We had a similar experience flying Tomcats in the north Pacific in early 1985 aboard the USS Carl Vinson. I was in the back seat flying with Mike "Nasty" Manazir. The difference was it was at night so we couldn't see the screws or much of anything else that night. If memory serves me correctly it took us 6 tries to get aboard, and afterward I got down on my hands and knees and kissed the flight deck. The next night we went out and did it again!
Can't thank you enough for this clip..my dad was killed during a carrier approach. I vicariously felt some of what my dad felt...I'm sure he had a few traps with an uncooperative deck!
As an ex-F14 Troubleshooter/ Maintainer who went to Fast Attacks Subs, yes... the North Atlantic can be brutal... even below a classified depth! 😅 Thanx Mooch. Love the stories. 😊
My time aboard the Ranger in the Vietnam war, we had a few times of really rough seas. Some of our pilots from our squadron VF-154 went through some very heavy seas that you describe. I saw a few recoveries on the small TV’s and it made us nervous wrecks watching these guys trying to put down F4’s. I have so much appreciation for navy drivers.
That isn't a sea story. Do you know the difference between a faiy tale and a sea story: a fairy tale begins with "once upon a time" and ends with "...and they lived happily ever after." The sea story begins with "this is no shit" and how it ends doesn't matter. The point being that sea stories are fables. C. Ward told us about a real life event. I served '85 to '88 aboard the USS Ranger CV-61 as an Aviation Ordnanceman.
I recon this was during operation Teamwork 92- I will never forget. No flight ops 3 days due to the crazy March storms up there. We were on our own as the rest of the NATO fleet had run for safer waters. CCTV had white caps breaking the length of the ship. I was a PC and when we finally resumed flight ops I felt certain there’d be a loss or two. We launched a COD off cat4 directly into a wave and it barely climbed back up on the other side. Pirouetting F14s on iced pitching decks, tennis ball sized hail storms and only desert fatigue gear… crazy memorable deployment indeed.
Dear lord, I had no idea they landed in conditions like this! I knew Naval Aviators were the best pilots our nation produced but this is a whole new level.
@echohunter4199 there is a series that I believe PBS produced a few years back called “Carrier” that is a great watch if you’re into this stuff. One episode covered pitching deck operations and it was pretty intense.
Always great to listen to Ward. As a Scotsman who lives on the edge of the North of Scotland low level zone, I'm always chuffed to hear pilots and crew commenting on how amazing it is to fly through there.
Hi Mooch, I think you are talking about Teamwork 1992. As you know I was in the same weather with Destroyer "Rommel" D187. I saw the propellers of the Frigates we are embarked on myself a few times when I was a Sonaroperator on German Sea Lynxes. But we were hovering near the Flightdeck, waiting for the calmest moment and not "thundering" in as you in your Cat. Greets
After listening to your story, I can say that I have ABSOLUTELY no reason to complain when things f… up in my little corner! Amazing what the land lubbers do not know!
Ward and I were in VF-32 together on the Independence. Not sure if he was in the squadron when we did our NATO cruise in the late winter of 1984 but that was, by far, the worst weather I've ever experienced in the Navy....
During a westbound transatlantic sailing of Queen Mary 2 in June 2017 we experienced a Beaufort 11 event - it was very tough for the passengers and crew, and we were already on board! Our voyage was made even more exciting when Captain Wells responded to a distress call from stranded solo yachtsman Mervyn Wheatley, whose craft Tamarind was damaged by capsizing. While the QM2’s crew labored to bring Wheatley on board, a reconnaissance Hercules circled dutifully overhead, a very long way from their home… I served on CVN-65 in the early ‘80s and it was always great fun to watch Tomcat ops!
And here I thought landing on dry ground, on an ample runway, surrounded by nothing but more runway (Muroc Dry Lake) was hard ... plus I wasn't even playing for keeps. It was a simulator - a multi-million dollar videogame! Maybe Naval Aviation wasn't such a good thing to covet after all. Thanks for living to tell the tale, Mooch. ✌
Hey Moch, Great story. Wild ride. Great CRM. I wanted to fly Tomcats in college. Did not have the grades for the Navy. Flew civilian for 47 years and +25,000 hours. Have a few friends and acquaintances who were in F-14s. Great guys. One time going into BOS, bad WX, 1,500 over and 2SM, quartering headwinds, 35k gust to 50k in a Fokker F-27. My leg, very rough, constant moderate turbulence, +or-20kts. windsheer. A couple times full rudder to keep it straight. Wild all the way from the IAF inbound. The whole time during this approach, the Captain is just laughing at me! All the way down! I am thinking, you’re no help! The landing was ok. Sigh, what a relief. On the ground. Thank you for your service. Thank you for sharing. Every once in awhile, you think, WHAT AM I DOING HERE?! God bless you. Anytime Baby!
Winter North Atlantic is notorious for conditions like this---I know the Navy likes to press ahead with ops, but I would'a been "Um...hey guys...we probably oughta wait this one out. Just sayin'." I put in three years' seat time with the USCG, and our cutter---USCGC VALIANT---has a helo deck on it. We've been in some hairy stuff off the coast of south Texas where we got genuinely concerned that we weren't going to be able to recover the helo. Didn't help that VALIANT, a 210' RELIANCE-class cutter, tends to bob like a cork in rough seas. We didn't even have active fin stabilizers to help out. The TALON recovery system helped out on more than one occasion.
Having been the Handler, Air Boss and Air OPs on Ike and flown off of her in VF32 on several North Atlantic deployments I can assure you what Mooch experienced was real and not completely uncommon. As Handler, many times I experienced white water over the bow and 12 degree rolls with aircraft in the air. Ike is 90 thousand plus tons and was tossed around like a small boy. Once, we actually damaged the ship by crushing her sponsons in heavy seas. With RADM Jerry Tuttle in command we always flew regardless of the weather and the airwing by necessity became pitching deck experts. The tension and fears of the flight deck crews was just as real as those inside of the airplanes. Add the fact that an airwing in the late 70's to mid 80's was made up of 90 aircraft including 3 very large A3 Whales that used bridles for launching, there was no spare room for moving or parking airplanes. Compare that to todays airwings of appx 70 aircraft. Aircraft sliding around the deck out of control at night in heavy seas was the most frightful thing I ever experienced in my 15 years at sea.
Not been there myself, but I would think that landing would be the 2nd worst thing. Waiting to be towed and hoping you don't slide off must have been an awful feeling of helplessness. Especially in anything without zero-zero ejection seats!
Honestly, fear is very personal, it grips you without warning and in many different types of hazardous situations. I doubt that Mooch was filled with fear during the event, he was too focused on getting back aboard. It was after when you thought about what almost happened and its consequences that you realize your vulnerabilities and fragility. I know of several men who tossed their wings in never to fly again after a particularly frightening flight. I can still see in my mind over 40 years later the faces of the young flight deck crewmen as they came in off of the deck soaking wet, wide eyed and frightened by what they just participated in, knowing that in 30 minutes they had to go right back out and do it again. We only had one flight deck crew and we operated that ship around the clock. One North Atlantic cruise we set "Flight Quarters" leaving Hampton Roads Virginia and did not secure it for 28 days as we entered port in Lisbon.
I was with VF-142 on Ike when Tuttle was in command, and Captain Macke was skipper of Ike. Yeah, we sailed in some pretty nasty seas. Had a tow bar break on one of our jets as the ship suddenly rolled and now it's being pushed up hill. Near lost the jet and the PC.
Hello Shipmate! I assume that your skipper was Mick Sumnick, one of the very best! Tuttle was not onboard with Macke, he was there when Ed Clexton was CO. I personally walked Tuttle to the COD that took him to the Kennedy during that fateful time. They sent us home and then the Lebanon debacle occurred with Tuttle on Kennedy. Macke came after our inport and buildups for the next cruise. I left Ike the week Macke arrived. Clexton would not let me leave until his change of command. I was on Ike for 3 and a half years a tour that was supposed to be 2 years.
@@ronlang3435 Hello shipmate! Yes I was with Mick Sumnick the last few months of his tour as CO before he handed off to Steve Letter, another great CO. Sumnick made it a point to learn peoples names, even a lowly boot sailor like me. The CMC took a polaroid and when I saw him next, he said my name. Imagine my surprise! He was a great leader. It was a privilege to serve under him, even if for a short time. I may have gotten my times a little mixed up, (I blame that on too many concussions from competitive sports tbh), but I will never forget my time on Ike, good and bad, especially that devastating time in fall of '83.
I was an FDC for VFA-136 on that cruise.....unexpected North Atlantic after doing the ditch coming back. We had most of our aircraft down for hard landings (needing drop checks and it was too rough to do the maintenance) and actually chain-walking aircraft around on the flight deck because they would slide across the deck. I was terrified on deck , but then we secured for heavy weather and tied everything down. That was an experience.
@@DSW964 From what I remember, we got longjohns that were way too big and some of the green old-smelling foul weather gear that was very bulky. Depended on your size if any of it fit.
I have been in that same area on three different occasions, once in the 1980s and twice in the early 90s but not on a carrier but in a Nuclear submarine, and I can testify that, yes the sea there can get really rough. You would think that down deep you wouldn’t feel anything but if the sea is bad enough, you still feel it down below too. Such memories.
First time I ever heard of a big carrier taking green water over the bow. Roughest I ever experienced was on a DE 250 miles east of Halifax NS in a Winter storm. That was a rough day and night. Great storytelling. Thanks.
Fantastic story. My dad flew in WW2 in the Pacific and they had some horrible fast storms come up. He was with another aircraft returning from a patrol and when they saw the sea state they talked about ditching if they had to. I can't remember what carrier it was but it wasn't an Essex Class. He said that when he was on approach the ship suddenly rose up, as soon as it reached the peak he knew it would hang for a second. He saw the deck dropping and just barely made it aboard as the ship started rising. The other aircraft hooked the second pass but broke a mount on impact. The pilot walked away unhurt. I don't think people can grasp just how bad the North Atlantic can be, even on calm days you can have 20 foot swells. I was on the USS Canisteo and we refueled the JFK on a rough night, we made the approach just fine and then we did the shot lines and by then the lines were in the water and the ships were out of step. I felt really bad for the guys on the elevator, it's a miracle no one went overboard.
I was a a Marine L/CPL needing to take a chopper from the USS Iwo Jima to the base at Subic Bay. The pilot and I were in a room together. He said to fallow him out the side door. I did, to find myself standing on a grid platform and watching him go up stairs with no handrail to the flight deck. I was as scared as I ever was at Vietnam. But I just about ran up those stairs. I had my sea bag on my shoulder too. Not as dangerous or exciting as this guy’s saga. But something I will never forget. That was 1969 we had just been pulled out of Vietnam.
I was on a LHA in the North Atlantic/Norwegian Sea in the fall. The conditions were pretty extreme and during one night it was really bad. Next morning when it was over the port side cat walk was gone and it had been approximately 50 foot off the water. Thanks to all now serving, those who have, and those who will in the future. FLY NAVY!!!
Back during DS the ship I was on was attached to the Midway as plane guard for a few days.. So my understanding with the Midway was that when she had the angled deck installed she never really rode quite right.. We were in moderate sea conditions, 4-6' waves... She was doing some pitching and rolling.. Those guys coming back from strike missions were having a hell of a time landing... They'd miss the wire a couple of times and have to tank, then try again.. It was amazing to watch, I can't even come close to imagining the level of stress they were feeling..
I happened to be an enlisted engineer in the reactor room during this time frame. It was the first and only time I remember the deck tilting back and forth. Also that cruise, we went from the desert heat of the Persian Gulf to the Arctic Circle in the same cruise.
I was on the Enterprise (CVN-65) during the 76-77 WESTPAC. We were in the SCS in November. We ran into a gale, and we had green water over the bow. No one was permitted topside. I cannot imagine what it would have been like to to attempt a trap in those circumstances.
This is unreal to me. I did it on a Spruance class destroyer and again on an Oliver Hazard Perry frigate. I remember the North Atlantic as our backyard when FFGs operated out of Newport, RI. We'd watch the air group do their thing as we froze on plane guard. If the carrier was pitching like this, we were right behind them surfing up the face of the wave they'd just crashed through, then down the other side till it's green water blasting into the forward face of the superstructure. I'm so glad we never had a plane go down in those conditions.
So sometimes just getting down can be more dangerous than combat. "Where do we get such men? They leave this ship and they do their job. Then they must find this speck lost somewhere on the sea. When they find it they have to land on its pitching deck. Where do we get such men?" --Bridges at Toko-Ri.
That's what makes it fun. When we un-repped AE's (ammunition ships) 100 feet away, you could often see the bow breach, then the stern breach, then check out the rudder and propellers before the ship took the next wave and rocked back up. As our Weapons Instructor say, an AE is the best place to be when something goes wrong. "You're only there for the KA, you're gone before the BOOM."
Although never in seas quite that bad, we used to rig "rock and roll" meters in the shop using a string and weight......lot's of "oh shits" in the eastern med during the winter months....not a lot of fun working on the flight deck but in your early 20's you think you'll live forever.
It is for this exact reason Naval Aviation is THE most demanding form of Aviation. Without a shred of a doubt Naval Aviators are the Best Aviators in the World. It takes very special people indeed to achieve this Level of Proficiency and ability to stay in a State of Mind that ultimately keeps them and others on that Ship alive!!! I salute each and every Aviator who’s ever done this…. 💪🫡🦅
This story fits with a 1976 NATO op I participated in as a crewman on an MSC Oiler, the Marius. Operation Orange. I saw the screws of the USS America, as well as the Sonar Dome. And they flew Tomcats and lost at least one. The weather was awful the whole time.
That would freak me out too. If I see a carrier's props it had better be in dry dock. Seeing them while attempting to land is only slightly better than seeing them while in the water. Well in second thought, maybe its a lot better.
Wow! I've been to sea twice on Nimitz and TR as an Army Colonel. I also own a sport fishing boat and have my Master 100 ton license since 1998. Can't imagine anyone landing on a carrier in those conditions. Seeing her screws pop out from the swell must have been a genuine shocker. BTW - really enjoyed meeting you yesterday at Oceana!
In these circumstances don't the pilots have other possibilities like Lossiemouth or even commercial airports to land at ? Amazing skills and story of course
@@briansteele2723 Divert field info is always a part of the flight brief for carrier operations unless the carrier is in a blue water ops scenario…meaning the carrier is the only place to recover. Fuel available and distance to the divert field listed in the brief is what determines the options for the pilot in command.
And this my friends is why the Chinese are light years away from having a functional Carrier threat. They cannot begin to match the experience of the US and UK with over 100 years each operating carriers. And operating over the entire globe in all kinds of weather.
Ward just has a natural knack for storytelling without embellishing. But of course with stories like that, no embellishment is needed!
Yeah he’s a natural storyteller and a good communicator
Pretty sure I would have embellished the seat of my flight suit as soon as I saw them screws pop up out of the water. lol
WWWWHAT
ARE YOU F NG NUTS
HIS VERBOSITY IS ASTOUNDING
UNLESS OF COURSE YOU RE KINDRED SPIRITS
AS IN THE SAME
YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING
An old aviators saying "Tis far better to be down here wishing you were up there, than to be up there wishing you were down here"
Sounds like the rich folks "money don't buy happiness" lol.
You've got to love Ward. Natural story-teller.
Great story, Mooch. Brought back some horrific recovery memories there. Thanks for sharing.
Absolute truth!!!
punks trilogy a must read
We had a similar experience flying Tomcats in the north Pacific in early 1985 aboard the USS Carl Vinson. I was in the back seat flying with Mike "Nasty" Manazir. The difference was it was at night so we couldn't see the screws or much of anything else that night. If memory serves me correctly it took us 6 tries to get aboard, and afterward I got down on my hands and knees and kissed the flight deck. The next night we went out and did it again!
Can't thank you enough for this clip..my dad was killed during a carrier approach. I vicariously felt some of what my dad felt...I'm sure he had a few traps with an uncooperative deck!
Sorry for your loss.🙏🏽 God Bless and Thank You and your family for your dad's Service.👍🏽
Sorry about your loss. It wasn't often that we hit seas like that.
As an ex-F14 Troubleshooter/ Maintainer who went to Fast Attacks Subs, yes... the North Atlantic can be brutal... even below a classified depth! 😅 Thanx Mooch. Love the stories. 😊
I always wondered about that. Those currents run deep. AO3 served aboard the USS Ranger CV-61.
Great story, Mooch.
Huge respect to the flight deck crews, working on that corkscrewing, wave-washed deck, with the prospect of being swept off.
My time aboard the Ranger in the Vietnam war, we had a few times of really rough seas. Some of our pilots from our squadron VF-154 went through some very heavy seas that you describe. I saw a few recoveries on the small TV’s and it made us nervous wrecks watching these guys trying to put down F4’s. I have so much appreciation for navy drivers.
Nice to see Mooch here. Cool seastory.
That isn't a sea story. Do you know the difference between a faiy tale and a sea story: a fairy tale begins with "once upon a time" and ends with "...and they lived happily ever after." The sea story begins with "this is no shit" and how it ends doesn't matter. The point being that sea stories are fables. C. Ward told us about a real life event. I served '85 to '88 aboard the USS Ranger CV-61 as an Aviation Ordnanceman.
Ward, thank you for your service. Love your channel , keep up the good work.
Ward is probably one of the best father figures someone could think of. A professional and empathetic warrior and teacher. I love this dude.
I recon this was during operation Teamwork 92- I will never forget. No flight ops 3 days due to the crazy March storms up there. We were on our own as the rest of the NATO fleet had run for safer waters. CCTV had white caps breaking the length of the ship. I was a PC and when we finally resumed flight ops I felt certain there’d be a loss or two. We launched a COD off cat4 directly into a wave and it barely climbed back up on the other side. Pirouetting F14s on iced pitching decks, tennis ball sized hail storms and only desert fatigue gear… crazy memorable deployment indeed.
Only time I saw guys loosing their lunch on the Forrestal in 87 was our North Atlantic cruise.
Dear lord, I had no idea they landed in conditions like this! I knew Naval Aviators were the best pilots our nation produced but this is a whole new level.
The Coast Guard pilots are better. There are no finer helicopter pilots in the world than the USCG, and I say that as an US Army helicopter guy.
@@ImpendingJokerI’m struggling to remember the last time I saw a Coast Guard pilot landing a fighter jet on an aircraft carrier…
@echohunter4199 there is a series that I believe PBS produced a few years back called “Carrier” that is a great watch if you’re into this stuff. One episode covered pitching deck operations and it was pretty intense.
@@rihamy2nd
Bet you've never seen a fighter pilot pick someone out of the water in a cyclone either...
@@FallenPhoenix86 apples and oranges, chief, just like impendingjoker’s comment.
That is one of the scariest stories I have ever heard.
Always great to listen to Ward. As a Scotsman who lives on the edge of the North of Scotland low level zone, I'm always chuffed to hear pilots and crew commenting on how amazing it is to fly through there.
Hi Mooch, I think you are talking about Teamwork 1992. As you know I was in the same weather with Destroyer "Rommel" D187. I saw the propellers of the Frigates we are embarked on myself a few times when I was a Sonaroperator on German Sea Lynxes. But we were hovering near the Flightdeck, waiting for the calmest moment and not "thundering" in as you in your Cat. Greets
Well done Mooch! Perfect description, I remember it well!!
After listening to your story, I can say that I have ABSOLUTELY no reason to complain when things f… up in my little corner! Amazing what the land lubbers do not know!
Ward and I were in VF-32 together on the Independence. Not sure if he was in the squadron when we did our NATO cruise in the late winter of 1984 but that was, by far, the worst weather I've ever experienced in the Navy....
During a westbound transatlantic sailing of Queen Mary 2 in June 2017 we experienced a Beaufort 11 event - it was very tough for the passengers and crew, and we were already on board! Our voyage was made even more exciting when Captain Wells responded to a distress call from stranded solo yachtsman Mervyn Wheatley, whose craft Tamarind was damaged by capsizing. While the QM2’s crew labored to bring Wheatley on board, a reconnaissance Hercules circled dutifully overhead, a very long way from their home…
I served on CVN-65 in the early ‘80s and it was always great fun to watch Tomcat ops!
Ward's UA-cam channel is one of the best and being able to come on to some ones else's channel and tell a story like that.....WOW!
And here I thought landing on dry ground, on an ample runway, surrounded by nothing but more runway (Muroc Dry Lake) was hard ... plus I wasn't even playing for keeps. It was a simulator - a multi-million dollar videogame! Maybe Naval Aviation wasn't such a good thing to covet after all. Thanks for living to tell the tale, Mooch. ✌
Hey Moch,
Great story. Wild ride. Great CRM. I wanted to fly Tomcats in college. Did not have the grades for the Navy. Flew civilian for 47 years and +25,000 hours. Have a few friends and acquaintances who were in F-14s. Great guys.
One time going into BOS, bad WX, 1,500 over and 2SM, quartering headwinds, 35k gust to 50k in a Fokker F-27. My leg, very rough, constant moderate turbulence, +or-20kts. windsheer. A couple times full rudder to keep it straight. Wild all the way from the IAF inbound. The whole time during this approach, the Captain is just laughing at me! All the way down! I am thinking, you’re no help! The landing was ok. Sigh, what a relief. On the ground.
Thank you for your service. Thank you for sharing. Every once in awhile, you think, WHAT AM I DOING HERE?!
God bless you. Anytime Baby!
Winter North Atlantic is notorious for conditions like this---I know the Navy likes to press ahead with ops, but I would'a been "Um...hey guys...we probably oughta wait this one out. Just sayin'."
I put in three years' seat time with the USCG, and our cutter---USCGC VALIANT---has a helo deck on it. We've been in some hairy stuff off the coast of south Texas where we got genuinely concerned that we weren't going to be able to recover the helo. Didn't help that VALIANT, a 210' RELIANCE-class cutter, tends to bob like a cork in rough seas. We didn't even have active fin stabilizers to help out. The TALON recovery system helped out on more than one occasion.
Having been the Handler, Air Boss and Air OPs on Ike and flown off of her in VF32 on several North Atlantic deployments I can assure you what Mooch experienced was real and not completely uncommon. As Handler, many times I experienced white water over the bow and 12 degree rolls with aircraft in the air. Ike is 90 thousand plus tons and was tossed around like a small boy. Once, we actually damaged the ship by crushing her sponsons in heavy seas. With RADM Jerry Tuttle in command we always flew regardless of the weather and the airwing by necessity became pitching deck experts. The tension and fears of the flight deck crews was just as real as those inside of the airplanes. Add the fact that an airwing in the late 70's to mid 80's was made up of 90 aircraft including 3 very large A3 Whales that used bridles for launching, there was no spare room for moving or parking airplanes. Compare that to todays airwings of appx 70 aircraft. Aircraft sliding around the deck out of control at night in heavy seas was the most frightful thing I ever experienced in my 15 years at sea.
Not been there myself, but I would think that landing would be the 2nd worst thing. Waiting to be towed and hoping you don't slide off must have been an awful feeling of helplessness. Especially in anything without zero-zero ejection seats!
Honestly, fear is very personal, it grips you without warning and in many different types of hazardous situations. I doubt that Mooch was filled with fear during the event, he was too focused on getting back aboard. It was after when you thought about what almost happened and its consequences that you realize your vulnerabilities and fragility. I know of several men who tossed their wings in never to fly again after a particularly frightening flight. I can still see in my mind over 40 years later the faces of the young flight deck crewmen as they came in off of the deck soaking wet, wide eyed and frightened by what they just participated in, knowing that in 30 minutes they had to go right back out and do it again. We only had one flight deck crew and we operated that ship around the clock. One North Atlantic cruise we set "Flight Quarters" leaving Hampton Roads Virginia and did not secure it for 28 days as we entered port in Lisbon.
I was with VF-142 on Ike when Tuttle was in command, and Captain Macke was skipper of Ike. Yeah, we sailed in some pretty nasty seas. Had a tow bar break on one of our jets as the ship suddenly rolled and now it's being pushed up hill. Near lost the jet and the PC.
Hello Shipmate! I assume that your skipper was Mick Sumnick, one of the very best! Tuttle was not onboard with Macke, he was there when Ed Clexton was CO. I personally walked Tuttle to the COD that took him to the Kennedy during that fateful time. They sent us home and then the Lebanon debacle occurred with Tuttle on Kennedy. Macke came after our inport and buildups for the next cruise. I left Ike the week Macke arrived. Clexton would not let me leave until his change of command. I was on Ike for 3 and a half years a tour that was supposed to be 2 years.
@@ronlang3435 Hello shipmate!
Yes I was with Mick Sumnick the last few months of his tour as CO before he handed off to Steve Letter, another great CO. Sumnick made it a point to learn peoples names, even a lowly boot sailor like me. The CMC took a polaroid and when I saw him next, he said my name. Imagine my surprise! He was a great leader. It was a privilege to serve under him, even if for a short time.
I may have gotten my times a little mixed up, (I blame that on too many concussions from competitive sports tbh), but I will never forget my time on Ike, good and bad, especially that devastating time in fall of '83.
I was an FDC for VFA-136 on that cruise.....unexpected North Atlantic after doing the ditch coming back. We had most of our aircraft down for hard landings (needing drop checks and it was too rough to do the maintenance) and actually chain-walking aircraft around on the flight deck because they would slide across the deck. I was terrified on deck , but then we secured for heavy weather and tied everything down. That was an experience.
Did you guys ever get your cold weather gear? We just had gulf camo gear. PC VAW121
@@DSW964 From what I remember, we got longjohns that were way too big and some of the green old-smelling foul weather gear that was very bulky. Depended on your size if any of it fit.
When a huge carrier is bobbing around like that........
Hats off to the guys!!
Salute!
The other Tomcats and the Viking tanker also need to get aboard, quite a stressful job
That's why they are called Naval Aviators!
Thank you for your service and "talking us down" from a harrowing, dangerous experience. Mooch, You are just TOO COOL‼👍🏽
👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
OMG, love the animation. More of these stories sir. ❤❤❤❤Sgt Bailey, us army
I have been in that same area on three different occasions, once in the 1980s and twice in the early 90s but not on a carrier but in a Nuclear submarine, and I can testify that, yes the sea there can get really rough. You would think that down deep you wouldn’t feel anything but if the sea is bad enough, you still feel it down below too. Such memories.
First time I ever heard of a big carrier taking green water over the bow. Roughest I ever experienced was on a DE 250 miles east of Halifax NS in a Winter storm. That was a rough day and night.
Great storytelling. Thanks.
Actually- On Ike’s CCTV we saw the waves over bow at one point reach the height of island and nearly the fan tail for +1000ft. I was there.
Fantastic story. My dad flew in WW2 in the Pacific and they had some horrible fast storms come up. He was with another aircraft returning from a patrol and when they saw the sea state they talked about ditching if they had to. I can't remember what carrier it was but it wasn't an Essex Class. He said that when he was on approach the ship suddenly rose up, as soon as it reached the peak he knew it would hang for a second. He saw the deck dropping and just barely made it aboard as the ship started rising. The other aircraft hooked the second pass but broke a mount on impact. The pilot walked away unhurt.
I don't think people can grasp just how bad the North Atlantic can be, even on calm days you can have 20 foot swells. I was on the USS Canisteo and we refueled the JFK on a rough night, we made the approach just fine and then we did the shot lines and by then the lines were in the water and the ships were out of step. I felt really bad for the guys on the elevator, it's a miracle no one went overboard.
I remember that trip to the North Atlantic on IKE 1991 deployment. Roughest seas I have ever been in, even on a destroyer.
Must’ve been one hellava ride. The cruiser escort we had was the last ship of the surface fleet to run for safer waters.
GREAT accounting of getting aboard Mooch!
It amazes me how you fit those balls in a flight suit! Nice meeting you at Oceana. Thanks for the pics.
Wow, Mooch Great Story, people just can't imagine when you see water coming over the bow on a carrier ...
I was a a Marine L/CPL needing to take a chopper from the USS Iwo Jima to the base at Subic Bay. The pilot and I were in a room together. He said to fallow him out the side door. I did, to find myself standing on a grid platform and watching him go up stairs with no handrail to the flight deck. I was as scared as I ever was at Vietnam. But I just about ran up those stairs. I had my sea bag on my shoulder too. Not as dangerous or exciting as this guy’s saga. But something I will never forget. That was 1969 we had just been pulled out of Vietnam.
“Grinch”, haha, I’m sorry but that is probably one of the coolest most badass call signs I’ve ever heard. 🤣👍
I was on a LHA in the North Atlantic/Norwegian Sea in the fall. The conditions were pretty extreme and during one night it was really bad. Next morning when it was over the port side cat walk was gone and it had been approximately 50 foot off the water. Thanks to all now serving, those who have, and those who will in the future. FLY NAVY!!!
Awesome Mooch. That one had my adrenaline going. 👍
Wow! What a hop! Great job! Glad you all made it!
Well told Ward, many thanks.
Very cool seeing Ward telling stories. Most of the time he’s interviewing people now. Get him on again and review the big video.
Back during DS the ship I was on was attached to the Midway as plane guard for a few days.. So my understanding with the Midway was that when she had the angled deck installed she never really rode quite right.. We were in moderate sea conditions, 4-6' waves... She was doing some pitching and rolling.. Those guys coming back from strike missions were having a hell of a time landing... They'd miss the wire a couple of times and have to tank, then try again.. It was amazing to watch, I can't even come close to imagining the level of stress they were feeling..
I happened to be an enlisted engineer in the reactor room during this time frame. It was the first and only time I remember the deck tilting back and forth. Also that cruise, we went from the desert heat of the Persian Gulf to the Arctic Circle in the same cruise.
I was on the Enterprise (CVN-65) during the 76-77 WESTPAC. We were in the SCS in November. We ran into a gale, and we had green water over the bow. No one was permitted topside. I cannot imagine what it would have been like to to attempt a trap in those circumstances.
Sweet brief...and that is why I volunteered for submarines
This is unreal to me. I did it on a Spruance class destroyer and again on an Oliver Hazard Perry frigate. I remember the North Atlantic as our backyard when FFGs operated out of Newport, RI. We'd watch the air group do their thing as we froze on plane guard. If the carrier was pitching like this, we were right behind them surfing up the face of the wave they'd just crashed through, then down the other side till it's green water blasting into the forward face of the superstructure. I'm so glad we never had a plane go down in those conditions.
So sometimes just getting down can be more dangerous than combat.
"Where do we get such men? They leave this ship and they do their job. Then they must find this speck lost somewhere on the sea. When they find it they have to land on its pitching deck. Where do we get such men?" --Bridges at Toko-Ri.
Very good story teller. Used to watch helos land on LPD with the deck pictching and rolling.
I've seen 24' waves from trough to crest 100 miles offshore in the Gulf of Mexico with 40 mph winds and I can attest that it is FUCKING AWESOME!
Wow! Awesome story. I was riding in the seat with you with sweating palms.
That's what makes it fun.
When we un-repped AE's (ammunition ships) 100 feet away, you could often see the bow breach, then the stern breach, then check out the rudder and propellers before the ship took the next wave and rocked back up.
As our Weapons Instructor say, an AE is the best place to be when something goes wrong.
"You're only there for the KA, you're gone before the BOOM."
Although never in seas quite that bad, we used to rig "rock and roll" meters in the shop using a string and weight......lot's of "oh shits" in the eastern med during the winter months....not a lot of fun working on the flight deck but in your early 20's you think you'll live forever.
Great video. One of your best. I love humble Mooch.
I would add the assumption that this was daylight.?? A night landing in these conditions would have been, what?? Interesting? Nice debrief. Go Navy.
It is for this exact reason Naval Aviation is THE most demanding form of Aviation. Without a shred of a doubt Naval Aviators are the Best Aviators in the World. It takes very special people indeed to achieve this Level of Proficiency and ability to stay in a State of Mind that ultimately keeps them and others on that Ship alive!!! I salute each and every Aviator who’s ever done this…. 💪🫡🦅
Those deck conditions and location sounds like the 1990-1991 USS Eisenhower cruise. I was in VAQ-140.
I was mentally shaking while listening to your account of this recovery...hats off to you and Grinch.
Wow! That was gnarley!!!
Been there done that. I climbed out, laid down and kissed the flight deck.
Love these stories!
Welcome to Scotland! 🤣
Been on drilling rigs in that neck of the woods so I know how 'interesting' it can get.😱
Wow! What a story!
Ward knows how to tell a story.
This story fits with a 1976 NATO op I participated in as a crewman on an MSC Oiler, the Marius. Operation Orange. I saw the screws of the USS America, as well as the Sonar Dome. And they flew Tomcats and lost at least one. The weather was awful the whole time.
Thanks Mooch you really know how to spin a dit.
The sheer size of an aircraft carrier is no match for the wrath of the ocean.
I'm from Shetland! We used to see the RAF & other nations' aircraft up here a lot but not so much these days....=/
Crazy 👌👌👌 cool story 👍👍
That would freak me out too. If I see a carrier's props it had better be in dry dock. Seeing them while attempting to land is only slightly better than seeing them while in the water. Well in second thought, maybe its a lot better.
Okay. THAT gave me a tummy ache!
Great story! 👍
Amazing skill to trap in those conditions.
What an interesting story. Listening on the edge of my seat. Well-told
Have to by that DVD!
BZ Mooch!
Always wondered why I got mukaluks w my flight gear😂
Wow! I've been to sea twice on Nimitz and TR as an Army Colonel. I also own a sport fishing boat and have my Master 100 ton license since 1998. Can't imagine anyone landing on a carrier in those conditions. Seeing her screws pop out from the swell must have been a genuine shocker.
BTW - really enjoyed meeting you yesterday at Oceana!
That took stones for paddles to tell you to catch the 1 wire cause that means the rear of your plane is 3ft from the ramp
Fly Navy 🇺🇸🇬🇧👊
Normal flight ops on Midway.
Iim Subscribed To His UA-cam Channel
How high was the pucker factor?
Along for the ride! EH?
WOW!!!
No boots or heat !
*EVERYONE* can hear the screws come out of the water, and it is one God awful noise.
It's an engineers version of fingernails on a chalkboard!
Woah!
Any notion of diverting to a shoreside landing?
In these circumstances don't the pilots have other possibilities like Lossiemouth or even commercial airports to land at ? Amazing skills and story of course
@@briansteele2723 Divert field info is always a part of the flight brief for carrier operations unless the carrier is in a blue water ops scenario…meaning the carrier is the only place to recover. Fuel available and distance to the divert field listed in the brief is what determines the options for the pilot in command.
That is an incredible story. Why don’t they put scenes like that in Top Gun?
Right On Go Army!
USS Independence and USS Forrestall green water pver the bow and the ship would vibrate when the screws came out the water.😮
But, before the grace of God I go............
And this my friends is why the Chinese are light years away from having a functional Carrier threat. They cannot begin to match the experience of the US and UK with over 100 years each operating carriers. And operating over the entire globe in all kinds of weather.
I have a feeling alot of poo came out during that flight