Brick-by-Brick: Shipbuilding with LEGOs

Finished LEGO model of USS Monitor built by Sam Nelson

We're always looking to create new programs, and our interns have been working on a cool new idea recently. This one involves using LEGOs to build ships. This shipbuilding program utilizes science, technology, education, and math (STEM) skills in a fun way so participants can learn about the principles of shipbuilding. STEM is an Office of Naval Research-led program that is meant to increase the talent pool of future Sailors, naval engineers, and scientists.

Depending on participants' level of interest and expertise, they can either follow instructions for building a ship created by our interns, Sam Nelson and Jordan Hock, or they can build their own ship. This program will be for both adults and children. More details will be coming in the very near future!

Skin Deep: Sailors' Tattoos in Norfolk

We're preparing for our next big special event (on September 22), which is about sailors' tattoos. To do this, though, we need your help! As part of the evening event, we would like to create a photo exhibit of sailors' tattoos and their stories. Thus, we're looking for you to submit photos of your own. If you are (or were) a Navy sailor and have tattoos from your time in the Navy, please send photos of those tattoos to me at laura.l.orr@navy.mil. Also include your name, when you served, and the story behind your tattoo. If you want us to keep your photo anonymous in our exhibit, we're more than happy to do so--we just need your name for our records. You can also mail any photos and information to me at: Hampton Roads Naval Museum; Attn: Laura Orr; One Waterside Drive, Suite 248; Norfolk, VA 23510.

The tattoo below is from one of our docents, Doc Shoop, a retired Navy corpsman. You'll learn its story at the event on Sept 22!



Along with the tattoo exhibit, we're planning to have a variety of activities for the evening. Tom Moore, Photo Curator at the Mariners' Museum, will be here to talk about the history of tattooing in Norfolk. In addition to Tom's talk, we'll be holding some hands-on tattooing fun activities throughout the museum. Finally, we're looking for a local tattoo artist who would be willing to bring along some tools of the trade to talk about what he/she does in Hampton Roads. If you know of anyone who would be interested in doing this, please contact me.

The event is on Thursday, September 22, from 6:00pm to 8:00pm at HRNM in downtown Norfolk. Best of all, it's FREE and we'll have food and drinks for everyone! All you have to do is RSVP to 757-322-3108 before September 19 (don't worry, you'll get more reminders closer to that date).

Contact me if you have any questions. We're hoping to have a lot of people send in their tattoo photos and stories so we can display them in the museum. Thanks in advance for your help, and we hope to see you there!

Recovering Gemini 11-1965/1966

One of the advantages of the modern-day Space Shuttle is its ability to land at the same place it took off and be reused for a future flight. Before the invention and perfection of this technology, the modules carrying American astronauts in the Apollo, Gemini, and Mercury programs had to splash down in the ocean. This required the mobilization of a large task force of warships to be on standby, ready to pick up the astronauts.

In 1965, NASA and the Navy tasked the Atlantic Fleet to recover Gemini 11 and astronauts Charles "Pete" Conrad and Richard Gordon (more about the mission and its many accomplishments can be read here at NASA's website). Shown here are two images of the ship's company of the Norfolk-based USS La Salle (LPD-3/AGF-3) rehearsing the recovery of a Gemini space craft off the coast of Ascension Island.

Gemini 11 began reentry on September 15, 1966. Splashdown in the western Atlantic Ocean some 700 miles east of Cape Kennedy occurred at 8:59:35 a.m. EST. The crew was picked up by helicopter and brought to the Norfolk-based USS Guam (LPH-9) at 9:23 a.m. and the spacecraft was recovered at 9:58 a.m.

Boys Summer Camp at Naval Operating Base Hampton Roads

In the 1920s, the U.S. Navy sponsored two "experimental" summer camps for boys between the ages of 16 and 20 at Naval Operating Base Hampton Roads and Naval Training Station Great Lakes. Shown here are "before" and "after" pictures of the boys attending the camp at NOB Hampton Roads (now Naval Station Norfolk). The "before" picture was taken in July 1921 and the "after" picture was taken on the base's parade grounds in August 1921.

The camps were forerunners to the modern-day Sea Cadets program. At the camp, active duty sailors introduced teenage boys to life in the U.S. Navy. Boys who graduated from the summer camps entered the U.S. Naval Reserves as active-duty sailors and were automatically accepted into advance training schools. This, of course, depended upon the boys' parents' consent in order to send their sons off to Naval service.

Full Size Battleship Program at HRNM

Do you remember playing the Milton Bradley board game Battleship as a kid?  Do you remember the anticipation of scoring hits on your friend's board, or the feeling of nervousness when your opponent scores near hits and misses on your elaborate ship setup?

One of the original MB Battleship game boxes

Instead of all solid blue or green board pieces, we checker-boarded our life size version using both white and blue soft foam tiles.  Given our space constraints in the Odean Vanthul Life at Sea Room, a life-size game board of 50 spaces were used on both sides (10 across x 5 down).  Instead of battleship game pieces, human participants become the ships themselves as they link together to make 4 square battleships, 3 square destroyers and subs, and 1 person patrol boats.  We hope to do the full size (10x10) very soon. 

The game helps to teach visitors, especially younger ones, about simple graphs and reading the X and Y axis, coordinates, quadrants, origin, and basic memorization.  These are useful skills, as many younger visitors are learning the same principles in their math classes during the school year. 

HRNM Education Staff, interns, and volunteers had a great time setting up and conducting the game for visitors this past week and 4th of July weekend.  Hundreds of visitors participated over the past week, as family members took on family members (and sometimes our HRNM Staff).  Come on down and see for yourself!  We will be playing this periodically this summer.

Ed Volunteer Chris Armistead and the full size Battleship in our Life at Sea Room