The National Gallery of Ireland houses the Irish national collection of Irish and European art. It is located in the centre of Dublin city with one entrance on Merrion Square, beside Leinster House, and another on Clare Street. It was founded in 1854 and opened its doors ten years later. The Gallery has an extensive, representative collection of Irish painting and is also notable for its Italian Baroque and Dutch masters painting. The current director of the gallery is Raymond Keaveney. Entry to the gallery is free.

In 1853 an exhibition, the Irish Industrial Exhibition, was held on the lawns of Leinster House in Dublin. Among the most popular exhibits was a substantial display of works of art organized and underwritten by the railway magnate William Dargan. The enthusiasm of the visiting crowds demonstrated a public for art and it was decided to establish a permanent public art collection as a lasting monument of gratitude to Dargan.

The third USS Salem (CA-139) was a Des Moines-class heavy cruiser in the United States Navy.

Salem was laid down on 4 July 1945 by the Bethlehem Steel Co.'s Fore River Shipyard, Quincy, Mass.; launched on 25 March 1947; sponsored by Miss Mary G. Coffey; and commissioned on 14 May 1949, Captain J. C. Daniel in command. Her main battery held the world's first automatic 8" guns and were the first to use cased ammunition instead of shell and bag loading.

After a visit to Salem, Mass., on 4 July 1949, Salem underwent three months of shakedown at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, between July and October 1949, followed by post-shakedown repairs at the Boston Navy Yard. She then made two cruises to Guantanamo in November and December 1949, and participated in maneuvers with the Atlantic Fleet in early 1950.

Salem departed the east coast on 3 May 1950; and, on 17 May, relieved Newport News (CA-148) as flagship of the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean. During this, the first of seven deployments to the Mediterranean as fleet flagship, Salem visited ports in Malta, Italy, France, Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, and Algeria, and participated in training exercises. On 22 September, she was relieved by Newport News and returned to the United States.

Fort Rucker is a U.S. Army post located mostly in Dale County, Alabama. It was named for Confederate General Edmund Rucker. The post is the primary flight training base for Army Aviation and is home to the United States Army Aviation Museum. Portions of the post also lie in Coffee, Geneva, and Houston counties. It is treated by the United States Census as a census-designated place, and so specific demographic information is compiled on the post's residents.

The main post has entrances from three bordering cities, Daleville, Ozark and Enterprise. For many years before 9/11 the main post (except airfields and other restricted areas) was an open post with unmanned gates allowing civilians to drive through.

The US Army Aviation Center is the dominant military facility at Fort Rucker. Training, doctrine, and testing are all key parts of the Center's mission to develop Army Aviation's capabilities. All Army Aviation training has been undertaken at Fort Rucker since 1973, as well as training of US Air Force helicopter pilots. The Center is home to the US Army Aviation Technical Test Center (ATTC), which conducts developmental aircraft testing for Army Aviation. The United States Army Operational Test and Evaluation Command's Test and Evaluation Coordination Office and TH-67 primary and instrument training are both located at Cairns Army Airfield.

In fron of the museum you can see Sr-71 (better in google earth)

(More: aerospacemuseum.org)

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HMS Belfast (C35) is an Edinburgh-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy. She served in World War II and is now berthed on the River Thames near the Tower Bridge in London and serving as a museum ship. The ship is administered by the Imperial War Museum.

Launched in March 1938, Belfast was the largest light cruiser ever built for the Royal Navy, with a displacement of 13,175 tons. She served with distinction during World War II, in which she participated in the sinking of the German battlecruiser (or light battleship) Scharnhorst (Operation Tungsten), the Operation Neptune, and the force of Operation Zipper (intended to eject the Japanese from Malaya but turned into a relief operation by the Japanese surrender). During the last days of the war in Europe, she was spotted in the North Sea by a German Type-XXI (?) submarine without being aware of it. The German captain decided not to fire however, since the war was almost over.

She also served in the Korean War, in which her guns were used for shore bombardment in support of United Nations forces.

She was decommissioned in 1963. She was saved for the nation in 1971 and towed to a new berth at Symon's Wharf in the Pool of London upstream of Tower Bridge and opened to the public on Trafalgar Day that same year.

(Source: Wikipedia)

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