Having fought in every major naval offensive in the Pacific Theater during World War II, the battleship USS North Carolina was decommissioned from service in 1947. It is now moored on the Cape Fear River in Wilmington, North Carolina. It serves as both a floating museum and a memorial to the veterans of World War II and to the some 10,000 North Carolinians who gave all in that conflict.

The rain departed in favor of the apt Carolina blue skies for this shot. As it turns out, I shot this particular image from a "restricted" area... for a shot like this it may be better to ask forgiveness than for permission. I'm standing in what little solid ground there is next to a marsh, surrounded by reeds and unseen things making noise around me. My "spider-senses" were tingling as it were and for good reason, as you can see below.