HNoMS Helge Ingstad in Portsmouth

  Yesterday was bright and sunny so I decided to wander down to the seafront to see if I could some pictures of the American carrier that's been parked in the Solent all week.
  This means that there's been several thousand American sailors wandering around Portsmouth looking a bit bemused and no doubt complaining about all the rain.  Still, the pubs and clubs did good business I'm sure.

 As it turned out the USS George W Bush had already pulled up her anchors and was heading out to sea by the time I got there but even as a silhouette on the horizon, she's still a striking sight.

 

  The George W Bush cruises past one of the Palmerston Forts protecting the harbour.  

    Sorry about the haze. I couldn't see shit in my camera screen so I was pointing vaguely and clicking.    

  I like this pic. Sea, Sky, a bit of Southsea seafront and an American supercarrier all in one shot.  

  But while I missed the a carrier I did manage to get something else instead.  As I was ambling across Southsea Common I spotted something over the top of the Arcade: An angular grey shape slowly moving seaward and starting to pick up speed.
   
   I picked up speed myself - or as much speed as I can manage these days - and got to the seafront just in time to catch the Norwegian frigate HNoMs Helge Ingstad heading back out to see.

 

It's a very cool looking ship, isn't it? 

 You can see why I recognised that superstructure immediately, can't you?

 The Norwegians had been in harbour along with a brace of US cruisers. Escort to the USS George W Bush I'm guessing. I wonder if they got annoyed at people assuming they were Americans?

As I mentioned earlier, I was mostly aiming by guess work so this is one of many shots where I missed entirely. 

Bugger. 

After the Helge Ingstad headed out to sea I caught a few pics of the Isle of Wight hovercraft coming and going.  

 Word of warning. If you ever decide to watch the hovercraft coming in, make sure you stand well away because the bloody thing kicks up a ton of spray and you will get absolutely soaked.  I speak from soggy experience.

  And there she goes. 

 I would love to have a go on that one of these days. I think I'd need to win the lottery first though. 

 I took some more pics but since there aren't any ships in them I'll save them for another day.

That's All Folks.