Gerald R. Ford Class CVN

Seriously, that guy needs a big pair of spectacles. Missing such a huge target by so little ! And with such a large explosion...

Imagine, if they actually HIT the carrier and blew it up... the maniacs !
 
That whale had serious intestinal problems... awesome video, really. Damn, 40 000 pounds of high explosives ! Is there any relation whatsoever with the largest Soviet / Russian antiship missiles ? or with the "mother of all bombs" in Russia and America ?
 
Archibald said:
That whale had serious intestinal problems... awesome video, really. Damn, 40 000 pounds of high explosives ! Is there any relation whatsoever with the largest Soviet / Russian antiship missiles ? or with the "mother of all bombs" in Russia and America ?
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It's nearly double the total weight of the MOAB (21,600 pounds) and more than double the explosive weight of the MOAB (40,000 pounds vs "only" 18,700). If my math is right, and I'm dealing with a head cold so it may not be, the explosion at of by the USN is only something like .02 kilotons. So far larger than the biggest conventional weapons, and far smaller than all but a handful of nukes (the SADM is about the only I could think of smaller with a yield of about .01KT).
 
I think shock testing uses such huge amounts to duplicate a much smaller, more local explosion (a torpedo or mine). In order to duplicate the shockwave of such an event without actually penetrating the hull, very large explosions much further away are used.
 
Here is a Study on shock Testing in general
 

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  • shock.pdf
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I have to admit, when I first learned about shock testing, I was kinda like 'you got to be shitting me', especially the fact sailors are actually based on board the target ship.

Do other navies go through this process? I tried searching for any relevant tests and documents a few times and have never turned anything up, but I assume this isn't strictly a USN practice?
 
Josh_TN said:
I have to admit, when I first learned about shock testing, I was kinda like 'you got to be shitting me', especially the fact sailors are actually based on board the target ship.

Do other navies go through this process? I tried searching for any relevant tests and documents a few times and have never turned anything up, but I assume this isn't strictly a USN practice?
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There's actually a NATO standard for shock testing, STANAG 4137. The Danes were quite chuffed when their frigates, which use a lot of commercial design and build elements, aced their 4137 rating.

The CVN shock trial program is usually quite a bit more rigorous than the standard.
 
Meh. Pretty normal, all things considered. It sounds like a bigger issue then what it really is
 
aonestudio said:
news.usni.org

USS Gerald R. Ford Needs Parts from Carrier Kennedy for Repairs; Navy Says 'Cannibalization' Won't Delay JFK Schedule - USNI News

The Navy is taking parts from an aircraft carrier currently under construction and placing them on USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) so the lead ship is ready to deploy next year, USNI News has learned. The parts are coming from the future USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79), the second ship in the Ford...
news.usni.org news.usni.org
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damn, as politicians Ford already took parts from Kennedy and now as carriers, Ford is still taking parts from Kennedy :p
 
defence-blog.com

US Navy’s supercarrier launch and recover F-35s for first time

The USS George H. W. Bush (CVN-77), the newest of the U.S. Navy fleet's operational carriers, launched and recovered Lockheed Martin F-35C Lightning II aircraft for the first time Dec. 12. According to a recent Navy news release, the F-35C carrier variant is the future of weapon system...
defence-blog.com defence-blog.com
 
In_A_Dream said:
Did the results of the shock trials ever make it to print?
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IIRC, the CO of the Ford said that he was very pleased with the results and that the ship suffered only minor (and apparently from the comments made, expected) damage. But the ship remained combat ready after all of them
 
SSgtC said:
In_A_Dream said:
Did the results of the shock trials ever make it to print?
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IIRC, the CO of the Ford said that he was very pleased with the results and that the ship suffered only minor (and apparently from the comments made, expected) damage. But the ship remained combat ready after all of them
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Hopefully we can have some substantiative & quantitative analysis of what he considers "minor damage".
 
Captain said no fires and no flooding. After the final blast ship made a 20 knot run. A few days later she did high speed runs, and verified that launch and recovery systems suffered no major casualties, etc. Interestingly, the last time they ran these tests on a carrier was 34 years ago on the Roosevelt. I suspect the reason for this was they felt when you've blasted one Nimitz, you've blasted them all.
 
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F-14D said:
Captain said no fires and no flooding. After the final blast ship made a 20 knot run. A few days later she did high speed runs, and verified that launch and recovery systems suffered no major causalties, etc. Interestingly, the last etime they ran these tests on a carrier was 34 years ago on the Roosevelt. I suspect the reason for this was they felt when you've seen one Nimitz, you've seen them all.
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That is generally how it goes with these tests.

They will only test one ship of the class and let it be it since all the ships are to be built to the same exacting standard.
In_A_Dream said:
SSgtC said:
In_A_Dream said:
Did the results of the shock trials ever make it to print?
Click to expand...
IIRC, the CO of the Ford said that he was very pleased with the results and that the ship suffered only minor (and apparently from the comments made, expected) damage. But the ship remained combat ready after all of them
Click to expand...

Hopefully we can have some substantiative & quantitative analysis of what he considers "minor damage".
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HAH I dont thing we have EVER gotten that for these tests for any ship not launch nearly 80 years ago... For obvouis reasons the navy keeps this type of test results very close to its tests.
 
Normally, the US Navy does not provide shock test detailed results/findings at the ship level. I would assume other nations would do the same involving critical type testing such this. Most shock testing details or videos were released at the station/components level based upon shock barge testing.
 
Such a great picture.

YJ2I7FAS5ZCGHOCPVSAMKSWV5U.jpg
 
You know, looking at this picture reminds me of a big vulnerability we have: There's only one drydock in the world wnere a RICOH on a CVN can be performed. It's not the dock where they build them, that one's smaller. Can you say "prime target"?
 
F-14D said:
You know, looking at this picture reminds me of a big vulnerability we have: There's only one drydock in the world wnere a RICOH on a CVN can be performed. It's not the dock where they build them, that one's smaller. Can you say "prime target"?
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Two isn't any harder to hit than one. Not saying I think it's a great situation but nobody's gonna pony up the dough for even one more site. One on each coast would be ideal. (Bremerton and Norfolk.)
 
sferrin said:
F-14D said:
You know, looking at this picture reminds me of a big vulnerability we have: There's only one drydock in the world wnere a RICOH on a CVN can be performed. It's not the dock where they build them, that one's smaller. Can you say "prime target"?
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Two isn't any harder to hit than one. Not saying I think it's a great situation but nobody's gonna pony up the dough for even one more site. One on each coast would be ideal. (Bremerton and Norfolk.)
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Techically Bremerton CAN do RICOH, they do and did work with the other nuke ships like the Subs and the Cruisers in the past when we had them slash did refueling on them.

As far as I know the gear, if not experaince is still there, we just dont use it as such cause of everyone favorite six letter word.

BUDGET.
 

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