Totally worth it. Also a Tuesday Morning in November is apparently the time to go, no one was there. it was awesome.
It was impossible for me to imagine how something so heavy was built. Heavier ships have been built of course but I mean how in the world to do cast a room that is a cylinder with walls of 16 inches of solid steel? how do you work with that much sheer mass? I just don’t understand the logistics of the heavy stuff. I also never understood the true scale. Take the anchor, where each LINK in the chain weighs 128 lbs.
We all know about the main guns but even the secondary battery is crazy. 10 double gun 5 inch turrets that are big enough to easily get inside and work. The smaller guns are armored rooms...
and of course there are the main guns which are on a whole other level.
The entire ship is bigger than I imagined too. You get inside WWII subs and ships and thing “how?!” but this was roomier than I thought. Obviously life wasn’t awesome as an enlisted but the mess was roomy, the captain and admirals rooms weren’t bad either. Lots of work spaces too. Also weird to see modern weapons integrated.
very cool, glad I got to see it. I even bought some of the old teak decking to take home. it was just a plug, but still.