Oh, Ho?! Mateys, we’ve got a Sea Lawyer 'wog here! We know what to do with Sea Lawyers, don’t we…?!
To the BABY with him! Aagrhharharharhar…!
You know, normally, I’m extremely opposed to hazing pranks and ceremonies, but I think I actually wouldn’t have a problem with the shellback ceremony.
Maybe it’s because I have enormous respect for sailors. Maybe it’s because I come from a Navy family.
Dunno, but for some reason, I’d like to be a shellback IRL, even though I never will be, because I’m not military.
Still, it’d be nice to be able to tell my salty old dad that one of his kids is a shellback, too.
If it helps any, my ships and boats all had fairly civilized ceremonies. No injuries, no one go sick (except the special cases that had to kiss the Baby… 
). I’m sure I can come up with an acceptable SDMB Pirate version. [sub]Images of Beer and cross-dressing 'wogs cross my mind…[/sub]
Who are you calling a Viking whore? I think that’s really mean of you, Barbarian! I offered to be a ship’s wench, not a – hold on…
Um. Sorry. Sorry 'bout that. [sub][sup]I’ll just go now.[/sup][/sub]
[sub]quoted from the official Iwo website[/sub]
“LHDs are specifically designed to lay off a troubled area of the world, and insert forces ashore by helicopters and 50 m.p.h. LCAC hover craft. The assault forces are provided combat air support by embarked AV-8B Harrier II V/STOL “jump-jets”.”
http://www.spear.navy.mil/ships/lhd7/about_the_ship.htm
So the Iwo can land us some vikings to rape, pillage, plunder and maim and put big hickeys on all the fair damsels.
From
here
USS WASP (LHD-1) is the lead ship of an all-new class of multipurpose amphibious assault ships built by the Ingalls Shipbuilding division of Litton in Pascagoula, Mississippi. The Navy-Marine Corps team’s newest amphibious warship has as its primary mission the support of a Marine Landing Force. USS WASP and her sister ships are the first specifically designed to accommodate new Landing Craft, Air Cushion (LCAC) for fast troop movement over the beach and Harrier II (AV-8B) Vertical/Short Take-Off and Landing (V/STOL) jets which provide close-in air support for the assault force. LHD-1, which is 844 feet long with a beam of 106 feet, also accommodates the full range of Navy and Marine Corps helicopters, conventional landing craft, and amphibious vehicles.
(my bolds)
Then I go and look at your link, and THIS Iwo Jima is the SAME FREAKIN CLASS AS THE WASP! I was thinking of THAT Iwo Jima. The one floating when I was toting ammo for Tio Sam.
Either way, I’ll stick with Number One. (LHD-1)
Ya but the Iwo is the first ship designed with accomodations for 450 women!! We can have our own hareem!
Now… who’ll volunteer to be Chief Eunuch? :eek:
**
Ummmm were you aboard during THIS?
“IWO JIMA’S initial homeport was San Diego, California. In 1962, from April to August, as part of JTF-8,** the ship participated in high-altitude nuclear tests at Johnston Island. **It was originally scheduled for six weeks , but due to several problems with the tests, it turned out to be almost 4 months.”
Ya know, cause it could really explain a lot…
Nope, Falafel, I was doing THIS and stationed aboard THIS for six months after the cease fire. Which can also explain a lot.
We need a brace of launchers for those nifty rocket propelled torpedoes that the Russians (and presumably also the US) have. I believe they’re called the Shkval. I read somewhere that the damned things can go upwards of the speed of sound underwater. Grin
I propose ** UncleBill** is Captain, and I’m First Mate…
As much as I’d like to be an officer, I think I could get more done as a senior enlisted (don’t have to put up with all that meeting crap.)
Master Guns ThinkSnow,* aye sir!*
That’s what you think. The Navy runs on “PowerPoint”
In the spirit of Iain M. Banks I propose we name this craft
Teach You A Thing Or Two