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To: cva66snipe
BTW some carriers had customizing done. The AMERICA was the only Sonar Dome carier.

If you mean post-WWII carriers, that may be true, I'm not sure. But Several of the Essex and Improved Essex Class carriers had sonar. I spent 4 years on the USS Intrepid, CVS-11, and I can personally assure you that she had a dome. I spent the longest 3 weeks of my life at Quonset Point, R.I. down in that dome replacing Transducers on the SQS-23C array. It's really, really dark and close and stinky down there. Plus the dome plugs leaked like crazy.

I still have nightmares. I know I wasn't claustrophobic before that!

71 posted on 08/06/2009 12:50:47 PM PDT by Right Winged American (No matter how Cynical I get, I just can't keep up!)
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To: Right Winged American
If you mean post-WWII carriers, that may be true, I'm not sure. But Several of the Essex and Improved Essex Class carriers had sonar. I spent 4 years on the USS Intrepid, CVS-11, and I can personally assure you that she had a dome. I spent the longest 3 weeks of my life at Quonset Point, R.I. down in that dome replacing Transducers on the SQS-23C array. It's really, really dark and close and stinky down there. Plus the dome plugs leaked like crazy.

The super carriers Forestall class on I think didn't have them except for America. BTW Forestall was the only one of it's class with a 600 PSI system. A prety drastic change and still keep the class going but they did. I read in my old ships forum about the radar dome on the America and it was unhooked sometime in 1980's maybe during the 80 overahul. We slept at water line aft and you could hear the pings. Sounded like an old wooden screen door with a coil spring or close to it. It would drive you crazy underway trying to sleep and then you'd miss the noise in port.

I remember one night they used it to get us back to the ship. I was T.A.D to the boat shop as a boat snipe and we were coming back to the ship from fleet landing in Brindisi when fog rolled in. We were past the breakwall and had no idea where we were otherwise. The Twidgets had us make a few turns to identify us and brought us back in to the ship. We about got hit by a cruise ship in the process. So close we could see the people in their cabins.

72 posted on 08/06/2009 2:01:17 PM PDT by cva66snipe (Two Choices left for U.S. One Nation Under GOD or One Nation Under Judgement? Which one say ye?)
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