A United States navy ship USS Vandegrift visited Dili on East Timor's Independence day.  It was not as big as the USS Essex, that visited us around Halloween last year--but this ship has its own specialties and lots of neat things.  This time we not only had a tour for VIPs, but also a late bar-b-q lunch.

The most interesting thing about this ship is its phalanx weapon system.  The picture on the left, is a gatling gun that can fire 4.500 rounds per minute and is controlled by 2 radar systems when it is in defensive mode.  .

click this picture to see the tiny, tiny steering wheel

In offensive mode, the phalanx is really cool--it's controlled from a computer screen with a video game-like joystick. Sean was really disappointed they wouldn't let him play. . .

L