Navy’s new carrier so large the crew need an app to find their way about (Royal Navy)

London Evening Standard ^ | 14 January 2014

[cva66snipe]

American Carriers have a Bridge for air ops, a Navigation Bridge, and IIRC a Flag Bridge since an Admiral is onboard, all on the same island but stacked. I’m just guessing but I’d bet there is a land transportation bridge or bridges clearence issue going into and out of port and that’s their workaround for it perhaps.

[ExGeeEye]

It would be neat to see a similar chart of past ships, including WW2 participants like Hornet and Akagi.

[cva66snipe]

However, the new design has put paid to one of the quainter traditions of British aircraft carriers, known as the “five-deck dash”. “The idea is for a crewman to run naked all but an anti-flash mask on his head through five decks without being identified. You can’t do that with the complex layout here,” said one of the carrier’s crew. Some guarantee of British maritime security

Is that anything like being inport & the Fire Pump Rover or AC&R Rover Watch Mooning The Chief Of The Watch in DC Central from the cameras in the Shaft Alleys? LOL

[Forward the Light Brigade]

Nice to see England still has a deep water navy. I am waiting for Germany to Launch a carrier.

[Little Pig]

No, I read about it. They deliberately split the two, so the Air Boss and his guys wouldn’t be constantly tripping over the navigation bridge crew, and vice versa, in the ladderwells, and also because it’s a lot easier to oversee aircraft recovery operations from the new aft position, where before they had to struggle to see the wire-trap situation. The new more forward position of the navigation bridge also means a better field of view for those guys, who no longer have so much deck to look past to see where they’re going.

[cunning_fish]

>>>Crew members are shortly to be given a special app for their mobile phones to help them navigate around the ship.

Walking through the ship recently on a clear winter’s day was like walking through the giant set of a sci-fi movie. Cables and wires of all kinds seem to stretch for miles. In all, 12,500 miles of fibre-optic cable will be installed and 18,750 miles of copper wiring. The flight deck space is more than three football pitches .<<<

LOL. I really hope it works better than Jag and Range electronics:)

[Little Pig]

Hehe, what a nightmare: a Carrier with electricals by Lucas.

[tanknetter]

As an 18 y/o, I was assigned to the USS FDR (CVA-42) in the V-2 Catapults Div. The ship (sister to the Midway and Coral Sea) was over 900 ft. It was designed for a crew of around 3800-4000, but with our air squadrons onboard we were over 5000. ..........The Brits intend to run a similarly sized carrier with only about 700 crew???

I joined the ship when in the shipyard for updating, so learned my way around the ship pretty quickly. I can’t even wrap my head around the idea that the Brits think they have to provide cell phone apps to help the twits find their way around their own ship!!!!

My recollection is that the Midways were the hardest of the US carriers to learn how to get around inside of. Built from the lessons of lost carriers early in WWII, they were built with offset compartmentalization - there were no long starboard and port passage ways running the length of the ship.

In looking at the QEs and their ships-companies of <700, I really have to wonder how they plan to do effective damage control if the ship takes a hit, something that takes a lot of bodies.

[cva66snipe]

Thanks for the info. We didn’t have an issue that much with ladder traffic on the island. I was a Snipe but I made lots of trips up to the Bridges and even the top of the Island to check on cooling issues. The Old Man and Flag didn’t have to worry about ladder traffic they shared an elevator and I’m serious on that one.

[Little Pig]

I believe you on the elevator. I wasn’t Navy (almost, though), but even in the Clancy novels, flag quarters were described as being lifted wholesale from some Arlington mansion, save only for the rat’s nest of haze-grey plumbing on the ceiling.

[cva66snipe]

In looking at the QEs and their ships-companies of <700, I really have to wonder how they plan to do effective damage control if the ship takes a hit, something that takes a lot of bodies.

Yea automated or not I think that idea will come back to haunt them. You have to plan for mass causalities of both crew and equipment. 600 - 700 hundred IIRC was about the size of our Engineering Department.

[central_va]

Japanese A/C carriers of WWII Link

[cva66snipe]

I'm trying to remember but it's been over 30 years. I think the Captain had two cabins or staterooms one was much closer to the Bridge. I had trouble calls to them.

My last year on the ship we were in a drydock overhaul. I got to go through all the spaces from walking underneath it to going through a Broiler and looking up from the base of the stack. I was in Fire Department for about six months and all spaces including the magazines at that time were all non secured spaces. The yards is the best place to learn about a ship and how things are laid out equipment wise. It saves a lot of guess work later at sea.

When I got to my ship in early January 1977 she was in the yards going through a three month repair period and I had a month or two to learn my way around even though I was assigned to Mess Cooking {KP} for the first three months. When I got out in October 1980 I left the old gal right where I found her LOL. Same pier in the yards.

[sinsofsolarempirefan]

From what I’ve read, the air-crew and support staff add another 1,000 to the size of the crew. My guess is that if the carrier took a hit and air operations were disabled, these people would probably be free to help with damage control etc.

[tanknetter]

From what I’ve read, the air-crew and support staff add another 1,000 to the size of the crew. My guess is that if the carrier took a hit and air operations were disabled, these people would probably be free to help with damage control etc.

Still, you're talking about 1700 total crew aboard. Yes, I know that the philosophy of both the RN and the USN is that EVERYONE does DC, but keep in mind that Yorktown (CV-5), which was a little less than half the QEs' displacement, was lost at Midway with about 2100 crew. Hornet (CV-8), a modified Yorktown, was lost at Santa Cruz with about 3000 crew.

The truth is that, like with handguns and parachutes, if you don't have enough crew to do DC when you NEED to do DC, chances are you'll never have to worry about having enough crew again ...

[Bender2]

Re: Crew members are shortly to be given a special app for their mobile phones to help them navigate around the ship.

Considering the crop of idiots we have spawn since the 1960s and the way the Liberal have changed the education system during that time frame... are we surprised when ever cashier we come up to has to look at the printout to know how much change to give you?

[big'ol_freeper]

No squid should be without the app

[mountn man]

LOL!

[M Kehoe]

That was pretty good.

5.56mm

[rlmorel]

Hahahahahaha!

Beware of greeks wearing sneakers! (greek sailors, that is)

That thing would show them coming up behind you!