Oakland - U.S.S. Hornet Museum by Aaron

U.S.S. Hornet Museum

*Aaron 

USS Hornet, a retired aircraft carrier

The aircraft on the ship

     The U.S.S. Hornet Museum is full of interesting facts. It was an actual aircraft carrier at one point! Apollo 11 and 12 both landed on the U.S.S. Hornet. We rode a flight simulator in the museum too.

The General Motors TBM-3 Avenger Torpedo Bomber

     U.S.S. Hornet Museum is a very large aircraft carrier with many things to do and see. The flight deck is full of many aircraft like the General Motors TBM-3 Avenger Torpedo Bomber and many others. Its inside was very fun. We also saw the dining room, rifles, and played a game. A model of the first successful stop on an aircraft carrier is found inside the ship too. Unfortunately, the pilot died barely a few months and a day later. His plane crashed, but he jumped back onto the ship and got a broken neck.

Our tour guide

 

Capsule CM-011A

     This museum has the largest collection of artifacts from Apollo missions in the whole West Coast! I think it’s because the U.S.S. Hornet was picked to pick up the crew of Apollo 11 & 12. It still has a model of the helicopter that picked up Apollo crew members. Unluckily, the original crashed into a few hundred feet of water 6 years later. The model is the exact same copter who recovered the Gemini 4 crew, another spaceship mission.

     The main reason of the Apollo missions was to go to the moon. Out of the 3 members in Apollo 11, only 2 actually stepped on the moon. The other person stayed inside the moon orbit to watch over the ship. Neil Armstrong became the first person on the moon, followed by Buzz Aldrin a few seconds later! Many people know Armstrong's famous words, "One small step for man, one huge step for mankind."

Sikorsky SH-3H Sea King BuNo. 148999, the rescuer of the Gemini 4 crew

 

     The U.S.S. Hornet is an awesome place. This wonderful aircraft carrier can contain many new things to do. U.S.S. Hornet is mainly known for carrying the first successful moon landing crew. We saw what it was like to ride a fighter plane during a war in the flight simulator, even with the shaking and turning. I want to visit this museum again very soon.

 







The control tower











The riffles

 



Me

 

 A list of the countries with aircraft carriers:

Country	In service	In reserve	Decommissioned	Under construction	Never completed	Total completed
Argentina	0	0	2	0	0	2
Australia	0	0	3	0	0	0
Brazil	1	0	1	0	0	2
Canada	0	0	5	0	0	5
China	1	0	0	1	0	1
France	1	0	7	0	7	8
Germany	0	0	0	0	8	0
India	1	1	2	1	0	3
Italy	2	0	0	0	2	2
Japan	0	0	20	0	4	20
Netherlands	0	0	2	0	0	2
Russia	1	0	6	0	2	7
Spain	1	1	1	0	1	3
Thailand	1	0	0	0	0	1
United Kingdom	0	0	40	2	12	40
United States	10	1	56	2	12	68