Here's several more interesting things about those carriers. The ship's props are so big the water density at the top is much less than at the bottom so if you turn them slowly (4 to 5 RPMs) the carrier will walk sideways slowly! That is how a new OOD would finalize their qualifications by "walking" sideways to the pier. In the stern picture notice that the port and starboard screws are designed to rotate in opposite directions so little rudder is needed to go straight. Also when "at anchor" the ship is held by the chain as when the anchor drops and digs in, then the ship goes astern a bit to run out couple hundred feet of chain onto the bottom of the harbor. Until the gas turbine powdered ships came along, the Enterprise was the fastest accelerating ship in the world. We'd race our escorts usually once a cruise in the Tonkin Gulf and would open both ahead AND astern throttles to bring reactor power to 100%. Then spin the astern valve shut which was waaaaay faster than opening the ahead valve! The guys on the stern part of the hanger bay used to say the rooster tail was initially 90 to 100 feet high as the Enterprise's screws sat slightly further aft than later carriers! Never lost a race in the 4 years I was on there.

I can share this much of the picture:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1545683335.jpg

That's his hard hat tip at the bottom.
It has been interesting to hear how the repair went.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1545750639.jpg

68 inbound to Bremerton last December.

Spent 2 weeks on the Nimitz on a ship check cruise back in 81 when I worked for a contractor to Newport News Drydock and Shipbuilding in preparation for an upcoming overhaul. Had free run of the ship, including the engine rooms and auxiliary reactor rooms, but not CIC (combat information center) or other weapons areas. Slept and ate in the CPO areas (gained 20 lbs in those 2 weeks IIRC!). Remember fondly having to glue myself to the passageway bulkhead if traveling down one when a security alert (drill or otherwise) was activated so you did get taken out by the huge Marine yielding the wooden stick. His job was to clear the passageway! Was able to watch flight ops from the 09 level on the island (superstructure) which was pretty neat. F-14s, A-7s, A-6s, EB-6s, S-3s, an E-2, and a P-3 (if memory serves!), as well as a number of helicopters. Awesome experience! We boarded Nimitz at Norfolk Operations Base after she had just finished being repaired at Norfolk Naval Shipyard (located in Portsmouth, Va, not to be confused with Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, located in Kitery, Maine) and set sail for Charlotte Amalie in the US Virgin Islands. Got my first plane ride coming home in a old DC-3! Also found and bought a neat new device on the ships Gedunk PX, a Sony Walkman (with full aluminum case!). Good times!

I was onboard the Hancock (CVA-19) stationed in Alameda, CA. In the mid 60’s. Spent almost a full year in dry dock at Hunts Point getting the old tub retrofitted. First cruise I made in 67 to Wespac, we has no a/c on board. Hot as hell in Tonkin Gulf, we used to sleep in the safety nets adjacent to the flight deck. Not during flight ops though. Lost a couple guys who got blown off the flight deck during night ops every cruise. Pilots too who got cold cated, planes and bodies never found.

So cool - other posts as well.

I have posted this picture before, USS Valley Forge (CG-50) on Gatun Lake as we were transiting the Panama Canal.

CO brought all four GE Gas Turbine engines online and punched it.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1545756494.jpg

He was a great CO...came over the 1MC and told the crew to come have a look.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1545756441.jpg

I didn’t get a photo, but during that Nimitz cruise, we needed to refuel a Spruance Class destroyer that also was powered by those gas turbines. We were doing an estimated 20-25 knots IIRC, based on what one of my coworkers who was onboard as well determined. The destroyer came alongside on the starboard side, the refueling probe was sent over, and the fuel was transferred. Once complete, the probe was retrieved, as well as all of the rigging necessary to send the probe over. At this point, the destroyer CO must have given the order to gun it. Rear of the destroyer just squared down in the ocean, bow up, and takes off like we are standing still. Pretty impressive to see something so large move like that. But of course, it couldn’t do that for long!

My Dad was in charge of designing and implementing the falsework as a Lt. JG aboard the USS ARD-15 at Saipan-Tininan Island in 1944-45. He was 24 years old at the time. I asked him if he smoked back then, he said when they brought him a Destroyer it was 2 packs a day, but the submarines upped it to 4 packs a day. Served 28 years in the Naval Reserve and retired as a Lt. Commander.



http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1545778971.jpg


That's my Dad in the uniform with his welding crew.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1545779086.jpg

How cool is this!

Thanks for sharing guys.

I have a question on the propellers..,

Do they all turn under power when under way?

If not, it seems like they would be a huge drag unless you could feather them.

For a ship like a carrier, they are all turning so to make the ship move. Since they are nuclear powered the cost of the fuel has been paid for. As far as I know there is no way to disconnect since the bull gear has the bearings that take the load and it is inside the reduction gear. On gas turbine ships they have a "clutch" or something and in their beginning they were really fragile but not any longer. They also have variable pitch props so the blade angle can be changed, carriers don't I think.

WOW - I've always imagined they had a lot more 'boat' below the water line.
Why don't they capsize more easily?
Bill K

Actually Neptune keeps them afloat! That plus most of the weight is at or below the waterline. As an example on the CGN25, Bainbridge, the water level was about 5 feet above the main engine rooms main deck plates, so those turbines, reactors, reduction gears and stuff are below water level.

Fantastic, really: My Mother's side of the family were Navy Chief's and ranchers...two tough sides of the same steak.

Your picture says more than we can ever know...

what an interesting thread, please keep posting your stories, makes great reading

I always found the cranes at the shipyard fascinating.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1545857362.jpg


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1545857373.jpg

He wouldn't happen to have the same initials as you, would he?

That crane in the Newport News pictures was designed, built and setup for the Nimitz class and size of carriers. The first time it was run there was a tad bit of sync problems with the right and left sides and it nearly ran off the rails! Stopped about a foot short.

On the gas-turbine DDG's (Arleigh Burke class Destroyers), the blades on the propellers can indeed be "feathered", and as I understand it they are often feathered while underway.

For example, if the seas are coming at them a bit from port, and assuming full power is not required, the DDG will "trail shaft" - they will feather the port propeller completely and only run the starboard engine/shaft/propeller. The starboard thrust, along with a little right rudder - will keep the ship on course even though the seas are from port. And in so doing, they extend their range by nearly 100%. (FWIW the port shaft/propeller till turns a bit, but it produces very little drag.)

AND - the DDG's are the first US warships where the props never change their direction of spin. Before variable pitch propellers, (I'm guessing) gearing was shifted to reverse the rotation of the screws.

On a DDG, moving very small controls on the bridge will reverse the pitch of the props, so a change in direction of shaft rotation is never needed. And further, when reversed they work much more effectively than a propeller designed (really) only for forward propulsion.

Another neat trick is that a DDG can transition from all-ahead full to all-ahead aft in something like 800 feet!! Trust me when I say it's a sight to see/experience!