“There’s a war, well, ‘thing’, in front of your door”, my significant other exclaimed while breathing heavily through my cell-phone. “Maybe you mean ‘war ship’ and can’t find the precise carrier type” I said reassuringly. Right on. Anyway, while ships pass by all the time over here at the Antwerp riverbanks, it’s rare that an active war vessel allows civil walk up tourists – these NATO vessels are heavily armed and are in general not intended as a tourist attraction. The last L-type British military vessel even insisted on a huge security parameter, as the military can get ever so slightly paranoid about security in the Antwerp harbor (some of the US supplies to/from Irak pass through Antwerp, while Belgium has never acknowledged the legitimacy of the invasion of Irak).
Anyway, I wonder if I did ‘the right thing’: is it morally acceptable to behave like a tourist, taking pictures onboard this Belgian F-931, a small, guided missiles F-type war ship, presented as a great ‘tourist attraction’?
This blog is not affiliated with or endorsed by the city of Antwerp, Belgium.
i’d love to tour a foreign vessel (well, foreign to me). i do the website for a WWII USN battleship and i love nautical war history
Comment by furiousball — April 15, 2008 @ 3:39 am |
So do I furiousball, it all felt like walking through an exciting attraction, until I realized that these surface to air missiles were real weapons, intended to kill. Parents had their young children treating all this weaponry like they were toys in Disneyland. Many brought children along and I wonder if we’re not sending them the wrong message.
Sure, wars exist and so do warships, but should we show off all this material as a tourist attraction? Is it a sign of honestly showing reality to the Belgian public, or a sign of unneeded machismo (”my gun is bigger than yours”)? I need someone to convince me
Comment by Peter — April 15, 2008 @ 11:52 am |
Why not?
Curiosity comes in all shapes and sizes. Oh, yeah, and nationalities. 
We saw the Mayflower 2 glide elegantly through the Bay this year. What a site! http://www.plimoth.org/features/mayflower-2/50th.php
Comment by Claudia — April 15, 2008 @ 2:18 pm |
Claudia, while I totally agree that an historic warship like the Mayflower 2 sure is a great part of our past, I’m still somewhat apprehensive when operational warships are shown off like a tourist attraction. Anyway, Belgium has not been in any naval war since its ‘creation’ in 1830, so yes, in a way our small Belgian navy is nothing more than a tourist attraction (and a source of employment)
Comment by Peter — April 15, 2008 @ 2:25 pm |