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Thread: Am I alone?

  1. #61
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    I don't know the answer to that question

    Quote Originally Posted by Kent A Bathurst View Post
    You're driving/riding the most impressive piece of nuke-powered "power projector" ever invented - I'd hope (and am glad to hear) there are eagle-eyes standing watch 24/7.

    So - really, now - how fast does that sucker really go when you stomp on the throttle? Betcha that fantail was taller than the command bridge.
    but I was told that during the '70's attempted Iranian hostage rescue operation the Navy had to use P3's to shoo the little boats out of the Enterprise' way. There were no destroyers etc. fast enough for the job. The guy telling me this was a crewmember on the P3. He also said the wake endangered small craft a good distance away.

  2. #62
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    Quote Originally Posted by Curt Harms View Post
    but I was told that during the '70's attempted Iranian hostage rescue operation the Navy had to use P3's to shoo the little boats out of the Enterprise' way. There were no destroyers etc. fast enough for the job. The guy telling me this was a crewmember on the P3. He also said the wake endangered small craft a good distance away.
    It is true that there are no cruisers, destroyers or frigates which can keep up with a nuke aircraft carrier. Not only do they have crazy amounts of power, but they have a significant advantage in length to width ratio. This is a property of fluid flow mechanics where the greater the difference in length to width, the easier it is to move through the water. So, in this area, an aircraft carrier is similar to a canoe.

  3. #63
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pat Germain View Post
    Well, I must admit, Mike's information as well as the new info on the "TV deal" puts this situation into a different light. I too am starting to question this whole endeavor.
    Ditto. Wacko. But - wacko at any age, to press my original point. Parents are clearly nuts - but you can't choose your parents, apparently.

    Pat - here is something I just saw that'll take you back. I personally could not handle the pucker factor landing on a runway that short. Plus - by my count - just over 3 seconds on launch to the open sea under the wings. Holy Strap In, Batman!!


    http://vholdr.com/video/lap-around-boat
    When I started woodworking, I didn't know squat. I have progressed in 30 years - now I do know squat.

  4. #64
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    Kent,

    The only time I may have snookered my youngest son was with that pucker factor.

    In HS and in college he was a ski instructor. He was an adrenalin junky. At the ski resort where he worked, he was one of 2 allowed to teach aerials. When skiing with him the first time, I had him clear me in the air.

    He called me up one day from San Antonio. "Dad....I hope you don't mind....I applied to the air force to be a pilot"

    My reply "That's okay son....if you want to be a 2nd class pilot"....

    His immediate comeback "What do you mean 2nd class pilot?!@#$%^&*

    My reply "Son I was 15 when I flew and landed a single engine air plane on a 10,000' runway. That's 2 miles long. Let's make it 1200' long, 200' wide..it is doing 30 knots into a 30 knot wind...it's rolling, pitching, yawing and you have a hook on your butt and there 4 wires down there but just in case, you are gonna land full throttle and flaps so that if you would miss the wires, you might come around and try again. And.......God forbid! that the sun gets down before you do!"

    He called me up a few weeks later....."Dad...I've applied to the Navy to be a pilot!"

    If nothing else....those Navy pilots have courage....I helped train a few during the '70s.
    Ken

    So much to learn, so little time.....

  5. #65
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    Ken, is your son now a Navy pilot?

    I work with two F/A-18 pilots. They are both the most laid-back and cool cats you'll ever meet. If anyone talks about the crazy things they do when launching from and landing on a carrier, they just shrug it off.

    While I never rode in a fighter jet, I have been a passenger in a Carrier Onboard Delivery or "COD" aircraft multiple times. It's a twin engine, turbo-prop with a small passenger compartment in the back and a tail hook. The passenger seats face aft and there are only two small windows. So, if you're not sitting right next to one of those windows, you can't see anything.

    When the cat first launches, it is by no means a gradual acceleration. Imagine being strapped into a chair with a 100 foot cable attached to a speeding freight train. Suddenly, the slack runs out and, BANG!, you're jerked off the deck. I could actually feel my eyes being sucked out of my head. Then you go from five G's to just over zero G's and it feels like you're surely falling into the drink.

    Landing is, of course, the opposite. You yank and bank in an oval pattern around the ship until getting clearance to land (again, unable to see anything). This is where most people decide to hurl. Luckily, I was never the path of projectile vomiting. Others weren't so lucky. The plane winds down to an idle and pretty much glides in. As soon as the tail hook is over the arresting wires, the pilot drops the plane straight down, hard, with a "WHACK!". Then he goes to full throttle. For a few seconds, the plane is at full throttle and being held back only by a cable with the entire airframe shaking.

    Yeah. It's an "E-Ticket"!

  6. #66
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    So many opinions, such an intersting thread to read.

    For the record, all decisions for your children depend on their level of maturity and experience (combination making up wisdom). It may be ok for a 16 year old, it may not.

    My compassion extends farther than to leave someone floating in the middle of nowhere just because they wanted their 15 mins or so. Thats just my personal level of compassion. Yours may differ.
    Sawdust is some of the best learning material!

  7. #67
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    Pat,

    No. He was in Flight Officer school in P'cola, fell down some stairs, injured his neck and developed migraines. He could get in immediately if he went as a FO. He was far enough through school that he had to give them 4 years. He got assigned as a ship's company officer aboard the Chucky V and found out he liked the Navy. He has a degree in pre-med so he ended up being the medical administrative officer. He's currently in dental school on a Navy scholarship. He resigned his commission and enlisted and is a CPO currently. As an enlisted man, the 4 years of dental school count towards retirement. As an officer they don't. Of course, all doctors and dentists start as LTs. so he goes right back to the same rank he had when he resigned. He has IIRC 12 or 13 years towards retirement currently.
    Ken

    So much to learn, so little time.....

  8. #68
    Pat, hull speed of a displacement hull is based on waterline length. The maximum threoretical attainable speed is 1.34 x the square root of the waterline length. Planing hulls are a whole different animal and max speed is largely dependent on power available. Hence adestroyer, frigate, or cruiser doesn't have the waterline length to atain anywhere near as fast a speed. Just bunch of old info from my active sea kayaking days.
    Dave Anderson

    Chester, NH

  9. #69
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    Wow - ya just never know what you might learn on one of these threads...

  10. #70
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ben Hatcher View Post
    My old boss served on the Enterprise and said that they bent the hull doing speed tests. Top speed was 70 mph! As for the 30 knots, as I'm told, in order to launch planes, they need a 30 knot head wind. If that is true, 30 knots is more like a normal cruising speed than a top end.
    I have a fresh crisp Ben Franklyn says the Big E has never neared 70mph Top claimed speed is 33knots. Yes, she can move fast enough to vibrate and spring the hull but she wont approach 70 mph. Man what a ride that would be though. I was on a DE with a flank speed of 28 knots which we couldn't maintain for more than two hours. The big E and any other nuke can maintain flank speed until the ship shakes apart or the fuel cells deplete.
    We were in escort the first time the Enterprise came into Frisco. Had to wait till low tide and even then it was close under the Gate.

  11. #71
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    Charlie,

    When my youngest son was ships company the USS Carl Vinson, I rode it from San Francisco to Bremerton.

    I was on the flight deck when we cleared the Golden Gate bridge. As a former ET, I was watching antennas and thinking "these guys are pros....they know what they are doing"......
    Ken

    So much to learn, so little time.....

  12. #72
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ken Fitzgerald View Post
    Charlie,

    When my youngest son was ships company the USS Carl Vinson, I rode it from San Francisco to Bremerton.

    I was on the flight deck when we cleared the Golden Gate bridge. As a former ET, I was watching antennas and thinking "these guys are pros....they know what they are doing"......
    That must have been when she came out of the docks at hunters point.I believe they can lower the antanna masts if needed.
    Growing up in the bay area allowed me to witness our Naval power at it's best. At one time there were 15 military installations around the bay. Now the Coast Guard is all that is left.
    In the sixties there could be as many as 3 carriers in port at a time.
    We even launched a few round the world jaunts from there but we were all over 19 (back on subject) or had parents permission lol

  13. #73
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    Charley.....it was around Thanksgiving of 2000.

    They deployed to fly the southern NoFly Zone in July of 2001.

    They returned in January of 2002. For Christmas 2001, I bought my wife a 1-way ticket to Pearl Harbor. She flew to Peal Harbor early in January....she and the youngest son ran around for 30 hours and they both boarded the Vinson. She road it from P.H. to San Diego and then on to Bremerton.

    Their next deployment was around the world and eventually to overhaul in Viriginia. The son deployed with them and flew back at the end of his active duty from Australia.
    Last edited by Ken Fitzgerald; 06-16-2010 at 7:36 PM.
    Ken

    So much to learn, so little time.....

  14. #74
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    Quote Originally Posted by Charlie Reals View Post
    I have a fresh crisp Ben Franklyn says the Big E has never neared 70mph Top claimed speed is 33knots. Yes, she can move fast enough to vibrate and spring the hull but she wont approach 70 mph. Man what a ride that would be though.
    If there was a way I could prove it to you, I would take that bet, Charlie.

  15. #75
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pat Germain View Post
    If there was a way I could prove it to you, I would take that bet, Charlie.
    Pat,
    I believe you would lose lol. I think what happened here is someone misunderstood km/h to mean mph.

    Naval specs show 33.6 kn or 38.7mph which is also 62.2km/h hence the 70 mph. I have a nephew on board the big E now, I sent him an email and asked lol, I haven't heard back. Lord that ship is 50 years old, just came out of a refit and is due for decommission in 2013.
    Charlie

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