Thanks for that update - hope the media aren’t too tough on the crew and their officers - it’s like living on a small city and no doubt there are personality issues before their tours are unloaded for respite and rest.
First time I saw a carrier in San Diego I nearly fell over at the size of the creation! I’ve had a fascination ever since - looking at carriers in photos or even motion pictures doesn’t really give you the immensity of the craft.
I’ve been from one end to the other, and up and down on several carriers. It is really overwhelming.
I served 20 years in the Navy, about 10 on carriers, just over three years on Nimitz, 3 1/2 years on John F. Kennedy, and 3 years on Dwight D. Eisenhower. Made five “6-month” deployments (you almost never got home on schedule). The “Ike” was the first combatant ship to receive female crewmembers, and it caused some interesting changes to be made. My biggest problem is that I couldn’t go to the head (bathroom) in the middle of the night in my skivvies.
There are 5000+ crew on the carrier. For me, it’s hard to see what they had to film. For 6 months, it was nothing but work, eat, sleep; with an occasional port call. Every day is the same old, same old.
Yes the ship is huge. The first time I ever saw one up close I drove down the pier in Norfolk in a Triumph Spitfire (top down) between the Nimitz and Independence. I looked up in awe.
But for 6 months, that ship gets mighty small.