In Norfolk

Well, a lot has happened in a short amount of time. First, I'm out of school. That's new. I made it out of my first year and kept all of my scholarships, barely.
Second, I got a job, at Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Crane as an intern, which means I'm an official government employee. This base is about 25 minutes away from my house, which is really convenient. I'm working in the electronic development department, working on all sorts of fascinating government projects. Pretty cool.
What does that have to do with Norfolk? Well, they decided that they were going to take all the interns at our base and bus us to the east coast this week so we could see how what we are doing is applied in the Navy. So technically this is considered to be government travel, for which we are getting paid. It's a nice little deal.
So, about Norfolk. We left at 8am EST on Monday, and arrived at 11:30pm EST, taking a two one-hour pit stops, one for lunch and one for dinner. The actual driving portion of the trip, then, took about about 13 hours. We passed some of the most beautiful scenery, since we went right through the Appalachian mountains. According to our bus driver, we crossed right over one of the deepest gorges in the US.
Our day yesterday (Tuesday) began at 8am on the bus, and we proceeded immediately to the Little Creek Naval Base. It was there that I got to see and board a real hovercraft. They're very imposing machines when you are standing right next to them. Here's a picture of the back of one. I had no idea these things actually hovered above the water; I always figured they just floated along on big tubes, but that big plastic sheet underneath is just a skirt; four superpowered fans underneath actually suspend the 160-ton machine in the air, be it over ground or water.
We then moved on to a demonstration of an expeditionary force assault (an amphibious assault, such as the Normandy beach assault). Actually, it was not as exciting as it sounds, because it was a bunch of string lead models moving around on big pieces of carpet, and accompanied by the most dull video in the world.
We ate lunch at the Chief Petty officer's club, at which we had an excellent lunch, and then proceeded to move to the Surface and Submarine Naval Base. We went to the submarine training center, which was actually very interesting (and I'd wish I'd taken pictures). First we went to the water hazard simulator, which was a giant room that simulated the environment of a submarine, and an operator in a seperate control room could trigger up to 16 different leaks, and they usually throw servicemen in the simulator for a 3 or 4 hour session. Then we moved on to the fire hazard simulator, creating the environment of a submarine that has an on-board fire. We were also taken to the virtual reality helm, which allows submariners to slip on a helmet that allows them to take control of a virtual surfaced submarine, complete with being able to issue voice commands to the bridge. It was very interesting. Finally, we got to move on to the the weapons simulation room, which contained 3 M16s, an M50, and 4 9mm handguns that had all seen actual use at one point, but which had been modified to shoot CO2 instead of bullets, which means there was no hazard, but the opposite wall in these room could detect exactly where you had shot and the gun still delivered the same kick that a normal model provided. I only tried the M16, which was neat.
Finally, we were taken on a tour of the USS Norfolk, an active-duty fast-attack submarine whose crew was still bustling around as we were touring it. That was pretty cool to get to see that, but so much information and neat stuff that it would be hard to scratch the surface in a blog. Here's a picture of the mast. My finger got in the way.
Up for today: touring an AEGIS cruiser, the USS Wisconsin museum, and exploring downtown Norfolk. Should be fun!