Cvn-77

[ydoaPs]

USS George H W Bush was commissioned today. It was televised, so you should be able to view it on YouTube soon should you want to.

[Pangloss]

Was there a political aspect to this that you wanted to discuss? Otherwise it might be better served in the General Forum.

 

It's an interesting ship -- the last of the Nimitz class supercarriers, which have had trouble keeping up with the times. The next one, the Gerald Ford, is a new class. They really are amazing -- I got a tour of the Nimitz back in 1985 when a friend served on her. The word "big" just doesn't even come close.

[ydoaPs]

Was there a political aspect to this that you wanted to discuss? Otherwise it might be better served in the General Forum.

One of the world's largest air forces being commissioned isn't political news? Baby Bush and daddy Bush were both there. It should be replaying soon. I think it's on at 8. 90,000 tons of diplomacy.

 

It's an interesting ship -- the last of the Nimitz class supercarriers, which have had trouble keeping up with the times.

This one is the most high tech ship in the fleet. It has early ninties technology.

 

The next one, the Gerald Ford, is a new class.

And it's already having trouble.

 

The word "big" just doesn't even come close.

It's not that big. It is, though two nuclear reactor plants.

[iNow]

View it here via C-SPAN:

http://www.c-spanarchives.org/library/index.php?main_page=product_video_info&tID=5&src=atom&atom=todays_events.xml&products_id=283260-1

[Pangloss]

One of the world's largest air forces being commissioned isn't political news?

 

Well maybe, but we don't 'report news' in the politics forum; new thread starts should include a position statement for debate. If you want to take a political position you can start a new thread; I'll move this one to general. Thanks.

 

This one is the most high tech ship in the fleet. It has early ninties technology.

 

Ayup. Sad, isn't it?

Edited January 11, 2009 by Pangloss

[JohnB]

Would that be the big one I was looking at last night on Google Earth? Moored at Newport News with her decks covered in crates etc?

 

I would guess the pic is probably a year or two old.

[blike]

ydoaPs, this is the ship you'll be on, correct?

[ydoaPs]

Would that be the big one I was looking at last night on Google Earth? Moored at Newport News with her decks covered in crates etc?

 

I would guess the pic is probably a year or two old.

 

Probably. Before we left, there were three carriers in the Newport News shipyard. If the one you saw was rusty, then it was probably mine.

ydoaPs, this is the ship you'll be on, correct?

 

It's the one I am on, yes.

[npts2020]

At least it is big enough that you shouldn't get seasick. I know that the Nimitz needed 8-10 foot swells just to notice you were at sea.

[CaptainPanic]

This one is the most high tech ship in the fleet. It has early ninties technology.

Ayup. Sad, isn't it?

Not really. I'd rather have a ship with tested 90's rockets than beta-version modern rockets.

 

Guns don't kill people, bad software does.

[Pangloss]

If you say so. I can think of a few families that might feel otherwise.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Iowa_turret_explosion

 

Personally I think the Nimitz-class carriers are quite effective and capable, but modernization does matter, and that is in fact where the Navy is heading. As it should.