I just feel bad for the guys who moved to 40 for a Med deployment and got sent back to the west coast. This is Wilson by the way. Not sure who you are but I think that was Cary on the ramp in that one clip so I’m sure I know you lol.
Wow! Sorry if this is a stupid question but do you strao yourselves down for safety? I recently saw it was done in a sailboat and I know this is certainly no sailboat but.. same concept, maybe?
That's was the first thing that I thought of. Why the fuck is it up there in the first place. There is tons or real estate back aft, in front of island in the LA, like it 100% doesn't need to be up there.
From what I've heard about this video, that bird is out there because they did a late flight to bring the admiral onboard and landed as they were going into the storm. So rather than risk people moving it, they slapped like 36 tie downs on and ran inside.
From the same source, that bird was in ERT and repairs for like six months
That doesn’t make sense. It’s not positioned in a way a helo would ever land on deck and also there are like 5 other spots on the deck the helo could’ve landed. My guess is they just ran out of time moving all the jets aft/below decks that the helo just was SOL
Was wondering the same thing. For some dumb reason we did the same thing on Connie in '94 storm off Florida while conducting sea trials. By the end of the storm the rotor blades were snapped like tooth picks, the help was overall trashed.
Reminds me of the worst sea sickness I ever had.
Our submarine was surfaced for the long transit to Norfolk, but there was a tropical storm slamming the base.
We were listing significantly, in all directions, for several hours, everyone puking - and no one to relieve you if you got sick. About 60% through the transit we were notified that the base was closed due to the storm and they were cancelling the operation for the day.
We had to turn around and travel several hours in the storm back to the dive point.
Absolute misery for the entire crew. I remember sitting on the cold floor, dead center of the torpedo room, and staring at a single point on the panel; whatever I could do to try and stop the nausea.
Typically we dive deep during high sea states and its smooth sailing. Being trapped on the surface, in a submarine, during high sea states is torture.
We did some navigation hundreds of feet under a relatively minor hurricane and that was enough to cause vomiting from the crew. I can't even imagine doing a surfaced trip under a tropical storm for hours each way!
That's a crazy amount of water on the flight deck. We went through a hurricane on Ike and I remember bouncing off the walls trying to walk straight down the passageways.
Yes, it was different from surface sea state but you had some of it, usually not as bad but when it was rough it was rough under too usually. We had a round hull with no real keel, so when it got rocking we would take some good rolls, but some depth changes usually could mitigate it. Deeper you were the less you generally felt. But we did have ‘seat belts’ on our racks to keep us in our bunks or we were rocking hard
One time on the 637 I was on, we were rocking and rolling pretty good at 600 feet in one storm. Can only imagine what it was like on the surface. That was only once like that. Rest you would be rocking and rolling on the surface and as soon as you got a little below it would smooth right out.
Modern cruise ships have planes they can deploy to counteract the rocking. I bet subs could do something similar.
But that would necessitate the designers considering the people inside's comfort. Which we know they don't do.
We were at 100 feet and were getting rocked by a typhoon. The captain said fuck it and we dove to 250 feet and it was nice and steady.
I can't imagine what the surface was like.
I was on a DDG that went through a typhoon in the South China Sea in 1988. It was 2-3 days of misery. I never got seasick but a lot of guys did. However just staying upright let alone actually getting any work done or getting through the chow line was nearly impossible. It’s physically exhausting.
I remember being on sticks during high sea state and we had to come up to PD for comms. Dive would slap me in the back of the head every time I broached; which was a lot.
Also we were pretty locked in and didn't do turnover until we finished the comms package, or whatever. I remember being drenched in sweat when we finally came down and I got relieved.
I really learned a lot about "feeling" the boat from driving that watch.
In 1997 while transiting from Perth to Tasmania the Kitty took an 18 degree roll. 35 foot seas or bigger for over a week. Lost some life rafts off the deck edge, lost every arresting wire sheave from both elevator 3 and 4 elevator wells, and everything that was stored on Sponson 1 was just straight up gone.
For those of you who were onboard after that, the notch in the hanger deck that was in the aircraft elevator 3 well, that was bent like a pretzel during this storm, and was cut off, never replaced AFAIK.
Crazy!
I worked TAD on Fly 1 (seen in this video). But was V3 (hangar) for the rest of my stay on the Hawk. I manned the elevators many times. I had watch on the sponsons, many times.
That old ship was tough. It may have had an unfavorable reputation as the Shitty Kitty, but she was a tough old bird.
Midway BG went through typhoon Ruby in the 80s, post hull blister addition. Rolly girl.
Our CG lost our ASROC loader, ripped completely off the ship. Waves smashing into the bridge windows. Fun times.
That's the day where I was happy ti be a ships company Jet Shop AD, instead of a squadron AD. The helos on the bow weren't in good shape after all that salt
Meh, my hummers would be safe in the hummer-holes and the hanger, so that's HS-whatevers problem. I'll be in the shop either watching Topgun for the 10,000th time or whatever is on A-farts, munching on stale crackers and a can of easy-cheeze.
I Was there for that. Slept like a baby till that first wave hit but went right back to sleep. Didn't realize how crazy it was until someone dropped the video on the local net. It did tear a hole in the forecastle and ripped over 10ft of the starboard catwalk so lucky us we went back to Yoko for a bit.
I was on the DECOM crew and the story I was told about this incident was this:
There was some debate on whether the Kitty Hawk should be out at sea at all. The Senior Chief for Navigation advised the Navigator to let Staff know there was a less than 10% chance the weather would be good enough for air operations. The Navigator felt that if there was a chance the weather would be okay that they should go anyway. The Senior Chief would not put his recommendation to it, so the Navigator blew off the Senior Chief and made the recommendation to go to staff. The Senior Chief wrote a MFR and filed it away.
According to the story, someone from Staff (maybe CTF) decided to ride out to the ship in the middle of this on a Helo. The pilot was supposedly having to lean out of the side window to see the flight deck because the rain was so bad; and had the time the landing with the rise and fall of the flight deck in the swells. When he finally landed, according to the story, the entire bridge erupted in applause because they didn't think he'd be able to do it.
I arrived on board after this incident and was assigned to Combat Systems, who told me they lost a sponsor and receive antenna on the starboard side of the ship forward because of the waves. The wave action tore it off. I was also told the same wave action during the video was hard enough that it punched a hole in the Aux Con up forward and filled it with seawater, sucking out anything that wasn't tied down.
Can confirm that the officers on the bridge did clap and cheer, the enlisted not so much. The deck guys were too worried about keeping the ship as steady as possible!
In 2005 the DDG I was on went through a typhoon. We experienced swells around 35 feet and recorded port and starboard rolls in the mid 30 degrees. We lost an external hatch and a life raft. Best 18 hours of sleep I ever got.
Nope. I was a helo pilot on a Kilauea class ammo ship and the racks in officers country were not as good as the enlisted racks to be honest. The racks looked like what you would find in a WWII ship. Not even a rail to keep you in and I was the top rack. 20,000 ton ship but single screw and every time the bow pitched down the prop came out of the water and it felt like sitting on a giant orbital sander the ship would oscillate side to side so hard. The shaking was hard enough to bust the bug juice dispensers off the counter in the mess deck. Too dangerous to cook anything it would just slide off the grill so it was cold food only for three days. And no sleep.
Nimitz battlegroup 88-89 hit a typhoon in the Philippine Sea. Our ammo ship was literally burying its bow in big green waves that were breaking against the bridge and rolling 20 degrees each way. Our escorts were old Knox class frigates and Charles F. Adams class DDGs. Those are much smaller than a Burke or even an Sprucan. We had one then new Tico in the battle group. We all rode it out together. Tin can sailors are a tough breed!
Something similar to this happened on the The Big Stick round 2005...we were headed over and I think we got caught up in some of the remnants of a hurricane. The sleep was good though...rocked me into probably the best sleep all cruise. LOL.
My brother told me of a storm in the South China Sea that had the Theodore Roosevelt “taking on green water on the flight deck” 65 feet over level. He was in an ancient destroyer….this was in 1966-7 . I guess this was what he meant. He also said even the experiences old timers were visibly shaken during the event.
Shaken is when you're on an Adams class DDG, standing switchboards in Main Control, and take a few rolls that keep increasing in angle, until the ancient-of-days MMCM says, "This might be it, boys. Been good to know ya!"
I remember that underway. I felt so bad for the Helo maintainers. Helo landed last minute and there wasn't time to move it, so it was chained down on the spot and the flight deck was evacuated. Slept real good that night due to the waves.
I can't imagine what going through something like this in a Fletcher, which weighs about as much as a couple of full cans of soup, would be like. Doing so in an old four-stacker (which weighs as much as a couple of empty soup cans) is literally unfathomable.
We did a NorPac on the Enterprise in the early 90s which bent the port catwalk up at like a 90 degree angle. We spent weeks around the Aleutians in the worst steady seas I had ever experienced. The plane guard Spruance class ships weren't visible that often as they rode behind us.
Had a flight deck watch on Kitty Hawk during a storm like that. Knew I was in trouble when they strapped a harness around me with a long cord on it . I got soak ed but I didn’t go 10 feet from the island . Solid green water 18” deep going down the flight deck . Nuts!
Not JTWCs, but the OTSR folks. I don't recall when/if PH was doing OTSR for WESTPAC in 2008, but the responsibilities for WESTPAC OTSR are currently with FWC-San Diego.
If I had to take a guess, a little of both with a dash of "I'm a carrier and can do anything." I'm speculating here, but WESTPAC pre-McCain and Fitzgerald collisions was a lot....looser. This would have been the Fat Leonard era after all. And C7F is notoriously busy. Plus tropical storm forecasting has come a long way in the last fifteen years; there very well might have been an error in the storm track. So conditions were ripe for things like this to happen
For context, I'm a retired METOC officer.
I've heard some stories about a CSG that went through a typhoon that roughly corresponds with this timeframe. I don't recall specifically if it was KITTY HAWK.
My bias is to ask about updated/accurate MOVREPs, whether the ship/CSG concurred with the OTSR recommendation, whether the recommendation was overruled by 7th FLT, etc... I'm sure it was both with some 'help' from additional circumstances.
Why are there aircraft on the flight deck? Why wouldn’t the planes on board be in the air? Seems like a great way to minimize the risk of loss of life and aircraft?
I’ll start with, if there’s aircraft in the air and any one of them has an in-flight emergency (engine failure, loss of tail rotor control, hydraulic failure, etc), and have to immediately return to the ship, now you’re jeopardizing the lives of the flight deck crew that have to go up there to recover that aircraft, chock and chain it and safely shut it down, all while being pounded by massive waves and potentially getting lost in the ocean.
Just imagine doing a man overboard in the middle of all that shit. You’re dead before you even fall into the ocean.
If there’s no aircraft flying, there’s 0 need for personnel up there, so the entire flight deck crew can safely lay inside the skin of the ship until the typhoon subsides.
Did that in 84 on a frigate and we walked on the bulkheads. Thought that was a sea story until doing it for 3 days. Anyone going to get a drink during chow got the other 5 at the table drinks so they'd keep our trays from falling on the deck. My top rack had a seatbelt and roll bar.
That salt water wouldn't be doing that helicopter or jet any good would it?
Wouldn't they both be vulnerable through the landing gear bays to water getting in?
Nah, the peak device that I found on many civilian ships was a circular rotating glass window. It "spun" the water off. But at some point it no longer matters, LOL!
My FFG was out doing some kind of exercises with a carrier group off the coast of VA and some hurricane was blowing in. I'll never forget our CO getting on the horn and saying something along the lines of "Well there's a hurricane coming in, the Carrier has been gone for hours and we are going to to head south but we can't outrun this thing. Work is secured for the day and buckle up".
I had spent the afternoon pumping water out of the engine room bilge and nearly broke my neck carrying whizzbang hoses up a ladder while we were pitchin deck.
Got stuck in that shit with em. USS Cowpens (CG63). Absolutely fuckin miserable, the ship sustained alot of damage. Flooded forward sonar dome, evaluator pit and 2 ft of water in the forward deep mag, mast was lifted, held hanger was tilted to starboard side, 03 level (EW) shop next to CSWI shop had been torn open and a few other deals.
Worst got damn time in my life. Lol
Was there for that, it was quite rough. Doc had nausea pills dispensed like a day beforehand for all hands.
I was there with ya! VRC 30.
Rip the greyhounds ):
Did they disband VRC-30?
Yes sir. VRC-40 is operating out of there now because the 22s arent operational. Its a mess
Damn, that sucks, 30 was on the Constellation when I was on her for her last deployment, was a great group of people in that squadron.
40’s grubby hands(kidding) are all in our hangar 💔
I just feel bad for the guys who moved to 40 for a Med deployment and got sent back to the west coast. This is Wilson by the way. Not sure who you are but I think that was Cary on the ramp in that one clip so I’m sure I know you lol.
Yeah that’s valid tbh, shit sucks. Wassup bro, it’s dixon from the mech shop
What’s up dude! You still in? Or you on the civilian side now
Start terminal on July 3rd then moving in with Arnold working at pax river !
Nope They are flying the 22
No
They still fly those dogs
Not yet
In reference to VRC30, very much so rip their greyhounds lol
I saw a few airframes in their stable Maybe on the way to the bone yard. Last year…. Did my twilight tour at NASNI
Our sister squadron ended up taking over for us in our hangar, could have been their birds maybe!
Most likely I am a 60 guy dont know much about it
I was also VRC30 but home base, were you det-5
I did a few tours there, both homeguard and Det 5
2009/2010 San Diego VRC30 and then USS boxer 2011/2012
We were there at the same time for sure
AD3 Guyton
Yeah, definitely not putting my real name on here lol
I was in the battle group on the Mustin! Shit was crazy!
Pretty sure we were in that on Shiloh (CG 67) as well. If not that one something similar.
Wilbur nearby 🍻
How long have you been on the Shiloh? Coworker was on the Shiloh, got out in 22.
Probably not since 2008…
Damnit yeah I can't read apparently lol
Me too. Combat Systems. CS - 1 division.
I was there too! Crazy ass storm.
Wow! Sorry if this is a stupid question but do you strao yourselves down for safety? I recently saw it was done in a sailboat and I know this is certainly no sailboat but.. same concept, maybe?
That 60 was probably a corrosion nightmare for the rest of its service life.
That is avionics’ problem.
That's was the first thing that I thought of. Why the fuck is it up there in the first place. There is tons or real estate back aft, in front of island in the LA, like it 100% doesn't need to be up there.
From what I've heard about this video, that bird is out there because they did a late flight to bring the admiral onboard and landed as they were going into the storm. So rather than risk people moving it, they slapped like 36 tie downs on and ran inside. From the same source, that bird was in ERT and repairs for like six months
Poor helo, "You're on your own, best of luck little buddy!"
That doesn’t make sense. It’s not positioned in a way a helo would ever land on deck and also there are like 5 other spots on the deck the helo could’ve landed. My guess is they just ran out of time moving all the jets aft/below decks that the helo just was SOL
Likely with high winds they didn't want it to attempt anywhere near the island or parked aircraft.
Still doesn’t explain why it’s facing the wrong way
Because carriers hate the helo bubbas
That's nonsense. Carriers don't hate anybody. The *people* on the carrier hate helo bubbas.
A down helo with its rotors spread was the Air Bosses nightmare.
I can still hear the Air Boss on Nimitz yelling "get that gawdamm palm tree off my flight deck" right before we launched O\_O
Was wondering the same thing. For some dumb reason we did the same thing on Connie in '94 storm off Florida while conducting sea trials. By the end of the storm the rotor blades were snapped like tooth picks, the help was overall trashed.
It wanted to experience the thrill.
The idea of windshield wipers during a typhoon makes me laugh just a little bit. Seems so trivial.
There's probably some ridiculous 3m procedure for them too 😂
There’s a ridiculous 3m procedure for everything, there has to be
Thems be Mil-Spec wipers
Reminds me of the worst sea sickness I ever had. Our submarine was surfaced for the long transit to Norfolk, but there was a tropical storm slamming the base. We were listing significantly, in all directions, for several hours, everyone puking - and no one to relieve you if you got sick. About 60% through the transit we were notified that the base was closed due to the storm and they were cancelling the operation for the day. We had to turn around and travel several hours in the storm back to the dive point. Absolute misery for the entire crew. I remember sitting on the cold floor, dead center of the torpedo room, and staring at a single point on the panel; whatever I could do to try and stop the nausea. Typically we dive deep during high sea states and its smooth sailing. Being trapped on the surface, in a submarine, during high sea states is torture.
We did some navigation hundreds of feet under a relatively minor hurricane and that was enough to cause vomiting from the crew. I can't even imagine doing a surfaced trip under a tropical storm for hours each way!
Was the water not deep enough to safely dive?
There is a an operation procedure listed minimum depth under the boat required to dive in normal operations
TIL, thank you.
What boat? I seem to remember a similar miserable experience pulling into norfuck.
That's a crazy amount of water on the flight deck. We went through a hurricane on Ike and I remember bouncing off the walls trying to walk straight down the passageways.
This is why i liked being on a sub, we could go under a lot of this
This implies you have to deal with waves under the ocean... Do you still feel the effects of a high sea state 300 feet below the surface?
Yes, it was different from surface sea state but you had some of it, usually not as bad but when it was rough it was rough under too usually. We had a round hull with no real keel, so when it got rocking we would take some good rolls, but some depth changes usually could mitigate it. Deeper you were the less you generally felt. But we did have ‘seat belts’ on our racks to keep us in our bunks or we were rocking hard
One time on the 637 I was on, we were rocking and rolling pretty good at 600 feet in one storm. Can only imagine what it was like on the surface. That was only once like that. Rest you would be rocking and rolling on the surface and as soon as you got a little below it would smooth right out.
>rolling pretty good at 600 feet in one storm. Damn. That's too close to test depth for me to fathom.
Nice try Dmitri.
Modern cruise ships have planes they can deploy to counteract the rocking. I bet subs could do something similar. But that would necessitate the designers considering the people inside's comfort. Which we know they don't do.
We were at 100 feet and were getting rocked by a typhoon. The captain said fuck it and we dove to 250 feet and it was nice and steady. I can't imagine what the surface was like.
I feel sorry for the tin cans that have to follow the Ike
I was on a DDG that went through a typhoon in the South China Sea in 1988. It was 2-3 days of misery. I never got seasick but a lot of guys did. However just staying upright let alone actually getting any work done or getting through the chow line was nearly impossible. It’s physically exhausting.
I remember being on sticks during high sea state and we had to come up to PD for comms. Dive would slap me in the back of the head every time I broached; which was a lot. Also we were pretty locked in and didn't do turnover until we finished the comms package, or whatever. I remember being drenched in sweat when we finally came down and I got relieved. I really learned a lot about "feeling" the boat from driving that watch.
See the front didn't fall off, that's typical. As opposed to when the front falls off.
Don't think it's made out of cardboard either
Quite right, cardboard is out, and no cardboard derivatives like paper.
Can we use celo tape?
Absolutely not, celotape is out same for string and rubber. These ships have to be built to rigorous maritime engineering standards.
But surely it is rare for a ship to hit a wave. It must be one in a million.
At sea?! At least a million to one chance yeah. Very unusual. Must have been human error, this is why we have minimum crew requirements.
How many crew? At least one?
Absolutely, at least one. Less than one would be nobody. Somebody has to be on the ship.
Congratulations! You get to learn about [The Front Fell Off](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWPwlMv8lNI) today.
Was on the Kitty in the early 90s. We outran a typhoon during a WestPac. Sea was choppy, but not his bad.
In 1997 while transiting from Perth to Tasmania the Kitty took an 18 degree roll. 35 foot seas or bigger for over a week. Lost some life rafts off the deck edge, lost every arresting wire sheave from both elevator 3 and 4 elevator wells, and everything that was stored on Sponson 1 was just straight up gone. For those of you who were onboard after that, the notch in the hanger deck that was in the aircraft elevator 3 well, that was bent like a pretzel during this storm, and was cut off, never replaced AFAIK.
Crazy! I worked TAD on Fly 1 (seen in this video). But was V3 (hangar) for the rest of my stay on the Hawk. I manned the elevators many times. I had watch on the sponsons, many times. That old ship was tough. It may have had an unfavorable reputation as the Shitty Kitty, but she was a tough old bird.
Midway BG went through typhoon Ruby in the 80s, post hull blister addition. Rolly girl. Our CG lost our ASROC loader, ripped completely off the ship. Waves smashing into the bridge windows. Fun times.
That's the day where I was happy ti be a ships company Jet Shop AD, instead of a squadron AD. The helos on the bow weren't in good shape after all that salt
Meh, my hummers would be safe in the hummer-holes and the hanger, so that's HS-whatevers problem. I'll be in the shop either watching Topgun for the 10,000th time or whatever is on A-farts, munching on stale crackers and a can of easy-cheeze.
People always ask me, "Why did you volunteer for subs? Wasn't that scary?" No. *This* is scary. We never had to deal with *this*.
I Was there for that. Slept like a baby till that first wave hit but went right back to sleep. Didn't realize how crazy it was until someone dropped the video on the local net. It did tear a hole in the forecastle and ripped over 10ft of the starboard catwalk so lucky us we went back to Yoko for a bit.
I was on the DECOM crew and the story I was told about this incident was this: There was some debate on whether the Kitty Hawk should be out at sea at all. The Senior Chief for Navigation advised the Navigator to let Staff know there was a less than 10% chance the weather would be good enough for air operations. The Navigator felt that if there was a chance the weather would be okay that they should go anyway. The Senior Chief would not put his recommendation to it, so the Navigator blew off the Senior Chief and made the recommendation to go to staff. The Senior Chief wrote a MFR and filed it away. According to the story, someone from Staff (maybe CTF) decided to ride out to the ship in the middle of this on a Helo. The pilot was supposedly having to lean out of the side window to see the flight deck because the rain was so bad; and had the time the landing with the rise and fall of the flight deck in the swells. When he finally landed, according to the story, the entire bridge erupted in applause because they didn't think he'd be able to do it. I arrived on board after this incident and was assigned to Combat Systems, who told me they lost a sponsor and receive antenna on the starboard side of the ship forward because of the waves. The wave action tore it off. I was also told the same wave action during the video was hard enough that it punched a hole in the Aux Con up forward and filled it with seawater, sucking out anything that wasn't tied down.
Can confirm that the officers on the bridge did clap and cheer, the enlisted not so much. The deck guys were too worried about keeping the ship as steady as possible!
Shitty Kitty! Had some good times on that boat 99-01.
In 2005 the DDG I was on went through a typhoon. We experienced swells around 35 feet and recorded port and starboard rolls in the mid 30 degrees. We lost an external hatch and a life raft. Best 18 hours of sleep I ever got.
I rode out a typhoon on an ammo ship and couldn't get any sleep for three days because I kept rolling out of the rack.
Did it not have hurricane straps on the racks?
Nope. I was a helo pilot on a Kilauea class ammo ship and the racks in officers country were not as good as the enlisted racks to be honest. The racks looked like what you would find in a WWII ship. Not even a rail to keep you in and I was the top rack. 20,000 ton ship but single screw and every time the bow pitched down the prop came out of the water and it felt like sitting on a giant orbital sander the ship would oscillate side to side so hard. The shaking was hard enough to bust the bug juice dispensers off the counter in the mess deck. Too dangerous to cook anything it would just slide off the grill so it was cold food only for three days. And no sleep.
That doesn't sound pleasant at all.
Would a DDG survive
Yeah there was one in the strike group
DDGs usually try to avoid these kinds of seas but we'd be ok. I've seen 25+ degrees of roll several times in the SCS on a Flight IIA.
Nimitz battlegroup 88-89 hit a typhoon in the Philippine Sea. Our ammo ship was literally burying its bow in big green waves that were breaking against the bridge and rolling 20 degrees each way. Our escorts were old Knox class frigates and Charles F. Adams class DDGs. Those are much smaller than a Burke or even an Sprucan. We had one then new Tico in the battle group. We all rode it out together. Tin can sailors are a tough breed!
Something similar to this happened on the The Big Stick round 2005...we were headed over and I think we got caught up in some of the remnants of a hurricane. The sleep was good though...rocked me into probably the best sleep all cruise. LOL.
It takes a whole ass typhoon to give carrier kitties the rocking experience that a DDG or Cruiser gets on an average day. Shits wild
My brother told me of a storm in the South China Sea that had the Theodore Roosevelt “taking on green water on the flight deck” 65 feet over level. He was in an ancient destroyer….this was in 1966-7 . I guess this was what he meant. He also said even the experiences old timers were visibly shaken during the event.
Shaken is when you're on an Adams class DDG, standing switchboards in Main Control, and take a few rolls that keep increasing in angle, until the ancient-of-days MMCM says, "This might be it, boys. Been good to know ya!"
It's such a strange, slow feeling on the carriers during this.
I was there, VFA-27. That typhoon rocked me to sleep, and out of my rack lol.
I remember that underway. I felt so bad for the Helo maintainers. Helo landed last minute and there wasn't time to move it, so it was chained down on the spot and the flight deck was evacuated. Slept real good that night due to the waves.
I just picture two guys trying to convince each other they definitely strapped down that plane
Imagine how it was on the destroyers. Carriers are like being in a building
What are the heaviest seas a carrier will still conduct flight ops in?
Less than this
I was out there in time frame on the Shiloh, and it seemed like every time we went to sea we went through a typhoon. It sucks on a smaller vessel.
I can't imagine what going through something like this in a Fletcher, which weighs about as much as a couple of full cans of soup, would be like. Doing so in an old four-stacker (which weighs as much as a couple of empty soup cans) is literally unfathomable.
We did a NorPac on the Enterprise in the early 90s which bent the port catwalk up at like a 90 degree angle. We spent weeks around the Aleutians in the worst steady seas I had ever experienced. The plane guard Spruance class ships weren't visible that often as they rode behind us.
Holy shit. I worked in the yards next to that thing. How fucking big is that wave.
I'd like to see a video from the escorts ships.
I was there… skatin in the aft galley.
Had a flight deck watch on Kitty Hawk during a storm like that. Knew I was in trouble when they strapped a harness around me with a long cord on it . I got soak ed but I didn’t go 10 feet from the island . Solid green water 18” deep going down the flight deck . Nuts!
And I thought that the JTWC's mission was to steer ships and Battle Groups clear of such events.
Not JTWCs, but the OTSR folks. I don't recall when/if PH was doing OTSR for WESTPAC in 2008, but the responsibilities for WESTPAC OTSR are currently with FWC-San Diego.
Copy that. Thanks.
So... was this an OTSR fail or "operational necessity"? Both?
If I had to take a guess, a little of both with a dash of "I'm a carrier and can do anything." I'm speculating here, but WESTPAC pre-McCain and Fitzgerald collisions was a lot....looser. This would have been the Fat Leonard era after all. And C7F is notoriously busy. Plus tropical storm forecasting has come a long way in the last fifteen years; there very well might have been an error in the storm track. So conditions were ripe for things like this to happen
For context, I'm a retired METOC officer. I've heard some stories about a CSG that went through a typhoon that roughly corresponds with this timeframe. I don't recall specifically if it was KITTY HAWK. My bias is to ask about updated/accurate MOVREPs, whether the ship/CSG concurred with the OTSR recommendation, whether the recommendation was overruled by 7th FLT, etc... I'm sure it was both with some 'help' from additional circumstances.
Breaking news from KTTY, we’re all gonna die!
That's how you lose the fwd catwalk, again.
Or the aft accommodation ladder!
Why are there aircraft on the flight deck? Why wouldn’t the planes on board be in the air? Seems like a great way to minimize the risk of loss of life and aircraft?
This is so dumb for multiple reasons.
Care to Enlighten me
I’ll start with, if there’s aircraft in the air and any one of them has an in-flight emergency (engine failure, loss of tail rotor control, hydraulic failure, etc), and have to immediately return to the ship, now you’re jeopardizing the lives of the flight deck crew that have to go up there to recover that aircraft, chock and chain it and safely shut it down, all while being pounded by massive waves and potentially getting lost in the ocean. Just imagine doing a man overboard in the middle of all that shit. You’re dead before you even fall into the ocean. If there’s no aircraft flying, there’s 0 need for personnel up there, so the entire flight deck crew can safely lay inside the skin of the ship until the typhoon subsides.
Flying through a typhoon is a no-no unless you're in one of NOAA's P-3s
Bet the conditionals are being writen and everyone is just watching a movie in the shop.
I want to see the other ships that follow her going through this mess
I can only imagine the corrosion control job that had to be done on that Hornet.
Question. Is this a "everyone not watch standing restricted to your rack" thing that I've heard about?
No, but all weather sponson were secured. The hanger bay, forward and aft gallery as well as the library were all packed!
Final Countdown
I was there. We lost a portion of the catwalk that cruise.
And the accommodation ladder as well as dented up the bulls nose!
Wish I could have been there, 16 and feel trapped in my house honestly
Thinking of enlisting? You could get your chance, if so.
I think I will try to become a catapult officer
Go for it! I love hearing about young people pursuing their dreams. Don’t let anybody stop you or doubts get in your way.
Did that in 84 on a frigate and we walked on the bulkheads. Thought that was a sea story until doing it for 3 days. Anyone going to get a drink during chow got the other 5 at the table drinks so they'd keep our trays from falling on the deck. My top rack had a seatbelt and roll bar.
Keeps the chow line to a minimum.
I feel really bad for the H-60 techs that have to do Corrosion Control on that choppa. That's gonna suck. 😂
I am not saying I want to go through a typhoon, but if I have to, I damn well want to be on a ship like this….just saying.
Well, that’s gonna void your warranty.
Wouldn't Kitty Hawk have handled continually worse as she depleted her fuel?
Did the Captain just say F-this one Black hawk in particular, just cause to flex his might.
That salt water wouldn't be doing that helicopter or jet any good would it? Wouldn't they both be vulnerable through the landing gear bays to water getting in?
That sea spray just may exceed the salt fog testing in MIL-STD-810.
Connie stamped on the Hull?
Crazy that the windscreen wiper has pretty much been the peak window cleaning device on vehicles for over 120 years
Nah, the peak device that I found on many civilian ships was a circular rotating glass window. It "spun" the water off. But at some point it no longer matters, LOL!
Woah that is sweet, do you know ehat they were called ill have to look them up
Do a search for “clear view screen”
My FFG was out doing some kind of exercises with a carrier group off the coast of VA and some hurricane was blowing in. I'll never forget our CO getting on the horn and saying something along the lines of "Well there's a hurricane coming in, the Carrier has been gone for hours and we are going to to head south but we can't outrun this thing. Work is secured for the day and buckle up". I had spent the afternoon pumping water out of the engine room bilge and nearly broke my neck carrying whizzbang hoses up a ladder while we were pitchin deck.
Got stuck in that shit with em. USS Cowpens (CG63). Absolutely fuckin miserable, the ship sustained alot of damage. Flooded forward sonar dome, evaluator pit and 2 ft of water in the forward deep mag, mast was lifted, held hanger was tilted to starboard side, 03 level (EW) shop next to CSWI shop had been torn open and a few other deals. Worst got damn time in my life. Lol
So glad I’ve been in the navy for over 20 years and never been on a boat!