And now, we get too see what happens when the USS Enterprise tries to get Dwight to take a bath. Got to get rid of those barnacles.
A quick note, at the moment, Dwight is pretty small; just a little smaller than the largest US Pre-WW2/WW2 battleships.
Sorry my updates took so long, I was taking an online Algebra-1 course, as a make up course for failing last years. I kind of slacked, and missed a lot during a family trip, and ended up being, I kid you not, eight weeks behind. Miraculously I finished yesterday with a B. 0.0 I spent the last week doing almost nothing but math... that kind of killed my brain...
"DWIGHT FLYSENHOWER! GET BACK HERE!" A loud voice rang over the US Navy Base, startling everyone from the birds resting on the street lamps, too the newbie recruits, who hadn't get gotten used to the constant commotion. The birds took off from their perches, and soared into the air squawking in terror, and the recruits jumped, looking around in a mild panic. Among them a young corsair, named Skipper Riley, who looked around to see the amazingly large figure of an aircraft carrier move through the harbor, looking around for something.
Skipper couldn't help but sink lower on his landing gear as the large ships eyes scanned over the harbor, passing over him and the other new recruits from just a moment before returning his attention to the water.
Another one of corsairs next to Skipper frowned and looked at their little group. "Who do you think he's looking for?" He asked.
"I don't know Pax, but I feel bad for them." He said, looking over at his friends. Pax just made a shrugging motion with his wings and watched the ship move by.
On Skipper's other side, another of the corsairs spoke up. "He did say Dwight, so I would think he's looking for the little carrier."
"Little? It's an aircraft carrier, Tick. Little is not the best way to describe one." Pax said
Skipper snorted. "He's small compared to the rest
And that was the end of that conversation.
Dwight "Yorkie" Flysenhower smirked, sinking lower into the water, and hiding behind the USS Stormstark, a very large, and fairly old battleship.
The Stormstark chuckled softly. "You better get going, before the Big E blows a fuse." His amber eyes sparkled. He had done the same thing when he had been the same age.
The little aircraft carrier let out an exasperated huff, and then a squeal as the Stormstark pulled away, leaving the aircraft carrier out in the open, right in the sight a very frustrated, and fuming aircraft carrier.
The Enterprise looked over at him, from where he had been waiting, causing Dwight to yelp and take off to the other side of the port.
Dwight dodged around a submarine, and to the most remote corner of the harbor, where he slipped into an empty dry dock, the doors were open, but he didn't care, as he hoping desperately that his mentor would give up and let him skip his bath.
All the sudden the dry-dock's doors began closing, and the water began draining. "Yorkie" groaned, they had tricked him. Again!
He let out a huff when the Enterprise made his way up to dock, as the door closed. "Nice try kiddo, but you can't out run me forever." He said with a sly smile.
"No fair! You cheated!" He said, glaring at him.
"Did I?" He asked. "No one ever said I couldn't." He smiled at him, then turned away, his work was done; he had gotten the kid to where he was supposed to be, and was now on his way back to more important things.
Dwight grumbled, glaring at his mentor as he left. "Traitor." He muttered to himself, as the water began to drain out, and the dry-dock lifted out of the water. The crews were already standing by with the high powered hoses and ice scrapers.
Once the water drained out, the first crew push six large beams against his sides, to keep him from falling over, than the second crew quickly set up the cranes, ladders and walkways to help the cleaning crew get to the 'problem areas'.
Dwight groaned again. Now he had to spend the next 12 hours stuck in the dry-docks. Oh joy.
"Come on, you big baby! Stop whining." Rodger, a young forklift said, he sprayed down barnacles and all sorts of icky things.
"I'm not whining, I'm complain'." The ship snapped.
"Well, suck it up, Buttercup. It has to be done." He said with a roll of his eyes. "We have to get rid of those barnacles."
"Why?" He asked in annoyance.
Rodney groaned, looking up at him. "Because the Big E said so, now stop "complaining" and be quiet."
"Why?"
"Be quiet already, I don't know why. Ask him." He said with another groan.
About 5 hours later, the workers removed the walkways and ladders and exited the dry dock. Soon after pumps started to force clean water and a special mix of chemicals to remove the rest of the barnacles. The ratio of chemicals to water was very low, because the young aircraft carrier was still growing so his outer shell was still fairly thin and vulnerable. The older carriers didn't need to have the barnacles scraped off manually, they're shells were thicker and much harder, so they could use more of the chemical without it leaving painful burns.
Dwight gagged and glared the trucks, he really hated the smell of the chemical.
"Oh don't make such a big fuss. It's not that bad."
Dwight looked up as his mentor pulled up along the side of the dry dock. His tutor smiled down at him. The young carrier groaned, and sulked quietly. "It stinks, and I want out."
"It's only two hours." He said rolling his eyes. "I have to stay for six, you should feel lucky."
"You're kidding." He said whined. Great, that was something to look forward too.
"I'm not." He said.
Dwight exhaled and shifted in the water mix, looking around, he looked at his mentor than at the "water". "I'm bored."
The Enterprise snorted, giving him a sideways glance. "Study."
"Awwwww, come on! Tides and war maneuvers are boring too!" He whined, looking at the larger carrier with pleading eyes. Just like most little kids, he hated studying. "Plus, it's not like memorizing stupid history facts is going to save my life…. All those boat are dead now anyway." He said.
(CV-6) let out a snort, giving the younger carrier a hard look. "Know your history, to avoid making the mistakes of the past, kid." He said. "We should all learn from our history."
Dwight looked at the water, he didn't have a good argument against that.
"Now, when was the HMS Ark Royal first commissioned?" He asked, giving him a look.
The smaller ship swallowed, and tried to come up with a date. "September 5th 1914?" He asked, hoping that he was right.
"No, that's his launch date." He said.
"Ummmm….. December 1st 1914?" He guessed.
"December 10th 1914." The Enterprise corrected. "Who was the first US Carrier?" He asked.
"USS Langley." Dwight said confidently, he knew that one well.
The Enterprise made a soft snort of agreement. "Now, name the five major ocean gyres."
"North Pacific…..North Atlantic…" He whined softly, the other three were evading him. "South Pacific?"
The larger carrier glanced down at him. "You didn't study last night did you?" He asked, giving his student a stern look. "But those three are correct, you're missing two more."
Dwight "Yorkie" Flysenhower swallowed nervously. "I did study! Just not the gyres…. I was catching up on maritime laws and regulations…"
"Because you didn't study that last night." He said. "You're lucky, I had to study for three and half hours, an hour before bedtime is nothing."
"But-"
"No buts, we made a deal didn't we?"
"Yes…"
"Well, than, before you go to bed, we're going to be studying, and we will do that tomorrow too. Not just an hour." He said strictly. "Now, what are the other two?"
Dwight whined softly, than racked his brain for the other two. "Ummm… South Atlantic and Indian Ocean?"
"Correct." He said. "Who made the first carrier landing?"
Dwight looked at his reflection in the water and whined. This was going to be a longer two hours.
