It was like one of those events in history where people can ask you, "
Where were you when Kennedy was shot? Where were you when you heard about Pearl Harbor?", and you can respond with absolute certainty because you remember it so startlingly clearly.
We were only supposed to be at sea for 3 or 4 days for training. We were sailing in the waters off of the Virginia Capes. I stood the 2 AM to 7 AM watch in 2 Main Machinery Room and was relieved by Abraham Mejia at 7:00 AM. I went to the mess decks to get breakfast, and then headed to the Machinery Division office to get some work done at the computer.
While working at the computer we heard people making a bunch of noise in the hallway outside. They were sailors from Reactor Controls Division, our neighbors. They told us to turn on the TV because a plane had flown into the World Trade Center.
So, of course, we turned on the TV and watched in fascination at the gigantic tower belching smoke into the clear late summer skies. You could see a blackened hole in the north side of the building where the plane impacted. At this point, it was still not clear how big the plane was, but for the time we were certain that it was a horrible accident.
A few minutes later as we watched, a second plane streaked in and struck the south tower, an identical twin to the north tower. The far side of that building erupted in a huge flaming cloud of debris that showered down into the streets below.
"
That was no accident!" I called down to the plant and told Mejia to be sure material condition X-ray was set, and explained what I had just seen on the TV.
After this I wandered back to M-Div Berthing and sat in the darkened lounge with everyone else watching the tape loop on CNN. There was plenty of confusion that morning. Rumors were circulating that the south tower had collapsed, but you couldn't really see through all of the smoke and debris to be sure.
Soon I saw it, the north tower kind of shook, and then began to drop down within its own footprint. I said to myself, "
Oh my God - there are still fire fighters in that building!!" I felt a chill run up my back and the hairs on my neck stood up. In disbelief I watched the tower, over a thousand feet tall, drop into a flaming pile of debris.
We all just sat there transfixed to the TV. As our shipmates began to get up during the afternoon to take their turn at watch, they saw us fixed to the TV, and they asked, "
What happened?" We told them, but they would respond, "
No, dude. Really, what happened?"
More rumors continued to circulate - more hijacked airliners - one on its way to Chicago, but it had turned around and was headed to DC. It was not responding to calls from ATC. Another one had crashed into the Pentagon building in Washington. There were rumors of suspected car bombs near the State Department. Just a lot of uncertainty that morning.
CNN announced that USS George Washington (us!) was en route to the New York City area to render assistance. Since this was a training cruise, we did not have the air wing on board. NAS Oceana flew all of the spare planes they had out to us - all seven (7) of them, the bow was swung around to due north, and the throttles were opened up to answer a flank bell.
Some of the watches were doubled to ensure plant reliability, and the flank bell was maintained all night long. I had the 10 PM to 2 AM watch that night.
The next morning, September 12, during Quarters in the hangar bay, we found ourselves slowly cruising west along the south shore of Long Island. Soon The City came into view. A brown column of smoke rose up from downtown and trailed off to the south. The two shiny giant boxes that used to rise up downtown were gone.
There wasn't much more we could do aside from show ourselves and reassure New York City that we were there. Because the ship was nuclear powered, we were not permitted to sail into the Inner Harbor.
The ship's store was emptied out and the goods were sent to New York to aid the injured. Navy hospital ships were readied to sail to New York, but the truth is, there just weren't that many injured people. Most of the 3,000 casualties were killed outright.
It's been ten years now, but I still remember it very clearly.
Today was not too bad. I was able to keep up with my email and requests. Fay and Craig went to lunch at 11:30. 
