It’s almost New Year’s Day. It’s one of those days when we pause to think about the passing of time.
During a walk along San Diego’s Embarcadero this morning, I took these interesting photographs. They demonstrate how human technology has advanced over the course of five hundred years.
A replica of the 16th century Spanish galleon San Salvador (the ship sailed by explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo when he “discovered” San Diego Bay), built by the Maritime Museum of San Diego, was crossing the water. Just beyond were two active U.S. Navy aircraft carriers docked at NAS North Island: the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) and USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71).
So how do these very different ships compare?
The historic San Salvador galleon was about 100 feet long. The two Nimitz-class aircraft carriers have a length of 1,092 feet. That’s more than ten times the length of an old Spanish galleon.
A galleon, built primarily of wood, would have a displacement weight of about 200 tons. The gigantic, mostly steel aircraft carriers? Their displacement weight is 116,800 tons–that’s 584 times heavier!
A Spanish galleon could travel at a maximum speed of around 8 knots (under ideal wind conditions). These enormous, nuclear powered aircraft carriers can travel at a speed over 30 knots, no matter the weather, without refueling for 20–25 years!
Today technology is progressing at a mind-boggling rate. Is it possible to imagine the distant future? In another five hundred years, will an advanced civilization still need or have ocean-going ships?
Only time will tell!
Happy New Year!
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
Thank you for sharing!
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