Does a hurriance have the strength to flip a supercarrier over??

bd popeye

bd popeye

The Last Jedi
VIP Professional
Here is a photo taken from the bridge of USS John F. Kennedy riding out Hurricane Floyd at sea outside Mayport Florida.
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Interesting that you mentioned the JFK. I served on the JFK from 24 March 1972 until 1 August 1973.

On the JFK in late September 1972 we encountered a storm in the North Atlantic during our transit back to Norfolk after NATO excersise Strong Express and a 10 month MED cruise.

The sea state was very heavy. The heaviest I've ever encountered. Waves were splashing over the bow and banging off the outer Hangar bay doors. The hangar deck was packed with as many aircraft as possible. The remaining aircraft were bunched on the flight deck in front of the island and aft of that. We came out of that storm of about 2+ days will little damage.
 
bladerunner

bladerunner

Banned Idiot
Whats the process with serving on carriers Popeye. Once youve been posted onto one do you serve out your time on them?
 
A

Ambivalent

Junior Member
If your specialty is in an aviation field that is required by carrier based squadrons, such as a tech who works on ejection seats and parachutes, then you will do your sea tours with squadrons that deploy on carriers. If you were a GE-T58 engine mechanic, you could be assigned to either an SH-3 squadron and go cruising on a CV, or you could be assigned to an H-46 squadron which will put you on replenishment ships like AOE's and AE's. If you were a P-3 Senso then you deploy with P-3 squadrons.
 
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pla101prc

Senior Member
Re: Jeff Head

Jeff Head said:
Typhoon Cobra, in Dec 1944, sank 3 destroyers (which capsized), and a fire caused by a plane on the USS Monterey (a light carrier) caused significant damage, almost leading to the loss of the vessel.

Here's a GREAT story about how a young Lt. Ford, reacted to that circumstance on the Monterey...Gerald Ford.

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(I'm beginning to uderstand and accept more and more why the new class carrier will be named after this man.)

Overall, due to Typhoon Cobra, 3 ships, 795 men and over 150 aircraft were lost.

Here's a picture of another light carrier, the USS Copwens during the storm.

[qimg]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/USS_Cowpens_%28CVL-25%29_during_Typhoon_Cobra.jpg[/qimg]

Despite all of this, no fleet (larger) carrier was damaged significantly.
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dont know about you guys but those waves down there look pretty damn scary
 
A

Ambivalent

Junior Member
Re: Jeff Head

pla101prc said:
dont know about you guys but those waves down there look pretty damn scary
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Sure, that was a small ship. Cowpens was built on a cruiser hull and only displaced 11,000 tons. Ditto the Monterey. Here is a stern view that ought to put the ship's small size in perspective.

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Looks awfully top heavy too.
 
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Pointblank

Senior Member
Re: Jeff Head

Ambivalent said:
Sure, that was a small ship. Cowpens was built on a cruiser hull and only displaced 11,000 tons. Ditto the Monterey. Here is a stern view that ought to put the ship's small size in perspective.

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Looks awfully top heavy too.
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The old Independence class light aircraft carriers were known for poor seakeeping due to the higher top weight on what was a light cruiser hull. The following class, the Saipan class aircraft carriers were based off the larger Baltimore class heavy cruiser, and as such were more seaworthy.
 
bd popeye

bd popeye

The Last Jedi
VIP Professional
Just a quick question. After you detect a storm, do you still have enough time to navigate away from it?
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Storms are very predictable. Modern long range forcastiing must be a big help to the modern USN.

I know once when I was on the Midway we ran into some fog that was so thick you could not see more than 30m in front of yourself. We were stationary for 3 days blowing that stupid fog horn very, very often.
 
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BRAVO JULIET

Just Hatched
Registered Member
One of my friends a retired USN CDR, would tell stories of storms that would cause green water to reach the flight deck, but i seriously doubt a properly sailed ship would A. be in a Hurricane B. tip over.
 
W

Wolverine

Banned Idiot
bd popeye said:
The hangar deck was packed with as many aircraft as possible. The remaining aircraft were bunched on the flight deck in front of the island and aft of that. We came out of that storm of about 2+ days will little damage.
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I thought you could stow all of the aircraft carrier's planes inside the hangar deck if necessary.
 
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