USS Kittyhawk in heavy seas.

Impressive considering the deck is 102 feet off the water.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/1003/914Dan/?action=view&current=CV63inHeavySeas1.mp4

Dang. I have never understood how really big ships stand up to those kinds of stresses. I mean, I know they're designed for it, and I also know that sometimes they don't, but still.

In all sincerity, that's just normal storm sailing in a carrier. It gets far worse. We've taken green water over the flight deck before on the Kennedy. You have to dive down about 50 feet deeper for that.

Weather like that, we would sit on the fantail and watch the tin cans disapear under the waves behind us. Tin cans being Destroyers and the like. Sometimes they would stay under for 2-3 waves, before popping back up.

Btw, short showers for the next few days, as the airdales washed the planes with fresh water in order to get the salt out of them.

I saw a picture recently of a Submarine getting swallowed up by a wave. It may have been photoshopped, but it still got me thinking.

The ocean can be a brutal place.

I was on a sub fo four years, no waves below 20 feet.

I saw the USS Bordelon (small destroyer escort) go into a wave, totally submerge like a surfer cutting under a wave; then the wave went down the smokestack and put the fire out.

Dead in the water in high seas sucks.

Their scuppers weren't working, and the Chief Engineer would have gotten burned for it. Even we had scuppers on the stacks of the carrier, and made sure they were in working order. Their purpose is to keep the waves out of the boilers or engines. They work well.

Many years ago there was a fascinating issue of one of the maritime engineering journals, having to do with small ships and severe storms. Very interesting stories of surviving them. One in particular I remember.

The writer was a junior officer, and had the bridge during a severe storm that they weren't surviving. The ship was starting to go down.

The skipper was a proverbial old salt, and came out onto the bridge with him. The skipper didn't relieve him, just advised him to turn it broadside to the next wave. Which is a guaranteed way to roll, and usually sink. The skipper was calm and confident, and since they were going to sink and die anyhow, the junior officer ordered the ship turned broadside.

He lost count at around a dozen of the number of times the ship rolled over. But, the ship ultimately rolled its way out the storm and survived.

Why are there aircraft still on deck? I imagine that's common, but wouldn't you want that stuff to be down below?

Difficult to imagine the engineering that goes into a machine like that.

Not enough room for all of the jets below really. Maybe if someone is REALLY good at Tetris :)

I used to be stationed on the Kitty's twin sister, "The Constellation (CV64)" before she was decommissioned. (in the industry they're referred to as the "E36 M3ty Kitty" and the "Constipation")

There was a rumor on the boat that the Constellation was actually the Kitty Hawk and vise versa. Something about the original Kitty catching fire in the shipyard during construction, and since it was a "Kitty Hawk Class" ship, they re badged the "Conny" to make sure the one named "Kitty Hawk" would be delivered first. Never bothered to do any research on the subject though...

Hungary Bill wrote: Not enough room for all of the jets below really. Maybe if someone is REALLY good at Tetris :)

Ya, but it looks like a CHOPPER is at the end that is getting pummeled by waves

SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote: Why are there aircraft still on deck? I imagine that's common, but wouldn't you want that stuff to be down below?

The reasons can be many and varied. Lack of space below can be a reason. But many times we would be caught short when squalls would come up out of no where. There were times when we were trying to catch planes in seas almost that heavy. It happens.

As a general rule, you don't want a plane on deck, but they really are pretty darn water proof, and made to handle a salt environment.

HiTempguy wrote:

Hungary Bill wrote: Not enough room for all of the jets below really. Maybe if someone is REALLY good at Tetris :)

Ya, but it looks like a CHOPPER is at the end that is getting pummeled by waves

Yeah, I bet the corrosion shop had a BLAST with that one during their next inspection

I assume those planes (and that poor helicopter) are all kinds of chained to the deck?

Oh, and count me out for being on that ship. I'm terrified of drowning to begin with. I'd be a nervous wreck in a storm.

I was on the USS Guadalcanal LPH7 in the North Atlantic in late November and we had waves coming over the flight deck. Lots of injuries from the pitching and rolling. I can remember going down a passageway, walking halfway up the bulkhead as the ship rolled! Fun times if you didn't get seasick.

foxtrapper wrote: There were times when we were trying to catch planes in seas almost that heavy. It happens.

I imagine trying to land on a deck that's oscillating +/- 100' made life interesting for the pilots.

Oh No.

Bet they weren't doing much flying

foxtrapper wrote: Their scuppers weren't working ....

The boat I was on was Nuke, but it had a diesel back up. Air intake for the diesel was via snorkel, but when a wave hit it the snorkel slammed shut; but the big stinky needed air, so it took it from the atmosphere.

North Atlantic in the winter doing sea trials (new boat) running 24 hours under diesel in something shaped like a beer can with no ballast; the snorkel slams shut and your ears get popped big time. That and walking on the walls and trying to cook just makes it more wonderful.

Something broke at 22 hours, so we had to start over .....

I sailed on a ship that was only 87 feet long!

1988 typhoon Ruby on the way back from west pack, the USS New Orleans (LPH -11) would bury it's bow in every wave.

My Father went around the Horn in an LST in the Mid Sixties.. he remembers seeing the carriers in the group taking greenwater over the deck.. the guys in the carriers thought they lost the LSTs completely and when they popped back up, joked that they deserved submarine pay

You think that makes your ears ring, try a cat slamming into the water brake. First time I encountered that it dropped me to my knees screaming in pain (I was forward on the 02-03 level).

The arresting gear hydraulics weren't much better. Less concussion, more screech. Conveniently placed so you stood beside them in the meal line on the aft (main) mess deck.

That's why airdales had an average 70% hearing loss from just one hitch. The rest of us would enjoy a 40% hearing loss. Think those were the numbers.

And I do not envy you doing surface runs in a beer bottle. We were traumatized the one time we went 11 degrees list.

foxtrapper wrote: You think that makes your ears ring, try a cat slamming into the water brake. First time I encountered that it dropped me to my knees screaming in pain (I was forward on the 02-03 level). The arresting gear hydraulics weren't much better. Less concussion, more screech. Conveniently placed so you stood beside them in the meal line on the aft (main) mess deck. That's why airdales had an average 70% hearing loss from just one hitch. The rest of us would enjoy a 40% hearing loss. Think those were the numbers. And I do not envy you doing surface runs in a beer bottle. We were traumatized the one time we went 11 degrees list.

Yup, BTDT Cruised the ForrestFire, Sara, X2 on the Kitty and workups on the Chucky-V. Sleeping near the cats or ARG engines was a PITA and I have permenant hearing loss and tinitus now as a result. Those flight decks are only 65 feet....not 102. Still, to take water over the bow is not uncommon. Taking GREEN water over the bow, now that'll get your attention! The seas are often like that off the southern coast of Australia. Did that on the Kitty once. Even the old guys get a bit green when it's like that. That helo is probably the alert SAR bird. Not sure why it would be on the bow like that....they're usually parked on the waist. Yeah, I'll bet the crud crew had a field day with that one

chuckles wrote: Difficult to imagine the engineering that goes into a machine like that.

The windshield wiper looks like the same engineering my car has, and the blades probably need replacement from time to time just like the ones on my car.

How many windshield wiper blades does that thing take?

what is green water?