From 1923 to 1940, the US Navy conducted 21 “Fleet Problems” as it sought to understand, exploit and incorporate new technologies and capabilities while developing the tactics, training and procedures to employ the same should war present itself – which by the 1930s was beginning to look more and more likely to the discerning observer….
Without a doubt, navies are among the most expensive arms a nation may deploy. Our own ongoing going experience being germane – Russia is re-discovering the cost of admiralty and it isn’t always in rubles: “The project to modernize an aircraft carrier for the Indian Navy in Severodvinsk Sevmash has resulted in the bankruptcy of…
11,000 tons gross displacement. 622.5 ft long. 45 aircraft – that was the USS San Jacinto (CVL 30). Sixty-five years ago, on a September morning, a young naval aviator launched his Grumman TBF Avenger from her deck on a mission to strike facilities at Chi Chi Jima. Forty-five years later he was raising his hand,…
14 Dec –Installation of the Pilot Landing Aid Television system (PLAT) was completed on Coral Sea, the first carrier to have the system installed for operational use. Designed to provide a video tape of every landing, the system was useful for instructional purposes and in the analysis of landing accidents making it a valuable tool…
RTB today from our Midwestern sojourn. Some news we will be posting on the morrow – in the meantime an update on the Vikramaditya (“Brave as the Sun”) via Barents Observer shows that it has been floated from dry dock (or beaching as was the case):
(h/t Russian Navy Blog) Cold iron – that time in a shipyard when the ship is completely dependant on shore-based services; electricity, water, steam, etc. as the plant (conventional or nuclear) is shut down. Of course, as is wont to be the case, that which is brought on from shore typically falls short of demand on…
Some things you learn by reading. Some thngs you learn by watching Somethings you learn by doing. But some knowledge is only gained from years (decades) of watching, doing, learning. Carrier ops is one such area – and if you think differently, read this…
(Navy News Service) YOKOSUKA, Japan (Sept. 25, 2008) Sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73) form the phrase “Hajimemashite,” which means “Nice to meet you” in Japanese, as they arrive at Fleet Activities Yokosuka, Japan. George Washington and Carrier Air Wing 5 will be operating from Fleet Activities Yokosuka as the U.S….
So, here we were, half-watching the football game while sorting through the pile of magazines that had accumulated during the last few months while we were doing 18-hour days. Now that the pressure was off at work, SWMBO had dictated either we take care of the pile or she would – and Draconian doesn’t begin…
29 Apr 1961: USS Kitty Hawk (CVA 63) is commissioned at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. The second ship to be named for the wind swept location on the Outer Banks of North Carolina where man’s heavier-than-air journey first met demonstrable success, she represents a substantial improvement in the “super carrier” design first seen with the Forrestal-class…
