal lights are not turned on (and as Heidi says, "never the lights, never the lights") but the blue lights (blue lights will not dilate the eyes, thus it was less stressful to the crewmen that served in the CIC) were used. Along with the various scopes, monitors and the fascinating Dead Reckoning Tracking system (DRT), the room is lined by clear transparent panels where crewmen capable of easily and naturally writing backwards hand records all the distilled information. The triangles are enemy contacts, half circles indicated friendly contacts. Because a carrier is never by herself, the tracking of friendly contacts are as important as the tracking of enemy contacts. Offset from the room is a small alcove where red lit monitors say lighted in the dim blue light. These are the monitors for sonar contacts. The CIC officer's station sits on a raised platform center and to the back of the CIC. He is surrounded by communications gear, many of them red or is connected to red striped lines which are indicators that they are either scrambled or isolated lines. These are used for classified information.

From the CIC, we meandered through out the ship, up and down the various decks, in and out of the ship using the catwalks to get on and off the flight deck. We toured, our flashlights scanning up down left and right, through the radio rooms (combination and key locked, bars on the window, black out curtained door ways to ensure absolute secrecy, burn bags, weighted and holed sea bags and a porthole with a dead drop over the side), up to the Navigation Bridge, into the Captain's Office, around into the conference room with a wall covered in a art piece picked out by First Lady Mrs. Nixon so that President Richard M. Nixon would feel at home (they have the same art on the wall at home), out through the wee small door on the starboard side onto the exterior catwalk, up a short ladder to the Flight Deck, explore the Island (the Navigation Bridge, Captain's Office, Captain's At Sea Cabin), down the portside ladder to the aft 5-inch gun, into the Wardroom/Wardroom Galley, down to the Starboard side Catapult, further down to the Engine Room, up to the Brig, into the Special Weapons corridor, to the Crew Mess/Kitchen, by the Bakery, into the Torpedo Berth, to the Torpedo room and a view of the original to Hornet art at the back of the Torpedo Battery room (in the slide show, you can't miss it!), up the entire Starboard side of the Carrier past marine Land, the Junior Officer's Berthing (JOB) into the Fo'c'sle, the Hurricane Bow, and the Secondary Conning Bridge (you can see it from the photo on top of the Hornet during the day... on the bow, right below the flight deck where the six portholes are) where the tour wrapped up to head back up to the Hanger Deck. Three hours of scrambling up and down, gaping at all the amazing equipment and artifacts, flashlights weaving through the dark. It was exhilarating and a great learning experience. Todd and Heidi took a wonderful care of us and was such great educators!

Hornet Night Tour