USS Orleck

 

A “few” years ago (50+), John served on the USS Joseph P Kennedy Jr. DD-850 when he was in the navy. We visited that ship in Massachusetts. The USS Orleck DD-886 is the same Gearing Class Destroyer and from the same time period. The Orleck is now a museum in nearby Jacksonville. We’ve talked about going for almost 2 years and finally made it this week.

There is a lot of up and down ladders.

I thought the displays were good with excellent descriptions of what we were seeing. There was a sound and light show in the gun section.

They placed mannequins in some places that helped picture what it was like back then, though these seemed too tall for the ceiling. The ones in the medical bay seemed to fit better.

John really enjoyed checking out what things were the same and what was different from his ship. The racks for sleeping were similar but not exact and no lockers.

John had stories from his navy days. One of his bunkmates had his own sewing machine. He made extra money by doing sewing on the side that other sailors needed. Side hustles aren’t just a new thing.

He looked forlornly down the hole where he used to work on the boilers on his old ship. That area is closed on this ship but may open up later with more work.

A humorous part was that we could smell something when on the deck but had trouble identifying the smell. Turns out a Maxwell House coffee factory was nearby!

Fun day!