Tens of thousands turn out to tour JFK

Stepping off the deck of the USS John F. Kennedy and turning to gaze at the colossal aircraft carrier, Lisa Martin beamed with motherly pride. The 43-year-old Marblehead resident had just seen her daughter, Kelly, who joined the Navy in June, in her workplace for the first time.

"It's so wonderful to see what a good job she's done," Martin said, motioning to the ship, which her daughter helps keep clean and freshly painted as part of her duties as a seaman's apprentice.

Martin and the entourage of family, friends, and neighbors who came to visit Kelly Martin, 21, were among the more than 40,000 eager visitors who flocked to see the Navy vessel in its last visit to Boston before its decommissioning this month in Florida, according to Lieutenant Paul Brawley , a Navy spokesman.

Interest in the carrier was so intense that people lined up as early as 3 a.m. yesterday for tours of the ship. By 9:15 , the line was a mile long and thousands had to be turned away by police and city workers, Brawley said.

Tens of thousands waited patiently in a fenced-in line, many eating snacks, reading newspapers, and trying to entertain their children.

Many of those turned away were crestfallen, with some saying they had been looking forward to the ship's visit for weeks.

Maria Ginley , 38 , of Waltham said she hoped to see the ship her father served on when she was a child.

"It's really disappointing. This ship was a big part of his life," she said. "I'm coming back tomorrow, but much earlier."

The carrier is being taken out of service because its diesel-fueled power plant is considered antiquated and too costly at a time when most Navy ships run on less expensive nuclear power.

Officials allowed an additional 3,200 people to join the line just after noon. At 2 p.m., Boston police arrived with additional security-screening equipment, allowing more people to get in line, Brawley said.

Some who were turned away sneaked though parking lots around the warehouses and food processing plants in the South Boston industrial park where the ship was docked, hoping for a good view of the ship's imposing bulk.

The last time the vessel visited Boston, in May 2005 , 60,000 people toured it, Brawley said.

This time, he expects even more.

"Today it's beautiful, but tomorrow, it's not supposed to be as great," Brawley said yesterday. "They will be coming out anyway."

For many of those interviewed, seeing the ship was a chance to get a glimpse into the life of Navy sailors.

For others, it was a chance to pay homage to the late president whose name the ship bears, a man still near to the hearts of many Massachusetts residents more than four decades after his assassination.

"I've always felt a personal connection with JFK, as many around here do," said Janet Brings , 45 , a neighbor of Martin's who toured the ship.

"Being here is an honor to him. It's also a chance to see what amazing things these sailors do every day. You never know how hard they work for you until you've been on one of these ships."