Posted on 06/21/2021 10:00:08 AM PDT by MAGA2017
GHW Bush, SEC DEF Cheney, and congress decommed her at half life. This was about the time the massive RIF's and closures began as well. America was deployed three times in three years without needed yard time at that point. Upon return from her second such deployment she had a major boiler room explosion severe enough to require a cold iron tow to NNSY where she was patched up and sent on her last major deployment. Afterwards she was decommed with too many issues to even make her a reserve ship so they scuttled her to obtain data for FORD.
BTW I believe the all nuke carrier fleet is about the most stupid idea to ever come out of the Pentagon. We still need conventional for war time as they allow for quicker training and qualification of the Engineering crews.
Yeah I'd get sky hooks there.
You are right, that is the tradition.
There are classes of ships that are single ships though, USS John F Kennedy is an example.
IIRC, three follow on new generation carriers are already in early to advanced construction phases. These are replacing several Nimitz class carriers that will be retired. Some of the Nimitz carriers slated for retirement,(if the USN gets its way) will retire before the end of their service life. I think Congress is going to nix this USN plan.
“That seems odd to me. Because if the ship fails the test, it would be damaged, and need expensive repairs.”
Yeah, or maybe lost. This ship is the most expensive vessel ever built by the USN. Maybe they could have run a simulation on a retired ship. Surely they could have set up a test that didn’t put a ship of the line in danger of damage. This seems odd.
I was thinking the same thing. Kind of like putting on a bullet proof vest and having yourself shot to see what happens. What if the vest fails?
Although not a true class change the other one was likely Saratoga. Yeah I know she was Forestall class but one major difference in the propulsion plants.
Saratoga CVA 60 was the first 1200 PSI steam plant all before her were 600 PSI Boilers.
Kennedy was a class of her own as I think there may have been plans to make her the second Enterprise class. There is a rumor that CVA/CV 66 AMERICA was supposed to have been nuke but a Freeper with long family ties to Newport News Shipbuilders said no she was always CV. His reasoning and it makes sense is the ship is built around the propulsion plant and it is the first to be installed meaning it must be ordered early on as well as reactors.
I think several things happened. 66 & 67 at that time the Navy did not have sufficient trained junior and senior nuclear operators. This was in the early 1960's and Rickover didn't really want a nuclear fleet of carriers. BTW I saw blue prints of America lots of times and many had CVN striked through then CVA-66 written on them. These were auxiliary systems blue prints mainly for the Chill Water Loops and other piping I had to look at a lot of times trouble shooting. This was in the late 1970's.
As Rickover lost more influence over the carrier program and the Nuclear Propulsion Training Program increased along with the number of PQS qualified senior enlisted and officers needed they went to nuke for Nimitz.
This is great, but have they fixed the weapons elevators yet? You can’t deploy if you can’t get ordinance to your aircraft. But keep in mind these is new and improved elevators that are supposed to work quicker and lift more goodies, except they don’t...
Other than submarines has the USN managed to design, launch and commission a warship class that actually works in the last twenty years?
Very interesting knowledge you shared. Thanks for the info. I knew there were changes within classes of ships but didn't know the political background that influenced the actual class changes.
At least he was on teams that beat Ohio State in two straight years, something the Wolverines have not done in the 21st century.
One reason I posted earlier about we need some conventional CV's is the training requirements are much easier. A nuke Machinist Mate will be in school well over a year maybe 18 months counting Basic. A conventional CV will have a Snipe with a six month deployment of experience under their belt plus work ups before hand and will be on his way to junior NCO rank and standing a second or third skill level watch. In war time in battles that is highly critical when you face mass casualties and have to train replacements.
There is at least one model of Buick crossover being made in China and sold here in the U.S. I wouldn’t touch one.
It’s really a trade-off. During round-the-clock flight ops on a CVN we’d refuel every 3-4 days and take on 2 - 2.5 million gallons of JP-5. They can also refuel gas turbine escorts (CG and DDG). A non-nuke would have to hit the tanker more often due to fewer JP-5 tanks, and they’d have to take on DFM.
Refueling is a vulnerable time for any ship - on a steady course with 12 kt speed for hours.
The Ford is a controversial boat. Super expensive. One big change is electromagnetic catapults instead of steam rams.
How long to transfer the JP-5?
Three double probes at max pressure - about 1 million gal/hr.
There's a couple of white guys blogging in China, doing truthful reports on YouTube. I'm surprised China hasn't shut them down. Although China has taken their passports to stop the from leaving.
These guys show the car dealerships in China showing Chinese cars that are identical in looks to well-known international brands - ripoff copies. The dealers also offer to swap out their name badge for the copied brand name, for instance Toyota or Land Rover, etc. Buyers complain that the rubber and trim decays within one year, mechanicals quickly break, suspension goes bad etc. Buicks are popular in China, but I wouldn't buy one. One of my sisters had one and it broke down within 2 years and she junked it.
Bkmk
Number 2 & 6 was our Grape pump rooms. Both would about take your head off from the fumes coming up the trunk. #2 sat right below our Chiller machinery room & #6 was in the aft port chow line and was worse. Sometime I think in May 89 long after I was out #2 had an explosion at least 2 were killed. It could have easily been 3 had my shops rover watch been in the equipment room above taking readings on the chiller..
Most people don’t know how dangerous life on a Navy ship can be. We had some A-7 maintainers who fired three HE rounds into a fully loaded KA-6 tanker. An MM3 had just gotten off watch at 0300 and went up to the flight deck to see the night sky before he hit the rack. He was standing next to the tanker when it exploded. All they found was the heel of one of his boots.
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