Touring Hampton Roads by boat

Today I took a 3-hour tour (yeah, I know) of Hampton Roads. This is an amazingly large harbor in southeast Virginia, that has played a huge part in American history. Jamestown is not far from here, along with Williamsburg and Yorktown. It is home to the largest naval base in the world, and witnessed the first fight between ironclad warships in history.

I have always wanted to see an aircraft carrier, and now I have seen a bunch of them. I hope I get the names right but here we go. Number 72 is the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, and has just completed a refuel/major refit and will soon be back on active duty. 73 is the George Washington and is preparing to begin the process of refuel/major refit.

Here we have the newest aircraft carrier in our fleet, the U.S.S. Gerald Ford, which will be commissioned in a couple weeks, next to the Eisenhower, where those invited to the ceremony will be seated. Lots more ships, lots to see, and a nice cruise.

I then went to Fort Monroe, the fort built in the early 1800’s to defend this harbor. This fort remained in service until 2011, helping to defend our shores. It remained in Union hands throughout the Civil War, and was where Jefferson Davis was imprisoned for a few years after he was captured in May 1865 in Georgia. The following is a picture of the room he was kept in.