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Northrop Grummans Newest Aircraft Carrier Takes a Bow(Bow laid for newest carrier)
Spacewar ^

Posted on 03/18/2006 5:06:44 AM PST by MARKUSPRIME

The carrier is under construction at Northrop Grumman's Newport News sector, the nation's sole designer, builder and refueler of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. Weighing 780 tons and made up of 25 steel sections, the upper bow is one of the heaviest crane lifts in the ship's production plan. Newport News began construction on the upper bow unit last February.

"Landing the fully-outfitted upper bow on the ship is a significant milestone in the design and construction of CVN 77, and most importantly, a great team effort by our shipbuilders," said Scott Stabler, vice president for the CVN 77 program at Northrop Grumman Newport News. "We are on track for record shipboard construction progress at launch in October."

(Excerpt) Read more at spacewar.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; US: Virginia
KEYWORDS: aircraftcarrier; cvn77; newportnews; northropgrumman; usn
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To: Enterprise

C'mon,..zeros mean nothing don't they? 78, 780, 780,000 what's the diff?


21 posted on 03/18/2006 6:06:49 AM PST by Cvengr
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Comment #22 Removed by Moderator

To: cweese

You are correct, this article is about the USS G H Bush. I didn't open the article and assumed it concerned the work commencing on the next carrier after the GHB. The shipbuilders three or four months ago began cutting the metal for this unnamed follow-up carrier. My mistake but the point remains, the next carrier will almost surely be the Clinton.


23 posted on 03/18/2006 6:11:10 AM PST by tlb
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To: MARKUSPRIME

".........the nation's sole designer, builder and refueler of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers."
Disturbing. The concentration of military production facilities is short sighted. It may be cost effective but the lack of production redundancy could prove fatal.


24 posted on 03/18/2006 6:11:19 AM PST by em2vn
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To: tlb

What a nightmare.


25 posted on 03/18/2006 6:18:42 AM PST by Eric in the Ozarks (BTUs are my Beat.)
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To: jimtorr
"When the contract for CVN 77 was let, there was talk of incorporating some of the design features of the next series of carriers."

- Why are shipyards still building these monster carriers for future operations when they have the tri- service Raptor aircraft in final testing which has VTOL technology built in? Such an aircraft would make those long flight decks virtually obsolete while shrinking the size of the carrier and increasing it's aircraft carrying capacity.
26 posted on 03/18/2006 6:28:36 AM PST by finnigan2
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To: R. Scott

Correct, that is what I should gotten from that statement.


27 posted on 03/18/2006 6:28:43 AM PST by Enterprise (The MSM - Propaganda wing and news censorship division of the Democrat Party.)
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To: Cvengr

I know. A zero here, a zero there, and pretty soon we're talking about real tonnage!


28 posted on 03/18/2006 6:29:21 AM PST by Enterprise (The MSM - Propaganda wing and news censorship division of the Democrat Party.)
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To: Cvengr
You have clearly never worked with a crane.
John kelly has very relavent collum in the Nov. 2 2005 Washington Post for why those weights must be accurate.

When a company came to remove the tree, its crane toppled onto the Barretts' house.

29 posted on 03/18/2006 6:33:42 AM PST by Fraxinus (Warning: Opinion may be less useful than it appears)
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To: finnigan2

"- Why are shipyards still building these monster carriers for future operations when they have the tri- service Raptor aircraft in final testing which has VTOL technology built in? Such an aircraft would make those long flight decks virtually obsolete while shrinking the size of the carrier and increasing it's aircraft carrying capacity."

Because all then VTOL aircraft will take years to bring online, will not be available in great numbers for some time, and in the meantime, other aircraft like the F/A-18, S-3 and E-3 still have a lot of useful life in their airframes, and aren't VTOL. They still perform important roles and require a full-sized flight deck for launch and recovery with any sort of safety.

We will not talk about how systems like double hulling and the concept of reserve bouyancy affect the overall size of a ship, because that's an incredibly complicated subject, but it is another reason why these behemoths grow to such a size.

In addition, one purpose of a CVN is to steam anywhere over 75% of the earth's surface and arrive off an enemy's shore with an air force (80 or so aircraft, depending on mission) bigger than that of most small countries. Those aircraft require fuel, spare parts, repair facilities, ordnance, and the crews to maintain them, and therefore, the ship is by necessity, a monster.

You make a big mistake if you believe that shrinking the carrier's size automatically leads to an increase in aircraft capacity because of VTOL. If wwe had an all-VTOL airfleet, the ship would get smaller, true, but so would the compliment of aircraft because the smaller ship could not accomodate fuels, stores, etc to keep them in the air for extended periods of time.

Not to mention that VTOL aircraft carrying heavy loads eat fuel up in emormous quantities in the simple act of taking off. Even the Royal Navy, which operates small carriers with VTOL aircraft (Harriers), incorporates a 'ski-jump' bow to allow laden planes to make rolling take-offs, which is more fuel efficient and safer.

By the way, those RN carriers (the British call 'em 'Through-deck cruisers') are 1/3 the size of an American CVN and operate about 20 aircraft (mix of Harriers and helocopters). This is a fabulous arrangement for local operations (ASW, Local Air superiority) but you cannot porject power with it (read up on the Falkland's War).

I've served on three carriers in my lifetime (Midway, Enterprise, Eisenhower) as an aviation ordnanceman (AO1), and I'm damned proud of it. These ships have capabilities, and give commanders a flexibility, that the average person simply cannot comprehend.


30 posted on 03/18/2006 6:51:48 AM PST by Wombat101 (Islam: Turning everything it touches to Shi'ite since 632 AD...)
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To: Wombat101

"By the way, those RN carriers (the British call 'em 'Through-deck cruisers') are 1/3 the size of an American CVN ...."

Excuse me, that should have read "less than 1/3 the size of an American CVN".

My bad.


31 posted on 03/18/2006 6:54:48 AM PST by Wombat101 (Islam: Turning everything it touches to Shi'ite since 632 AD...)
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To: Wombat101

Interesting comments -- thanks.


32 posted on 03/18/2006 6:57:52 AM PST by 68skylark
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To: 68skylark

Whoops! Caught another mistake on my part...

CVN's operate E-2's (Hawkeye) not E-3's (Sentry), which is the Air Farce's AWACS.

Just points out the problems inherant with posting before you've had your morning coffee!


33 posted on 03/18/2006 7:00:37 AM PST by Wombat101 (Islam: Turning everything it touches to Shi'ite since 632 AD...)
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To: Wombat101
I've always liked this photo. The British carriers are powerful and effective, but I think the photo gives some idea about how much more powerful and effective our carriers are.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

34 posted on 03/18/2006 7:01:43 AM PST by 68skylark
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To: WorkingClassFilth

I hope these aircraft carriers aren't cold, noisy and apt to stick to rocks. ;~)


35 posted on 03/18/2006 7:08:29 AM PST by kanawa
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To: kanawa

Heck, cold and noisy are merely part of the charm. The Navy does not consider these to be 'hardships' but part of the 'adventure'.

As for sticking to rocks, I was aboard the Big E when she ran aground entering Tokyo Bay (if memory serves, that would be 1986 or so). Not a funny situation.


36 posted on 03/18/2006 7:34:20 AM PST by Wombat101 (Islam: Turning everything it touches to Shi'ite since 632 AD...)
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To: Wombat101
The upcoming Royal Navy CVF (the French may also build on) is much more comparable in size to the Nimitz-class CVN (see: this page. What's deployed on it will depend on whether the UK and US can sort out their current arguments over the codes on the JSF.
37 posted on 03/18/2006 7:36:14 AM PST by Question_Assumptions
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To: 68skylark
The British (and possibly French) are looking to build carriers more comparable in size to our Nimitz-class carriers. See this page for some info on their CVF plans and size comparisons with other carriers in service.
38 posted on 03/18/2006 7:38:52 AM PST by Question_Assumptions
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To: finnigan2

I was on an amphib with Harriers. The pilots said they take off on the long runways to save fuel. They have to land vertically, though.


39 posted on 03/18/2006 7:40:58 AM PST by RandallFlagg (Roll your own cigarettes! You'll save $$$ and smoke less!(Magnetic bumper stickers-click my name)
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To: finnigan2
when they have the tri- service Raptor aircraft in final testing which has VTOL technology built in?

The Raptor, F-22, is USAF only. Too fragile to operate from a carrier and no V/STOL capability. You've confused the Raptor with the JSF, only one model of which, F-35B, has S/VTOL capability.

Such an aircraft would make those long flight decks virtually obsolete while shrinking the size of the carrier and increasing it's aircraft carrying capacity.

You don't know much about carrier ops or what happens to usable payload when operating in VTO mode. Also, a shorter flight deck means a smaller boat. A smaller boat means fewer aircraft, not more.

40 posted on 03/18/2006 7:42:00 AM PST by A.A. Cunningham
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