Why did you lie when you said to consider every cost? Now when a US sailor onboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower gave birth during active operations against ISIS? Did you add the costs of the worlds most expensive diapers after having to airlift them onto the carrier? Did you? ;-)
I got to go into one at Newport News when I was a kid. I was told that the surface was about 50 feet over my head. I don't think the one I was in would hold a carrier though.
I worked at nns I never really liked walking next to the drydock as I'm afraid of heights. The new carriers are huge and watching big blue with a super lift was cool. I would love to see a video on the Virginia class submarines.
I work at Newport News shipyard (just over a year now), they really are mind boggling large, but fun fact: they were not designed for building carriers.. at the time the drydocks were built the shipyard was owned by a merchant ship company and built the big cargo ships.. the drydocks were designed for those. That merchant company sold newport news shipyard to Huntington Ingals and they happily used them for building carriers...which might I add just BARELY fits these drydocks... carriers are much heavier lol
The Kevlar actually is designed as the final barrier in any attack, including a missile attack, from steel fragments kwown as "Spall". When there's an explosion the steel of the ship itself turns into shrapnel and this "Spall" can then pierce vital areas. The Kevlar is there just like in a bulletproof vest to stop those projectiles.
CIWS is casually said like 'sea-whiz' and the SRBOC was 'super arr bach.' The AN/SLQ-32(V) has several versions based on the platform, the carriers had V4, and SLQ was said 'slick' by the operators and they also worked the chaff launchers. Since we were responsible for those chaff launchers, we use to prank the new guy by making them think we tested our chaff launchers with cheap stuff to save on costs, so delegated them to cut 1 inch wide and 4 inches long of aluminium foil and then give it 2 twists in the middle to make the wings for it to float. They had to do that until a trashbag was full, they were then sent to CIC to ask the TAO where they wanted the chaff staged while we stood nearby giggling. We had a lot of time to kill during deployments sometimes. The guys on the flight deck are some of the hardest working people I've ever seen, not always of their own volition. Flight deck gets extra pay for a reason, I was on the USS Kitty Hawk when one of her deck wires snapped almost 15 years ago, responded as a stretcher bearer, 6 injured with a couple lost legs, thankfully a nearby helo took the worst of it.
Can't do Portsmouth without mentioning Belfast Lough, the largest natural harbour in the UK and birthplace of the Titanic. Though feck Harlan and Wolff Shipyards, those bigoted Unionist bastards.
I think this exchange could not have happened. America would just have stood there dumbfounded, it's mouth slightly open. It would have been completely incapable to understand why anyone would ever not need a 100.000 ton aircraft carrier. Afterwards it would have never talked to the other guy again.
@@Rubashow exactly. And you know what? We have 10+ 100,000tn nuclear powered carriers. So put that in your pipe and smoke it! (Directed at whoever would suggest otherwise, not you :) )
My best friend was stationed on Nimitz 8 years ago. When I visited her in Washington I was lucky enough to go onto the ship and see the flight tower she works in, the cafeteria, the sleeping quarters and the flight deck. They are floating cities! It was an amazing experience.
Ford was never voted by anyone to be president. He was on the Warren Commission and was selected to replace the rebumpkin VP Agnew for corruption. Then when rebumpkin nixon was booted out of office, ford stepped in.
I spent a few years on the USS Nimitz. I was a Radar/Comms/Nav Electronic Technician. Its a massive ship, but i liked life on a small ship better. You can spend years on that ship and never meet half of the people unlike the smaller ships that are more personal.
I was an AT, Aviation Electronics Tech. I only went out on CV's. I did get to visit FFG's and DD's and the crew dynamic was totally different. Think small town to big city.
Yeah i can imagine. Even the arleigh burke have ~300 crews on board, right? Its like knowing ur batchmate from school vs the entire population of a university.
My dad spent a few years on the USS Ranger, a smaller aircraft carrier, and said he liked smaller ships better. Less crowded, better food, and more comradery while being less formal. On aircraft carriers some people also spend virtually all day inside and never get much of a chance to get outside or even near a window, he said he felt like a mole since he was an electrician and spent almost all his time in the bowels of the ship
I’d love to see a video on the panama canal and it’s locks, which literally connect two oceans by splitting a continent in half. Edit: I am aware that he did a video on the geographics channel about the canal, but I still feel like it would make for a good video topic on mega projects as well
So we want a dry dock, so do it. Look in the “Öresundsbron” the bridge that connects Sweden and Denmark, not the biggest or the longest but for sure a mega project in its own. Man made island and all :)
Yeah,don't know why we want these before they are ready, at least they should be modular so if one part breaks another could be substituted,as it is the Gerald For does not carry the F-35,which is the whole point of an advanced carrier to carry the most advanced aircraft. We'll get them fixed, but will take some effort.BTW the shit pipes are not big enough so every two months expensive acid treatments are needed.
@@JustaPilot1 Dont pay them much mind. Theyre like ants complaining about the heat being put off by a super computer... Like yes, they might be warm but, ugh... Super computers do a hell of a lot more than create heat.... Tl:dr: They can't comprehend the scope of improvement or all the intricacies associated
As a US merchant sailor who has sailed in the most dangerous water’s in the world I can say nothing is more reassuring then seeing one of these with a destroyer or two in the horizon
The greatest thing about Nuclear reactors is consistent speed. I was on the USS Arkansas, one of the last Nuclear cruisers. Us, the Carl Vinson, and the Uss California, formed the last battlegroup foxtrot, all, nuke powered ships. We cruised from the Persian Gulf to Melbourne, Australia in 11 days, averaging 25 knots. At that speed, Any other destroyer or cruiser would run out of gas in under 3000 miles. Also, the carrier can easily go at 45 knots if needed.
K so as mentioned in the video it is factually called a US Carrier Strike Group? Every real US sailor knows a US CBG only forms during ... war? So what war would that be?
@@Lawrence330 You are correct. Those who did in fact serve know loose lips sink ships. No way anyone who took the oath is going to blabbermouth some BS online for the world to see.
@@MrFlatage the odds of it hitting 45 knots in open ocean for any length of time are most likely zero as you'd need calm flat seas and a Captain willing to run the reactors to red line or even beyond. Design wise might be capable theoretically, but practically no. Like with an Abrams tank, you can hit 40-45 mph on flat level ground. Take the governor off it however, well, it can A LOT faster LMAO! But that will imperil the tank and treads so you don't do it. This is why military spending is so high, EVERYTHING is over engineered to the next level, but then must be over protected to ensure it's survivability either by operator error or enemy action.
@@ayushsuyayush Building Construction Management (BCM) is not Civil Engineering. Get a focus that teaches you design, not how to be a good project manager.
@@diekemperd what if I want to be a project manager? What if my skills incline me towards that line of work? I never really understood the structure elitism in this industry. Why do people pride so much in being a structural engineer and bash on other engineers? Do clarify.
I'll give you a better answer, about the one in NN. Kiln is laid ship it put together, some stuff is installed. Then, the dock is flooded and the ship is sent to another pier for finishing and completion.
@Skunk Ape Oh come on comparing is fun and makes good points. Officials on the morning of June 16 placed a weighted sled at the end of Catapult 1. The catapult officer gave the command, the shooter pressed the launch button inside the cab, and … nothing. Not nothing in my opinion. The camera's then turning toward the faces of Matt Mulherin, president of Newport News Shipbuilding and Capt. John Meier, Ford's commanding officer? Just priceless. Worth more even then a 14 billion carrier that to this very day cannot even launch one single fully loaded jetfighter. Unless those are your taxdollars? If that was the case I'd be pretty pissed by now.
@Skunk Ape Sorry I serve my mighty red, white and blue in my great land of the free and home to the brave? So only truth and fact here sorry. No one can change a fact. Just like we know for a fake it is a crime under 18 U.S. Code § 1028? Even if you had a real name? Anyone claiming to have served must submit their Proof of Service or again it is in fact a criminal act. Remember that people can and will proof read these laws? Pretending those laws are not there is rather ... silly? Now your little rant is pointless really. Meanwhile back in reality? The hacking group Team Digital already walked onto the Truman. Got into the nuclear reactor rooms and copied all the data and schematics. Now your pretend claim is that ... never happened when we can all proof read it did in fact happen? So why go into denial troll mode? Rants do not ensure stuff. We know what really happened sorry. Screaming fact when there are no facts from you. Sad! I served the day I was born? Official enlisted at 6yo? Or maybe I served during Northern Star? Remember a Perisher sub 6 feet under the hull of a US carrier for 3 weeks? We could have drilled holes into the hull flooding those reactor rooms. Or more easy the engine room? But all we did was send a diver out to bang on the hull at the strike of midnight for 3 weeks. No matter your nation? Sailors are a superstitious lot. Then on the last day of the exercise we sank the entire US CBG. Even my 7yo called Avengers assemble and defeated Captain Kirk himself in the best ship he had. Then he lost his ship. To gain command of your own ship at 12yo? Yes he must become a Ripper. Sink a US CBG at full strenght in under 10 mins. No technology, 1960s weapons and less then 100 men available. But yea when the first Ripper did that in the real world? They even called him a liar and a cheat because they could not accept the reality of what he had just done. Now his book is a mandatory read at the US Naval Academy.
@Skunk Ape I believe it. My older sister was my sponsor, the stories I heard were hilarious and terrifying. Also, hitting my head on F/A-18 underbellies and tails was a bit of a cage rattler for me. I didn't think they were short enough for that to be a problem.
G'day Simon, Yes, of course I want to see a Megaproject on the USS Gerald R. Ford, if only to see that electromagnetic launcher system at work. Back before 9/11, my home port of Hobart, Tasmania was regularly chosen by ships’ companies. Apparently, then, they could vote on alternative stop-offs on the return voyage. We were visited by Nimitz class carriers that would stop for a few days R&R plus provisioning. I'm lucky enough to have been invited on-board three of them by various CPOs. They truly are amazingly huge. Sailors have told me they've been on-board for over two years and, still, sometimes get lost in the endless warren of passageways. The food on-board was surprisingly good, although most crews were truly sick of US style BBQ food which is the main part of their diets. Unlike the RN and RAN, the US Navy doesn't allow alcohol on-board any of their ships, so by the time the crew dropped anchors in Hobart they were desperate for beer and, universally, they all raved about Tasmanian beers which are significantly stronger than most US versions. Before leaving each carrier would put on an 'air show' for the people of Hobart; a most impressive spectacle; not so much aerobatics but their displays of low-level attack formations were just as exciting. Thanks so much, Simon, a riveting video, so, bring on the Gerald Ford! Cheers, BH
I'd like to see an episode on the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor. It's expected to be the most expensive structure ever built and will likely allow life-changing scientific research when it's completed.
My dad served on the Carl Vinson on the ships internal comms. Basically he worked for the carrier's telephone company. Told me one task he had was installing a phone jack and phone in the admiral's bathroom as one was not placed in there in the ship's original design. You know, in case an emergency call comes in while the admiral is busy dropping a torpedo. They don't carry nuclear missiles. There are surrounded by plenty of other ships and subs that do. But in a pinch the flight deck could be converted into a launch platform if needed.
Well, the carrier itself doesn't burn F76 like the gas-turbine powered "small boys" do, but the airplanes and helicopters all burn JP5 and the many, many vehicles (tow tractors, scissor lifts, recovery boats, etc) burn either F76 or JP5 as they're chemically similar.
Very very rough math... somewhere around 7 MILLION gallons a year saved. That's travelling 100,000 miles a year at a burn-rate of 75 feet per gallon. A 60,000-ton boat will burn at a rate of 75-200 feet per gallon, so I'm assuming one 50% larger will probably average on the lower-end of that scale. As a point of comparison, the HMS Queen Elizabeth has stores for 1 million gallons of fuel for her own engines. So, over the course of a 20-year nuclear refuel, that's about 150 MILLION GALLONS of fuel not burned.
As underway replenishment electrician I was on duty when we took on 5 million gallons of JP5 (jet fuel) . Having nuclear reactors frees up a lot of space for jet fuel storage.
@@megaprojects9649: Yeah, nuclear power is orders of magnitude more energy-dense than fossil fuel. 1 kilogram of enriched uranium can generate the same amount of usable power as _3 MILLION KILOGRAMS_ of coal. People are right to want proper safety protocols for nuclear power, but they are wrong to resist implementing nuclear power. If we were really serious about preventing global climate change, we'd be building nuclear power plants as fast as possible.
Many disasters all over the world recently. Even for the US it's been one after another. Katrina, Sandy, Puerto Rico? The list goes on. But where are these carriers when that happens? Yes they can. Yes they should. But they don't.
the real question is, why dont they then? puerto rico could really have used that. seeing how they werent needed for anything else this whole time, whats the deal.
@@MrFlatage while Puerto Rico could have used it it would have not helped that much, the power would be supplied to big cities with ports. The cities would also have power sooner either way. Aid money would help more than a carrier because electrical infrastructure would have to be built to deliver the power to the more rural areas where it got destroyed, without the infrastructure to deliver the power it is useless.
@@redhairdavid From an engineering point of view, you will need to connect MASSIVE cables to transfer the 100MW of electrical power that the nuclear generators can make. Finding adequately rated transformers along the shore would be difficult too, since domestic distribution transformers have low power ratings. At the end of the day, you need to somehow get all that power to a substation so that transmission level voltages are met and it can power a decent area. And the only way to electrically reach said substations would be via the low powered distribution transformers. They will simply heat and burn up. One would also have to isolate non functional parts of the grid (which may have shorted loads, hazardous, or simply beyond the power rating of the carrier) with protection switchgear, again, which really again turns into a lot of connectivity issues. On top of all that, stuff like ships and aeroplanes have higher frequency AC voltages, since with higher frequencies, the size of a transformer capable of dealing with a particular power reduces, also reducing weight of electrical equipment. Supplying 400Hz of AC voltage to systems designed for 50Hz would cause havoc.
@Skunk Ape Considering your anti American fake name you hide behind we can all assume you are no US citizen. Any US citizen and even anyone from a free country? Could easily proof read and fact check ... the annual US Defense Budget? Why ask for something anyone educated knows where to look up? You have any honour or pride left by now? Sorry my obligation is and will always be the People. Not some weak corrupt cowardly goverment? Sorry a good man needs no rules. I remember those very US rules and laws hurled at me on the coms by the US Navy screaming like schoolgirls. Now they all turned around and ran for the watery hills because following orders means any 'obligation' means to break the oath you took and abandon their own people? Not me and my crew and again I apologize for crapping all over your 'obligations'. 180 of us told the USN to go F themselves. One single ship flew it's red, white and blue high and one single ship turned ... toward a active CAT 5 hurricane. Sailing through violating America's territorial waters. All those 10.000s of Americans on the roofs of their flooded homes abandoned by their own had only prayers left for a quick depth. Actually saw those prayers answered when our helo's parted the heavens above them. And yes my boots deployed onto US soil itself crushing the US Constitution that prevents troop deployment onto US soil. And yes when U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense, Peter C.W. Flory pinned metal stuff on our chests and I saw that cowardly MoFo Bush? Totally gave him the finger to his face. Then we built an actual wall? Remember that? Yea you go worry about your 'money', 'costs' and 'obligations'. You cannot stop us.
Meriones you mean other than their law system been the basis for law in Europe and the USA of which Cicero is always taught. Their administration which is used today their calendar which is used today. Their engineering achievements which laid the foundation for modern clean water and sewage systems. Their social programs to feed their poor. Their military reforms Marius mules which modern military’s use to this day. Their brand of representative democracy which again is used today or their establishment of major cities around Europe, their stoic philosophy from emperors Marcus Arelious. And if you’re American you named one of your houses of representatives after the roman government the senate.
@@DeltaDarbyLiberator they created the basis for European civilization, then the renaissance when the eastern empire finally fell. Man you need to read up on your history man.
I may be biased, being from NC, but I think the North Carolina class may be more appropriate for a megaproject, hear me out: when they were built they were the biggest, most heavily armed, fastest, most technologically advanced warships on earth. No disrespect to the mighty Iowas, but they're effectively larger improved versions of the NC class.
@@cleverusername9369 As were the South Dakota's but the Iowa's sported better more powerful guns, considerably thicker armor, more powerful engines, and yes all the best technology developed up to that point. The Nimitz class is just a much bigger version of the Forestall design.
My brother spent most of his time in the Navy taking care of the reactor on the USS Theodore Roosevelt. Imagine having the lives of hundreds of seaman, and billions of dollars being dangled in front of some dials and valves. Crazy stuff
Imagine taking care of a reactor on land. Fuck up slightly and a huge swathe of land is without power for a while, mess up big and its a national crisis.
When I joined the Navy, the Nimitz had already been in service for eight years. When I finished my naval career twenty years later, the Nimitz was still in service. Now, I retired almost 20 years ago....and the Nimitz is still in service. Impressive.
I had the honor of being a flight deck final checker. GREATEST JOB IN THE WORLD Plane captain was a great job for a junior airman of about 20 years old. It's pretty sobering to be responsible for a multimillion dollar weapons platform bouncing around the Indian ocean at 3 am in inky darkness except for hundreds of flashing lights as you dance among the flight deck, constantly aware that a moment of distraction can kill you.
The idea that a single distraction could have catastrophic consequences gives my ADHD brain serious anxiety. Good to know there are people who can do that.
I wish he had mentioned the craziest aspect of the arresting gear on a carrier. When a pilot lands they do not throttle down the power until they have been hooked and actually go full power just before landing. This is so if they miss one of the wires they have enough power to get back into the air and come back around for another pass.
@@Construimus_Batuimus Nah never happened. First thing you learn real US sailors before they ever set foot of any flightdeck? Yes wear your protective gear at all times. So you never even past basic training. US law calls that ... Stolen Valor. Happens when you have no Proof of Service. ;-)
@@MrFlatage Not so true. As an OS, we are sent out in bad weather to help the regular lookouts to visually spot ships and listen for foghorns. We always asked for some type of hearing protection and was told, "No, you need to listen for the foghorns." And our response was, " We can't hear anything due to the ringing in our ears and when we could hear again flight ops started again."
yeah, speaking of huge, drydocks... making of The “Troll A” Oil Platform in the North Sea, maybe possibly? Wiki - The Troll A platform has an overall height of 472 metres (1,549 ft), weighs 683,600 tons (1.2 million tons with ballast) and has the distinction of being the tallest and heaviest structure ever moved by mankind. ... until we start making "fusion candle planet thrusters" to relocate gas giant planets kind of megaprojects, lol. Great content by the way Simon and crew. B)
Mr Z. I seem to have heard the Troll A has been replaced by BP Thunderhorse platform as largest floating structure. But your right oilfield deepwater structures are incredibly huge. Make a good garage for a carrier.
My sis was stationed on the HST as a nuke reactor operator. Got to visit the ship for a family cruise day. To say they are vast doesnt quite do it justice. It's not until you are walking on the flight deck while the wind is blowing 45 mph as you go underway. Then suddenly, F18s catapult off the flight deck with a searing blast. They scream by and you see the misty cloud cone around the nose of the jet and BOOM! Sound barrier with a chest pounding hit. Simply amazing, was a privilege to get to visit it.
I am confused. What is this 'impossible'? Is that even a word? Nah our Pioneering Spirit is in fact the world largest ship ever contructed. Now a Nimitz or even a Ford class goes up to 100.000 tons. PS is 400+ tons and could just pick up one of these aircraft carriers and put it on ... one of it's decks. Yes also a multi hull. In theory it could pick up 3 aircraft carriers and run off with them. With the US navy in hot persuit probably. ;-) Dry docks are so ancient history.
When Jimmy Carter went to Haiti to negotiate a settlement wit the military leader it was said that he mentioned the carriers en-route and said, "Let me explain to you the concept of 'Firepower'..." ... They signed the agreement.
Chris Marshall agree with the second part of your comment completely. I personally know a lot of South Vietnamese individuals who would disagree with you.
@ I don't think you are right. One famous example is the plot to get rid of Iranian Prime Minister Mossadegh, who was elected by the Iranian people, and who wanted to nationalize the oil industry. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat Another example is the US-Mexican war: President Polk followed the interests of the US in the overall power play, but from a legal standpoint he played with marked cards by ordering his troop to provoke an incident in order to convince Congressmen to officially declare war on Mexico. It is not a fair game if a big bully in the neighbourhood supresses the skinny guys, and it is not a fair game, if the US as the mighty imperium - which it is undoubtedly is - does not act according to international law. Please have a look at the UN Charter, Art. 2.4: All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state ... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charter_of_the_United_Nations#Article_2
I work at Newport News Shipbuilding. Started in '09 as a welder working on the FORD. Have worked on the FORD(CVN78), the new KENNEDY(CVN79), the new ENTERPRISE(CVN80), and the ROSSEVELT(CVN71). PLEASE do videos on the differences between the 2 classes and on the dry dock.
A friend of mine is a firefighter on one of these ships. She talked about sailing through the Suez Canal while Egyptian soldiers with RPG's on both sides of the ship and everyone on board was just thinking, "Try it. I dare you." Also, she had muscles bigger than most men I know after working that job.
Given the security forces on a supercarrier (which since the 1980s/1990s no longer comprises Marines unless there's a Marine Aviation attachment on the carrier) which are basically at a battalion level most likely, that would be very unwise for anyone to try. Also sad that USS Bonhomme Richard suffered the fire it did the other day. Yeah, not a supercarrier, but an LHD is still a carrier and still pretty big. Thankfully no one has died, but the ship was heavily damaged.
They don’t actually have to be used in a conflict. Just the mere presence of one of these off your shores is probably enough to make you rethink any hostile actions against a US ally
sheldon pereira I know. I read about that!! Pretty big target and a pretty big oops with that one!! Hey at least it was a “game” so hopefully the US learned something!!
I often wonder how many despots and warlords were thinking of doing something horrible and then went "uhhhh actually that could really piss of the US, screw it I don't need that kind of heat." The US gets a lot of criticism for some of it's foreign policy moves, and justifiably so, but they never get any credit for the fact their mere presence around the world no doubt stops evil people from committing horrible acts. I've also found everyone ignores the massive hypocrisy that so many hate it when the US takes matters into their own hands while ignoring they're the first one everybody calls when they need help with humanitarian relief, disaster assistance, and search and rescue because their worldwide reach means they're most likely to have something in the area that could assist. And they help far more than some might realize because their critics of course never mention it when they do. You can criticize the bad things a country does and still admit they do a lot of good too, yet I almost never see anyone praise the US for the good it does do.
At ~20:50 the observation of never having the need of 10... Just the fact that the United States Navy can park these ships off a hostile country's shore - ready to open a can of world-class whoop-ass the likes of which Earth has never seen - is a show of force that has prevented many brutal conflicts.
Great job as always Simon. Your comments at the end, "do we need aircraft carriers..." These things PROJECT POWER out into the ocean.... You park this thing off the coast of a city... Everyone in town can see it... they know it's there... they know it can level the town on 20 minutes notice.... The projection of power, is probably as important, and maybe more important, than the use of that power.... So while a foreign government might be running their mouths in public, in private, behind closed doors, they are probably asking "Okay, what kind of deal are you looking for here... what would it take, for you to withdraw your carrier battle group..."
@fizzydinosaur He's the very person we got the word dictator from? You think he was actually voted for to become dictator? Or did he twist around anything that came near the guy?
Sometimes while I listen to UA-cam, Simon comes on and I don't even attempt to figure out which of his 8,000 channels it's coming from. I love them all.
Knew about the Glomar Explorer, didn’t know “Glomar response” was a thing. Funny! Fun fact: In 2014 the CIA opened its twitter account with “We can neither confirm nor deny that this is our first tweet.” Allegedly
@@Jim-ie6uf The US Constitution states they need a mandatory number of US carriers and then states:'Iraq, Iran, Noko, and China'? Can you please tell me exactly where I can read that word for word. Sounds like BS.
Excellent video! I was in the Navy in the early 90's as a Hospital Corpsman on the USS Constellation (CV-64), yes, I wore a white shirt when I worked the flight deck providing emergency medical coverage.
Ford was never voted by anyone to be president. He was on the Warren Commission and was selected to replace the rebumpkin VP Agnew for corruption. Then when rebumpkin nixon was booted out of office, ford stepped in.
The film staring the iconic USS Nimitz, The Final Countdown (1980). Featuring Tomcats years before Top Gun. If you want to see the USS Nimitz doing the Imperial Star Destroyer, watch the opening. If you want to see the USS Nimitz in action, watch the film. "If the United States falls under attack our job is to defend her in the past, present and future." "And after that?" "After that, we take our orders from the Commander in Chief of the United States Armed Forces." Captain Yelland, USS Nimitz. "Franklin Delano Roosevelt?" Warren Lasky, December 6th 1941 ... The Final Countdown (1980)
Both my parents only spent sea duty on carriers, including the Nimitz and the Vinson, because they were both ATs. This one was especially cool for me to watch :)
During my time in the Navy, every Forrestal class carrier carried nuclear weapons when deployed. I can only assume the newer ones do also. Carriers have loiter time. That means it can give effective air support to ground troops 24/7 365. When something bad happens in the world, the President's first question is, "Where's the nearest carrier?"
That was the height of the Cold War where delivery systems of ICBMs had not fully matured. In nowadays ICBMs silos at home and strategic submarines capable of retaliatory strikes should be more than enough. Those would count their warheads in the hundreds. Carting around nukes is a risky proposition so why do it when you have dedicated nuclear forces who can do it better and are specialized in it? Other than that, yeah, those carriers do mostly "showing the flag" deterrent by being the biggest, meanest weapon platform around and outnumbering a lot of air forces.
@@mangalores-x_x "I can neither confirm or deny" should not even be a question anymore. George H.W. Bush had all the nukes removed from surface warships in 1991 or 1992(ish). Why does everyone forget this? Did Bill Clinton or George Jr reverse that?
ROBERT GENTILE First, thank you for your service, sir. Second, actually there is no second. Just hearing about this breaks my heart and leaves me with no words. Some things just can not be fixed, they just have to be endured and analyzed in hopes of preventing a repeat. Hope the powers that be did that to perfection. Third, Let those that died rest in peace. To those that lived (including the families of those that died) we owe all we can do to help them heal.
I was a IS2 with VA-35 that night the EA6B crashed on the flight deck. Nothing like waking up to "Fire on the flight deck" coming out of the 1MC. Luckily only 3 or 4 guys from the my squadron were injured.
I understand that calling a Nimitz class carrier a "dreadnought" is a bit of poetic license (playing on the meaning of the word and not referring to the history of warships), but it might be confusing to some people if they view a video on Dreadnoughts, since they are battleships and not carriers. Up until the launch of HMS Dreadnought, battleship design had been evolutionary. HMS Dreadnought was a revolution in battleship design. HMS Dreadnought instantly made every other battleship afloat and under construction not just obsolete, but laughably obsolete. The British Empire essentially told the rest of the world, "You might as well send your battleships to the shipbreakers now, 'cause you got nuthin'." Every naval power freaked and started scrapping the pre-Dreadnought battleships and building Dreadnought type battleships. The battleships of WWII (the last battleships to be built) were pretty much just tweaked and enlarged Dreadnought designs and are often referred to as super-Dreadnoughts. So yeah, HMS Dreadnought and the Dreadnought type of battleships were kind of a big thing.
You overhype it a little there had been several revolutionary changes before the dreadnought and were several after it and the dreadnought was only capable of winning a fight against 2 or 3 of the latest pre-dreadnoughts (undeneyably a vast leap forwards but not the complete and utter obsolescence you imply - pre dreadnoughts were in fact active in the main fleets of both the Royal navy and the Krigsmarine well into world war I). That being said the dreadnought certainly deserves an episode
You could argue that carriers did also do the dreadnought thing. From the humble beginnings as a suport to the fleet ship, carriers made battleships obsolete in WW2
Thank you Sir for your video. I had the opportunity to serve on a Midway class carrier, USS Franklin D Roosevelt, while I was in the Navy. Being a part of the airwing as a helicopter maintenance person. Standing on any carrier during flight ops is truly something to behold.
Just a comment....I’m a former Navy wife. Persian Gulf War/Dessert Storm/Dessert Shield. My husband was on the USS CAMDEN...a support ship for the Nimitz. The Camden has been decommissioned. I had the pleasure of watching the Nimitz and all it’s crew come in to Pudget Sound Naval Ship Yard WA. It was an amazing day that I’ll never forget. The glory of the white uniforms on the flight deck WOW! Watching my husband and crew disembark During Desert Storm was something that very few will ever experience. No video could possibly provide what the experience is actually like, no!!!! I was one of the last people literally to walk off of that dock...until all I could see of the USS CAMDEN was a dot in the distance. I will never forget that day for my entire life😔😌 Proud to be, sadly, an X Navy wife👍🏼❤️ They are giants in person! Sure they’re big on film but entirely not the same as in person! Sadly lived there during a manifesting war but I’m thankful and blessed for the experience😌
I was a Navy wife stationed in Bremerton WA from 1989 to 1991👍🏼 The vessels are breath taking😌 Will never forget the day I watched the Nimitz come home😌 Breath taking🇺🇸
@20:40: I think the "need" for ten carriers is seen as having a two ocean navy (so to speak). Two in the Atlantic, two in the Med, two in the Pacific and two in the Indian Ocean and two at home for resupply and minor repairs/upgrades and crew downtime. Of course they can shuffle them around as they need to but I think the goal is to have some pretty close to wherever they are needed on short notice.
Submarines eat Carriers, or most any surface combatant, for breakfast. I'm not a bubble head either, I'm a black shoe, so that's coming from someone who's most definitely not biased.
Fun fact: the BIG "E" was the first nuclear carrier and had 8 reactors the extra 4 came from the first Kennedy, His estate didn't want his carrier to be nuclear powered because he was against it
Even when you're in the military, there are a few things that never stop being impressive: the Blue Angels, the gun on the A10 Warthog, and the sheer fucking size of an aircraft carrier
USS Just Clean Ship.......when I was in service the JCS was the carrier used for a lot of photo/video ops and hosted lots of dignitaries. The crew spent more time cleaning than actual flight ops lol
The Phalanx turrets (the ones that look like R2-D2) are warmly called a C-Wiz (CIWS - Close in Weapon System). Also, nuclear weapons are not typically deployed unless mission specific due to handling and safety issues. Most countries have a non-nuclear entry policy even though the reactor is in a closed loop system and doesn't have direct access to sea water. I assume they have this policy simply due to the ignorance with respect to nuclear energy and safety. **edit** None of the Nimitz-class carriers are fitted with Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch Systems (EMALS) primarily because it would have taken (years) to complete, and would have literally meant a complete upgrade to the electrical system and reactor plants, neither of which could be justified given the life cycles of the Nimitz CVNs. The steam catapult system is are incredibly maintenance intensive and going so far as to require a maintenance crew on standby for when they fail during flight operations. For comparison, this would be like having your mechanic in your car every where you go because you car keeps breaking down.
That last part is the Navy in a nutshell, honestly. I had an equipment breakdown after a brown out (bad power). I told my LT that I could fix it by manually "closing" a relay with a jumper wire while we were waiting for parts from another ship. I was told we had to reach out to off-ship engineering and request "technical assistance" to approve my suggestion. "Why am I here?" All those years I thought I was there to fix stuff, turns out I was just the middle man to tell them what needed fixing! There is a great meme of that, actually: www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.com%2Fpin%2F96053404531561543%2F&psig=AOvVaw0ObEIMmHyuQa6ll-MfEGjG&ust=1594318387716000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCMjl4fugvuoCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD
@@Lawrence330 It didn't used to be like that. We had the forced draft blower gasket burst on our way home which we ended up having the replacement overnighted to Singapore and spending the next 24h installing it. We even opened up the reduction gears once a year and did an inspection. There was a general push in the 00's to reduce the amount of training that shipsforces had when it came to maintenance/repair even going so far as to discontinue SIMA in lieu of contractors. Idiots.
I served with VS-33 as an AW2 Senso Operator in an S3-b on the USS Nimitz CVN-68 in '95. Being shot off and landing on a carrier is like nothing else in the world. 0 to 120 in 3.2 seconds and 160 to 0 in less than 2 seconds. I still have both parts of my "hold-back" fitting aka "cherry" (breaking release pin) from my first shot. CV's are cities on the seas. This is a great video but you could do 10 more and not cover half of the ship! It would be worth it to try! I'd love to see more vids about the carriers. Reminiscent for me... informational and entertaining for everyone else! Love all your channels!
One interesting fun fact about landing on an aircraft carrier is, as soon as the plane is "caught" by the arresting gear they go full throttle as soon as they touch down. That's in case they either miss the catch or if the gear snaps, they are already poised to take off again, instead of dumping into the sea.
@@MashMonster69 Our berthing was on O-3 near the brakes for the waist cats. Even with earplugs the vibration and shock of the shot took some time to learn to sleep through.
I would love to see a Megaprojects video about the development of the internet itself. I think it would be fitting seeing as how we all rely on it so heavily in our day to day lives, not to mention the impact it has had on global communication.
I'm not sure "the internet" is a megaproject. It evolved very organically. That said, modern datacenters are a megaproject, but you may be hard-pressed to be able to get enough info without signing away your rights to talk about it. There maybe be a specific stage of ARPA net that could squeeze in as a megaproject. I don't know that much about it.
Simon, I KNOW it's been almost a year since you did this one but if you haven't already please do a Megaprojects video on the differences between the Ford class and Nimitz class. The differences are pretty astounding. The sheer size of them boggles the mind.
At 6:08, estimated cost of a Nimitz class carrier over its projected 50-year service life is . . . $11,700,000,000/50 years $234,000,000/year $641,096/day $26,712/hour $445/minute $7.42/second
back in the 90s there was talk of extending the life of the carrier to 100 years. the hull itself is still solid, and there is ample room for upgrading equipment on ships of this size. but I think they learned a lesson with the drawdown of the US submarine fleet, in as important an asset the carrier itself is to national defense, so to is the industry that constructs and maintains them. if those places don't have work, the skills to build them is lost, and we nearly did that with our submarines.
And that doesn't include pay for the crew. I think that alone runs somewhere around $1 million a day - or did several years ago. Then again that could still be the case even with higher pay, as carriers now have fewer people than 30+ years ago. Thanks to improved technology and a smaller number of aircraft (and squadrons) not as many people are needed.
@@gauthamram8029 RE: "Walter Johnson missed three zeroes on the billion : but other numbers are right." Thanks for pointing that out; I've corrected it.
@@davidabarak RE: "And that doesn't include pay for the crew." Why not? It would seem logical that "operational costs" would include the pay of the crew that operates the ship. Besides, at 6:20, Simon states that ". . . that cost (operational cost) includes general maintenance and personnel costs . . ."
Why don't people reference "The Final Countdown" for carrier movies instead of Top Gun? It was filmed on the USS Nimitz, and has a TON of various footage from inside and outside the carrier - multiple launch sequences, a dog fight scene with a real missile fired, a real near crash by an F-14, etc. Top Gun can't hold that movie's jockstrap when it comes to awesome carrier footage, etc.
Dry Dock's !Their pivotal role during WW2 , the operations to destroy them ,continued dominance in naval superiority and the status it provides , including the huge engineering advancements , perfecting a vital tool in today's modern navies . The ability to return vital vessels to the fight ,can be the victory or defeat of a whole Navy! Loads of content .
@@simongleaden2864 Same. A day to get used to being out, and a day of being "land sick" after you're been out for a while. It's like being drunk, your equilibrium gets all askew.
@@Louis_Davout Speaking of submarines, President Jimmy Carter was an officer in Admiral Hyman Rickover's first Nuclear Navy. The most well known sub of which was the USS NAUTILUS.
"All 10 have never been needed at one time". One could argue, because of the deterrent of the prospect of attacking a country with 10 of these machines.
That, and the fact that only two or three might be needed for even a very strong opponent. The others would be performing due diligence to keep would be copy cats from getting uppity.
I laid out a somewhat reliable analysis of the need for 10 carriers, and having 10 basically gives us two carriers on deployment and one forward-deployed in Japan for quick response. The other seven carriers would be in various states of upkeep and their crews would be in various states of training.. Some of those seven, two at least, could be quickly pulled into a conflict if needed. When I was in the Navy we were getting ready for 'work-ups," a month-long period at sea of essentially full-tempo operations, preparing for our actual deployment. Typically after work-ups a carrier would be back home for a month or so before leaving for a six-month or longer deployment. However, on my second cruise there was some sort of conflict, I can't remember what, and there was a good chance we'd go on work-ups and then go straight to a deployment, with no time back home - an example of quickly making a carrier available for extended operations. We ended up not having to do that, but it would have been easy to do.
Way back when I was in, mid-1980s, we very much did - or did not - carry nuke weapons. We had specially-trained "nuke load teams" who did their practice loads on the hangar deck. The area was roped off (but visible) and guarded by armed Marines. Several times I saw nukes - or "nukes." What I saw may or may not have been real. They kept simulated nukes that had the same electrical circuitry as well as weight and balance characteristics. From what I was told, the nuke load teams never knew if they were loading a real weapon or a fake, it literally could have been either one, and the Navy didn't want them to know which they had. One small extra level of safety. The nukes themselves (or "nukes") were actually pretty unimpressive, streamlined almost like a rocket from a 1950s space movie. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B61_nuclear_bomb#/media/File:B-61_bomb.jpg) I was involved in a practice nuclear weapon drop in a simulator session and although the whole thing was pretty dull, my part was the dullest - I just followed the checklist and acknowledged what the other three guys were doing, the throwing of various switches, etc.
And correction to what Simon said... The words are :ci can neither confirm, nor deny, the presence of nuclear weapons on this, or any other military installation." I think I did phone watch for a few weeks, reporting to sub squadron in Norfolk, and was required to answer the phone with that statement...
The last "W" Division deployed on CV-67 in 1993 the year after that all surface ships were denuclearized since then the USN keeps their nukes on SSBN's. While they do keep a small number of B-61 gravity bombs in storage without a W division to handle them they can't be deployed.
I had just graduated Boot camp when Top Gun came out. Was in Nuclear power school when Hunt for Red October was published. Went on to serve on USS Dwight D Eisenhower for 4 years. The power and performance is impressive. But, God it is a lot of work. 16 hour days, 7 days a week.
You can really tell the amount of appreciation and excitement Simon has regarding his success and growing popularity! So cool to see 😎 thank you so much for continuing to create content for us all, your videos are some of my favorite!
I was an EM nuke onboard the Nimitz (cvn-68) from 05-07 and I love simon and all his vids - we were at coronado island (San Diego) just as the USS Reagan (one of the first ford classes, I believe) was being tested/ commissioned. Anyway, I would LOVE to see you do a vid on the Ford class carriers, thanks and keep it up!
It would have been good to go into the daily logistics of running one of these mammoths - feeding the crew 3/4 times a day, washing their clothes, etc. A work colleague was ex-Royal Navy and seconded to the John Stennis. Told me amazing stories about its capabilities - it's ability to map the Med with 3 sweeps of its radar, carrying AWACS aircraft constantly prowling the skies - and how scary the prospect of trying to confront one of these things would have been.
Yes, thumbs up for a MP video on dry docks! The oldest one still in use in Europe was built in England in the 13th century however, the history of the original dry docks goes back to the Phonecians.
The Ranger, Enterprise and Carl Vinson were used in the film.. The beginning of the movie and all the "Sunset and interior shots" was filmed on Enterprise. The Ranger (a Forrestal Class carrier) and Vinson (Nimitz class) were used in some of the take off and landing scenes. Enterprise was not a Forrestal class, it was its own Class, it had major differences from the Forrestal class.
That is true Big E was unique unto her own.. single design in her class and the better for it! She was a beast! Can’t wait until we get the new one coming down the road a few years yet.
American arrogance at its finest. BTW the Brits were successful in the Falklands Islands but the Americans in Vietnam ............. not so much. It is not the size, it is how you use it.
@C B So the USS Ford doesn't work. Cannot launch even a single fully loaded jet. Guess you are sore cos the QE can do that one after the other. Over and over again. Yes the UK has built an aircraft carrier that ... works. You can be sore all you want on how the US failed to do that. But facts are just facts. They don't care about who feels what. Which unit did you serve in during this War of 1812? Sounds like fake news.
In 1994 I was stationed on USS JOHN F KENNEDY CV67 and before we went to drydock we off loaded all the ammo to the brand new USS GEORGE WASHINGTON. It took 3 days working 24hrs per day
@@imnotahippie22 so many times there will be the name of a popular movie in the script and after mentioning the title Simon will say "I've never seen it"
When he said "I'm your host" I swear I was expecting "I'm ya boi witha blaze" I've been watching too much Business Blaze...allegedly... Only one solution: re-watch all of it! Again
Get started with World of Tanks today: tanks.ly/2A0YMAE
Yeah DryDock, sorry Danny
Calling World of Tanks a "historical" game is like saying Doom is "realistic"...
Why did you lie when you said to consider every cost?
Now when a US sailor onboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower gave birth during active operations against ISIS? Did you add the costs of the worlds most expensive diapers after having to airlift them onto the carrier?
Did you? ;-)
Wargaming missed out - this should have been sponsored by World of Warships
Grasberg Mine, from discovery to modern operation, it is one of the craziest mega projects.
I have never given any thought in my 48 years of life about the workings of a drydock. Now I am strangely curious.
I’m 21 years old and it’s got my interest as a career lol
I got to go into one at Newport News when I was a kid. I was told that the surface was about 50 feet over my head. I don't think the one I was in would hold a carrier though.
When you watch enough documentaries you'll see one and get curious. That was me way back when.
I’d watch a video on the world’s largest dry dock!
I worked at nns I never really liked walking next to the drydock as I'm afraid of heights. The new carriers are huge and watching big blue with a super lift was cool. I would love to see a video on the Virginia class submarines.
Mega project: Newport News Ship Yard! Massive dry docks to behold!
I work at Newport News shipyard (just over a year now), they really are mind boggling large, but fun fact: they were not designed for building carriers.. at the time the drydocks were built the shipyard was owned by a merchant ship company and built the big cargo ships.. the drydocks were designed for those. That merchant company sold newport news shipyard to Huntington Ingals and they happily used them for building carriers...which might I add just BARELY fits these drydocks... carriers are much heavier lol
@Skunk Ape SIMA ( Ships Intermediate Maint. Activity )
Yes please! Why wouldn't a ship yard not be impressive and a Mega project? How the hell you think we got this massive ships!
I just want to see Simon do a video he thought he wouldn't have to do.
Do it Simon!
I'd love to see the Ford Class or Dry Dock, anything Mega counts.
Ravi Kim soo... you like mega things ?
There was an ice carrier but it never got produced lmao
@@gogoida1280 damn that sounds cool lol
@@raziellegacy6818 obviously XD
It was Habakkuk or smh
The Kevlar actually is designed as the final barrier in any attack, including a missile attack, from steel fragments kwown as "Spall". When there's an explosion the steel of the ship itself turns into shrapnel and this "Spall" can then pierce vital areas. The Kevlar is there just like in a bulletproof vest to stop those projectiles.
Definitely, I was like it's 6cm thick kevlar... That will stop massive shrapnel
I first learned about Spall from Tank talk, from Lazerpig.
I’d like to see a vid about the USS Gerald R. Ford
ctrl+c, ctrl+v
most of the technology is still developing, and they're quite similar, but yes, it would be cool
CIWS is casually said like 'sea-whiz' and the SRBOC was 'super arr bach.' The AN/SLQ-32(V) has several versions based on the platform, the carriers had V4, and SLQ was said 'slick' by the operators and they also worked the chaff launchers.
Since we were responsible for those chaff launchers, we use to prank the new guy by making them think we tested our chaff launchers with cheap stuff to save on costs, so delegated them to cut 1 inch wide and 4 inches long of aluminium foil and then give it 2 twists in the middle to make the wings for it to float. They had to do that until a trashbag was full, they were then sent to CIC to ask the TAO where they wanted the chaff staged while we stood nearby giggling. We had a lot of time to kill during deployments sometimes.
The guys on the flight deck are some of the hardest working people I've ever seen, not always of their own volition. Flight deck gets extra pay for a reason, I was on the USS Kitty Hawk when one of her deck wires snapped almost 15 years ago, responded as a stretcher bearer, 6 injured with a couple lost legs, thankfully a nearby helo took the worst of it.
Please make a video about this when you talked about Newport news That's my hometown and it totally freaked me out
Me as well.
Yes, please!
JUSTMAKE THE EFFING DRYDOCKVID EVERYONE WANTS IT
Drydocks. Where you lift multi ton ships out of the water to scrape barnacles off the bottom. hehe
Can't do Portsmouth without mentioning Belfast Lough, the largest natural harbour in the UK and birthplace of the Titanic. Though feck Harlan and Wolff Shipyards, those bigoted Unionist bastards.
Gotta do it.
Dry Dock Rock.
Dry dock! Could add a twist and include floating dry docks too...
"No America, you do NOT need a 317m long, 100,000+ ton aircraft carrier."
"You're completely correct... we need ten of them."
I think this exchange could not have happened. America would just have stood there dumbfounded, it's mouth slightly open. It would have been completely incapable to understand why anyone would ever not need a 100.000 ton aircraft carrier. Afterwards it would have never talked to the other guy again.
@@Rubashow exactly. And you know what? We have 10+ 100,000tn nuclear powered carriers. So put that in your pipe and smoke it! (Directed at whoever would suggest otherwise, not you :) )
How will you be a modern colonisator without them?
@@nemanjap8768 I mean you can still be if you're able to just drive there. Like Russia or China.
@@Rubashow???
My best friend was stationed on Nimitz 8 years ago. When I visited her in Washington I was lucky enough to go onto the ship and see the flight tower she works in, the cafeteria, the sleeping quarters and the flight deck. They are floating cities! It was an amazing experience.
They utterly are. I had the fun time of visiting John.C.Stennis. At that time, I did not know it was nuclear powered!
breach of security! 😂
You should definitely do a Megaprojects on the USS Gerald R Ford!!!!!!
Ford was never voted by anyone to be president. He was on the Warren Commission and was selected to replace the rebumpkin VP Agnew for corruption. Then when rebumpkin nixon was booted out of office, ford stepped in.
Ford Class, Yup.
Must have a Ford video
@@250txc Support the party of the KKK do ya?
@@williamwinder3466 I assume you talk about the Democrat party?
Would love to see a video on NASA's "Crawlers", also, definitely like to see a video comparing the Ford class to the Nimitz class
I wanna see a Ford class compared to those two tubs the Chinese have!
Saw one on another channel just recently.
Yes Gerald Ford class
Also since you did Concorde and Tu-144, I'd like the B1 and Tu-160
Will look into it :)
I spent a few years on the USS Nimitz. I was a Radar/Comms/Nav Electronic Technician. Its a massive ship, but i liked life on a small ship better. You can spend years on that ship and never meet half of the people unlike the smaller ships that are more personal.
Much like a city
I was an AT, Aviation Electronics Tech. I only went out on CV's. I did get to visit FFG's and DD's and the crew dynamic was totally different. Think small town to big city.
Yeah i can imagine. Even the arleigh burke have ~300 crews on board, right? Its like knowing ur batchmate from school vs the entire population of a university.
My dad spent a few years on the USS Ranger, a smaller aircraft carrier, and said he liked smaller ships better. Less crowded, better food, and more comradery while being less formal. On aircraft carriers some people also spend virtually all day inside and never get much of a chance to get outside or even near a window, he said he felt like a mole since he was an electrician and spent almost all his time in the bowels of the ship
I was the aviation version of your job.
I’d love to see a video on the panama canal and it’s locks, which literally connect two oceans by splitting a continent in half.
Edit: I am aware that he did a video on the geographics channel about the canal, but I still feel like it would make for a good video topic on mega projects as well
I think he did a video on the Panama canal on his geographics channel
ua-cam.com/video/HY8QdxWRCwU/v-deo.html
From the Geographics channel (also hosted by Simon Whistler)
He did a video on that lol
Mega projects *That dam channel*
@Skunk Ape I bet you like to like to smell your own farts.
So we want a dry dock, so do it.
Look in the “Öresundsbron” the bridge that connects Sweden and Denmark, not the biggest or the longest but for sure a mega project in its own. Man made island and all :)
The one into Malmö? It's a marvel of engineering.
Luke Molyneux Yepp, that one 😃
I would like to learn more on that!
Could do the Chesapeake Bay Bridge as well.
Agreed, I would love to learn more about the dry docks that build these carriers
The Gerald Ford carriers and the electromagnetic propulsion system seem like a worthy investment of yours and our time :)
That still doesn't work properly.
Yeah,don't know why we want these before they are ready, at least they should be modular so if one part breaks another could be substituted,as it is the Gerald For does not carry the F-35,which is the whole point of an advanced carrier to carry the most advanced aircraft. We'll get them fixed, but will take some effort.BTW the shit pipes are not big enough so every two months expensive acid treatments are needed.
@@stevesteffen7001 It does now and has for a while
You mean EMALS, electromagnetic launch system, not propulsion. The propulsion is steam turbines.
@@JustaPilot1 Dont pay them much mind. Theyre like ants complaining about the heat being put off by a super computer... Like yes, they might be warm but, ugh... Super computers do a hell of a lot more than create heat....
Tl:dr: They can't comprehend the scope of improvement or all the intricacies associated
As a US merchant sailor who has sailed in the most dangerous water’s in the world I can say nothing is more reassuring then seeing one of these with a destroyer or two in the horizon
I imagine so. It’s like big daddy America’s got you in his arms lol.
Why? You’re not at war?
@@ranjithpowell6791 Piracy has made a comeback. So, there's that.
It's like uncle Sam sitting you on his lap after a long day makes you feel all warm & sage inside
Free healthcare is more reassuring
The greatest thing about Nuclear reactors is consistent speed. I was on the USS Arkansas, one of the last Nuclear cruisers. Us, the Carl Vinson, and the Uss California, formed the last battlegroup foxtrot, all, nuke powered ships. We cruised from the Persian Gulf to Melbourne, Australia in 11 days, averaging 25 knots. At that speed, Any other destroyer or cruiser would run out of gas in under 3000 miles. Also, the carrier can easily go at 45 knots if needed.
Uh...30+ knots amigo. You're not supposed to tell anyone.
True about gas-turbines, though. They are pigs at speed.
K so as mentioned in the video it is factually called a US Carrier Strike Group?
Every real US sailor knows a US CBG only forms during ... war?
So what war would that be?
@@Lawrence330 You are correct. Those who did in fact serve know loose lips sink ships. No way anyone who took the oath is going to blabbermouth some BS online for the world to see.
@@MrFlatage the odds of it hitting 45 knots in open ocean for any length of time are most likely zero as you'd need calm flat seas and a Captain willing to run the reactors to red line or even beyond. Design wise might be capable theoretically, but practically no. Like with an Abrams tank, you can hit 40-45 mph on flat level ground. Take the governor off it however, well, it can A LOT faster LMAO! But that will imperil the tank and treads so you don't do it. This is why military spending is so high, EVERYTHING is over engineered to the next level, but then must be over protected to ensure it's survivability either by operator error or enemy action.
@@MrFlatage Yes, it's called a strike group. www.public.navy.mil/surflant/ccsg8/Pages/default.aspx
As a civil engineering student focusing on construction management, any civil structure is a wet dream for me. Do the dry port, Simon.
This sound weird...
"A wet dream of mine, do the dry port,simon"
Switch to structural or you're not a real civil engineer.
@@diekemperd define "real" civil engineer.
@@ayushsuyayush Building Construction Management (BCM) is not Civil Engineering. Get a focus that teaches you design, not how to be a good project manager.
@@diekemperd what if I want to be a project manager? What if my skills incline me towards that line of work? I never really understood the structure elitism in this industry. Why do people pride so much in being a structural engineer and bash on other engineers? Do clarify.
I personally would love to hear about how drydocks work!!!
Sort of similar to locks on canals
We need 1k people to like Dee Larry's comment so Simon has to stick to his word and make a drydock video!
I'll give you a better answer, about the one in NN.
Kiln is laid ship it put together, some stuff is installed. Then, the dock is flooded and the ship is sent to another pier for finishing and completion.
You never need 10 carriers...until you need 10 carriers
Exactly, other warships and new aircraft can be built in (relatively) short order but carriers take YEARS.
I’d watch one on the Differences between Nimitz and Ford class. I’d love to know more about dry-docks too. Thanks, Enjoyed it!
Both sitting ducks. Not much difference. ;-)
Just walk aboard one and throw a paperclip into the wrong nuclear reactor room. Easy.
@Skunk Ape Oh come on comparing is fun and makes good points.
Officials on the morning of June 16 placed a weighted sled at the end of Catapult 1. The catapult officer gave the command, the shooter pressed the launch button inside the cab, and … nothing.
Not nothing in my opinion. The camera's then turning toward the faces of Matt Mulherin, president of Newport News Shipbuilding and Capt. John Meier, Ford's commanding officer?
Just priceless. Worth more even then a 14 billion carrier that to this very day cannot even launch one single fully loaded jetfighter.
Unless those are your taxdollars? If that was the case I'd be pretty pissed by now.
Not that it's important, but I got to go on a Tiger Cruise on the CVN77. Talk about an awesome weekend.
@Skunk Ape Sorry I serve my mighty red, white and blue in my great land of the free and home to the brave? So only truth and fact here sorry. No one can change a fact. Just like we know for a fake it is a crime under 18 U.S. Code § 1028?
Even if you had a real name? Anyone claiming to have served must submit their Proof of Service or again it is in fact a criminal act. Remember that people can and will proof read these laws? Pretending those laws are not there is rather ... silly?
Now your little rant is pointless really. Meanwhile back in reality? The hacking group Team Digital already walked onto the Truman. Got into the nuclear reactor rooms and copied all the data and schematics. Now your pretend claim is that ... never happened when we can all proof read it did in fact happen? So why go into denial troll mode?
Rants do not ensure stuff. We know what really happened sorry. Screaming fact when there are no facts from you. Sad!
I served the day I was born? Official enlisted at 6yo? Or maybe I served during Northern Star? Remember a Perisher sub 6 feet under the hull of a US carrier for 3 weeks? We could have drilled holes into the hull flooding those reactor rooms. Or more easy the engine room?
But all we did was send a diver out to bang on the hull at the strike of midnight for 3 weeks. No matter your nation? Sailors are a superstitious lot. Then on the last day of the exercise we sank the entire US CBG.
Even my 7yo called Avengers assemble and defeated Captain Kirk himself in the best ship he had. Then he lost his ship. To gain command of your own ship at 12yo? Yes he must become a Ripper. Sink a US CBG at full strenght in under 10 mins. No technology, 1960s weapons and less then 100 men available.
But yea when the first Ripper did that in the real world? They even called him a liar and a cheat because they could not accept the reality of what he had just done. Now his book is a mandatory read at the US Naval Academy.
@Skunk Ape I believe it. My older sister was my sponsor, the stories I heard were hilarious and terrifying. Also, hitting my head on F/A-18 underbellies and tails was a bit of a cage rattler for me. I didn't think they were short enough for that to be a problem.
G'day Simon, Yes, of course I want to see a Megaproject on the USS Gerald R. Ford, if only to see that electromagnetic launcher system at work. Back before 9/11, my home port of Hobart, Tasmania was regularly chosen by ships’ companies. Apparently, then, they could vote on alternative stop-offs on the return voyage. We were visited by Nimitz class carriers that would stop for a few days R&R plus provisioning.
I'm lucky enough to have been invited on-board three of them by various CPOs. They truly are amazingly huge. Sailors have told me they've been on-board for over two years and, still, sometimes get lost in the endless warren of passageways.
The food on-board was surprisingly good, although most crews were truly sick of US style BBQ food which is the main part of their diets.
Unlike the RN and RAN, the US Navy doesn't allow alcohol on-board any of their ships, so by the time the crew dropped anchors in Hobart they were desperate for beer and, universally, they all raved about Tasmanian beers which are significantly stronger than most US versions.
Before leaving each carrier would put on an 'air show' for the people of Hobart; a most impressive spectacle; not so much aerobatics but their displays of low-level attack formations were just as exciting.
Thanks so much, Simon, a riveting video, so, bring on the Gerald Ford! Cheers, BH
I'd like to see an episode on the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor. It's expected to be the most expensive structure ever built and will likely allow life-changing scientific research when it's completed.
An episode on ITER would be awesome.
Yes.
I agree but only when it's operational. That story is still in the making.
I'll take a look into it :)
My dad served on the Carl Vinson on the ships internal comms. Basically he worked for the carrier's telephone company. Told me one task he had was installing a phone jack and phone in the admiral's bathroom as one was not placed in there in the ship's original design. You know, in case an emergency call comes in while the admiral is busy dropping a torpedo.
They don't carry nuclear missiles. There are surrounded by plenty of other ships and subs that do. But in a pinch the flight deck could be converted into a launch platform if needed.
You sure about that?
@@Annonymous0283745 how ironic is your name and question.
Not missiles.. weapons... There are several smaller nuclear weapon types in the us arsenal that can be aircraft launched
I was on the Carl Vinson from 93-97 and we had a few IC electricians in our division. Those dudes could troubleshoot anything!
@@Simon-ho6ly correct
I never thought of how much fossil fuel a nuclear carrier DOESN'T use until this video.
Well, the carrier itself doesn't burn F76 like the gas-turbine powered "small boys" do, but the airplanes and helicopters all burn JP5 and the many, many vehicles (tow tractors, scissor lifts, recovery boats, etc) burn either F76 or JP5 as they're chemically similar.
Very very rough math... somewhere around 7 MILLION gallons a year saved.
That's travelling 100,000 miles a year at a burn-rate of 75 feet per gallon. A 60,000-ton boat will burn at a rate of 75-200 feet per gallon, so I'm assuming one 50% larger will probably average on the lower-end of that scale. As a point of comparison, the HMS Queen Elizabeth has stores for 1 million gallons of fuel for her own engines.
So, over the course of a 20-year nuclear refuel, that's about 150 MILLION GALLONS of fuel not burned.
As underway replenishment electrician I was on duty when we took on 5 million gallons of JP5 (jet fuel) . Having nuclear reactors frees up a lot of space for jet fuel storage.
@@sigmahyperion955 This is so wild. Thank you for doing the maths.
@@megaprojects9649: Yeah, nuclear power is orders of magnitude more energy-dense than fossil fuel. 1 kilogram of enriched uranium can generate the same amount of usable power as _3 MILLION KILOGRAMS_ of coal. People are right to want proper safety protocols for nuclear power, but they are wrong to resist implementing nuclear power. If we were really serious about preventing global climate change, we'd be building nuclear power plants as fast as possible.
They can actually sit offshore and act as emergency power stations connected to coastal towns/cities in times of disaster/crisis etc.
Many disasters all over the world recently. Even for the US it's been one after another. Katrina, Sandy, Puerto Rico? The list goes on.
But where are these carriers when that happens? Yes they can. Yes they should. But they don't.
the real question is, why dont they then? puerto rico could really have used that. seeing how they werent needed for anything else this whole time, whats the deal.
@@MrFlatage while Puerto Rico could have used it it would have not helped that much, the power would be supplied to big cities with ports. The cities would also have power sooner either way. Aid money would help more than a carrier because electrical infrastructure would have to be built to deliver the power to the more rural areas where it got destroyed, without the infrastructure to deliver the power it is useless.
@@redhairdavid From an engineering point of view, you will need to connect MASSIVE cables to transfer the 100MW of electrical power that the nuclear generators can make.
Finding adequately rated transformers along the shore would be difficult too, since domestic distribution transformers have low power ratings. At the end of the day, you need to somehow get all that power to a substation so that transmission level voltages are met and it can power a decent area. And the only way to electrically reach said substations would be via the low powered distribution transformers. They will simply heat and burn up.
One would also have to isolate non functional parts of the grid (which may have shorted loads, hazardous, or simply beyond the power rating of the carrier) with protection switchgear, again, which really again turns into a lot of connectivity issues.
On top of all that, stuff like ships and aeroplanes have higher frequency AC voltages, since with higher frequencies, the size of a transformer capable of dealing with a particular power reduces, also reducing weight of electrical equipment.
Supplying 400Hz of AC voltage to systems designed for 50Hz would cause havoc.
@Skunk Ape Considering your anti American fake name you hide behind we can all assume you are no US citizen.
Any US citizen and even anyone from a free country? Could easily proof read and fact check ... the annual US Defense Budget? Why ask for something anyone educated knows where to look up?
You have any honour or pride left by now? Sorry my obligation is and will always be the People. Not some weak corrupt cowardly goverment?
Sorry a good man needs no rules. I remember those very US rules and laws hurled at me on the coms by the US Navy screaming like schoolgirls. Now they all turned around and ran for the watery hills because following orders means any 'obligation' means to break the oath you took and abandon their own people?
Not me and my crew and again I apologize for crapping all over your 'obligations'. 180 of us told the USN to go F themselves. One single ship flew it's red, white and blue high and one single ship turned ... toward a active CAT 5 hurricane. Sailing through violating America's territorial waters. All those 10.000s of Americans on the roofs of their flooded homes abandoned by their own had only prayers left for a quick depth. Actually saw those prayers answered when our helo's parted the heavens above them. And yes my boots deployed onto US soil itself crushing the US Constitution that prevents troop deployment onto US soil.
And yes when U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense, Peter C.W. Flory pinned metal stuff on our chests and I saw that cowardly MoFo Bush? Totally gave him the finger to his face.
Then we built an actual wall? Remember that?
Yea you go worry about your 'money', 'costs' and 'obligations'. You cannot stop us.
Mega Project: Roman Road System
They allowed the Roman empire to thrive. Some of the roads they made still exist.
What did the Romans ever do for us?
@@DeltaDarbyLiberator what letters did you spell that sentence with?
Meriones you mean other than their law system been the basis for law in Europe and the USA of which Cicero is always taught. Their administration which is used today their calendar which is used today. Their engineering achievements which laid the foundation for modern clean water and sewage systems. Their social programs to feed their poor. Their military reforms Marius mules which modern military’s use to this day. Their brand of representative democracy which again is used today or their establishment of major cities around Europe, their stoic philosophy from emperors Marcus Arelious. And if you’re American you named one of your houses of representatives after the roman government the senate.
@@ciaranbrk i guess you don't know life of brian? :D
@@DeltaDarbyLiberator they created the basis for European civilization, then the renaissance when the eastern empire finally fell. Man you need to read up on your history man.
The fact that Simon is totally geeking out over these carriers is beautiful
Since you've now covered aircraft carriers how about the Iowa Class Battleships next?
Agree
I may be biased, being from NC, but I think the North Carolina class may be more appropriate for a megaproject, hear me out: when they were built they were the biggest, most heavily armed, fastest, most technologically advanced warships on earth. No disrespect to the mighty Iowas, but they're effectively larger improved versions of the NC class.
I agree; a prime example of brute force on a scale few can truly appreciate
@@cleverusername9369 As were the South Dakota's but the Iowa's sported better more powerful guns, considerably thicker armor, more powerful engines, and yes all the best technology developed up to that point.
The Nimitz class is just a much bigger version of the Forestall design.
@@hesstwentyone Good luck jamming a 16 inch, 2300lb AP or HE shell.
Gerald Ford has several launch and recovery innovations. Do your thing Simon!
Magnetic Cats: A completely unnecessary toy. With nuclear power steam is a waste product.
One thing that's interesting is that the arresting gear now actually generates some electricity whenever an aircraft lands.
Maybe do the Hubble telescope next?
My brother spent most of his time in the Navy taking care of the reactor on the USS Theodore Roosevelt. Imagine having the lives of hundreds of seaman, and billions of dollars being dangled in front of some dials and valves. Crazy stuff
I was an RO on a sub... It's CRAZY what is kids used to do!
Ha, seamen
Don’t post stuff like that online bro!
@@wurdofwizdumb1928 yeah, it’s so top secret 🙄
Imagine taking care of a reactor on land. Fuck up slightly and a huge swathe of land is without power for a while, mess up big and its a national crisis.
Please do a video on the Ford class carriers!!!
When I joined the Navy, the Nimitz had already been in service for eight years. When I finished my naval career twenty years later, the Nimitz was still in service. Now, I retired almost 20 years ago....and the Nimitz is still in service. Impressive.
Drydock video please!
How about lead melting?
I had the honor of being a flight deck final checker. GREATEST JOB IN THE WORLD Plane captain was a great job for a junior airman of about 20 years old. It's pretty sobering to be responsible for a multimillion dollar weapons platform bouncing around the Indian ocean at 3 am in inky darkness except for hundreds of flashing lights as you dance among the flight deck, constantly aware that a moment of distraction can kill you.
Thanks for putting yourself on the line to keep me an my squadron mates safe. BZ
The idea that a single distraction could have catastrophic consequences gives my ADHD brain serious anxiety. Good to know there are people who can do that.
Poetic
I wish he had mentioned the craziest aspect of the arresting gear on a carrier. When a pilot lands they do not throttle down the power until they have been hooked and actually go full power just before landing. This is so if they miss one of the wires they have enough power to get back into the air and come back around for another pass.
@@Construimus_Batuimus Nah never happened. First thing you learn real US sailors before they ever set foot of any flightdeck? Yes wear your protective gear at all times. So you never even past basic training.
US law calls that ... Stolen Valor. Happens when you have no Proof of Service. ;-)
@@MrFlatage Not so true. As an OS, we are sent out in bad weather to help the regular lookouts to visually spot ships and listen for foghorns. We always asked for some type of hearing protection and was told, "No, you need to listen for the foghorns." And our response was, " We can't hear anything due to the ringing in our ears and when we could hear again flight ops started again."
yeah, speaking of huge, drydocks... making of The “Troll A” Oil Platform in the North Sea, maybe possibly?
Wiki - The Troll A platform has an overall height of 472 metres (1,549 ft), weighs 683,600 tons (1.2 million tons with ballast) and has the distinction of being the tallest and heaviest structure ever moved by mankind. ... until we start making "fusion candle planet thrusters" to relocate gas giant planets kind of megaprojects, lol.
Great content by the way Simon and crew. B)
Zarcondeegrissom he’s gonna do a video on the old lady?
@@Jim-ie6uf would be nice, and good point, that should have been a question mark, not a definitive period.
jim s she’s better remembered for its insane combat record that makes others jealous and not for anything particularly innovative tho
Mr Z. I seem to have heard the Troll A has been replaced by BP Thunderhorse platform as largest floating structure. But your right oilfield deepwater structures are incredibly huge. Make a good garage for a carrier.
Hibernia platform, Newfoundland. Biggest. It is set onto the seabed but the floaty bit was huge. V Heavy to cope with Atlantic swell/storm.
My sis was stationed on the HST as a nuke reactor operator. Got to visit the ship for a family cruise day. To say they are vast doesnt quite do it justice. It's not until you are walking on the flight deck while the wind is blowing 45 mph as you go underway. Then suddenly, F18s catapult off the flight deck with a searing blast. They scream by and you see the misty cloud cone around the nose of the jet and BOOM! Sound barrier with a chest pounding hit. Simply amazing, was a privilege to get to visit it.
what year was this? i always loved friends and family days (i was an RO from 05-2011 on there)
Yes, Gerald Ford carrier! The thing looks massive. They had a controversial explosion test for the hull.
What's crazy is the Gerald Ford class is only slightly bigger than the Nimitz but it has 3 times as much nuclear power output. That's wild.
A video with a Nimitz class carrier in dry dock would be fascinating! That just seems impossible.
I am confused. What is this 'impossible'? Is that even a word?
Nah our Pioneering Spirit is in fact the world largest ship ever contructed. Now a Nimitz or even a Ford class goes up to 100.000 tons. PS is 400+ tons and could just pick up one of these aircraft carriers and put it on ... one of it's decks. Yes also a multi hull. In theory it could pick up 3 aircraft carriers and run off with them. With the US navy in hot persuit probably. ;-)
Dry docks are so ancient history.
It is quite a view. Though you have to be close to the shipyard since much of NN is around 20-25 feet above sea level.
22:56 The USS Gerald Ford in drydock
@@MrFlatage The image your comment put into my head 😂🤣
@@ginger_nosoul Should see it pick up oil platforms the size of small cities.
And somehow costs 'only' 3 billion.
There is an unwritten rule in the Navy - A guideline really: If you see one of the red uniforms running, try to keep up!
HAHA LOLOLOLOL!!!!! THAT'S NOT CLICHE!!!!! OMGZ!!!!! HHAHAHAAAAHHA!!!!!!!!!
Unless it a flaming alph!
My little brother was in the Navy. He said the only rule was "it aint gay if you're underway".
@@mattpeacock5208
😶
IYAOYAS!!!
When Jimmy Carter went to Haiti to negotiate a settlement wit the military leader it was said that he mentioned the carriers en-route and said, "Let me explain to you the concept of 'Firepower'..." ... They signed the agreement.
The fact that two Infantry divisions were also on the way (some of which were on a carrier) had a little to do with that decision as well :)
America, terrorizing small and poverty stricken countries in order to keep them that way, for over 2 centuries.
@ i think that Vietnam people would disagree with that statement.
One mans hero is another mans Demon.
Chris Marshall agree with the second part of your comment completely.
I personally know a lot of South Vietnamese individuals who would disagree with you.
@ I don't think you are right. One famous example is the plot to get rid of Iranian Prime Minister Mossadegh, who was elected by the Iranian people, and who wanted to nationalize the oil industry. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat
Another example is the US-Mexican war: President Polk followed the interests of the US in the overall power play, but from a legal standpoint he played with marked cards by ordering his troop to provoke an incident in order to convince Congressmen to officially declare war on Mexico. It is not a fair game if a big bully in the neighbourhood supresses the skinny guys, and it is not a fair game, if the US as the mighty imperium - which it is undoubtedly is - does not act according to international law. Please have a look at the UN Charter, Art. 2.4: All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charter_of_the_United_Nations#Article_2
I work at Newport News Shipbuilding. Started in '09 as a welder working on the FORD. Have worked on the FORD(CVN78), the new KENNEDY(CVN79), the new ENTERPRISE(CVN80), and the ROSSEVELT(CVN71). PLEASE do videos on the differences between the 2 classes and on the dry dock.
A friend of mine is a firefighter on one of these ships. She talked about sailing through the Suez Canal while Egyptian soldiers with RPG's on both sides of the ship and everyone on board was just thinking, "Try it. I dare you." Also, she had muscles bigger than most men I know after working that job.
Given the security forces on a supercarrier (which since the 1980s/1990s no longer comprises Marines unless there's a Marine Aviation attachment on the carrier) which are basically at a battalion level most likely, that would be very unwise for anyone to try.
Also sad that USS Bonhomme Richard suffered the fire it did the other day. Yeah, not a supercarrier, but an LHD is still a carrier and still pretty big. Thankfully no one has died, but the ship was heavily damaged.
They don’t actually have to be used in a conflict. Just the mere presence of one of these off your shores is probably enough to make you rethink any hostile actions against a US ally
Global power projection. This is exactly why they are built.
sheldon pereira I know. I read about that!! Pretty big target and a pretty big oops with that one!! Hey at least it was a “game” so hopefully the US learned something!!
I often wonder how many despots and warlords were thinking of doing something horrible and then went "uhhhh actually that could really piss of the US, screw it I don't need that kind of heat." The US gets a lot of criticism for some of it's foreign policy moves, and justifiably so, but they never get any credit for the fact their mere presence around the world no doubt stops evil people from committing horrible acts.
I've also found everyone ignores the massive hypocrisy that so many hate it when the US takes matters into their own hands while ignoring they're the first one everybody calls when they need help with humanitarian relief, disaster assistance, and search and rescue because their worldwide reach means they're most likely to have something in the area that could assist. And they help far more than some might realize because their critics of course never mention it when they do. You can criticize the bad things a country does and still admit they do a lot of good too, yet I almost never see anyone praise the US for the good it does do.
At ~20:50 the observation of never having the need of 10... Just the fact that the United States Navy can park these ships off a hostile country's shore - ready to open a can of world-class whoop-ass the likes of which Earth has never seen - is a show of force that has prevented many brutal conflicts.
@sheldon pereira Gross oversimplification of what actually happened, but okay.
Great job as always Simon.
Your comments at the end, "do we need aircraft carriers..."
These things PROJECT POWER out into the ocean.... You park this thing off the coast of a city... Everyone in town can see it... they know it's there... they know it can level the town on 20 minutes notice....
The projection of power, is probably as important, and maybe more important, than the use of that power....
So while a foreign government might be running their mouths in public, in private, behind closed doors, they are probably asking "Okay, what kind of deal are you looking for here... what would it take, for you to withdraw your carrier battle group..."
Nuke the moon.
@@megaprojects9649 the look on your face compelled me to watch
P.Sssst: have subscribed;)
@fizzydinosaur He's the very person we got the word dictator from? You think he was actually voted for to become dictator? Or did he twist around anything that came near the guy?
@EmperorJuliusCaesar thank God for America.
They have but down all the bad ideas of the 20th century!
Imagine the Soviets or Chinese with this power?
@@MrFlatage Actually they did vote for the dictators for very specific reasons.
Read your history!
Sometimes while I listen to UA-cam, Simon comes on and I don't even attempt to figure out which of his 8,000 channels it's coming from. I love them all.
DRY DOCK! DRY DOCK! DRY DOCK!
Dito, dito, dito!!!
Knew about the Glomar Explorer, didn’t know “Glomar response” was a thing. Funny!
Fun fact: In 2014 the CIA opened its twitter account with “We can neither confirm nor deny that this is our first tweet.”
Allegedly
CIA being a legend.
*Rest of the world:* What do you need such an enormous ship for?
*United States:* Shit, just be glad we didn't make them airborne.
Shawn Elliott Iraq, Iran, Noko, and China.
@@Jim-ie6uf The US Constitution states they need a mandatory number of US carriers and then states:'Iraq, Iran, Noko, and China'?
Can you please tell me exactly where I can read that word for word. Sounds like BS.
@mxt mxt Nope they did make them airborn.
To spread terrorism and murder innocent people the world over.
To spread terrorism and murder innocent people the world over.
Excellent video! I was in the Navy in the early 90's as a Hospital Corpsman on the USS Constellation (CV-64), yes, I wore a white shirt when I worked the flight deck providing emergency medical coverage.
"All are named after presidents except the Vinson."
Cries in John C. Stennis
I remember when they came into NAS NI after "secretly" filming the ending to Transformers in 2008!
@@tomyboy742 I was on that cruise!
lol sorry to be a downer, but he said most xD
Ford was never voted by anyone to be president. He was on the Warren Commission and was selected to replace the rebumpkin VP Agnew for corruption. Then when rebumpkin nixon was booted out of office, ford stepped in.
I've spent many years on an air craft carrier. Was some of my best years. I love it
The only two carriers I ever rode on are now decommissioned. One of them was the last carrier to ever run on diesel fuel...
God, I'm old!!...
The film staring the iconic USS Nimitz, The Final Countdown (1980). Featuring Tomcats years before Top Gun.
If you want to see the USS Nimitz doing the Imperial Star Destroyer, watch the opening.
If you want to see the USS Nimitz in action, watch the film.
"If the United States falls under attack our job is to defend her in the past, present and future."
"And after that?"
"After that, we take our orders from the Commander in Chief of the United States Armed Forces." Captain Yelland, USS Nimitz.
"Franklin Delano Roosevelt?" Warren Lasky, December 6th 1941 ...
The Final Countdown (1980)
Both my parents only spent sea duty on carriers, including the Nimitz and the Vinson, because they were both ATs. This one was especially cool for me to watch :)
During my time in the Navy, every Forrestal class carrier carried nuclear weapons when deployed. I can only assume the newer ones do also. Carriers have loiter time. That means it can give effective air support to ground troops 24/7 365. When something bad happens in the world, the President's first question is, "Where's the nearest carrier?"
That was the height of the Cold War where delivery systems of ICBMs had not fully matured. In nowadays ICBMs silos at home and strategic submarines capable of retaliatory strikes should be more than enough. Those would count their warheads in the hundreds. Carting around nukes is a risky proposition so why do it when you have dedicated nuclear forces who can do it better and are specialized in it?
Other than that, yeah, those carriers do mostly "showing the flag" deterrent by being the biggest, meanest weapon platform around and outnumbering a lot of air forces.
@@mangalores-x_x "I can neither confirm or deny" should not even be a question anymore. George H.W. Bush had all the nukes removed from surface warships in 1991 or 1992(ish). Why does everyone forget this? Did Bill Clinton or George Jr reverse that?
Just a quick question, do you not have a version of ‘The Official Secrets Act’ over there in the US?
none were on the prise during my time.
subs being a different story.
mangalores-x_x you meed sufficient provocation to use nukes, the carrier bridges that gap.
I WAS STATIONED ABOARD THE USS NIMITZ CVN-68 IN MAY 1981 WHEN THAT EA6B CRASHED ON THE FLIGHT DECK, VERY VERY BAD!!
ROBERT GENTILE
First, thank you for your service, sir.
Second, actually there is no second. Just hearing about this breaks my heart and leaves me with no words. Some things just can not be fixed, they just have to be endured and analyzed in hopes of preventing a repeat. Hope the powers that be did that to perfection.
Third, Let those that died rest in peace. To those that lived (including the families of those that died) we owe all we can do to help them heal.
Even your name is in all caps...
The Nimitz and Reagan just sailed into the South China Sea. First time in 6 years to have 2 carrier groups in that sea.
I was a IS2 with VA-35 that night the EA6B crashed on the flight deck. Nothing like waking up to "Fire on the flight deck" coming out of the 1MC. Luckily only 3 or 4 guys from the my squadron were injured.
I understand that calling a Nimitz class carrier a "dreadnought" is a bit of poetic license (playing on the meaning of the word and not referring to the history of warships), but it might be confusing to some people if they view a video on Dreadnoughts, since they are battleships and not carriers.
Up until the launch of HMS Dreadnought, battleship design had been evolutionary. HMS Dreadnought was a revolution in battleship design. HMS Dreadnought instantly made every other battleship afloat and under construction not just obsolete, but laughably obsolete. The British Empire essentially told the rest of the world, "You might as well send your battleships to the shipbreakers now, 'cause you got nuthin'." Every naval power freaked and started scrapping the pre-Dreadnought battleships and building Dreadnought type battleships. The battleships of WWII (the last battleships to be built) were pretty much just tweaked and enlarged Dreadnought designs and are often referred to as super-Dreadnoughts. So yeah, HMS Dreadnought and the Dreadnought type of battleships were kind of a big thing.
HMS dreadnought is now a submarine
You overhype it a little there had been several revolutionary changes before the dreadnought and were several after it and the dreadnought was only capable of winning a fight against 2 or 3 of the latest pre-dreadnoughts (undeneyably a vast leap forwards but not the complete and utter obsolescence you imply - pre dreadnoughts were in fact active in the main fleets of both the Royal navy and the Krigsmarine well into world war I).
That being said the dreadnought certainly deserves an episode
You could argue that carriers did also do the dreadnought thing.
From the humble beginnings as a suport to the fleet ship, carriers made battleships obsolete in WW2
Thank you Sir for your video. I had the opportunity to serve on a Midway class carrier, USS Franklin D Roosevelt, while I was in the Navy. Being a part of the airwing as a helicopter maintenance person. Standing on any carrier during flight ops is truly something to behold.
Personally, I think 1980's "The final countdown" a better display of life at a Nimitz carrier...
Just a comment....I’m a former Navy wife. Persian Gulf War/Dessert Storm/Dessert Shield.
My husband was on the USS CAMDEN...a support ship for the Nimitz. The Camden has been decommissioned. I had the pleasure of watching the Nimitz and all it’s crew come in to Pudget Sound Naval Ship Yard WA. It was an amazing day that I’ll never forget. The glory of the white uniforms on the flight deck WOW! Watching my husband and crew disembark During Desert Storm was something that very few will ever experience. No video could possibly provide what the experience is actually like, no!!!! I was one of the last people literally to walk off of that dock...until all I could see of the USS CAMDEN was a dot in the distance. I will never forget that day for my entire life😔😌 Proud to be, sadly, an X Navy wife👍🏼❤️
They are giants in person! Sure they’re big on film but entirely not the same as in person!
Sadly lived there during a manifesting war but I’m thankful and blessed for the experience😌
I was a Navy wife stationed in Bremerton WA from 1989 to 1991👍🏼 The vessels are breath taking😌 Will never forget the day I watched the Nimitz come home😌 Breath taking🇺🇸
Great movie! My dad spent 30 years in the Navy and some of it on the Kittyhawk which was used in some of the shots for the movie.
"I, as always, am your host, Simon"
Next week:
"I changed my name to Dave."
@20:40: I think the "need" for ten carriers is seen as having a two ocean navy (so to speak). Two in the Atlantic, two in the Med, two in the Pacific and two in the Indian Ocean and two at home for resupply and minor repairs/upgrades and crew downtime. Of course they can shuffle them around as they need to but I think the goal is to have some pretty close to wherever they are needed on short notice.
I just talked to someone from the navy that worked on this 20 years ago. So I came back to watch this again.
Because as Simon would say "Why not"
Simon: The days of the colossal monster might be coming to the end.
Battleships: First time?
Uhm. Then there were planes. They kinda changed things.
Submarines eat Carriers, or most any surface combatant, for breakfast. I'm not a bubble head either, I'm a black shoe, so that's coming from someone who's most definitely not biased.
Can you name a single operational battleship? Just ... one.
@@MrFlatage That was his point.
i served on the BIG "E" - yes do a show with difference of the E and new class ford
Fun fact: the BIG "E" was the first nuclear carrier and had 8 reactors the extra 4 came from the first Kennedy, His estate didn't want his carrier to be nuclear powered because he was against it
There is a good day of the life of the crew of the USS Nimitz from PBS called “Carrier”. Worth the watch.
Excellent series. I recommend it to everyone I know who is interested in the navy or just a fan of good documentaries.
Even when you're in the military, there are a few things that never stop being impressive: the Blue Angels, the gun on the A10 Warthog, and the sheer fucking size of an aircraft carrier
This is an interesting make a project especially since my brother is serving on the USS Nimitz right now.
Raise a glass for your brother.
Motoroid ARFC1852 sure thing man
4:16. Don't forget John C. Stennis, the other non-president with a carrier named after him.
I was stationed on it a few years back. Hated it at the time but I'd do it again.
@M C John C. Stennis (CVN-74) is more than ten years older than GW Bush (CVN-77)
I was with the Stennis for 2 Gulf tours on a DDG.
USS Just Clean Ship.......when I was in service the JCS was the carrier used for a lot of photo/video ops and hosted lots of dignitaries. The crew spent more time cleaning than actual flight ops lol
@@MrStretchification A clean ship is a happy ship. Now sweepers.
The Phalanx turrets (the ones that look like R2-D2) are warmly called a C-Wiz (CIWS - Close in Weapon System). Also, nuclear weapons are not typically deployed unless mission specific due to handling and safety issues. Most countries have a non-nuclear entry policy even though the reactor is in a closed loop system and doesn't have direct access to sea water. I assume they have this policy simply due to the ignorance with respect to nuclear energy and safety.
**edit**
None of the Nimitz-class carriers are fitted with Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch Systems (EMALS) primarily because it would have taken (years) to complete, and would have literally meant a complete upgrade to the electrical system and reactor plants, neither of which could be justified given the life cycles of the Nimitz CVNs. The steam catapult system is are incredibly maintenance intensive and going so far as to require a maintenance crew on standby for when they fail during flight operations. For comparison, this would be like having your mechanic in your car every where you go because you car keeps breaking down.
That last part is the Navy in a nutshell, honestly. I had an equipment breakdown after a brown out (bad power). I told my LT that I could fix it by manually "closing" a relay with a jumper wire while we were waiting for parts from another ship. I was told we had to reach out to off-ship engineering and request "technical assistance" to approve my suggestion. "Why am I here?" All those years I thought I was there to fix stuff, turns out I was just the middle man to tell them what needed fixing!
There is a great meme of that, actually: www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.com%2Fpin%2F96053404531561543%2F&psig=AOvVaw0ObEIMmHyuQa6ll-MfEGjG&ust=1594318387716000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCMjl4fugvuoCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD
i wouldnt trust american with nuclar anything
@@Lawrence330 It didn't used to be like that. We had the forced draft blower gasket burst on our way home which we ended up having the replacement overnighted to Singapore and spending the next 24h installing it. We even opened up the reduction gears once a year and did an inspection. There was a general push in the 00's to reduce the amount of training that shipsforces had when it came to maintenance/repair even going so far as to discontinue SIMA in lieu of contractors. Idiots.
The Phalanx turrets AKA R2D2 with a hard on.
I served with VS-33 as an AW2 Senso Operator in an S3-b on the USS Nimitz CVN-68 in '95. Being shot off and landing on a carrier is like nothing else in the world. 0 to 120 in 3.2 seconds and 160 to 0 in less than 2 seconds. I still have both parts of my "hold-back" fitting aka "cherry" (breaking release pin) from my first shot. CV's are cities on the seas. This is a great video but you could do 10 more and not cover half of the ship!
It would be worth it to try! I'd love to see more vids about the carriers. Reminiscent for me... informational and entertaining for everyone else!
Love all your channels!
One interesting fun fact about landing on an aircraft carrier is, as soon as the plane is "caught" by the arresting gear they go full throttle as soon as they touch down. That's in case they either miss the catch or if the gear snaps, they are already poised to take off again, instead of dumping into the sea.
Yes! This is because a jet engine does not spool up as fast as a piston engine. There is considerable time lag before producing max thrust.
and when they touch down, the bang is loud enough 2 decks below that whenever I was on watch during flight ops, I'd duck out of reflex.
Keyword on the admiral's staement about nuclear weapons carriage: "routinely"
@@MashMonster69 Our berthing was on O-3 near the brakes for the waist cats. Even with earplugs the vibration and shock of the shot took some time to learn to sleep through.
@@vitrong5765 Nukes are useless in 2020, yeah you can kill millions at once but you also destroy global economy
I was a redshirt on the Vinson. AO2. Helluva place to be, the deck of a carrier.
I.Y.A.O.Y.A.S.!!
Heck Yea Brother..retired Marine Corp Ordnance guy here...I.Y.A.O.Y.A.S...
My husband was on the Enterprise when it struck the Vinson. He said it was a wild thing to experience.
Hey whats up skittle!
When were you there? I was an AW in a Viking squadron on Vinson's second and third cruises, in the mid-1980s.
I would love to see a Megaprojects video about the development of the internet itself. I think it would be fitting seeing as how we all rely on it so heavily in our day to day lives, not to mention the impact it has had on global communication.
I'm not sure "the internet" is a megaproject. It evolved very organically. That said, modern datacenters are a megaproject, but you may be hard-pressed to be able to get enough info without signing away your rights to talk about it.
There maybe be a specific stage of ARPA net that could squeeze in as a megaproject. I don't know that much about it.
Simon, I KNOW it's been almost a year since you did this one but if you haven't already please do a Megaprojects video on the differences between the Ford class and Nimitz class. The differences are pretty astounding. The sheer size of them boggles the mind.
My son is on the Nimitz right now. Fair winds and following seas.
At 6:08, estimated cost of a Nimitz class carrier over its projected 50-year service life is . . .
$11,700,000,000/50 years
$234,000,000/year
$641,096/day
$26,712/hour
$445/minute
$7.42/second
Walter Johnson missed three zeroes on the billion : but other numbers are right.
back in the 90s there was talk of extending the life of the carrier to 100 years. the hull itself is still solid, and there is ample room for upgrading equipment on ships of this size. but I think they learned a lesson with the drawdown of the US submarine fleet, in as important an asset the carrier itself is to national defense, so to is the industry that constructs and maintains them. if those places don't have work, the skills to build them is lost, and we nearly did that with our submarines.
And that doesn't include pay for the crew. I think that alone runs somewhere around $1 million a day - or did several years ago. Then again that could still be the case even with higher pay, as carriers now have fewer people than 30+ years ago. Thanks to improved technology and a smaller number of aircraft (and squadrons) not as many people are needed.
@@gauthamram8029
RE: "Walter Johnson missed three zeroes on the billion : but other numbers are right."
Thanks for pointing that out; I've corrected it.
@@davidabarak
RE: "And that doesn't include pay for the crew."
Why not? It would seem logical that "operational costs" would include the pay of the crew that operates the ship. Besides, at 6:20, Simon states that ". . . that cost (operational cost) includes general maintenance and personnel costs . . ."
Dry dock video- like the comment 👌🏼👍🏻
Its at 69 likes... I'm sorry but this is where the road ends
Why don't people reference "The Final Countdown" for carrier movies instead of Top Gun? It was filmed on the USS Nimitz, and has a TON of various footage from inside and outside the carrier - multiple launch sequences, a dog fight scene with a real missile fired, a real near crash by an F-14, etc. Top Gun can't hold that movie's jockstrap when it comes to awesome carrier footage, etc.
B J
Top Gun was a horrible movie, I watched once and never again.
as a Nimitz Vet, I agree
Because we're old and so is that movie.
The Final Countdown is still one of my favorite movies. Charlie!
I was stationed at the time FC was filmed, and was on screen for half a second! 🎬
Dry Dock's !Their pivotal role during WW2 , the operations to destroy them ,continued dominance in naval superiority and the status it provides , including the huge engineering advancements , perfecting a vital tool in today's modern navies . The ability to return vital vessels to the fight ,can be the victory or defeat of a whole Navy! Loads of content .
And after he retired, Admiral Chester W Nimitz admitted to getting seasick every time he boarded a ship. 🤔
Admiral Lord Nelson used to get seasick when he went to sea, and took a day or two to get over it.
I sailed with lots of people in the RCN who get seasick, it's part of the job for many. I was fortunate enough to never get seasick.
@@simongleaden2864 Same. A day to get used to being out, and a day of being "land sick" after you're been out for a while. It's like being drunk, your equilibrium gets all askew.
Kind of why he preferred submarines...
@@Louis_Davout Speaking of submarines, President Jimmy Carter was an officer in Admiral Hyman Rickover's first Nuclear Navy. The most well known sub of which was the USS NAUTILUS.
"All 10 have never been needed at one time". One could argue, because of the deterrent of the prospect of attacking a country with 10 of these machines.
That, and the fact that only two or three might be needed for even a very strong opponent. The others would be performing due diligence to keep would be copy cats from getting uppity.
You basically need 3 ships of a class to more or less be guaranteed to have 1 available so with 10 you should have 3 to 4 available at all times.
I laid out a somewhat reliable analysis of the need for 10 carriers, and having 10 basically gives us two carriers on deployment and one forward-deployed in Japan for quick response. The other seven carriers would be in various states of upkeep and their crews would be in various states of training.. Some of those seven, two at least, could be quickly pulled into a conflict if needed. When I was in the Navy we were getting ready for 'work-ups," a month-long period at sea of essentially full-tempo operations, preparing for our actual deployment. Typically after work-ups a carrier would be back home for a month or so before leaving for a six-month or longer deployment. However, on my second cruise there was some sort of conflict, I can't remember what, and there was a good chance we'd go on work-ups and then go straight to a deployment, with no time back home - an example of quickly making a carrier available for extended operations. We ended up not having to do that, but it would have been easy to do.
They can all be reduced to scrap metal in one afternoon twat!
@@adolphusdemadema Why does UA-cam let children watch without parental supervision?
As a former U.S. navy enlisted member who surved on a Nimitz class aircraft carrier i will say that these ship are incredible in every aspect
Keyword on the admiral's staement about nuclear weapons carriage: "routinely"
Like he said, I can neither confirm nor deny... 😆
Way back when I was in, mid-1980s, we very much did - or did not - carry nuke weapons. We had specially-trained "nuke load teams" who did their practice loads on the hangar deck. The area was roped off (but visible) and guarded by armed Marines. Several times I saw nukes - or "nukes." What I saw may or may not have been real. They kept simulated nukes that had the same electrical circuitry as well as weight and balance characteristics. From what I was told, the nuke load teams never knew if they were loading a real weapon or a fake, it literally could have been either one, and the Navy didn't want them to know which they had. One small extra level of safety. The nukes themselves (or "nukes") were actually pretty unimpressive, streamlined almost like a rocket from a 1950s space movie. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B61_nuclear_bomb#/media/File:B-61_bomb.jpg) I was involved in a practice nuclear weapon drop in a simulator session and although the whole thing was pretty dull, my part was the dullest - I just followed the checklist and acknowledged what the other three guys were doing, the throwing of various switches, etc.
And correction to what Simon said... The words are :ci can neither confirm, nor deny, the presence of nuclear weapons on this, or any other military installation."
I think I did phone watch for a few weeks, reporting to sub squadron in Norfolk, and was required to answer the phone with that statement...
No nukes routinely onboard Nimitz. However, an Ohio class sub is probably lurking close to the CSG
The last "W" Division deployed on CV-67 in 1993 the year after that all surface ships were denuclearized since then the USN keeps their nukes on SSBN's. While they do keep a small number of B-61 gravity bombs in storage without a W division to handle them they can't be deployed.
I had just graduated Boot camp when Top Gun came out. Was in Nuclear power school when Hunt for Red October was published. Went on to serve on USS Dwight D Eisenhower for 4 years. The power and performance is impressive. But, God it is a lot of work. 16 hour days, 7 days a week.
You can really tell the amount of appreciation and excitement Simon has regarding his success and growing popularity! So cool to see 😎 thank you so much for continuing to create content for us all, your videos are some of my favorite!
I was an EM nuke onboard the Nimitz (cvn-68) from 05-07 and I love simon and all his vids - we were at coronado island (San Diego) just as the USS Reagan (one of the first ford classes, I believe) was being tested/ commissioned. Anyway, I would LOVE to see you do a vid on the Ford class carriers, thanks and keep it up!
Reagan was the second to last Nimitz class. I'd consider her and Bush as a sub-class of the Nimitz
BRO!!! Your sport-coat game is IMMACULATE! You should add wardrobe info to your video details for the sartorialists out here.
Yeah this guy's style in is fantastic. It makes me question my wardrobe in general.
It would have been good to go into the daily logistics of running one of these mammoths - feeding the crew 3/4 times a day, washing their clothes, etc.
A work colleague was ex-Royal Navy and seconded to the John Stennis. Told me amazing stories about its capabilities - it's ability to map the Med with 3 sweeps of its radar, carrying AWACS aircraft constantly prowling the skies - and how scary the prospect of trying to confront one of these things would have been.
Everyone wants a drydock vid 😂 why don't you make one
Apparently I have to!
Yes, thumbs up for a MP video on dry docks! The oldest one still in use in Europe was built in England in the 13th century however, the history of the original dry docks goes back to the Phonecians.
The glorious F-14 Tomcat must have it's own episode!!!
Topgun was actually filmed on uss ranger, a forrestal carrier, Enterprise was one of a kind nuclear powered forrestal based carrier
The Ranger, Enterprise and Carl Vinson were used in the film.. The beginning of the movie and all the "Sunset and interior shots" was filmed on Enterprise. The Ranger (a Forrestal Class carrier) and Vinson (Nimitz class) were used in some of the take off and landing scenes. Enterprise was not a Forrestal class, it was its own Class, it had major differences from the Forrestal class.
That is true Big E was unique unto her own.. single design in her class and the better for it! She was a beast! Can’t wait until we get the new one coming down the road a few years yet.
My dad served on the Ranger in Vietnam.
Actually
My Uncle is in one of the cutout scenes in the beginning of the movie and at the end. That was filmed on the enterprise.
8:46 omg look at that cute little boat, the queen elizabeth is adorable
American arrogance at its finest. BTW the Brits were successful in the Falklands Islands but the Americans in Vietnam ............. not so much. It is not the size, it is how you use it.
lol its not even that much smaller
@C B So the USS Ford doesn't work. Cannot launch even a single fully loaded jet. Guess you are sore cos the QE can do that one after the other. Over and over again.
Yes the UK has built an aircraft carrier that ... works. You can be sore all you want on how the US failed to do that. But facts are just facts. They don't care about who feels what.
Which unit did you serve in during this War of 1812? Sounds like fake news.
In 1994 I was stationed on USS JOHN F KENNEDY CV67 and before we went to drydock we off loaded all the ammo to the brand new USS GEORGE WASHINGTON. It took 3 days working 24hrs per day
So Simon actually watched a popular movie?
Hahaha. Took me a few minutes to get what you meant. Then remembered him saying he dosnt watch movies on the blaze yesterday. Hahahaha.
@@imnotahippie22 so many times there will be the name of a popular movie in the script and after mentioning the title Simon will say "I've never seen it"
That remains an open question. He might have read textbooks elaborating on the movie. In a way, that would seem more suited to his YT persona.
@Mark Grudt LIES
Yes please, do a video on Ford Class Carriers!
And while you're at it, do one on that huge dry dock as well!
When he said "I'm your host" I swear I was expecting "I'm ya boi witha blaze"
I've been watching too much Business Blaze...allegedly...
Only one solution: re-watch all of it! Again
I was waiting for "I'm ya boi witha Blaze" too...