Snapp Shots: Alameda’s Hornet to mark 55 years since Apollo 12 recovery

The USS Hornet aircraft carrier has led three lives. First, it fought in some of World War II’s toughest battles. Then it was the ship that recovered the Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 astronauts from the ocean when they returned from their trips to the Moon. Now it’s a floating maritime museum showcasing artifacts of both of those historic events from where it’s docked at Alameda Point, the former Naval Air Station Alameda.

In July, the USS Hornet Sea, Air & Space Museum celebrated the 55th anniversary of Apollo 11’s recovery, and on Nov. 16 it will do the same for Apollo 12, which was a very different mission.

“It was the first purely operational mission; all the others had been developmental missions,” says Bill Miklos, who serves on the Hornet as a volunteer docent. For instance, Apollo 11 was asked to do something none of the others had ever done before, which was the powered descent and landing of the lunar module.

“Apollo 12 had an entirely new mission, which was to explore the lunar surface.”

Bill is the retired director of satellite development for Lockheed Missiles and Space, and he knows more about rocketry and space exploration than anyone you’re ever likely to meet. He’ll be a featured speaker Nov. 16, and I urge you to get to the Hornet before 1 p.m. because that’s when he’s scheduled to talk in the Wardroom on Deck 2.

He’s not the only attraction — far from it. The theme of this celebration is “Techs On Deck,” and the target audience is young people, to turn them on to all the fun they could have if they choose science and technology as a career (uss-hornet.org/calendar/apollo-12-55th-anniversary-techs-on-the-decks).

You can meet people from the Merritt Cybersecurity Group; the California Historical Radio Society; Astra Space Inc., an Alameda company that makes rocket engines for spacecraft; the USS Hornet Radio Club; the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; U.S. Navy Recruiting; and STEAM Against Violence, which seeks to transform science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics from barriers into healing tools for young people who have been impacted by violence.

You can also meet some very friendly robots made by the Gateway High School Robotics Team, and if you want to talk about the cost of science education you can speak with folks from the CISE Scholarship Foundation, which funds scholarships for science and technology students. To top it all off, admission for the day is free for children and students, and Domino’s will provide free pizza for them. There will also be a visit by Zach Amis, NASA’s solar system ambassador.

“NASA themselves rarely comes out to these events anymore,” says Russell Moore, the Hornet museum’s chief experience officer. “He’s a volunteer who does outreach for them because they don’t have the staff to come to cool events like ours.”

While you’re there, don’t forget to visit the Mobile Quarantine Facility, a sealed trailer where the astronauts were confined for 21 days for fear they might bring some moon germs back with them and infect the whole world. That practice was stopped after Apollo 14, when the scientists realized there are no germs — or any other living thing — on the Moon.

If this isn’t enough to make you want to visit this beautiful ship — I swear, the first time I ever saw her I took one look at the majestic sweep of her bow and fell instantly in love — she’s also a memorial to her beloved commanding officer during World War II, U.S. Navy Adm. J.J. “Jocko” Clark, the first Native American to graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland.

Perhaps his greatest moment — which he probably was sure would get him court-martialed — came during the Battle of the Philippine Sea, when he ordered the exterior lighting turned on after a late day battle to guide his returning planes back to the ship, risking exposure of the Hornet to any enemy subs that may have been lurking nearby. He then wired his superior, Adm. Marc Mitscher, to confess what he had done.

Instead of having him arrested, Mitscher ordered the entire task force to turn on their searchlights too. No wonder Jocko’s men loved him so much. As one of them told me, “There was nothing we wouldn’t do for him because there was nothing he wouldn’t do for us.”

If that isn’t the definition of leadership, I don’t know what is.

Martin Snapp can be reached at catman442@comcast.net.