Been There, Done That: Sailors Manning The Rails As Aircraft Carrier Returns To San Diego Homeport

The U.S. Navy released the above photo of sailors manming the rails of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) as it returns to its homeport at Naval Air Station North Island, Calif. 

The Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group successfully completed a five-month deployment to the western Pacific. 

I recall manning the rails as a young sailor aboard the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk as we returned to San Diego from a WESTPAC deployment in 1971. 

Note: The above photo was taken by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Elton Charles Wheeler.

You can click on the above photo to enlarge. 

Manning The Rails: The U.S. Navy Tradition Of Honoring Pearl Harbor

The Imperial Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on this day in 1941.

You can read about the attack via the below link:

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/pearl-harbor-bombed

Back in 1970 I was a teenage seaman stationed aboard the USS Kitty Hawk as the aircraft carrier headed towards "Yankee Station,"  off the coast of Vietnam. On the way, we made a port-of-call to Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and sailed by the USS Arizona Memorial.

As you can see from the above U.S. Navy photo, all hands "manned the rails," an honor tradition that had us on deck in our dress white uniforms as we passed the memorial, which floats above the sunken battleship that went down during the Japanese sneak attack.

I have a enlarged framed copy of this photo hanging in my basement office and library.

You can also read a detailed account of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor via the below link:

https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/p/the-pearl-harbor-attack-7-december-1941.html

Note: In the above U.S. Navy photo, the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, manning the rails, is shown entering Pearl Harbor for a visit in 2011.