An Aircraft Carrier by Ernie Pyle

[madmickey]

"An aircraft carrier is a noble thing. It lacks
almost everything that seems to denote nobility,
yet deep nobility is there. A carrier has no
poise. It is top-heavy and lopsided. It has the
lines of a well-fed cow. It doesn't cut through
the water like a cruiser, knifing romantically
along. It doesn't dance and cavort like a
destroyer. It just plows. You feel it should be
carrying a hod. Yet a carrier is a ferocious
thing, and out of its heritage of action has
grown its nobility, I believe that every Navy in
the world has as its No. I priority the destruction
of enemy carriers. That's a precarious
honor, but it's a proud one."


Ernie Pyle


(Written while Pyle was aboard the USS Cabot in February
1945. From: The Last Chapter by Ernie Pyle, Henry Holt &
Co., 1945.)

[SKORPIO]

I was in stationed Limassol, southern Cyprus, back in '74 when the Turks invaded. I was sent on a task NE to the port city of Famagusta. As we drew near the city we could see this THING just offshore. I call it a THING because l had never seen anything like it in my life before. I just couldn't believe the size of it, so HUGE and MIGHTY looking. It didn't look noble to me, just so AWESOMELY POWERFUL. There it stood in all it's glory, a genuine American Carrier, what a sight.

I can't remember her name (if l ever knew it) but l vaguely remember someone saying it was the biggest of them all. What a ship, what a size.

[Tristanjohn]

ORIGINAL: madmickey

"An aircraft carrier is a noble thing. It lacks
almost everything that seems to denote nobility,
yet deep nobility is there. A carrier has no
poise. It is top-heavy and lopsided. It has the
lines of a well-fed cow. It doesn't cut through
the water like a cruiser, knifing romantically
along. It doesn't dance and cavort like a
destroyer. It just plows. You feel it should be
carrying a hod. Yet a carrier is a ferocious
thing, and out of its heritage of action has
grown its nobility, I believe that every Navy in
the world has as its No. I priority the destruction
of enemy carriers. That's a precarious
honor, but it's a proud one."


Ernie Pyle


(Written while Pyle was aboard the USS Cabot in February
1945. From: The Last Chapter by Ernie Pyle, Henry Holt &
Co., 1945.)

Pyle was good simple writer.

[PBYPilot]

ORIGINAL: Tristanjohn

Pyle was good simple writer.

Ahhhh. The most difficult combination of all.

PBYPilot