USS San Diego

Francis Fenton has been in town all week. He flew in from Mercer Maine to attend this weekend's Commissioning of the USS San Diego. Francis is one of the few remaining sailors who were assigned to the original USS San Diego back in the 1940's during World War II.

My friend Carol is Francis' daughter... remember last Fall we went back to Maine to visit Carol who was there helping her dad at the Sandy River Apple Farm as she does every year. We had also met Mark and Corina Gilbert, who are somehow related to Carol as well... we think at least... they live just down the road from Francis in Mercer... and Mark looks like he could be Carol's son.... in fact I mistakenly thought he was Garrett when I saw him on Saturday!
Anywho...  Carol was gracious enough to include Jerry and I as her family as she was able to get tickets to the private Commissioning of the USS San Diego down at the Harbor. The ship is docked right next to the Midway, so the audience was sandwiched right in between in the middle of the two incredible Navy vessels.

Carols two older boys, Zak and Garrett, went to pre-school with our boys, Allen and David. I know I've told you the story a few times probably, but over the years as the boys grew up (and since they were Navy family), we didn't see much of each other, until recently.. now that both our families are grown and having families of their own...

So here's a few shots of the ceremony I was able to capture.... not super good as there were sooo many people there... which made it all the more exciting.. and interesting to hear all the pomp and circumstance of the Commissioning.... from Raising of the Flag to the First Watch called... the USS San Diego is the ONLY Naval ship that has been Commissioned in it's own name sake town... that's something pretty incredible in itself!


Francis is greeted by one of the officers...

Here's the "Other Gilberts".....

Mark, Brooke, Paige, Bret and Corina

It was so bight outside, I couldn't see the screen on my camera

to see if my pictures were turning out right....

so since I chopped Corina in half, I took another...  

Most of these shots I got pretty lucky...

Jerry had to go buy a new USS San Diego hat to keep the sun off his head...

who said it was overcast by the water in the mornings.... hummmm..... 

well it sure burned off really fast! 

Francis is speaking to some of the reporters

while we were waiting for the festivities to begin....

The crew were preparing ....

Right behind us was the USS Midway... pretty cool...

Francis is amazing... he visits with everyone...

Even Mayor Jerry Sanders spoke...

see that tiny little dot under the awning...

Couldn't help but notice a slice of the San Diego skyline too...

Look at the crew on the Midway, watching the crew on the San Diego...

The Color Guard was just announced and passing by during the

prayer... which I loved that the reliance is on God.

Everyone received a very nice program booklet...

Now the Command is given to Bring the Ship Alive....

so first up goes the flag!

Very cool to hear all the orders being shouted and responses

 from the crew.. not to mention all the bells and whistles!

Hard to tell from this picture, but the Crew has just been asked to

Man Their Stations..  so they're all running on board...

Sailors in place... 

And now the Marines join them....

I wondered why they were leaving so much space between themselves..

Salutes...

On Board and ready!

Afterwards, all the guests were invited for a box lunch under the tent....

wow we weren't expecting that!!

Now Francis gets into his element... Navy talk!!!

Carol taking more pictures...

Tiffany (Garret's wife) and Jake, their youngest of three boys....

Here's Zak with is wife Julie and daughter Mick.

Carol joins with her youngest, Aaron.

People were seeking out Francis to speak with him...

This was some guy from years gone by that knew Franics and

came up to introduce himself

Tried to get a nice picture of the Gilberts.. but the shadows were pretty bad..

except you can see Jerry really well... he reminds me of Forrest Gump here...

sneaking in back of those important official dignitary photos...

Zak and Julie

The Gilbert Boys... Zak, Aaron, Gilbert

Francis finds another fellow sailor

So they chatted for awhile...

Garrett & Tiffany....

The kids...

Little Jake was sooo cute and well behaved...

Trevor and Jake...

We end out after the festivities... here's the bow of the ship showing their

And such a great reminder of how awesome it is to live in....

The Finest City in the World... San Diego!