iPentimento | Genealogy and History

Saturday, October 13th was Family Day at Naval Base Kitsap (aka Puget Sound Naval Shipyard) and my husband, our friend Sheryl, and I were making it a point to attend. Why? For many reasons. (1) Sheryl had not been on base in the CIA (controlled Industrial Area) for over 25 years, and she wanted to see the shops, tour the Trident sub Alabama (SSBN 731), and see where my husband works in waveguide. (2) My husband is eligible to retire right now, but not ready to financially, but when he does so, we will never have another opportunity to go on base again. (3) The weather was suppose to be good on that day. Hey, it’s October in WA state, and the weather can be unpredictable.

We arrived in Bremerton, WA about 10:30 AM in hope that the gate we wanted to enter (Farragut) would be available. My husband left us off at Starbucks on Washington Ave. while he went to park our car in the parking garage for DoD employees. I had been to two previous Family Days in years past, and so I was expecting the same turnout for this one. Boy, was I wrong!

This is not just Family Day for Department of Defense Employees and their families, but for Naval personnel and guests too. As we walked down to get in line for the 11 AM gate opening, we were very surprised to see hundreds of people already lined up to be let in. What we couldn’t see was that the line snaked all the way down to the new Bremerton Harborside Park and back up to the gate! I think there was a little serendipity involved in that we probably would never have seen the new park had we not been forced to get in this long, long line and wait for about 45 minutes to get up to where we could be checked at the gate.

We really thought we were home free once we got in the gate and could make our way to the CIA bus that could take us to the other end of the base where the tour for the Alabama line was. We knew there would be a line…but, “Oh lordy!” Have you ever been in a situation that seemed like an unending hell? That is what the line for the Alabama tour was like for me. Way back in the late 1980′s I had been on a tour of the Trident Sub Pennsylvania when it was in for some repairs at Cocoa Beach, FL from its berth at King’s Bay Naval Base in Georgia. Not many people get to go on Trident subs, and I am fortunate enough to say I am one of them.

I lost track of how long we waited in line for the sub tour. I think it ended up to be 3 hours, but after two I was almost in tears. I had to go sit down on a bench where I knew the long line would snake back to me. While Sheryl and Jim were in line they got to one end and found there was someone from the ship with a lighters for sale for her husband’s collection. At least one good thing happened during all that waiting.

Buses would come and the line would shorten our distance to the end where it would be our turn. Except for one tiny glitch. The sub sent someone to say the tours were over just as we were about to get on our bus! Can you believe that? It was beyond disappointing, and to top it off, it looked like all the CIA buses had quit running too, which meant we had to walk down to the other end of the shipyard again. I am sorry to always bring this into the equation, but with my fibromyalgia I could barely walk as it was after being on my feet for hours.

We trekked back though, and I am sure my companions were tired too. We did stop in the Machine Shop and Jim gave us a quick tour of it, even though he works in the Pipe Shop nearby. He does go in the Machine Shop periodically for supplies and other reasons. From that shop we walked a little further towards the gate we entered and did a very quick tour of the Pipe Shop, including the waveguide section where Jim has done a lot of his work the last 27 years.

By the time we were done with the tour we were starving, so we repaired to the Red Apple Diner a short distance away on Kitsap Way and soothed our weary bodies with 50′s era cuisine and atmosphere. It is amazing how restorative a tuna melt and a chocolate shake can be!