https://www.cnet.com/pictures/meet-...ive.com&utm_campaign=311539864924&utm_source= Here is Trump, speaking his gut! Spot on he is. American Aircraft Carriers have been ruling the seas now for more than 75 years. The carriers we build now will extend that to well beyond 100 years. But they are huge, very costly all to launch but a very few, tip of spear human pilots. In the next 50 years, the life span of the carriers we launch now, that will become an ever decreasing need. At least it should be, unmanned aircraft have much greater capabilities at much less costly than supporting a flesh and blood pilot that could and should be remote. No bloody point in new technology to launch piloted aircraft! Hell, unmanned, it could be as simple as strap on rocket with someone light the dang fuse. We ought to phase down the production of Ford Class Carriers much more quickly and replace the concepts with much simpler drone ships and much better Destroyers and few Cruisers. This site is a good cruise of the Navy's newest Carrier, many technical errors but good none the less.
Good article. I've spent over a year and a half of my life living on a carrier. The systems I worked on 35 years ago could land an aircraft on the deck, with the pilot holding his hands up in the air. I've seen it. Here's the future- (soonish) pilotless 35's launching and being recovered on the deck. Not just drones. Full fighters. Interesting about the magnetic catapults. With the steam ones, you would hear a plane launch; wherever you were on the ship. Anywhere. Feel it too. Along with the other 4500 sailors. I wonder if the new carriers still have bowling alleys....
I understand he wants to incorporate the new carrier into his military parade next year and wants to tow it down Pennsylvania Ave.
The only times I was ever on a carrier, was to get launched to land on another and then helo or highlined to a destroyer. Even though I was jammed into the back seat of a of two seat aircraft, I didn't mind the catapult off the carrier. Sort of like a super carnival ride. But holy hell! The ride back down coming up the back side a carrier was terrifying. Rather glad I never did it enough to get use to it.
My Dad was a Master Chief and had 3 tours aboard carriers (Saratoga and Forrestal if I remember correctly) and he told me many tales about carrier life and sometimes even death. He told me about a guy getting sucked into a jet engine, guys losing limbs from cable mishaps, etc., and he also said that even he couldn't believe that there were not even more accidents, especially when landing on a carrier because there was almost zero margin of error. But I also remember him saying that he had some of the best food ever while a sea...and that's saying a lot because Mom was a helluva cook.
My grandfather went to his grave saying the best meal he ever had was a can of beans and a cheap pork chop that he got in December 1945 when his unit came back from fighting in WW2. RIP Grandpa.
