Can I drive???

[TPKeller]

When I was about 12, I actually did get to take the helm of the USS Richard E. Byrd, a US Navy destroyer:

 

 

USS Richard E. Byrd

 

I was fortunate enough to know a friend of the captain and got invited along with a group for an afternoon cruise out of Norfolk.

 

It wasn't exactly computerized... and it was a bit complex for me at 12 to keep straight. I soon gave up on the helmsman's instructions (something like 'watch this dial, and turn the wheel the opposite way the needle starts to drift') and switched to watching the horizon through the front windows of the bridge, and it was much more fun to watch the clouds and ocean actually shift around as I moved the wheel left and right a little bit!

 

The captain was probably a bit nervous as kid after kid took their turn at the wheel.. but it made a lifelong memory for me! :)

 

Theron