WHAT ITS LIKE TO FLY CLOSE AIR SUPPORT AGAINST IS MILITANTS.JANUARY 29, 2015LEAVE A COMMENTEven though the Pentagon has been adamant with claims that none of the 4000 American troops in Iraq are involved in combat, US jets have been flying several attack sorties against Islamic State (ISIS) militants. But what exactly consists of a mission in getting the Bombs on the enemies?This is what a day in the life of an aircraft carrier-based crew is like:The mission begins withCENTCOMs Joint Task Force sending the tasking order to the aircraft carriers intelligence centre. From there, the air wing operations cell assign sorties to the appropriate squadron, and those squadrons assign aircrews to fly the sorties. At that point aircrews get to work with intel officers and start planning every detail of the sortie.Pre flight planning of the mission.After the long hours of mission planning are done, crewsattempta few hours of sleep. (The regulations call for 8 hours of sleep before a hop, but that seldom happens.) After quick showers and putting on the zoom bags, which are flight suits, aviators hit the chow line before the mission brief. All the crews involved with the mission gather for the mass gaggle brief, usually two and a half hours before launch time. After that, elements break off for detailed mission discussions.Meanwhile, on the flight deck, the techies fix gripes and make sure jets areFMC FULLY MISSION CAPABLE. At the same time the ordnance crew strap bombs onto the jets according to the load plan published by the Strike Operations department.Forty-five minutes before launch, crews head to theparaloftand start preparing and gearing up into G-suits Survival vests HelmetsThey also strap on a 9mm pistol as a safety measure in case they go down in enemy territory. Once each group of crew are satisfied that the jet is ready to go and FMC, crews climb in and wait for the Air Boss in the tower to give them the signal to start em up and get the place noisy!The weight board.While lining up with the catapult for launch, pilots verify that the weight board is accurate. A Green shirt holds up a weight board showing a Super Hornet pilot that the catapult will be set for a 43,000 pound launch.With the throttles shifted to full power position and the controls cycled as a check to make sure theyre moving properly (This is the last check for the controls), the pilot salutes the cat officer and the cat officer touches the deck, signalling the operator in the catwalk to fire the catapult.Zero to 160 MPH in 2.2 seconds. Airborne! (Aircraft launching on Cats 1 and 2 turn right; those on Cats 3 and 4 turn left.)Way high, somewhere above the carrier, Super Hornets top off their gas from another Super Hornet with a tanker configuration. Meaning it could shift its fuel to the aircraft heading on a mission. Wingmen join flight leads them and the strike elements ingress feet dry over hostile territory. The flight hits the tanker once again, but this time an Air Force KC-135. At that point the mission lead checks in with Big Eye the AWACS to get an update on the current threat status and any other late-breaking info that might be relevant, the information is obviously passed on to the commanding centre.Electronic warfare versions of the Super Hornet are part of the strike package in the event of any unexpected pop-up surface-to-air missile threats. The AWACS then hands off the flight to the forward air controller in company with Iraqi Forces The FAC gives the aircrew a nine-line brief that lays out the target details and any threats surrounding it, and last but not least, the proximity of friendlies.If all goes to plan, the jets head back feet wet, Mission Complete! And for the last time stops at the mid-air gas stationfor some fuel along the way back.Once the planes are shut down the aircrew head straight down to CVIC with their FLIR tapes for battle damage assessment.Mission successfully completed!Future of ISIS fighting.Victory is when we complete the mission of degrading, destroying and defeating ISIL, The Pentagon chief said, using another name for the group.The Chief was joined by Army General Martin Dempsey the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who told the senators that the US was ready to strike the IS militants in Syria. This will not look like shock and awe because that is not how IS is organised, he said, but it will be persistent and sustainable.British Foreign Secretary Mr Hammond was speaking after a summit in Paris where world leaders agreed to provide military aid to fight the extremist network. The meeting of 30 countries agreed to support the Iraqi government by any means necessary including military assistance. British Prime Minister David Cameron had said Britain would seek United Nations support for any such plans.He said the backing would be an important role in the blueprint for dealing with the extremists, who have seized swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria.US Secretary of State John Kerry has been urging allies especially Middle East and Gulf states to show a united front and work as a team, and one American official said several Arab countries had offered to join the airstrikes.Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei revealed he had received a request from the US to join the fight against IS, but said he had rejected it because of Washingtons unclean intentions.Sources http://www.theweek.co.uk/world-news/islamic-state/59846/islamic-state-raf-jets-carry-out-first-air-strikes-in-iraq http://news.sky.com/story/1336513/us-takes-fight-to-islamic-state-militantsAdditional reading Fly a realMiG-29 to the Edge of Space Thefastest plane in the World MiG-29 in the Luftwaffeits a rocket!Author Jake MeilakAIRCRAFT CARRIERSCLOSE AIR COMBATF/A-18 E SUPER HORNETSFIGHTER JETISISAIRCRAFT CARRIERS,NAVALIS THE RUSSIAN NAVY BIGGER THAN USS?OCTOBER 7, 20142 COMMENTSThe American Navy is thought of as the worlds most powerful, far greater than any other naval force. But now somesourceshint atRussian Navy could be bigger soon even as soon as in 2020, Russia will have one of the biggest naval forces in the world. Even bigger than the one of the United States of America.How can the Russian Navy be the biggest?Russian Steregushchy class 30 ships of this class are planned.This is because for a long time the Russian Navy has actually been (about) equally big as the US one (~300 ships), in terms of numbers. But by the Russian annexation of Crimea, they acquired 51 new ships, making Russias navy bigger than the American one. But it is of course not really honest to say that the Russian Navy is bigger than the USs a bluff. The Russian Navy is actually notbigger.They have specialized their Navy to be used in small canals and small seas (The Black Sea for instance) and therefore they have a big amount of small ships like corvettes, but a muchmuch smaller battle fleet tonnage than the US. To show a contrast of thetonnage, here are the biggest naval forces in the world in terms of weight:Country:Fleet Tonnage (tons):

United States of America:3,415,893

Russia:845,730

China:708,086

Japan:413,800

United Kingdom:367,850

France:319,195

India:317,725

South Korea:178,710

Italy:173,549

Taiwan:151,662

How can the US Navy bethatmuch heavier?The reason for the US to be on the top of this list, but still have a smaller number of vessels than Russia, is because they have a huge number ofbig ships, such as 10 aircraft carriers of 100,000 tons each, and 62 Arleigh Burke class destroyers, weighing almost 10,000 tons each. While Russia has only one aircraft carrier (Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Kuznetsov) of 55,000 tons and 13 destroyers, with the biggest one of about 7,000 tons.The US Navy tonnage is actually bigger than the next 13 Navies combined!The new Russian naval vesselsRussian Vladivostok of the French Mistral classNow the Russians are planning on acquiring (even) more naval vessels for their Black Sea fleet which would widen the gap in ship figures between the US Navy and the Russian even more. The 80 new ships (planned to be completed in 2020) will make the Russian Black Sea fleet alone contain 206 vessels. Russiahas also made new acquisitions for their Navythe last years. For instance the French Mistral Helicopter Carriers Vladivostok (laid down for Russia in 2012) and Sevastopol (laid down for Russia in 2013), which they paid $1.7 billion for. Russia plans to have 4 of these very modern ships in the end but with the crisis in Ukraine and the Russian backing of the separatists these ships are finally on hold and wont be delivered for now. The international community puta lot of pressure onto France which hesitated as the country is in a deep crisis with stubbornly high unemployment rates.Russian supremacy only on paperThe USS Gerald R Ford is the biggest, and most capable warship ever built.But even though this might sound scary to some Americans, they have little to fear. The American Navy is, as previously stated, bigger than the next 13 countries combined, and 11 of these are US allies or partners. The US are planning on keeping their 10 Nimitz carriers until 2040 (or more), and their new USS Gerald R Ford, which is the lead ship of the class with the same name, which is planned to be commissioned in 2016, will add to the US naval supremacy.And even though Russia has a bigger number of vessels, the current situation of the two biggest navies in the world is like a saying from a Swedish kids show Five ants are more than four elephants.Additional Reading: Learn about naval ship designations and their meaningshere. Read a 3-part article series about the US Nimitz class aircraft carriershere. Read about the history of Russian aircraft carriershere.Sources: Businessinsider.com Globalsecurity.org Rusnavy.com Navy.mil100 000 TONS SHIP13 NEXT NAVIES COMBINEDAIRCRAFT CARRIERSBIGGER THAN US NAVYBIGGEST SHIPS IN THE WORLDRUSSIAN NAVY BIGGESTRUSSIAN SUPREMACYUS SUPREMACYAIRCRAFT CARRIERS,NAVAL,UNCATEGORIZEDCLASSIFICATIONS OF NAVAL VESSELSSEPTEMBER 11, 20141 COMMENTUsually we cover the air in this blog post well do ashort water excursion. There are many different ships in the worlds navies today. They all have different applications and some classifications are exclusive to certain countries. Different countries have put their effort into different kinds of ships and some have invested in almost all of them. For the reader with basic knowledge, we try to shed some light onto that classification. In this article we will look into the different typesof surface and submerged vessels and what navies operate them. The first ship on the list: Frigate.FrigatesDe Zeven Provincin-class air-defence and command frigate of the Royal Netherlands navy.Frigates are usually regarded as ships weighing more than 3000 tons. Its role is to protect other ships of its strike group, the main part of this responsibility is to protect them from hostile submarines. The Frigate does not have any actual definition which means that they have similarities to corvettes, destroyers and even cruisers. The Littoral combat ships are by some regarded as frigates.CorvettesHSwMS Helsingborg of the Swedish Visby class. It features a stealth hull which decreases its radar cross section by 99%.A corvette is a small warship with light arms. Due to this and their high maneuverability they are great in smaller seas, the Red Sea for instance, which is an important reason- along the comparablylow cost manyof the worlds navies operate them (just to give you some examples: The US, Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Denmark, Germany, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Italy, Pakistan, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, South Korea, Sweden, Turkey Due to Russia being connected to many smaller seas they have invested a lot in corvettes and are by that the worlds biggest operator of corvettes.DestroyersAmerican destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill of the Arleigh Burke class.Destroyers are among the widelyused ships in the world due to their wide range of use. Their combination of high firepower and high endurance make them ideal for both war, escort and (other) peace-keeping operations. The name Destroyer comes from the Russo-Japanese war in the early 20th century where they were named Torpedo boat destroyer. Today they are the heaviest surface combatants after the cruiser.CruisersThe Ticonderoga-class cruiser USS Cowpens fires its missiles.Cruisers The cruiser is the strongest of them all. It is built to have great firepower and to be able to take out everything that its strike group can face. Due to its high cost and narrow mission capability, only the US, Russia and Peru (old ships) operate them. The line between cruisers and destroyers is not very obvious due to some of the new destroyers (DDG-1000 for instance) having greater firepower than some cruisers.Amphibious Assault ShipsA Tarawa class amphibious assault ship of the USN shows its well deck.These ships are warfare ships used to support ground troops in forms of ammunition, transport, refueling of vehicles and to protect them from incoming enemy airplanes and surface vessels. Most of them have both a helicopter deck (where VTOL airplanes such as theF-35as well as helicopters can disembark from) and a well deck where small amphibious vessels can be maintained and repaired. Some of them are regarded as aircraft carriers, for instance the Japanese aircraft carriers Izumo has been renamed to helicopter destroyer even though it looks like an aircraft carrier.Aircraft CarriersAdmiral Kuznetsovof the Russian Navy.The definition of an aircraft carrier is A large naval vessel designed as a mobile air base, having a long flat deck on which aircraft can take off and land at sea. Just as the definition says it is used like a naval base and aircraft operation center. The aircraft carriers are the biggest military ships in the world with some weighing over 100 000 tons and the capability to house almost 6000 men. An alternate name of carriers isSuper carrierswhich is the name of aircraft carriers weighing more than 66 000 tons. The only country that operates more than 2 aircraft carriers is currently the United States (10 active).Littoral Combat ShipsUSS Freedom (back) and USS Independence (front) are both littoral combat ships of the US Navy.Littoral combat ship A small class of ships specialised to operate in zones with very shallow waters where other, bigger ships can not be used. Under this name there are only a few operational and they all belong to the US Navy. According to the United states s Navys webpage, the LCSs are envisioned to be a networked, agile, stealthy surface combatant capable of defeating anti-access and asymmetric threats in the littorals. They were also built to be a complement for the new DDG-1000 and future cruisers. The American Littoral combat ships are sometimes regarded as big corvettes.Submarine AttackDolphin class of the Israeli Navy.Attack submarine is the submarine type designed to take out other submarines and surface ships. They all use torpedoes to hunt their prey and some use cruise missiles in VLS to have an even greater range of targets. Due to their low visibility they are great to protect friendly ships and to gather information about the enemy.Submarine Ballistic MissileSubmarine of the US Ohio class one of its ballistic missiles is 150 times more powerful than both the Nagasaki and Hiroshima bombs combined.This type of submarine is specialised to go out on the sea, hide, and then launch SLBMs with nuclear (or conventional) warheads to take out strategically important enemy targets. Second-strike capability was to ensure the no first use of nuclear weapons during the Cold War. Strategic submarines are the traditional but expensive method of of providing a second strike capability. The other one would be Launch on warning. The new nuclear submarines can stay out at sea for months, at any instance being able to launch a missile of mass destruction from thousands of kilometers away. Due to this, all of the modern ballistic missile submarines have nuclear reactors as energy source which gives them a nearly unlimited range.Submarine Cruise MissileKilo class cruise missile submarine.A cruise missile submarine is a submarine that can launch cruise missiles (SLCMs). They have extreme firepower, for instance the cruise missile submarine class Ohio can launch 154 cruise missiles without refueling nor re-arming. The earlier types of cruise missile submarines had to surface before launching their missiles but that problem has been fixed and they can now launch their missiles without being seen with the naked eye.Countries using the different types of ships (this info might come to change):Type:Countries operating them:Example of ship:

FrigateUnited States, Australia, Canada, China, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, India, Iran, Italy, Malaysia, Myanmar, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Philippines, Romania, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, Taiwan, United Kingdom. Indian Shivalik-class UK Type 23-class

Amphibious assault shipUnited States, France, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Australia, United Kingdom. French Mistral-class US Wasp-class.

DestroyerUnited States, United Kingdom, Italy, France, Canada, India, China, Japan, South Korea, Russia. Chinese Navys Luyang II-class US Arleigh Burke-class

Aircraft carrierUnited States, India, Italy, China, Spain, France, Russia, Brazil, Thailand. US Nimitz-class Brazilian Clemenceau-class

Littoral combat shipUnited States US Freedom-class US Independency-class

CruiserUnited States, Russia, Peru US Ticonderoga-class Russian Slava-class

CorvetteUnited States, Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Denmark, Germany, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Italy, Pakistan, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, South Korea, Sweden, Turkey. Swedish Visby-class Argentinian Espora-class

Attack submarineUnited States, Russia, India, France, China US Virginia-class French Rubis-class

Ballistic missile submarineUnited States, France, China, Russia, United Kingdom. French Le Triomphant-class Russian Borei-class

Cruise missile submarineUnited States, Russia, United Kingdom, Israel, India, China.US Ohio-class Israeli Dolphin-class

Picture of the US Norfolk Naval Base.Norfolk Naval base in Virginia (US) is the largest American naval station where many of the US Navys vesselsare stationed.Explore the Norfolk Naval Base here:https://goo.gl/maps/bHoh8As can be seen many of the definitions go into each other with some ships belonging to several of them (for instance the LCSs). The definitions are no rules but more like general guidelines to get some kind of system and organisation. Of course the ships of the same classification can differ a lot due to age, cost and the environment they are built for. What can be seen is that the smaller ships with larger areas of use are present in many navies, whereas the bigger navies with bigger financial support have ships that are both bigger and built for specific tasks. One country like that is the United States which has ships belonging to everygroup presented in this article.Additional Reading: Read a three-part series about aircraft carriershere. Read about the F-35 that can be used on Amphibious assault ships due to its STOVL propertieshere. Read the story of Russian aircraft carriershere.Sources: Nvr.navy.mil Globalsecurity.org Navysite.de wweb.archive.org Dictionary.reference.com Naval-technology.com Janes.com/defenceAIRCRAFT CARRIERSAMPHIBIOUS ASSAULT SHIPATTACK SUBMARINESBALLISTIC MISSILE SUBMARINESCLASSIFICATIONS OF SHIPSCRUISE MISSILE SUBMARINESCRUISERDESTROYERSFRIGATESLITTORAL COMBAT SHIPWHAT IS AAIRCRAFT CARRIERS,FIGHTER JETSRUSSIAN AIRCRAFT CARRIERS A STORY ON ITS OWNMAY 22, 2014LEAVE A COMMENTBefore the MoskvasRussia and former USSR have since the 1960s been one of the worlds most active aircraft carrier builders. Only the US, UK, Japan and France has had more of these vessels controlling their waters. Right after the second world war a lot of aircraft carriers were sold, scrapped and put in reserve. But as the Cold War really emerged almost all of them were recommissioned. However, that was a while ago and after the fall of the Soviet Union many saw the Cold War as finally over and once again carriers were scrapped and put in reserve. Today, in 2014, of the aforementioned nations, the US has 19, UK 2, France 4, Japan 2 and Russia 1 aircraft carrier, a substantially smaller force than before 1991. But back to history:In the beginning of the 60s the Americans built one of their most successful carriers ever, the USS Enterprise, which was the worlds first nuclear powered aircraft carrier. The USSR then saw the real potential in having a floating air force base and started the development of their own carriers.Russian carriers are actually cruisersThe size of the superstructure indicates that it is a cruiser and not a true carrier. On picture: Admiral KuznetsovFirst of all some terminology. As you can see in the table the USSR and later Russia named their aircraft carriers aircraft carrying cruisers. This is not a coincidence; it has diplomatic reasons. The Russian carriers are usually built in the Black Sea, and when they want to travel out to the bigger seas, they have to go through the Dardanelles. But according to a law stated in 1936 it is forbidden for aircraft carriers to pass through here. Therefore the Russians choose to call their carriers for cruisers instead, so no tensions will occur. However in this article i will stick to the term aircraft carriers for both the America and the Russian carriers.This article will only cover modern carriers, whuch means carriers built after the USS Midway (launched in 1945). Earlier stages in the building of aircraft carriers can be read about in another articleThe Aircraft Carrier Part 1: The History. Between 1967 and 1991 Russia completed seven helicopter/aircraft carriers. The evolution in weight, length and complement size shows how much the Soviet technology improved between these years. In the table it can be seen that the Soviets started much later than the Americans with developing carriers and have been behind ever since. Today the US has more modern, heavier and bigger numbers of aircraft carriers than Russia. The explanation for the late start is partly that the Russian military budget has been smaller than the one of the US, and that the USSR did not think that aircraft carriers could be such effective vessels before the Americans showed the success of the USS Enterprise.Aircraft carrier nameTypeIn Service sinceIn Service untilNumber of aircraft(H=helo, F=fixed wing):Complement(ships crew, not air group):SizeL=LengthB=BeamW=Weight

MoskvaHelicopter carrier19671996H:14F:0850L=189mB=34mW=15000t

LeningradHelicopter carrier19691991H:14F:0850L=189mB=34mW=15000t

KievAircraft carrying cruiser19751993H:20F:321200-1600L=273mB=49mW=41000t

MinskAircraft carrying cruiser19781993H:20F:121200-1600L=273mB=49mW=41000t

NovorossiyskAircraft carrying cruiser19821993H:20F:121200-1600L=273mB=51mW=43000t

Admiral Gorshkov(sold to India, today named INS Vikramaditya)Aircraft carrying cruiser19871996H:20F:121200-1600L=273mB=52mW=45000t

Admiral KuznetsovAircraft carrying cruiser1991Still in service52 aircraft, no set number of each1690L=305mB=72mW=61000t

Varyag(sold to China and had its name changed to Liaoning)Aircraft carrying cruiser2012(by China)Still in serviceH:24F:301960L=305mB=75mW=68000t

UlyanovskAircraft carrying cruiserNever finishedNever finishedH:18F:503400L=312mB=84mW=75000t

It all started with an ideaLeonid Brezjnev The father of Russian aircraft carriersThe first USSR president that seriously thought of building aircraft carriers was Leonid Brezhnev. He thought that the carriers could be very useful as they were very flexible and therefore able to protect the gigantic 22,200,000 km Soviet Union. So he led todays Russia into the development and commissioning of the Moskva and Leningrad, the only two carriers of the Moskva class. But they were, as can be seen in the table, not real aircraft carriers as they only carried helicopters. This was however very useful at the time because of the possibilities of using helicopters as antisubmarine warfare platforms since the dawn of the nuclear powered submarines had just arrived.The next step in the Russian carrier history was the project Orel. The Orel class destroyers were supposed to weigh more than 5 times the weight of its predecessor, carry 70 fixed wing aircraft and be nuclear powered. The plan was to compete with the American flag ship USS Enterprise which had proven itself being worth the $430 million it had cost to build it in 1958. However when the president who started the project died, a new president that was more into smaller, more cost efficient carriers rose to power and got the project (that started in 73), scrapped.After the Orel project had been shut down all parts of the Navy agreed on that they still needed carriers to give sufficient air support when at sea. The discussions went on and the final answer was a compromise: not as big as the Orel but still a real step up from the (very) small Moskva class. The result? The Kiev class. The four carriers of this class weighed about 40 000 tonseach, and had a much bigger air wing than the small 15 000 ton predecessor have had. The major difference between the Kievs and the western carriers was mostly that since the Kievs were cruisers they were also fitted with heavy armament such as 76 mm guns, P-500 surface-to-surface missiles, up to 200 surface-to-air missiles and even torpedo tubes. These carriers got a major approval from all corners of Russia and were a milestone in further developments -even though the Yak-38, which were the fixed-wing aircraft on the Kiev carriers was not very liked .Kuznetsov The king of Russias NavyThe Kuznetsov class. The Kuznetsov carriers were first thought to be a close follow up on the Kiev class but after the Orel project failed and after further delays it did not go as it was thought. However in 1981 the current Russian minister of defense Dmitriy Ustinov attended an exercise on board one of the Kiev carriers to make his mind up in the matter. The flaws that he saw made him think: What is the point of having such mighty ships if they are not even comparable with the US Navys. He therefore got the Kuznetsov project going, and 14 years after the exercise, in 1995, the Admiral Kuznetsov was finally fully operational (needless to say that the USSR was no longer operational at this time). It was the first ever Russian aircraft carrier capable of launching normal take-off aircraft such as Sukhoi Su-27s and Mikoyan MiG-29s. The earlier Kiev class had only been able to launch its STOVL (ShortTakeOffVerticalLanding) jets Yak-38. Just as the Kiev, Minsk, Novorossiysk and Gorshkov (Kiev cruisers) the new Kuznetsov had a heavy armament on board, making her the new pride of the Russian fleet.The faith of the Soviet Unions mistakesThe Chinese Liaoning during its recommission in 2012Some Russian carriers have been sold and scrapped over the years, fordifferent reasons. The Admiral Gorshkov was too expensive to be maintained and used with the Russian Navy after the Cold War.It was therefore sold to India, modified and recommissioned in 2013 under the name INS Vikramaditya. It is currently one of two active Indian carriers. The Varyag carrier (seen in the table) was rewritten as property of Ukraine after the Cold War. Itwas stripped of all electronics and later sold in an auction (only the hull). The winning bid came from a Hong Kong businessman who wanted to make a casino in Macao out if it. It did not happen, finally the hull ended in a dry dock at Dalian and became the Liaoning, the Chinese carrier.The Ulyanovsk shown last in the table was also a project of the USSR. It was basically the Orel hull fitted with modern weapons and electronics. This idea was also scrapped but the blueprints of it were sold to China which plans to use them when building future generations of carriers.Further reading: Article about the full history of aircraft carriers A comparison between the USAF and Russian air force German Luftwaffe and the MiG-29 FulcrumSources:

India-defence.com Rand.org Rusnavy.com Russiafile.com Public.navy.mil (All information acquired on 21/5-2014)CARRIERCARRIERS OF THEKUZNETSOV CLASSLEONIDMOSKVAORELSOVIET UNIONUSSRVIKRAMADITYAAIRCRAFT CARRIERS,FIGHTER JETSTHE AIRCRAFT CARRIER PART 3: THE INTERIORMAY 21, 20142 COMMENTSThe Nimitz aircraft carrier. An enormous source of destruction, capable of delivering hundreds of tons of explosives to its enemy in under a hour, but its much more than that. Its 100 000 tons of steel, 18 floors under deck and its impressive length of 332 meters is much more than just weapons. It is a floating city. In this part of the article series about aircraft carriers the focus will be on its interior covering electronic systems, the crew, engines and hangar everything that makes this impressive machine work and maintain its efficiency during its 50 years lifespan.The crews part of the USS NimitzDiagram showing all parts of the NimitzThe crew of a 100 000 ton ship is tremendous. Did you know that the crew consists of 3200 people not counting the additional 2500 air wing men (pilots, mechanics and other aircraft related jobs) when the Nimitz class carriers is out at sea? The logement is located in the bow of the vessel, right under the main launch strip. Here the crew has access to their own bedroom which is usually shared with 5 others, kitchen, enormous diner halls, doctors, a telephone bank to call their family, barber shops, chapels, an aviation jet engine workshop/maintenance facility, athletic facilities such as a gym and even a dentists office. But even though the ship has all of these installations it is also very tough for the crew. They are not allowed to hang around on the deck and since the size of the island (the superstructure) is so limited the members of the crew cant spend their time their either. This means for some of the crew members that work deep within the carrier it can go weeks without them seeing any daylight.Below the surface of an aircraft carrierOne of the three hangars of the USS NimitzUnder the deck many things are going on. There is the engine room and an elevator which transports the aircraft down below the deck into the enormous hangar. Under the deck are also almost all of the control rooms located. Since the island is made as small as possible the only workstations in the superstructure are the bridge, chart room, radar-and-surveillance systems and the flight deck control room. All the others of the total 6000 people on the vessel are working below the deck. For instance the Catapult Piping Launch Room whichs task is to assist the aircraft with its launch is located right under the takeoff strip. The room which tunes and controls the catapults are located under the hangar in the center of the vessel so that they are protected from potential incoming fire.The energy source of CVNsNuclear reactors of the USS Nimitz classThe engines and energy source of the USS Nimitz and other modern carriers are made up of nuclear reactors which heat water that drives turbines, propelling the vessel forward. When the turbines run on full power they are capable of making the 100 000 ton heavy aircraft carrier move at speeds as high as 58 km/h. The energy harvested form the A4W reactors is also used to drive the thousands of computers and other electronic equipment on board. Some of the electrical energy requiring systems with the highest consumption on board any modern day carrier include: air search radars, target acquisition radar, air traffic control radars, landing aid radar and the NSSM guidance systems. But of course the energy is also used for smaller but still vital systems such as pumping drinking water, lifting airplanes in the hangar, cleaning and circulating the air and refrigerators and ovens for the crews food.In the stern of the boat, behind the hangar and above the rear phalanx turrets, the squadron ready rooms and the ships small boats are located. These boats are used by the crew to for instance get to the other vessels of the battle group (destroyers, submarines and cruisers supporting the carrier) and to get to shore to deliver mail that is then sent home to the US. All aircraft carriers of the US Navy are regarded as sovereign US territory even though they are on international water, that is why they all operate under their own ZIP-code.The Nimitz aircraft carriers are the biggest ever built and they possessa tremendous firepower. But the destruction of which they are capable of is relying on the crew and the subsystems keeping this complex system working a chain is never stronger than its weakest link. Over 100 years of innovation has lead up the perfection achieved today the 10 USS Nimitz class aircraft carriers are the undisputed heroes of the seas. With 18 floors under deck, 332 meters long, 77 meters high, 90 aircraft, 100 000 tons of pure steel and a complement of over 3200 sailors and close to 6000 crew total, this is truly the worlds biggest vessel ever built.If you are also interested in the exterior and the history of the worlds biggest naval vessels, feel free to click on the links below to get redirected to the articles. Sail calmly, captains!Additional reading about carriers (other parts of the series): Part 1 The History Part 2 The Exterior Which fighter aircraft is the best -The F-22 Raptor vs The Eurofighter TyphoonSources: Usmilitary.about.com Youtube.com The largest aircraft carrier in the world (Full video) USS Nimitz Official website Story archive U.S. Navy USS Nimitz (CVN-68) Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) The Ford-class Schweber, Bill . How It Works Navy.com Science.howstuffworks.com (All information acquired on 20/5-2014)100 000AIRCRAFT CARRIERSCONTROL RADARNUCLEAR GENERATORTHE WORLD'S BIGGESTUSS NIMITZAIRCRAFT CARRIERS,FIGHTER JETSTHE AIRCRAFT CARRIER PART 2: THE EXTERIORMAY 20, 2014LEAVE A COMMENTThe aircraft carrier is widely known to be a weapon of tremendous power but its shape and size looks like nothing else and its features are surprisingly unknown to ordinary people. That is the reason why in this article we will look into the exterior of this devastating vessel. The aircraft carrier which will be focused on is the USS Nimitz, the worlds biggest carrier, weighing over 100,000 tons.Some of the questions that we will try to answer are:- Why does an Aircraft Carrier look like it does?- How are the aircraft launched from an Aircraft Carrier?- How effective are an Aircraft Carriers weapons?The design of the USS Nimitzs hullUSS Nimitz (model) from aboveIf we start with the looks of it those are derived from mainly three things: The size of the flight deck, the weight distribution of the boat and water resistance minimization. If we look at the USS Nimitz from above we see that a small part on one of the sides is made up by the tower, called the superstructure. It has been placed on one side of the ship to make place for the incoming aircraft and so improving the area of the landing strip. The fact that it has been placed on the edge makes the open surface even bigger because to balance the weight from the superstructure the flight deck on the other side is extended and so makes the deck even bigger. The reason for aircraft carriers not to be built like enormous squares is because the water resistance would be overwhelming and the engines would not be able to propel the carrier very fast with that design. That is why the vessel is so long and also why the hull is so pointed under the front part of the launch strip. It is simply to split the water in half and so minimizing the resistance that the water makes on the aircraft carriers movement.The flight deck of a top modern carrierEMALS being installedThe surface of the USS Nimitz has so many technological features that they can not all be written down here but I will mention the most important things of the deck. The catapults of an aircraft carrier are used to limit the takeoff length of a jet fighter from over a kilometer to a mere 100 meters. They work as such that the aircrafts landing gear connects to a hook in the surface. When the pilot waves to the control tower that he is ready, hot pressurized steam is led into two pipes that ends in the hook that the jet is connected to in the deck and shoots forward, assisting the airplane with its takeoff. But as technology advances so do aircraft carriers. In the new USS Gerald R Ford class, the steam catapults have been replaced with electromagnetic ones, called EMALS (electromagnetic aircraft launch system). The advantage of those are that they deliver higher energy, need less maintenance and occupy less space under the surface of the deck. Another feature of the deck on the USS Nimitz is the coating of it. The coating on the surface is constructed so that it is anti-slip, preventing the aircraft to slide during heavy seas and landings, and also heat resistant which makes it possible for STOVL (Short Take Off Vertical Landing) jets such as the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II to land vertically. If the carrier would not have this feature the F-35s down-facing nozzle would melt the carriers surface.A small feature which really helps the crew of the carrier are all the white lines that indicates where airplanes can be launched, where airplanes can be put without being in the way of others, and where the steam catapults are hidden.The well defended air base USS NimitzSLQ-32 Electronic warfare suite antennaThe weapons and sensors of the USS Nimitz is an artwork in itself. The ship has enoughweapons to defend both the vessel as well as its crew from anything that the enemy might send to sink it. First of all if the enemy would send a missile to sink a modern carrier the carrier sees this with its advanced SLQ-32A electronic warfare suiteandAEWACs long before impact. It then launches its interceptors, usually F-18s to take out the threat. If that against all odds would fail an aircraft carrier worth $4.5 billion is never on its own. It is constantly being guarded by destroyers that would shoot down the intruders as soon as they are within range. Lastly the Nimitz has defenses on its own consisting of Nixie torpedo countermeasures, three 20 mm Phalanx turrets and sea-skimming missiles built to take out incoming anti-ship missiles. There are almost no offensive weapons on an aircraft carrier as its offensive strength lies in its aircraft. However the USS Nimitz has been fitted with two sea sparrow launch tubes, two RIM-116 Rolling Frame Missile launchers and the three previously mentioned 20 mm Phalanx turrets.To conclude this part of the series it is needed to be said that carriers can have a huge impact. With some aircraft carriers capabilities of carrying over 90 aircraft to a war zone, its presence could mean the difference between winning or loosing. Its incredible firepower of both jets and missiles combined with top modern sensors makes it an effective weapon. Its catapults can launch one fighter every 20 seconds, so it can have an air fleet bigger than a small countrys up in the air in less than 30 minutes. This is what makes Nimitz classaircraft carriers and the lead ship of its class, the USS Nimitz, one of the greatest and most devastating naval vessels ever built.Additional reading about carriers (other parts of the series): Part 1 The History Part 3 The InteriorMore articles and further reading: The history offighter jet rides for civilians FirstMiG-29 Edge of Space HD video Fighter Jet Generations an overview Themost expensive military aircraftSources: Usmilitary.about.com Youtube.come The largest aircraft carrier in the world (Full video) USS Nimitz Official website Story archive U.S. Navy USS Nimitz (CVN-68) Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) The Ford-class Schweber, Bill . How It Works (All information acquired on 19/5-2014)AIRCRAFTAIRCRAFT CARRIERCARRIERSEMALSF-18F-18 SUPER HORNETF-35FLIGHT DECKHORNETHULLUSS NIMITZUSS NIMITZ CLASS AIRCRAFT CARRIERAIRCRAFT CARRIERS,FIGHTER JETSTHE AIRCRAFT CARRIER PART 1: THE HISTORYMAY 20, 2014LEAVE A COMMENTHow the aircraft carrier idea startedThe aircraft carrier has been an idea in the minds of engineers since the early 1900s when the dawn of the airplanes opened an entirely new way of waging war. Just the idea of being able to transport bombers over the great seas that in an instants notice can be launched into the air, deliver their devastating firepower to the enemies and then be safely landed again under the protection of friendly forces has been so thrilling that it has been in the center of all the worlds navies development departments for over a century. And in 1916, with the birth of the USS North Carolina, all engineers agreed upon that only one type of ship would be able to deliver what they all had been looking for, a whole new naval vessel an aircraft carrier. This is the story about the birth of the carrier from hot air balloon launches to supersonic fighters doing vertical takeoffs, an evolution starting as far back as in the end of the 19th centuryIt is in the late 1800s and the closest we get to an aircraft carrier are ships whose task is to launch hot air balloons into the air to get an overview of the battlefield. As you can imagine this was not very efficient and the engineers understood that this was an area of great improvement but they had no idea where to start yet.The Wright Brothers launching catapultIt is December 17, 1903 and the Wright brothers manage to build the first successful engine driven aircraft. To launch it they use a kind of catapult which release a heavy weight from a high tower that is connected to a wire that pulls the aircraft forward until it reaches takeoff speed. They later soldthe invention to the US navy and sincethen the technique has been improved and refined into the vital ingredient that it today is of any fixed wing aircraft launching vessel.First carrier: The USS North CarolinaUSS North CarolinaThe next step came in 1916. The US Navy had now figured that dropping a heavy weight on a ship deck would give the ship a (very) short lifespan and instead they started thinking of other ways to rapidly release energy.The answer was compressed air. With the aid of pulleys they managed to increase the amount of energy stored in the air and after years of refining the technique they finally launched an airplane from the deck of the USS North Carolina The aircraft carrier was born.But the big thrill of finally being able to send torpedoes by air to destroy the enemy destroyers was soon gone because now the next problem arose the landing. On North Carolina they used amphibious aircraft to land on the water and then lifted them up using a crane but that was not very efficient. The British Navys architects understood that they had to make a landing strip the length of the entire ship but there was one major problem the superstructure (the house on a boat) was in the way. They first tried to split it into two parts, but the gap was not wide enough for an airplane to land so instead they started figuring on other ideas. Some of those were moving the superstructure to the left and have all the fuel to the right, or moving the storage of airplanes to the right to compensate for the weight of the superstructure. But both these ideas failed miserably, when the fuel began to decrease after days at sea the ship started to lean and the idea of moving the hangar to the right was also thrown off the drawing board once the crew started loading equipment in the former hangar-room which also this made the ship lean towards the superstructure Finally they found the ideal solution: Have the superstructure on one side, extend the other side of the flight deck and place the heavy machinery under the extension to further balance the otherwise overwhelming weight of the superstructure The HMS Ark Royal was born. Ever since the design was first shown in 1937 it has been used on all air craft carriers together with the tail hook which decreases the length of the required landing strip.The extended hull mentioned is now used on all aircraft carriers. On picture: USS EnterpriseThe first modern carrier USS MidwayBut such huge ships were big and easy targets as was shown in 1945 when the Japanese dropped bombs on the USS Franklin which exploded in the hangar, killing over 700 sailors. Something had to be done. Four major inventions were added to the aircraft carriers after this event: The flight deck that was earlier made out of wood wasreplaced witharmored steel, more guns were added, it got surrounded by other naval vessels, and the use of AEWAC (radar airplanes used to look for enemies in the air) was increased dramatically.The result of all these improvements was the USS Midway, Launched in 1945.With the dawn of the jets another problem for the carriers appeared. Previously the airplanes landing on carriers had been fixed wing propeller airplanes which moved so slow so that the pilots had well enough time to parry their aircraft into the right landing position. But the new jet fighters with touchdown speeds of over 400km/h simply did not have that time and instead needed another way to quickly get into the right angle of descend. This problem was fixed using a light that could only be seen by the pilot if he approached the aircraft carrier in the right angle simple but genius.USS Enterprise the worlds first nuclear powered carrierThe last major step in the history of aircraft carriers is the refueling. A diesel driven aircraft carrier takes hours to tank, doing this during a war can be fatal for both the vessel and its crew. A new energy source had to be used. The answer was nuclear power. The first aircraft carrier built with the astonishing capability to carry the enormous reactors was the biggest one anyone had ever seen the USS Enterprise, weighing over 90 000 tons.Today, almost 50 years after the launch of the USS Enterprise several improvements have been made to aircraft carriers such as magnetic launch catapults, fitting the deck with heat resistant coating which makes VTOL aircraft landings possible without turning the deck into ashes, and they are fitted with more weapons and missiles than ever. But it is still the greatest ideas from the best naval and aircraft engineers from all over the world, from the beginning of the 20th century to today, who has made the creation of the biggest and most modern aircraft carrier ever built possible- the USS Nimitz.Additional reading about carriers (other parts of the series): Part 2 The Exterior Part 3 The InteriorAdditional Resources: Nice article aboutcost of military aircraft Mikoyan fighter jets the backbones of the Russian Air Force 5th generation fighter jets US, Russia and ChinaSources: Youtube.com The biggest aircraft carrier in the world The Wright Brothers & The Invention of the Aerial Age.Smithsonian Institution NYtimes.com Navysite.de/cvn USS Nimitz -Official website Story archive U.S. Navy USS Nimitz (CVN-68) (All information acquired on 19/5-2014)