The US Navy in the 21st Century
John Paul Jones 1776 What would the Father of the US Navy say of the US Navy of the 21st Century? |
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LCDR Mike "King" Arthur, stands a S-3B Viking on its left wing tip as it passes over the USS Abraham Lincoln. (By Jose Ramos) Read more about the most famous ship in the history of the US Navy, The USS Yorktown |
"Fox Three" says the crew of the F-14B Tomcat as an AIM-54 Phoenix missile is fired.
How the aviation boatswain mates light their cigars in the "new' US Navy.
Just kidding.
by Ryan Allen © 1998 from "Digital Wizardry - Creative Photoshop Techniques" The sailor is lighting up his cigar from the flames of the jet exhaust. In case you haven't noticed, the tip of his flight deck helmet is lighting up too.
Click here for the free previews of the Academy Award Winning Movie about
the USS Yorktown, "The Fighting Lady.
Breaking the Sound Barrier; award winning picture
Through the viewfinder of his camera, Ensign John Gay could see the fighter plane drop from the sky heading toward the port side of the aircraft carrier Constellation. At 1,000 feet, the pilot drops the F/A-18C Hornet to increase his speed to 750 mph, vapor flickering off the curved surfaces of the plane. In the precise moment a cloud in the shape of a farm-fresh egg forms around the Hornet 200 yards from the carrier, its engines rippling the Pacific Ocean just 75 feet below, Gay hears an explosion and snaps his camera shutter once. "I clicked the same time I heard the boom, and I knew I had it", Gay said. What he had was a technically meticulous depiction of the sound barrier being broken July 7, 1999, somewhere on the Pacific between Hawaii and Japan. Sports Illustrated, Brills Content and Life ran the photo. The photo recently took first prize in the science and technology division in the World Press Photo 2000 contest, which drew more than 42,000 entries worldwide. Nice going for a US Navy Ensign!
"All of a sudden, in the last few days, I've been getting calls from everywhere about it again. It's kind of neat," he said, in a telephone interview from his station in Virginia Beach, Va. A naval veteran of 12 years, Gay, 38, manages a crew of eight assigned to take intelligence photographs from the high-tech belly of an F-14 Tomcat, the fastest fighter in the U.S. Navy. In July, Gay had been part of a Joint Task Force Exercise as the Constellation made its way to Japan. Gay selected his Nikon 90 S, one of the five 35 mm cameras he owns. He set his 80-300 mm zoom lens on 300 mm, set his shutter speed at 1/1000 of a second with an aperture setting of F5.6. "I put it on full manual, focus and exposure," Gay said. "I tell young photographers who are into automatic everything, you aren't going to get that shot on auto. The plane is too fast. The camera can't keep up." At sea level a plane must exceed 741 mph to break the sound barrier, or the speed at which sound travels. The change in pressure as the plane outruns all of the pressure and sound waves in front of it is heard on the ground as an explosion or sonic boom. The pressure change condenses the water in the air as the jet passes these waves. Altitude, wind speed, humidity, the shape and trajectory of the plane - all of these affect the breaking of this barrier. The slightest drag or atmospheric pull on the plane shatters the vapor oval like fireworks as the plane passes through, he said everything on July 7 was perfect. "You see this vapor flicker around the plane that gets bigger and bigger. You get this loud boom, and it's instantaneous. The vapor cloud is there, and then it's not there. It's the coolest thing you have ever seen."
A Navy S3-B Viking prepares to depart the Kitty Hawk and unfolds its wings
in this November 5 2001 US Navy image. (US Navy Photograph)
Hi gang:
Here's an interesting e-mail letter from the CO of the aircraft Theodore
Roosevelt (CVN-71), forwarded to me by a retired, Navy friend. I
feel that this is something we should all read. . It tells us, first
hand, of the leadership, spirit and morale of our Navy fighting in near
east. Jim
From: Captain Richard J. O'Hanlon, USN, Commanding Officer, USS Theodore
Roosevelt (CVN-71)
Sent: Sunday, November 18, 2001 4:58 PM
Hello all,
I know it has been a while since I updated you but it has been busy out
here as the ship continues to pound away at the remnants of the Taliban
and the Afghani section of the Al Qaida network. The headlines pretty
much speak for themselves. The relentless pressure provided by airpower
destroyed their air defenses, command and control networks, supply lines
and eroded their will to resist. There are still a number of hard liners
that are holding out but the majority of these are non-Afghanis. We will
continue to support the Northern Alliance ground forces and attack Al
Qaida strongholds. We are making some great progress in the latter.
More coalition partners are arriving daily. The amount of naval power
headed this way is staggering. Great Britain, Canada, Australia, France,
Italy, and Japan have ships here or they are enroute. Many more
countries are pledging ground or air forces. This is truly an
international fight. It is sad in way that it took the 9/11 tragedy to
bring the world together like this.
The men and women of my crew continue to amaze me. We have been at sea
for 60 days. Of those 60 days, only two have been days off (days without
conducting flight operations). Despite all the above, the crew gathers
around me whenever I walk around and want to know how we are doing and
if we are making a difference. They cheer with every bomb on target and
our success spurs them on to greater accomplishments.
I do a weekly talk show on the ship's TV system. It is a chance for me
to chat with the crew as they phone in to ask questions. Move over Larry
King. As part of the show I roll a weekly "greatest hits" video. The
best of the bombing from the last week. Very popular. Even the studio
crew looks away from their cameras to study each hit. I emphasize that
every mission we execute is a total team effort from the propulsion
plant operators to the bomb assemblers to the administrative support
personnel to the flight deck aircraft maintainers.
We have had some fun though. Two weeks ago we paused for a "steel beach"
picnic. We set up barbecues on the flight deck and cooked up steak,
chicken, hamburgers and hot dogs.
The morale and welfare division set up volleyball and basketball matches. We have these oversize tricycles that people race on the flight deck. There were golfers, fishers, bands and, for the first time on an aircraft carrier in quite a while, a swim call. The Air Department lowered one of the aircraft elevators to the hangar deck level and crewmembers were given the opportunity to jump the 26 feet from the elevator to the water. Two thousand people literally jumped ship. Not all at once, of course. Lifeboats in the water, safety swimmers, etc. We even had sharpshooters looking out for sharks (none were seen).
caption: U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Steve Clayton of Tampa,
Florida keeps an eye out for sharks as sailors dive
from an aircraft elevator aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt
December 1, 2001 in the Arabian Sea.
There is another no fly tomorrow. We are using this as a maintenance day
so there are no big events with one exception. Navy regulations say that
if you are at sea for 45 consecutive days the captain can authorize a
special ration of two cans of beer per crewmember. I guess I have to
remind you that US Navy ships are dry i.e. no alcohol allowed except as
noted above. So tonight as we recover the last aircraft we are going to
serve pizza and BEER to the crew. It may seem like no big deal to most
of you but this is huge out here.
Photo caption: A U.S. Navy aircraft mechanic framed by the wing of an F/A-18C Hornet fighter plane and a sidewinder missile, watches the action on the deck of the USS Theodore Roosevelt November 24, 2001. The fighter was launched on a strike mission against the Taliban in Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
In the biggest surprise of the cruise to date, several members of the NY
Yankees phoned me after Game 7 as they were flying home. I spoke to
Willie Randolph and Paul O'Neill. I was told that Derek Jeter, Bernie
Williams and Joe Torre were standing by to talk but the connection was
severed as Jeter was handed the phone. They sent along their best wishes
and gratitude to the crew who were thrilled to hear that the Yankees
took time out to think of us.
We continue to fly 14 hours a day 7 days a week but the ship's
activities don't end at the end of flight operations. We are constantly
gathering intelligence, fixing aircraft and ship's equipment, preparing
more of our 20,000 meals a day, navigating the ship to our next launch
point. The list goes on. TR is literally the city that never sleeps. We
train constantly to keep the crew ready to respond to any contingency
and go to battle stations for drill often shoot our guns and train our
missiles. We even impose simulated damage to provide training in
firefighting and damage control.
As many of you know the human spirit is an formidable force. It is the
only fighting reserve the evildoers in Afghanistan have left. All of us
on TR and throughout this coalition have spirit and resolve that exceeds
any quantity the enemy ashore has. But, unlike our adversary, we have
some really cool weaponry left with which to carry out our orders. The
reason I started on this spirit angle was to segue into a discussion on
keeping morale high on the ship; my primary job.
The support we have received from our families back in Norfolk has been
spectacular. We on TR are blessed to have such strong, devoted spouses.
The ship has also received messages and pledges of support from many
parts of the country. I thank you all deeply. A small gift from home
whether it be in the form of a video, a CD, a snack pack, a card, a
letter, an email or a photograph means more than you know. It makes the
difference between a Sailor who can give a little more for the nth
consecutive day and a Sailor who can not. We could not do our job
without the unflagging support of our family, friends and the American
people.
To all, you have my gratitude. I have rambled on enough. Hope you have a
Happy Thanksgiving. We are pulling all the stops out here for a
spectacular turkey dinner with all the trimmings. Please stay in touch
as our deployment progresses.
Best wishes,
Rich
CAPT Rich O'Hanlon. Commanding Officer, USS Theodore Roosevelt
Navy pilot in his F-14 gets into position for take-off and returns greeting from his plane captain
on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise in the Arabian Sea, Sunday, Oct.14, 2001.
As the fighter planes began to take off, the entire ship shifted into a state of hyper-energy. Focus and dedication defined every task. Whether they were pilots, mechanics, ordnance makers or cleaning crews, the entire crew felt a sense of purpose as the Vinson helped launched America's first strikes against the Taliban.
Some aboard are fond of saying that as America strikes back against terrorism, the Vinson is at the tip of the sword.
The genius of these aircraft carriers becomes clear at times like this: no runways to pave, no delicate access to foreign territory to negotiate. And eight squadrons and 72 aircraft attached to their own portable airfield.
A "Shooter" launches an F/A-18 "Hornet" from the flight deck aboard USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) on October 11, 2001.
A US Navy F-18 Hornet uses its afterburners for extra thrust as it is shot off a catapult from the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson somewhere in the Arabian Sea November 2, 2001 as it begins its strike mission against Taliban forces in Afghanistan.
Surrounded by stream from the catapult, the "Shooter" aboard the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier after a plane takes off from the carrier
MORE 21st Century US Navy pictures...