April 6, 2015 at 5:07 p.m.
Aircraft carriers are still essential
Letters to the Editor
To the editor:
As related to Navy ships, destroyers and cruisers are somewhat beautiful vessels and appear graceful when slicing the vast seas.
Attack aircraft carriers are completely void of beauty and certainly lack any form of grace. But their physical features do generate an awesome appearance and are quite impressive when plowing (they don’t slice) the world’s oceans.
Picture 100,000 tons in the form of an attack aircraft carrier with 80 warplanes on board appearing on the horizon and that most definitely is some bad heavy metal on the scene. (“Go ahead, make my day.”)
These ships are the ultimate challenge where water and steel collide and severely strains Archimedes’ principle of buoyancy. But then nothing in science quite fits.
For 87 years (March 20, 1922, to May 19, 2009), U.S. attack aircraft carriers ran on fuel oil, but our remaining 10 are exclusively nuclear powered. This allows each to steam one million nautical miles between refuelings.
A nautical mile at 6,080 feet — 800 feet longer than a land mile for those of you who are a bit rusty — was established at the Hydrographic Conference in Monaco April 9 through 20, 1929. This measurement is basically derived from one minute of one degree longitude at the equator or one minute of one degree latitude anywhere on earth.
Refueling and overhaul is a task requiring a minimum of three years. This challenging task is performed at Newport News, Virginia, where all 10 were built with two (as of March) under construction and one planned but not funded with 100,000 tons being standard. Their displacement is more impressive when considering the Washington Naval Treaty of Feb. 6, 1922, directed the weight of all Navy ships to be measured in tons — 2,240 pounds per ton.
Eight years are needed to complete a nuclear carrier at a cost of $12 billion.
These carriers require catapults to “sling” aircraft from their flight decks. From 1952 to the present, steam catapults, have been the source of this power. High pressure steam has the capacity to force a 40-ton aircraft down a 295-foot track with an end speed of 170 miles per hour in 2.5 seconds.
The ride is awesome. Imagine the most mid-boggling euphoria you’ve ever experienced, then let your imagination out two more notches.
Future catapults will use electric power vice steam for launching aircraft. The electrical requirement for a single launch would light 12,000 homes. The new system will be operational on the USS Gerald R. Ford in 2016.
Seven of the remaining eight 61,000-ton retired steam-powered attack aircraft carriers are slated for towing to Esco Marine Recycling and All Star Metals in Brownsville, Texas, for recycling. Two East Coast carriers have arrived as of mid 2014.
A more challenging tow will be the USS Ranger CV-61 from Bremerton, Washington, to Brownsville. Too large for the Panama Canal, she will round South America on a 16,000-mile voyage that began last month on a journey that will take five months averaging 4 miles an hour.
Do we need these expensive nuclear carriers?
While not a product of any political science discipline. It’s my belief in there’s a continued need.
After the Korean War in 1953, there were approximately 550 foreign airfields available to the U.S. This was down to 100 by 1960 and the present number hovers around 18. Considering world statistics, 60 percent of all people and 80 percent of all national capitals are located within 200 miles of an ocean of the Mediterranean Sea. With the earth’s surface at 71 percent water (The Pacific Ocean alone covers more area than all land) these carriers with long range aircraft can influence global events.
The bean counters inside the beltway are fruitlessly ransacking history to justify reduced numbers of carriers and when their findings are presented to the House and Senate appropriations committees will certainly be based on flawed reasoning. With the U.S. running in all directions to ensure the world maintains its balance, any presentation should be saturated with a healthy dose of reality.
Again, are these carriers critical? It’s a fact; every new world crisis the president’s first words are “where are the carriers.”
Respectfully,
Roy Leverich
Portland
As related to Navy ships, destroyers and cruisers are somewhat beautiful vessels and appear graceful when slicing the vast seas.
Attack aircraft carriers are completely void of beauty and certainly lack any form of grace. But their physical features do generate an awesome appearance and are quite impressive when plowing (they don’t slice) the world’s oceans.
Picture 100,000 tons in the form of an attack aircraft carrier with 80 warplanes on board appearing on the horizon and that most definitely is some bad heavy metal on the scene. (“Go ahead, make my day.”)
These ships are the ultimate challenge where water and steel collide and severely strains Archimedes’ principle of buoyancy. But then nothing in science quite fits.
For 87 years (March 20, 1922, to May 19, 2009), U.S. attack aircraft carriers ran on fuel oil, but our remaining 10 are exclusively nuclear powered. This allows each to steam one million nautical miles between refuelings.
A nautical mile at 6,080 feet — 800 feet longer than a land mile for those of you who are a bit rusty — was established at the Hydrographic Conference in Monaco April 9 through 20, 1929. This measurement is basically derived from one minute of one degree longitude at the equator or one minute of one degree latitude anywhere on earth.
Refueling and overhaul is a task requiring a minimum of three years. This challenging task is performed at Newport News, Virginia, where all 10 were built with two (as of March) under construction and one planned but not funded with 100,000 tons being standard. Their displacement is more impressive when considering the Washington Naval Treaty of Feb. 6, 1922, directed the weight of all Navy ships to be measured in tons — 2,240 pounds per ton.
Eight years are needed to complete a nuclear carrier at a cost of $12 billion.
These carriers require catapults to “sling” aircraft from their flight decks. From 1952 to the present, steam catapults, have been the source of this power. High pressure steam has the capacity to force a 40-ton aircraft down a 295-foot track with an end speed of 170 miles per hour in 2.5 seconds.
The ride is awesome. Imagine the most mid-boggling euphoria you’ve ever experienced, then let your imagination out two more notches.
Future catapults will use electric power vice steam for launching aircraft. The electrical requirement for a single launch would light 12,000 homes. The new system will be operational on the USS Gerald R. Ford in 2016.
Seven of the remaining eight 61,000-ton retired steam-powered attack aircraft carriers are slated for towing to Esco Marine Recycling and All Star Metals in Brownsville, Texas, for recycling. Two East Coast carriers have arrived as of mid 2014.
A more challenging tow will be the USS Ranger CV-61 from Bremerton, Washington, to Brownsville. Too large for the Panama Canal, she will round South America on a 16,000-mile voyage that began last month on a journey that will take five months averaging 4 miles an hour.
Do we need these expensive nuclear carriers?
While not a product of any political science discipline. It’s my belief in there’s a continued need.
After the Korean War in 1953, there were approximately 550 foreign airfields available to the U.S. This was down to 100 by 1960 and the present number hovers around 18. Considering world statistics, 60 percent of all people and 80 percent of all national capitals are located within 200 miles of an ocean of the Mediterranean Sea. With the earth’s surface at 71 percent water (The Pacific Ocean alone covers more area than all land) these carriers with long range aircraft can influence global events.
The bean counters inside the beltway are fruitlessly ransacking history to justify reduced numbers of carriers and when their findings are presented to the House and Senate appropriations committees will certainly be based on flawed reasoning. With the U.S. running in all directions to ensure the world maintains its balance, any presentation should be saturated with a healthy dose of reality.
Again, are these carriers critical? It’s a fact; every new world crisis the president’s first words are “where are the carriers.”
Respectfully,
Roy Leverich
Portland
Top Stories
9/11 NEVER FORGET Mobile Exhibit
Chartwells marketing
September 17, 2024 7:36 a.m.
Events
250 X 250 AD