Thread: The Four Decommissioned U.S. Aircraft Carriers Are

The World’s Aircraft Carriers – VISUALIZED

By Mike Schuler On October 15, 2012




Since the commissioning of China’s first aircraft carrier, gCaptain’s inbox has been flooded with questions about what it means for the U.S., China’s emerging naval sea power, and the rest of the world.

So what does it mean? I think this visualization pretty much speaks for itself.

Image via GlobalSecurity.org

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Tagged with: aircraft carrier • Navy • navy-ships

The World’s Aircraft Carriers – VISUALIZED | gCaptain - Maritime & Offshore News

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Amazing ship can carry 100,000 ton oil rigs (photos)

By Tuan C. Nguyen | June 15, 2012, 5:28 AM PDT
3Comments

Video at the page link



Short of moving mountains, there´s hardly anything the Blue Marlin can´t do.
Equipped with a 17,160 HP engine and a lifting capacity of over 76,000 metric tons, the the world´s largest semi-submersible ship has transported some of the most massive structures known to man. For instance, the 738-feet long vessel was the U.S. Navy´s obvious choice when they needed a way to deliver the destroyer USS Cole back to the United States after the warship was severely damaged by an Al-Qaeda suicide bomber attack in Yemen. And a year later, the carrier pulled off its most impressive feat by hauling the 60,000-ton Thunder Horse PQD (AKA the world´s largest semi-submersible oil rig) nearly 16,000 miles from a dock in South Korea to Corpus Christi, Texas.

But even such notable accomplishments may soon be dwarfed when the Vanguard, a new addition to dockwise´s transport fleet, arrives later this year. While the heavy lift vessel boasts an unheard of loading capacity of 117,000 metric tons, it´ll also sport an innovative bowless design that will allow the ship to support wider, longer and overall larger structures.

The Vangaurd is the industry´s solution for a world in which oil rigs are not only rapidly increasing in size, but are also being moved into deeper and remote waters. “We investigated whether our ships were able to transport such cargoes. Our conclusion was that they had insufficient capacity and inadequate deck-area. The bow and the accommodations are usually in the way, explained project engineer Michel Seij. “The bowless design of the Dockwise Vanguard is the logical consequence of this.”

Also, “the design allows for large amounts of water to flow along the entire deck of the vessel without there being any chance of water entering the confines of the Dockwise Vanguard,” he added.

From an engineering perspective, this meant the crew’s accommodation would have to be built on the extreme starboard side of the vessel together with the lifeboats structure. The $240 million Vanguard will be 275 meters long and 70 meters wide with the ability to support cargo that stretches as much as 170 meters beyond those dimensions.The ship is being built at a Yard in Korea and is expected to enter service by the end of the year.









(via The Daily Mail)

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Amazing ship can carry 100,000 ton oil rigs (photos) | SmartPlanet

USS Enterprise, World's 1st Nuclear-Powered Aircraft Carrier, Taken Out Of Active Service (PHOTOS) (Photos at the page link)

By BROCK VERGAKIS
12/01/12 09:33 PM ET EST


The USS Enterprise was taken out of active service on Dec. 1, 2012.

Video, Enterprise Aircraft Carrier, US Navy Enterprise, USS Enterprise Norfolk, USS Enterprise US Navy, USS Enterprise Out Of Active Service, USS Enterprise, Nuclear Powered Submarines, Virginia, DC News

NORFOLK, Va. — The world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier was retired from active service on Saturday, temporarily reducing the number of carriers in the U.S. fleet to 10 until 2015.

The USS Enterprise ended its notable 51-year career during a ceremony at its home port at Naval Station Norfolk, where thousands of former crew members, ship builders and their families lined a pier to bid farewell to one of the most decorated ships in the Navy.
"It'll be a special memory. The tour yesterday was a highlight of the last 20 years of my life. I've missed the Enterprise since every day I walked off of it," said Kirk McDonnell, a former interior communications electrician aboard the ship from 1983 to 1987 who now lives in Highmore, S.D.

The Enterprise was the largest ship in the world at the time it was built, inheriting the nickname "Big E" from a famed World War II aircraft carrier. It didn't have to carry conventional fuel tanks for propulsion, allowing it to carry twice as much aircraft fuel and ordnance than conventional carriers at the time. Using nuclear reactors also allowed the ship to set speed records and stay out to sea during a deployment without ever having to refuel, one of the times ships are most vulnerable to attack.

"Nuclear propulsion changed everything," said Adm. John Richardson, director of Naval Reactors.

Every other aircraft carrier in the U.S. fleet is now nuclear-powered, although they only have two nuclear reactors each compared to the Enterprise's eight. The Enterprise was the only carrier of its class ever built.

It was only designed to last 25 years, but underwent a series of upgrades to extend its life, making it the oldest active combat vessel in the fleet

The ship served in every major conflict since participating in a blockade during the Cuban Missile Crisis, helping earn its motto of "We are Legend."

Enterprise was headed back to Virginia following a regularly scheduled deployment when the Sept. 11 attacks happened. As soon as the ship's captain saw the attacks he turned around without orders to steam toward southwest Asia, where it later launched some of the first attacks against Afghanistan. The ship's captain was Adm. James A. Winnefeld, who now serves as the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

It has been returning to that region of the world ever since then, including during its 25th and final deployment that ended last month.

"She just served on the cutting edge at the tip of the spear when she returned here in November," Chief of Naval Operations Jonathan Greenert said. "It's shown that the aircraft carrier can evolve as a platform with many payloads relevant for five decades and will be part of our national security for the foreseeable future as we bring on the Gerald Ford to replace the Enterprise."

The Gerald R. Ford will be the first of a new class of aircraft carriers, but it will be several more years before it joins the fleet. Temporarily reducing the number of aircraft carriers to 10 required special congressional approval. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert said the Navy would closely watch how the increased operational tempo will affect sailors. In February, the USS Abraham Lincoln will begin a four-year refueling complex overhaul in Newport News, Va., which will also take it out of rotation.
Greenert said the Navy wants to continue having two aircraft carriers operating simultaneously in the Middle East through March, but he said he wasn't sure if that would continue past then.

While the Enterprise was inactivated Saturday, it will be several more years before it is fully decommissioned. Its nuclear fuel must first be removed by punching gigantic holes in the ship, rendering it unfit for service or turning it into a museum. It will eventually be towed to Washington state for scrapping.

The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier was the eighth U.S. ship to bear the name Enterprise, but it won't be the last. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said in a video message that a future aircraft carrier would be named USS Enterprise, after the delivery of the USS Gerald R. Ford and the USS John F. Kennedy.

Mabus' announcement drew a standing ovation from those on hand at Saturday's ceremony. Current and former crew members have lobbied heavily to preserve Enterprise's name so its legacy will live on.

"It just seems to be a neat name for a ship. It's better than being named for a politician," said Larry Kosnopfal, one of the ship's original crew members, who now lives in Chadfield, Minn.

When the future USS Enterprise joins the fleet, its commanding officer will be handed a 200-pound time capsule filled with Enterprise memorabilia that includes notes from sailors, insignia and small pieces of the ship. The time capsule was delivered to Greenert for safekeeping until that future commanding officer is chosen.
___
Brock Vergakis can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/BrockVergakis

USS Enterprise, World's 1st Nuclear-Powered Aircraft Carrier, Taken Out Of Active Service (PHOTOS)

http://www.alipac.us/f19/10-000-u-s-...7/#post1316888

NWV News - Defense spending: Pentagon wastes billions on non-military projects

Billion-dollar US nuclear sub comes off worst in Strait of Hormuz collision with ‘fishing boat’

Published: 11 January, 2013, 19:33



USS Jacksonville (SSN-699)

The USS Jacksonville, a large nuclear submarine, has broken its periscope after colliding with a vessel which escaped unscathed. This is the latest collision to involve a US vessel in the busy and tense oil chokepoint of the Strait of Hormuz.

The American sub was performing a routine pre-dawn patrol when seamen heard a “thump”, according to a Navy source who spoke to several news agencies. The crew tried to ascertain the damage by looking into its periscope, only to realize it was no longer working. The other periscope on the submarine revealed that the first one had been “sheared off”.

It appears the ‘fishing trawler’ that collided with the 7,000-tonne submarine was not only undamaged, but barely noticed the accident.

“The vessel continued on a consistent course and speed, offering no indication of distress or acknowledgement of a collision,” says an official statement published on the US Navy website.

Authorities insist that USS Jacksonville is in no immediate danger.

“The reactor remains in a safe condition, there was no damage to the propulsion plant systems and there is no concern regarding watertight integrity,” they said.

The cost of repairing the damaged periscope are as yet unclear, but the discontinued Los Angeles-class submarines, to which USS Jacksonville belongs, would cost over $1 billion to build in today’s money (the sub was launched in 197.

USS Jacksonville has now returned to Bahrain, where its damage will be assessed.

The Strait of Hormuz, by far the world’s busiest oil choke point and less than 40km across at its narrowest, has been a scene of several collisions since tension has risen between Iran and the US over the past two years.

The latest spiral of tension in the waterway, which is controlled by Iran on the north side, and US allies Oman and the United Arab Emirates on south, started with the gradual imposition of sanctions on the export of Iranian oil to most Western countries over the last two years.

In response, Iran has repeatedly threatened to close the strait, which transits a third of the world’s sea-borne oil, through ‘asymmetrical’ measures such as laying extensive minefields.

To counter the threat, the US and its allies have deployed what UK media has reported is the biggest concentrated naval force since World War II.

In the crowded passageway, with distrustful captains from dozens of nations operating at cross-purposes, collisions are inevitable.

Most notably, in August last year a Japanese oil tanker left a 3-meter-wide hole in the side of Navy destroyer USS Porter.

Billion-dollar US nuclear sub comes off worst in Strait of Hormuz collision with