Posted on 04/25/2008 8:38:09 AM PDT by American Quilter
Carrier launches are astonishing events. The plane is moved to within what seems like a bowling alley's length of the bow. A blast shield larger than any government building driveway Khomeini-flipper rises behind the fighter jet, and the jet's twin engines are cranked to maximum thrust. A slot-car slot runs down the middle of the bowling alley. The powered-up jet is held at the end of its slot by a steel shear pin smaller than a V-8 can. When the shear pin shears the jet is unleashed and so is a steam catapult that hurls the plane down the slot, from 0 to 130 miles per hour in two seconds. And--if all goes well--the airplane is airborne. This is not a pilot taking off. This is a pilot as cat's eye marble pinched between boundless thumb and infinite forefinger of Heaven's own Wham-O slingshot.
(Excerpt) Read more at weeklystandard.com ...
Best description of a launch I have yet heard.
Khomeini flipper?
To say that an F-4 is coming back onto this heaving barbecue from out of the sky at a speed of 135 knots . . . that may be the truth on paper, but it doesn’t begin to get across the idea of what a man sees from the deck itself, because it perhaps creates the notion that the plane is gliding in. On the deck one knows different! As the aircraft comes closer and the carrier heaves on into the waves and the plane’s speed does not diminish—one experiences a neural alarm he has never in his wildest fears imagined before: This is not an airplane coming toward me, it’s a brick, and it is not gliding, it’s falling, a fifty-thousand-pound brick, headed not for a stripe on the deck, but for me . . .— Tom Wolfe, The Truest Sport: Jousting with Sam and Charlie.
While on patrol once, I had the Kitty Kawk in the scope during flight operations.
One submarine with a single torpedo and shutdown an entire moving airport.
There are only two types of vessels in the Navy.
Submarines, and targets.
In this never-never land a couple of tinhorn Second City shysters--who, put together, don't have the life experience of the lowest ranking gob-with-a-swab cleaning a head on the Big Stick--presume to run for president of the United States. They're not just running against the hero John McCain, they're running against heroism itself and against almost everything about America that ought to be conserved.
got news for you buddy.......you were targeted long before the periscope look.......
This refers to the heavy steel wall that rises out of the road at a 90-degree angle just past the entry point on many military bases, to prevent unauthorized vehicles from making it onto the base. If you blow past the gate guard, he hits a button to bring up the barrier. You wouldn't want to hit it!
Oh, thanks! Just what a mom with a daughter on a carrier on deployment likes to read! lol :~( j/k
O’Rourke makes some devastating observations about Hillary and Obama and their unfitness for the presidency—I definitely recommend everyone read to the end of the article.
Wanna bet? I have the battle efficiency ribbons to show you are wrong.
And your point is...what?
That we should get rid of surface ships?
McCain could hardly escape understanding the limits of something huge but hermetic, like a government is, and packed with a madding crowd. It requires organization, needs hierarchies, demands meritocracy, insists upon delegation of authority. An intricate, time-tested system replete with checks and balances is not a plaything to be moved around in a doll house of ideology. It is not a toy bunny serving imaginary sweets at a make-believe political tea party. The captain commands, but his whims do not. He answers to the nation.
Just so, and even better:
A strange flight it is--from the hard and fast reality of a floating island to the fantasy world of American solid ground. In this never-never land a couple of tinhorn Second City shysters--who, put together, don't have the life experience of the lowest ranking gob-with-a-swab cleaning a head on the Big Stick--presume to run for president of the United States. They're not just running against the hero John McCain, they're running against heroism itself and against almost everything about America that ought to be conserved.
I honestly can't add anything to that. BTT.
That was the money quote, all right!
Gotta love P.J., he so descriptively cuts through the crap...
and I have time in CIC of a carrier to blow your little boat out of the water at any time i please....
A marine guard at Cherry Point told me that it will stop a tractor-trailer going 50+mph dead in its tracks, just like the driver will be.
Ping! Thought you guys would enjoy this article. Interesting in itself, plus some devastating observations about Hillary and Obama and their unfitness for the presidency.
Be sure to watch the PBS show “Carrier” — it begins on Sunday night (4/27) and runs for 3 nights, I believe. Supposed to be very good show about life on a deployed Carrier. US Navy cooperated and gave complete access. Make an exception and watch PBS for this one.
My hope is that you do find the bad guys and not find us.
Sounds worth a look—thanks, USNA74!
PJ O’Rouke! Where the heck has he been hiding out?
As a former Marine who served two years on a Marine corps carrier - USS Princeton (LPH-5) - I can see both sides of your argument. Modern carriers and subs have technology I can only dream of and it is a on-going contest.
However, keep in mind, that carreirs and subs have different missions:subs can’t lauch planes to support Marines on the ground and carriers can’t stop missile-launching subs.
Princeton was a testimony to vulnerability. So much steel had been stripped when she was converted to LPH status, that only fleet ballistic subs could match her speed, 38 knots maxed out. Two of four 5” gun turrets were removed and only 2-5” single guns on the port side remained. All other guns and gun tubs were removed, as well as the arresting gear, half the crews quarters and anything else that could be taken out. Catapults stayed, only because they would have had to remove the sides.
Now despite all that speed, Princeton was actually hit with a torpedo that had been “accidentally” launched. Fortunately, it turned out to be a dud. But, as they say, that sure left a mark.
So you are both right.
Semper fi
What a spectacular read!
IMO this is the best thing he’s written. Absolutely superb.
We are both on the same side. Its our duty however that the different branches rib each other.
It’s what makes it all the more fun.
Guess all the speed did not outrun the sub after all.
ping
Don't fret, your daughter is safer at sea than in your home town. Aircraft carriers don't operate alone.
What he does not tell you is that Kittyhawk, her 2 cruisers, 3 destroyers, ASW aircraft, and LA class attack sub were not at war looking for him.
If they were, he would have been running and hiding for his life, not sitting near the surface with his periscope up.
Carriers are by no means helpless and are far from obsolete.
Think about it. While you and I were partying in all those liberty ports, the bubbleheads rarley saw the light of day for 3 months at a time.
He'll probably come back and tell us how wonderful Scotland is.
A strange flight it is--from the hard and fast reality of a floating island to the fantasy world of American solid ground. In this never-never land a couple of tinhorn Second City shysters--who, put together, don't have the life experience of the lowest ranking gob-with-a-swab cleaning a head on the Big Stick--presume to run for president of the United States. They're not just running against the hero John McCain, they're running against heroism itself and against almost everything about America that ought to be conserved.
Absolutely superb. When he is on his game, he is the best in the business. He is as charming in person as he is in print. I went to a book signing of his once. It was a joy.
Not an expert in anti sub, but there has to be a number of protective rings around the carrier, that have to be breached before a torpedo shooting solution can be reached.
Conservatives are just nicer than libs, that's all there is to it.
Been googling USS Princeton (CV/CVA/CVS-37, LPH-5) and cannot find any mention of this. Not doubting your word, just want to know more about it!
Your first vessel type explains why there are P-3s.
There are!
Knowing these young Americans will give you hope for the future of this nation.
>>Been googling USS Princeton (CV/CVA/CVS-37, LPH-5) and cannot find any mention of this. Not doubting your word, just want to know more about it!
It happened in 1960, off the coast of Formosa. A big SEATO ops, 88 ships in all. Don’t think that you will find an embarassing thing like this on Google. Anymore likely that you’ll find out about the shi’s Captain who managed to run Princeton aground off Okinawa. Sorry, I won’t put his name out there: “Respect the dead, they can’t defend themselves.”
Absolutely right. A big BZ to all of them!
Great Read!
Click on pic for past Navair pings.
Post or FReepmail me if you wish to be enlisted in or discharged from the Navair Pinglist.
This is a medium to low volume pinglist.
A little more info on launch procedures (from ("Super Carrier") - I believe the shear pin varies in thickness depending on the maximum thrust of the plane to be launched; that is, it is designed to hold the plane in place at full thrust, then shear when the catapult load is added - this allows the pilot and ground crew to assure full power if available before launch...
Yeap, only Captain I could find for the USS Princeton was Raymond N. Sharp and that was in 1952 when she was CVS-37.
Sounds like you have some interesting sea stories to tell... 
I'll supply the beer!
Found another: Captain Paul J. Knapp, in late 1964.
Christ Almighty - that was awesome. Thanks for posting that excerpt. BTTT.
LOL. P.J. sure has a way with words.
A guy that used to work for me was previously a reactor officer on 688 boats. He felt the same way.
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