02-01-2022, 02:17 AM
(01-01-2022, 08:51 PM)dawg Wrote:(01-01-2022, 04:20 PM)thomil Wrote: I actually just checked out the German Navy's website and apparently, she's in Santa Cruz awaiting her first load of cadets following being recommissioned after her refit. The class is supposed to board on January 3rd and the ship is slated to leave on her training cruise in Mid-January after an initial work-up period for those new cadets. She's expected back in Germany in late March.'late March' ...clearly whoever runs the ship undterstands lifes priorities well
Does this mean that the poor shmuck who stands guard on the gang plank isnt a cadet ?
I wonder what he got up to that annoyed his boss so much ?
Perhaps its the cook because he ran out of stroopenwafel ?
Found myself down at the port again today....and what has rocked up but another German sail ship (only this time it looks like a privateer )
very nice....................bbbbuuuuttt...........it looked to be awash with (teens/twenties?) 'finding themselves' ( drinking pils and discovering the guitar was not their strong poiint )
A couple of rather exhausted middle agers were hard at work, dumping rubbish, getting supplies that sort of thing. Struck me that the young ones would 'find themselves' PDQ if they were allocated a few tasks.
Anyway, its all good news for the Lidl branch a few hundred meters away when it opens ( most shops dont open Sundays dawg approves but think Lidl ( like Carrefour ) do.
@thomil , Any indication if the German navy are prepared to tolerate visitors ? If so a list of questions would be welcome
Well, the March part is more practicality and safety. You do NOT want to be out in the North Sea on a sailing ship with a large number of raw cadets in the middle of winter. That whole area can be vicious enough in March, but at least by that time, those cadets will know their stuff to a certain degree. The poor bloke standing watch at the gangway is definitely a part of the core crew of the ship. He'll have an easy enough life once the trainees are onboard and can be put to work doing all the unpleasant stuff. I mean, that's what they're there for, right?
Regarding the other vessel, she's indeed a private sail training vessel, for starters, she isn't flying the German Naval Ensign on her stern like Gorch Fock is. She's run by a charity that provides sea training for high-school & college age civilians, so your impression there is straight on Interestingly, she was originally built for the East German Navy, as a tanker of all things, and was only converted to a sail training vessel after the fall of the Iron Curtain.
With regards to visiting or touring Gorch Fock, the German Navy do regularly open her up for visitors, as that's actually part of her mission, to act as an ambassador for Germany and the navy. They were more than welcoming back in March 2014, when she visited Cobh. However, given that they're expecting a new class of cadets, I doubt they'll be in a position to do so within the next few days, not when there are 110 green trainees onboard that need to be accommodated and brought up to speed. It might be worth having a chat with whoever is on guard duty to see what their plans are.
Apologies for turning this into a naval discussion #sorrynotsorry
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