Posts tagged ‘aircraft carrier’
FRIDAY FOTO (September 30, 2022)
NIGHT MOVES.
(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class David Rowe)
Sailors rig the flight deck barricade during a general quarters drill aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz on September 15, 2022.
The barricade is an emergency recovery system used only for emergency landings when a normal tailhook arrestment cannot be made. They are designed to stop an aircraft by absorbing its forward momentum in an emergency landing or an aborted takeoff.
Barricades are rarely used but flight deck crews train how to set up the barricade webbing in a matter of minutes. The barricade is normally in a stowed condition and rigged only when required. To rig a barricade, it is stretched across the flight deck between stanchions, which are raised from the flight deck.
Click here to see a very short video on flight deck barricades work.
The Nimitz is currently docked in San Diego due to jet fuel contamination of the ship’s drinking water.
FRIDAY FOTO (June 12, 2020)
Back at Work Again.
F/A-18 Super Hornets fly in formation over the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt during operations in the Philippine Sea on June 9, 2020.
The TR, as the Nimitz-class, nuclear powered carrier is known, was the first U.S. Navy warship to endure an outbreak of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 while at sea.
After several Sailors tested positive for the virus, the ship pulled into Guam on March 27 and was sidelined there for more than two months. Most of the nearly 5,000 crew members were transferred off the ship — either to hospitals for treatment, or isolation in barracks and hotels on the island.
Before the ordeal was over, more than 1,100 Sailors were sickened and one died. A political firestorm sprang up when the skipper’s letter to Navy leaders seeking a quicker response to the crisis was leaked to the press. That led to the captain being relieved of command and the resignation of the acting Navy Secretary who fired him.
The TR returned to sea May 21 with a partial crew for a shakedown cruise to re-certify the carrier’s air wing and flight deck operations. After returning to pick up the rest of the crew, who now tested negative for COVID-19, the TR departed Guam on June 4 to resume its mission in the Asia-Pacific region.
SHAKO: In a First, New Aircraft Carrier to be Named for African American Hero of Pearl Harbor
USS Doris Miller (CVN81).
The Navy is naming its next aircraft carrier, (CVN 81) the USS Doris Miller, after Pearl Harbor hero Doris “Dorie” Miller, the first African American awarded the Navy Cross.
Navy Admiral Chester Nimitz personally pins the Navy Cross on sailor Doris “Dorie” Miller. (U.S. Navy photo)
At a Martin Luther King Day ceremony (Monday, January 20) at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii Acting Navy Secretary Thomas B. Modly announced the future CVN81 would be named for Miller. It would be the first time a U.S. aircraft carrier was named for an African American and also the first time one was named for an enlisted sailor.
The son of a Texas sharecroper, Miller was just 22 when he was awarded the Navy Cross, the Navy’s second highest decoration for bravery, for his actions on December 7, 1941.
The U.S. Army and Navy were largely segregated all-white organizations in 1941 and the few blacks in the services were assigned menial jobs, like Miller, a messman — essentialy a waiter, busboy and dishwasher — on the battleship USS West Virginia. When the Japanese attack began, Miller began passing ammunition to antiaircraft gunners. A big man — high school football player and boxing champion of the West Virginia’s crew — Miller began carrying the wounded to safety. Among them was the ship’s commander, Captain Mervyn Bennion, who died from his wounds during the attack.
Miller then manned a .50-calibre Browning anti-aircraft gun, for which he had no training, and continued firing on the enemy planes until he ran out of ammunition. Struck by two armor piercing bombs and five torpedoes, the West Virginia was afire and slowly sinking when the last remaining officer ordered the crew to abandon ship.
Miller was commended for his heroism by Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox on April 1, 1942, and on May 27, 1942 he received the Navy Cross personally from Admiral Chester Nimitz, the Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet.
Eventually promoted to Ships Cook, 3rd Class, Miller shipped out on the escort aircraft carrier, Liscombe Bay (CVE 56) in 1943. The ship was torpedoed and sank within minutes during the invasion of the Gilbert Islands (Operation Galvanic). Only 272 members of the crew survived, while 646 died, including Miller.
Family members of Dorie Miller unveil a plaque commemorating the future Ford-class aircraft carrier USS Doris Miller (CVN 81) at a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration event at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Justin R. Pacheco)
Family members were on hand to unveil an artists’ rendering of what the USS Miller will look like. The carrier will be the second Navy ship named for Miller. In 1975 the Knox class frigate, USS Miller (FF-1091) was launched.
Regular visitors to 4GWAR may remember we told Dorie Miller’s story in our Pearl Harbor anniversary post on December 8, 2019.
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SHAKO is an occasional 4GWAR posting on military history, traditions and culture. For the uninitiated, a shako is the tall, billed headgear worn by many armies from the Napoleonic era to about the time of the American Civil War. It remains a part of the dress or parade uniform of several military organizations like the corps of cadets at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York.
FRIDAY FOTO (December 7, 2018)
Narrow Margin.
(U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Grant G. Grady)
If you ever wondered how they get Navy fighter jets to and from an aircraft carrier flight deck, this is how they do it — carefully. Note the roiled waters below indicate the flat top is in motion during this everyday — but still hazardous — operation.
We assume these two F/A-18E Super Hornets are on their way up to the flight deck from the hangar deck since the accompanying caption supplied by the Navy said the sailors were guiding the 24-ton (when fully-loaded) multi-role fighters onto an aircraft elevator.
To get a sense of how quickly these elevators move, check out this short YouTube video from a carrier (USS Abraham Lincoln) tied up in port. To see the process for loading, securing and raising aircraft — while at sea — click here.
This FRIDAY FOTO was taken December 3, 2018 aboard the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis in the Indian Ocean.
FRIDAY FOTO (August 3, 2018)
Waaay up high.
(U.S. Navy photo by Seaman Apprentice Joshua Leonard)
Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Donavyn Rogers paints the superstructure of the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) in Bremerton, Washington on July 20, 2018. The superstructure, also known as the island, is the tower on the starboard (right) side of the carrier flight deck, although in the photo below, it looks like it’s on the port (left) side, because of the angle from which the photo was shot.
In the lower photo, compare the size of the sailors and Marines on the flight deck of another Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier — the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) — with the ship’s superstructure to get an idea of high high up painter Rogers has to work.
(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Kilho Park)
FRIDAY FOTO (March 16-18, 2018)
Wearin’ of the Green.
(U.S. Navy photo by Seaman Michael Hogan)
O.K., we’re a little bit late to mark St. Patrick’s Day, but we thought we’d share this image in homage to the tradition of wearing green on March 17.
However, these aircraft carrier sailors wear green every day at work. The color signifies they are carrier air wing maintenance personnel and here they are replacing the windshield of an MH-60S Seahawk helicopter on the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN- 71). The photo was taken in the Persian Gulf a few days before Paddy’s Day (March 14, 2018).
The Seahawk is assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 6. The Roosevelt (call sign: Rough Rider) is supporting maritime security operations in the Middle East.
FRIDAY FOTO (December 29-30, 2017)
Christmas Watch.
(U.S. Navy photo by Seaman Erika Kugler)
A lone sailor walks across the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74), after being relieved from watch duty. The ship is in port in Bremerton, Washington — where this photo was taken on December 25, 2017 — where the Stennis was preparing for its next deployment.
FRIDAY FOTO (December 8, 2017)
Water Wall.
(U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Jose Madrigal)
No, those aren’t giant polar bears, woodchucks or Yetis advancing on the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier U.S.S. Nimitz in the Pacific Ocean.
You can’t see them, but planes from from Carrier Air Wing 11 just dropped live ordnance (bombs) on the ocean surface, creating an exploding “water wall” in a flight demonstration. The aqua-technics were part of Tiger Cruise 2017 on December 1.
The photo below gives a closer view of the titanic splashes of water. To us they look like frolicking fuzzy critters. (the fifth from the right definitely reminds us of a giant porcupine.) What do they look like to you?
(U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Kennishah J. Maddux)
FRIDAY FOTO (November 26, 2016)
Moonstruck.
Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Abe McNatt
The brightest moon in almost 69 years sets behind the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) in Coronado, California, November 14, 2016.
Did you see that unbelievably big moon? Where? Tell us in the comment box below.
FRIDAY FOTO (August 26, 2016)
Sailor’s Delight.
U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Jason Noble
The aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) conducts helicopter operations under a red-streaked sunset during last month’s Rim of the Pacific 2016 maritime exercise in the Pacific Ocean.
Twenty-six nations and 25,000 personnel participated in the exercise.
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