Sights of San Diego, CA

San Diego is about as close to Heaven on Earth as you can get. While many parts of the United States were facing near freezing weather, I was out in this city wearing shorts and a t-shirt. It wasn't the draining dry heat of Arizona either, it was just perfect. Weather-wise, San Diego is a special place.

San Diego also has a quality Maritime Museum, which features old boats and new. This boat, the H.M.S. Surprise, was used in the motion picture Master and Commander. The 179 foot boat is a replica of a 24 gun frigate of Great Britain's Nelson era Royal Navy.

The Star of India, the world's oldest active ship. Built in 1863, it has sailed all over the world.

Here is a B-39 Soviet Submarine, the kind of ship our glorious country designed its weapons to search for and destroy. This ship has an interesting history:

She was designed to track U.S. and NATO warships throughout the world’s oceans. B-39, assigned to the Soviet Pacific fleet, undoubtedly stalked many of the U.S. Navy’s ships home ported in San Diego. Now, less than 20 years after the collapse of the Berlin Wall signaled the end of the Cold War, she will be berthed on San Diego Bay amidst her former adversaries.

Commie bastards. How dare they have subs in our waters!

To help protect us from the threat-of-the-past U.S.S.R. submarine is the nearby U.S.S. Midway, which served our nation for 47 years. This ship was commissioned in 1945, which meant it may have defended us against Krauts, Japs, Gooks, and other ethnic groups we didn't like at the time until serving as the flagship for our Desert Storm operations in 1991, when we first started not liking Arabs. That's quite a history.

It was stationed in Japan for 18 years, before it was replaced by a bunch of Toyotas built with cheap foreign labor.

I could be wrong though. Truth be told, I was just passing through.

San Diego has America's largest military presence, with about 95,000 troops in the area (providing they are not overseas in Iraq at the moment). Above, the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan (CV-76). This is clearly the greatest ship in our fleet, able to win Cold Wars without firing a shot and able to beat the U.S.S. Jimmy Carter in a landslide.

It is 1092 feet long; nearly as long as the Empire State Building is tall and when out of port it costs $2.5 million per day to operate. This is OK because it is funded entirely by tax cuts.

I'd like to see that Ruskie submarine try anything while the Reagan is at port. Not a chance!

Also in port is the U.S.S. Nimitz, the namesake of the Reagan's ship class. The ship has not seen a lot of combat, with the noticeable exception of the Iraqi War, but has been a part of America's defense at various key times in our recent history.

Scattered throughout San Diego are these metal trees, an art project of the city. They give the place a nice touch.

San Diego is not all fun, games, and great weather though. Homeless people slept unmolested in this very public area, and no one seemed to give them any thought. A man passed out in front of a yacht is quite an image.

There are local groups that are trying to deal with the problem, as well as the usual government agencies.

The U.S.S. Ronald Reagan has nothing to do with it though.

RELATED LINKS:
America's Treasures