The Importance Of Communication In The Military

Take a look at the image attached, what do you see? A ship at sea, land in the background. Nothing appears to be impressive; nothing is special about that ship. It arises more questions than it answers. Questions such as: the name of the ship, what it had to do with history, whether or not it is real, what it was used for, what kind of ship it is, and if the military used it. From the picture, unless you were on that ship or familiar with it in any way you don’t know. It is just a ship.
Errol Morris, a writer and documentary film maker, writes, “Pictures are supposed to be worth a thousand words. But a picture unaccompanied by words may not mean anything at all” (754). A picture that you are not connected to and know nothing about is going to be stripped of all meaning and emotional connection. Someone who is in the Navy is going to see something different than an artist. Either way they are not seeing it for what it truly is without words. They are seeing what they want to give it meaning and make it mean

something to them.
How a picture is interpreted depends on the society and culture. What is happening in the world and the way that we were raised is going to influence our thoughts. Our thoughts when looking at an image come from our knowledge of our understanding of the subject, our society, and our cultural standpoint. As we begin to learn about the historical background of the ship our understanding of the subject is going to increase, therefore, when we relook at the photo we are going to see something different.
The ship in the photo is the USS California. It was the fifth ship of the United States Navy. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the USS California was struck by a bomb and two torpedoes, which caused a misfire of miscellaneous ammunition magazines killing fifty people onboard at the time. After the initial hit, the torpedoes initiated flooding on the ship and the bombs caused fires which were abandoned. Eventually, the USS California sank into the mud; one hundred crew members died and over sixty others were injured.
After the bombing, the ship was recovered and sent for repairs and upgrading. Proceeding repairs, the USS California was sent to on the invasion of the Marianas, when it was struck by a battery shell, killing one man and wounding nine others. The USS California was also involved in an accidental collision with the USS Tennessee. Both incidents lead to damage so it was taken in to be repaired, again.
The USS California was then used in the Battle of Leyte and was struck by a kamikaze suicide plane, killing another forty-four men and wounding one hundred fifty five more.

The ship underwent temporary repairs allowing it to complete the bombardment mission. The USS California was then sent to join Task Force 95 in Okinawa, dodging any major damage; then sailed to Honshu where it served for several months before being brought back to American soil. Upon arrival in Pennsylvania, the ship was placed on reserve commission and five months later it was brought out of reserve; twelve years later, the USS California was sold for scrap.
The USS California received seven battle stars for World War II service. Not only did the ship earn medals for service, but the men of the ship as well. Fifteen Medals of Honor were given for the heroism at Pearl Harbor; four went to men aboard the USS California, making it the ship hosting the most Medals of Honor

recipients.
When looking at this picture initially, nothing negative was assumed; it is not until we understand it, does it have anything that would give a bad connotation. For example, our minds are going to have a greater initial response to a picture of the ship under attack, but that is not going to have any more actual meaning than that of the one shown. It is still the USS California everything that happened and the history does not change. As a society today with everyone thinking war is bad, to look at the picture and think of all the war it gives it that negative view. But just because it went through Pearl Harbor and WWII does not mean it should have a bad connotation. The ship had more heroes aboard than any other ship. It not only was repaired once or twice, but three different times and still was sailing for us. As stated earlier, when looking at the photograph our understanding is going to be greater.
With more knowledge than before, when relooking at the photo, those initial questions that arose can now be answered. It is now a ship that lasted many attacks to serve for us, for our freedom; a ship full of brave heroic people. Looking at the picture, our minds can process the meaning and then add emotion due to our understanding of what we are looking at. Our minds start to make personal connections and connect what we know about the past of the ship with the image of it at sea to give it another meaning.
So how is this photograph going to be perceived in the future? It might mean less because that personal connection would be absent. If the world were to reach world peace, there be no reason for battle ships anymore; the image with the same knowledge in history is going to be viewed differently. It may have that bad connotation because war would no longer be fought. Although, it could mean more because we had to fight may wars to achieve world peace. That is a perfect example of how we interpret our views of an image based on our cultural and social standpoints. Currently the ship has meaning of fighting and lasting a war. If world peace would be achieved the society and the culture would defiantly have to change and the image would be viewed entirely different.

Works Cited
Pearl Harbor. 2009. Web. 9 September 2015.
Wikipedia. 20 August 2015. Web. 8 September 2015.
Morris, Errol. The Writers Presence. 2014. Print.