FRIDAY FOTO (September 16, 2011)

Sailor’s Delight

(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Gunnery Sgt. Scott Dunn)

Remember the old saying: “Red sky at morning, sailor take warning. Red sky at night, a sailor’s delight” Well here’s a delightful Pacific Ocean sunset silhouetting the amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island and the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit as they conduct operations off the coast of southern California.

O.K., we admit it. The first thing we thought when we saw this photo on the Defense Department website was: Pretty as a Picture. You can see an AV-8B Harrier jump jet on the right side of the ship and helicopters (CH-53 Sea Stallions?) on the left side (or should we say port side?).

If you look  closely at the bottom of the ship, you can see the lights of the well deck where the amphibious craft — like LCACs and AAVs — move in and out of the vessel.

Long time readers may remember we featured the Makin Island in a FRIDAY FOTO on March 4 when V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft landed on her flight deck for the first time.