But I think this a much more beautiful vessel, though she may not have been as capable:
I boarded the Kennedy for the first time only months after she sheared off the top of this beautiful vessel.
I remember my first night boarding her, we drove up in the back of a pickup truck to the pier in Norfolk, and she was bathed under some floodlights. Very impressive. Even though I was a Navy Brat I had seen a lot of carriers close up over the years, it was very different when you were going to get aboard and sail on her.
That night, after everything was loaded up and we had some time to sit around, I sat on the darkened flight deck next to Airman Delgado, who was teaching me how to be a Plane Captain.
We were sitting just forward of the island on the starboard side looking back towards the angle. Delgado described to me how that night, he had been standing in the very spot we were in, and he saw a little red light heading from bow to stern, and his first thought was "What is that idiot doing over there with that flashlight?" when he felt a thump and heard an incredible screeching of metal as the vessel carrying the red light ran bow-first into the flight deck angle. A narrow fountain of flame shot straight up about fifty feet in the air, the Belknap scraped along the angle then broke free and drifted astern, flaming. He said he was completely astonished. Like nothing he had ever seen in his life.
The ship was a wreck and burned for a long time. He said you could actually see the superstructure melting and running down the side of the ship where it disappeared, steaming, into the water. To him, the Belknap was solid flame stem to stern. He thought there was no way anyone was going to live on that ship. Amazing that so few were killed. I don't know where this picture was taken, but she looks pretty rough.
