The new Captain of the Abraham Lincoln

[flatbutt]

https://www.airpac.navy.mil/Organization/USS-Abraham-Lincoln-CVN-72/Leaders/Commanding-Officer/

Seahawk can offer more insight but Capt Bauernschmidt must have some serious chops to land this gig.

(I post here in the hope that it doesn't degenerate into chaos)

[Steve Carlton]

I'm sure Seahawk knows her personally and look forward to his comments. Good for her!

MKE Lifestyle: You were the first woman to serve as the executive officer (XO) aboard an aircraft carrier. What was that experience like?

Bauernschmidt: My experience as XO was the same as all my peers as the other CVN XOs. Except for the occasional acknowledgement of being the first by those onboard the ship while I was XO, it was transparent — a non-issue, and didn’t come up often. My decisions primarily focused on running the day-to-day operations of the “small city” that is the aircraft carrier. I focused on cleanliness of the ship to ensure everyone had a safe and healthy place to live and work, training of the crew for eventual combat operations, and completion of the refueling complex overhaul maintenance period. The goal is always to ensure we are mission-ready when called upon by our nation’s leadership.

https://www.mkelifestyle.com/mkepeople/15-minutes-with-capt-amy-bauernschmidt-of-the-u-s-navy/article_ac8519d0-3345-11ec-81c4-0bdeec28b2bd.html

[masraum]

I can't imagine that you get to that point in your career without being pretty amazing. I know that there is "politics" in the military, but I have to assume that they don't put someone that's not deserving in charge of a ship.

[matthewb0051]

I served the first ever female Army Aviation Brigade commander as her senior legal advisor. One of the best commanders/people I had the pleasure of serving with/under in my 22 years on AD.

To Steve's point: there is absolutely politics in the military and when it occurs that someone gets a position bc of a box check it is usually met with disaster for all involved. My commander got there solely on merit.

I was involved in the investigation (advised the investigation officer and reviewed the findings) of a female brigade commander that was relieved for being a crazy toxic leader. She had gotten to the position due to race and gender. She was a travesty and it soon became obvious to everyone around her and to the commanding general. We even had one guy that she had asked to put in a good word for her write to us directly because his words were not flattering.

[Seahawk]

I do not know her.

A few things first: Her resume is impeccable and she has had a number of commands already. She has been the CO of an LPD, which is a precursor, or "deep draft", prior to being selected for carrier CO. That job sucks and she did well.

She also played in the carrier environment for two tours as a helicopter squadron CO, once out of Japan with the Warlords...a very demanding tour. She was ranked against her other squadron peers and apparently did very well. That is not an easy day, folks.

Lastly, she is not humping a rucksack...I honestly do not believe any standards were altered for her. She also got through nuke school and those folks do not dick around.

One of my best friends is one of the first female Navy NFO's: Naval Academy grad, test pilot, two Commands and whip smart.

She earned it. I am sure Captain Amy Bauernschmidt did as well.

[upsscott]

She looks tough as nails. Pretty damn cool.

[vash]

what an accomplishment to be proud of!! awesome.

[flatbutt]

I can't even imagine being in charge of 5,000 personnel and all this:
USS Abraham Lincoln is 1,092ft (332.8m) long, has a beam of 252ft (76.8m) and a draught of 41ft (12.5m). It has a displacement of 97,000t. The flight deck occupies approximately 4.5 acres and is 257ft (78.34m) wide.

[Hard-Deck]

A big Army Hooah to her. And a Marine Corps Ooh-Rah from my former days.

[Bill Douglas]

Puts a new spin on it. A boy in every port.

[GH85Carrera]

https://www.foxnews.com/us/first-woman-command-uss-constitution

A woman just took over command of the world's oldest war ship.

Evidently the crew is 60% women. That sound like a great assignment for a young man to get!

[3rd_gear_Ted]

The new Marine Corp F-35C squadron is aboard for the deployment for the first time.
It was important for the Navy to have a Marine in command of those aircraft, she was a Marine combat Helo pilot with 3000 hours.

https://news.usni.org/2021/07/06/first-marine-f-35c-squadron-ready-to-deploy-on-navy-aircraft-carriers

[matthewb0051]

Originally Posted by flatbutt

I can't even imagine being in charge of 5,000 personnel and all this:
USS Abraham Lincoln is 1,092ft (332.8m) long, has a beam of 252ft (76.8m) and a draught of 41ft (12.5m). It has a displacement of 97,000t. The flight deck occupies approximately 4.5 acres and is 257ft (78.34m) wide.

Add to that: Courts-Martial, non-judicial punishment, administrative reprimands, officer misconduct, senior enlisted misconduct, administrative separation of enlisted, officer removals.

Believe me, that ball of caca takes up a lot of time, especially for that many personnel.

Also add in, safety and standards for pilots, aircraft accident investigations, aircraft maintenance

[Shaun @ Tru6]

[3rd_gear_Ted]

Update to the deployment thread:
USS Nimitz going out for sea trials from Bremerton WA. with a 40% rookie crew and flight wing.
Captain says; the rookies can't wait to get to the flight deck and the reason they joined.

Added note:
The video of the F-35 crash. whoa...
7 flight deck injuries, real dangerous place....

[Crowbob]

Gerald R Ford Museum in Grand Rapids has some great artifacts and exhibits about carriers.

[John Rogers]

I spent 4 years on the CVA(N)65, the Enterprise from 1969 to 1973 and did a refueling of 8 reactors, two 9 month long combat tours to Vietnam and even repaired a steam generator tube leak during the 2nd cruise which causes the reactor to be shut down and depressurized while doing flight ops. We had two commanding officers during that time and 3 different execs while the department heads were on there the whole 4 years nearly.

That was in the "old navy" and our 2nd CO, Capt. CC Smith suggested we all go to the flight deck and "moon" the Russian Cruiser that was sailing close to us, first port side then the starboard side and after our hello message they went away. I guess we couldn't do that today........

John

[ckelly78z]

It's good to see deserving people (regardless of gender) moving through the ranks and achieving top spots. I wish her all the luck, and skill to handle whatever situation comes her way !

[A930Rocket]

Originally Posted by John Rogers

That was in the "old navy" and our 2nd CO, Capt. CC Smith suggested we all go to the flight deck and "moon" the Russian Cruiser that was sailing close to us, first port side then the starboard side and after our hello message they went away. I guess we couldn't do that today........

John

First, thanks for serving and second, that’s hilarious! I’m sure we will not see mooning in this day and age.

[Eric Hahl]

I kinda got lost on the Abe Lincoln before it was finished. Worked at NNSB on the 688 class subs. Was down at the yard and decided to take a walk around the Abe. Quite a sight from underneath in dry dock. Went to the Christening. Pretty cool experience.