I hope they have a great time while here…..without destroying anything. And I wonder where they’re headed from here. And now the countdown until Buck posts a smartass comment about me and sailors…….3—-2——1

Thousands of sailors traded bell-bottomed whites and flip-brim caps for shorts and T’shirts Friday as they disembarked from five warships visiting Port Everglades after weeks of training at sea.

“They’re all over the port,” said Ellen Kennedy, port spokeswoman. “They’ve got on their beach clothes and look like they’re ready to enjoy South Florida.”

The sailors numbered more than 5,000, and are serving aboard an aircraft carrier, the USS Harry S. Truman; two destroyers, the USS Oscar Austin and USS Winston S. Churchill; a nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Montpelier; and a British Royal Navy destroyer, the HMS Manchester. The vessels left Norfolk, Va., on July 2 and have been on training maneuvers required before their certification for deployment to a war zone.

The Truman, anchored about two miles offshore, can be seen from the south end of Fort Lauderdale’s beach. Because of security concerns over the complement of fighting aircraft it carries, the 1,092-foot-long behemoth isn’t allowed in port.

The British are well represented on the visit: There’s the U.S. Navy’s Churchill, named after the famous World War II prime minister; the Royal Navy officer who as a courtesy is always aboard the Churchill; and the Manchester, one of Britain’s more powerful destroyers.

As sailors swarmed into town by shuttle and taxi, many carried maps distributed by the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau. Some slung golf clubs over shoulders. “For many of these sailors, it’s their first liberty call,” Kennedy said. “They’re real eager to come landside.”

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