Thoughts, Musings and a cruise :) with Casa De Garabaldi

I am out of the country on a cruise, I don't post stuff like this on Facebook, call me paranoid.  Only a few people know who I actually am in "Meatspace". I m using my "Baby Laptop" for this post.

   First off a musing,  Granted I am at sea, I have blogged many times about the Battle of Midway, One of two significant events during WWII
      To me it was a strategic battle of huge significance.  I even debated the great Tom Kratman on this subject,    He had posted a question, "Did the U.S. Navy have a strategic battle on par with the "Spanish Armada".  Many used the Battle of the Philippine sea  because of the number of ships involved.  I used the "Battle of Midway" as my argument, Sure the Battle of the Philippine Sea was much bigger, but strategically like the Spanish Armada the Battle of Midway determined the destiny of the battle of the Pacific.  My Argument was that after the loss of their 4 first line carriers and more so, the loss of their experienced aircrews, the Japanese never recovered.  We had some close calls and the War in the Pacific still swung in the balance especially during the fighting around Guadalcanal,  but the Japanese were on the defensive from that point on.  They had to respond to us, we had the initiative. Tom disagreed with my assertion that the U.S. Navy ever had a significant battle on par with the "Armada".  The War of 1812 was mentioned not by me and I disagreed with that one, sure the U.S Navy had some victories in the War of 1812, the U.S. Navy was too small to challenge the British Fleet.   Considering his chops as they were, that I was even able to debate Tom and not be called an "Idiot" to me was a victory. :)

     Also in 1944 Operation "Overlord" commenced to free Europe from the Germans,

General Dwight D. Eisenhower's Order of the Day encouraged Allied soldiers, sailors, and airmen taking part in the D-day invasion. It was handed to Allied troops stepping onto their transports in early June 1944. As Commander of the Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force, Eisenhower provided hope for those about to liberate the European continent from Nazi tyranny.

Almost immediately after France fell to the Nazis in 1940, the Allies planned a cross-Channel assault on the German occupying forces. At the Quebec Conference in August 1943, Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt reaffirmed the plan, which was code-named Overlord. Although Churchill acceded begrudgingly to the operation, historians note that the British still harbored persistent doubts about whether Overlord would succeed.

The decision to mount the invasion was cemented at the Teheran Conference held in November and December 1943. Joseph Stalin, on his first trip outside the Soviet Union since 1912, pressed Roosevelt and Churchill for details about the plan, particularly the identity of the supreme commander of Overlord. Churchill and Roosevelt told Stalin that the invasion "would be possible" by August 1, 1944, but that no decision had yet been made to name a supreme commander. Stalin commented: "Then nothing will come of these operations. Who carries the moral and technical responsibility for this operation?" Churchill and Roosevelt acknowledged the need to name the commander without further delay. Shortly after the conference ended, Roosevelt appointed Gen. Dwight David Eisenhower to that position.

By May 1944, 2,876,000 Allied troops were amassed in southern England. While awaiting deployment orders, they prepared for the assault by practicing with live ammunition. The largest armada in history, made up of more than 4,000 American, British, and Canadian ships, lay in wait. More that 1,200 planes stood ready to deliver seasoned airborne troops behind enemy lines, to silence German ground resistance as best they could, and to dominate the skies of the impending battle theater.

Against a tense backdrop of uncertain weather forecasts, disagreements in strategy, and related timing dilemmas predicated on the need for optimal tidal conditions, Eisenhower decided before dawn on June 5 to proceed with Overlord. Later that same afternoon, he scribbled a note intended for release, accepting responsibility for the decision to launch the invasion and full blame should the effort to create a beachhead on the Normandy coast fail.

Much more polished is this printed Order of the Day for June 6, 1944, which Eisenhower began drafting in February. The order was distributed to the 175,000-member expeditionary force on the eve of the invasion.

     We Students of History and us who served or still serve, honor those from back then for the courage displayed to step off into the unknown.

     Well to my cruise...we left the city of JAX

   As we sailed, I saw a container ship being unloaded, I knew how they did it, but it still was fascinating to watch..

  Then we approached a bridge...

It got closer....

and closer............

And really Close.........

is it gonna "scratch"...?

Looks like we cleared......lol

As we neared the mouth of the Harbor, we had a seahawk buzz us...probably looking for "Free Range Boobies".   Hey I was a G.I. at one time, I know.....

Followed by the View of some of the big gray canoe's that the U.S. Navy is known for...

And a LHD-7 U.S.S Iwo Jima, the silhouette doesn't exactly match what I saw in "Wiki", the Big white then is covering the aft Antenna mount on the island.  I don't know if the ship is being in for maintenance, storage or overhaul.  Still it is a cool pic...

 And some humor.....with truth attached to it for us that work the aviation field.