3rd Elevator Installed on USS Gerald R. Ford
Posted on 08/17/2013 9:40:39 AM PDT by Jeff Head
Third (and final) Elevator Installed on USS Gerald R. Ford, CVN-79
World Maritime News
Newport News, Virginia
Huntington Ingalls Industries:
Huntington Ingalls announced yesterday that its Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) division installed the third and final aircraft elevator on the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78).
The elevator, which is used to move aircraft from the hangar bay to the flight deck quickly and safely, is located on the starboard side of the ship. It measures 85 feet long and 52 feet wide and weighs 120 tons, akin to a steam locomotive.
“The Ford class is designed with three aircraft elevators, one less than the Nimitz class,” said Rolf Bartschi, NNS vice president, CVN 78 carrier construction. “The design provides greater flight deck area for increased sortie rates over the Nimitz-class design. The location and number of aircraft elevators are an integral part of the design.”
Gerald R. Ford’s primary hull structure reached 100 percent structural completion in May, bringing more than three years of structural erection work to a close. Work continues on the ship, including work on the piping and electrical systems and habitability areas such as the galley and mess spaces. Shipbuilders are also in the process of painting the hull prior to the ship’s christening, scheduled for Nov. 9[/I>
Christening will be on November 9th! That date is going to come quickly now.
“Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78)” otherwise known as the RINO/GOP-e “Class” Will ALWAYS run to the “middle”!
Hope the elevator complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act, OSHA regulations and DOE guidelines for energy efficiency....
We only had escalators on destroyers. :=)
Not a naval architect so I’m asking ‘cause I don’t know. Why not build a carrier in a catamaran design? Granted it would be unable to traverse the Panama and Suez but I would think that it would provide a huge increase in flight deck.
ping...
We only had ladders on our submarine. And we felt lucky to have THAT much!
They went up both ways.
With all that exercise, makes you wonder how summa them Chiefs got so *fat*. :-)
Its a disgrace. Rename it Enterprise since #80 may never be built.
Is that the same?
Actually I was quite surprised reading his name in “Halsey’s Typhoon”
A younger Gerald Ford risked his life to save other sailors.
My respect for President Gerald Ford went up buy 1000% after reading that section of the book.
I’m not a Navy Vet so I don’t claim to know the whole story of “Halsey’s Typhoon” but it was an interesting book.
Catamaran! and have PETA attacking the Navy for abusing felines and decrying that so many cats will have to be killed to provide building materials for the catamaran that it will be a virtual extinction/genocide of the world’s cat population....Definitely NOT (however I have two obnoxious cats to donate to the cause if it happens.)
These vessels are already over 250 ft wide at the flight deck. They have to be able to do several things that a CAT or Trimaren design would not accommodate. The biggest is their structural integrity with the massive weight, and particularly regarding their ability to take hits from torpedoes.
In addition, the structural integrity for the hanger spaces in heavy seas is much more sound with the current design.
These vessels have been very well honed over decades and this new design is significantly advanced over even the Nimitz class which precedes it in several areas.
#80 will be built. CVN-79 has already started, and lead time items and logistics for the USS Enterprise are already well under way, along with a lot of funding.
The USS Gerald R. Ford will also have a tendency to bump into things.
And, no teeing up on the flight deck.
Well, there you go.
He enlisted in the US Navy in 1942. During the war he received the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, the Philippine Liberation Ribbon, the American Campaign Medal and the World War II Victory Medal.
He was deployed aboard the light carrier USS Monterey (CVL 26), and was part of the carrier’s commissioning in 1943. The ship arrived in the Pacific theater in late 1943 and supported amphibious landings and strikes against Japanese targets through the remainder of 1943 into 1944. The vessel earned over a half dozen battle stars while Ford was part of the crew.
Ford was a Lieutenant Ford who served initially as the ship’s gunnery division officer, supervising a 40mm anti-aircraft gun on the carrier’s fantail. He later moved up to assistant navigator. On 17-18 December 1944, Monterey was one of several U.S. Navy ships to encounter Typhoon Cobra (BTW, my own father was caught up in that and talked about it to the end of his life in 2004). That storm sank three destroyers, damaged many other ships, and killed hundreds of US sailors.
On the morning of December 18, 1944, Monterey's rolling exceeded 30 degrees. When aircraft in the hanger broke free, Monterey suffered a fire as those aircraft crashed into each other and ignited aviation fuel. Ford headed for his battle station on the bridge where he assumed duties as the General Quarters Officer of the Deck. The situation became dire. Ford was directed by Captain Stuart Ingersoll to go below to assess the situation and Ford made the dangerous trip down to the hangar deck where he assessed the situation, may have helped somewhat with activities, but then reported back to the captain. The fire killed three sailors and injured another forty. The ship went dead in the water for more than an hour. Ultimately the fire was extinguished and the carrier got underway.
Now, there have been reports (Particularly form the book, "Halsey's Typhoon," that indicate that Ford led the firefighting efforts that day, but there is no logged evidence to this, and, to his own credit, Ford himself indicated that this was not so.
When asked about he, he responded:
"No. I was down there as an observer from the bridge and then I went back up to the bridge where I had my General Quarters responsibility.”
Captain Jerry Hendrix, USN, who was Director of the Naval History and Heritage Command, said the following about the stroeis circulating around DFord:
“Lieutenant Ford’s duties that day were centered on helping his captain evaluate the danger facing their ship so that the right decisions could be made to save Monterey. And working together in conditions that are difficult to imagine, Lieutenant Ford and his shipmates met the challenge. There is no reason to inflate the value of his service beyond what it really was. He was a superb example of our nation’s “greatest generation,” who served honorably, diligently and with quiet competence.”
In the end, Ford served ably in the US Navy in World War II in combat and in dangerous and difficult situations. It is not inappropriate that in honor of that service, and then later becoming President, that a vessel be named for him, particularly, IMHO, now that he has passed.
It cannot transit the Panama Canal in any case.
was Danny there to film it?
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