Bridge Aircraft Carrier - From the surface of the flight deck, one feature stood out above all others. A superstructure has risen several floors in the sky, with a spectacular view of everything that happens on the ship and its surroundings.
The Navy called this feature "The Island". Funny, I kind of think of the whole aircraft carrier as an island, completely surrounded by ocean with no land in sight. I guess the tower at the top of the deck is an island.
Bridge Aircraft Carrier
Although large and visible on the carrier, this island would be quite small if it were an office building, and this is how it functions in some ways. Compare it to the people and planes in the foreground and note the size. Nevertheless, it served as the nerve center of the ship and the carrier group in general. Different functions take place in separate layers of the decks.
Aircraft Carrier Editorial Image. Image Of Cvn72, Hornet
The captain occupied the bridge with his cabin, where several decks were found immediately. He was able to return to the bridge for a moment, climbing a steep flight of stairs to reach his seat as necessary. The bridge hummed with constant activity as we visited an active exhibition.
However, the captain did not direct the ship personally. I had visions of the captain standing behind a large wooden wheel, turning it back and forth like in a pirate movie. Not so. Instead, the captain gave orders, which were relayed to one of his crew, who turned a small wheel even smaller than the one in the car! Imagine an entire aircraft carrier, more than a thousand feet (330 meters) long, guided by tiny physical movements on a small wheel from the bridge.
Stannis also had a flag bridge, so named because a flag officer - in this case an admiral commanding a carrier battle group - occupied the space. In a previous article I mentioned that the admiral and his crew did not deploy for this short training exercise.
The Flag Bridge remained empty during our visit so we got to spend a lot of time hanging out there. It has a great view of the flight deck and I spent a lot of time just looking out the window and watching the hypnotic cycle of takeoffs and landings. It never got old.
Chinese Ship 'shadows' U.s. Carrier
I also liked the control center of the flight deck. It has a beautiful view as you would expect, although I appreciated another feature even more, the Ouija board. It has two tiers, which duplicate the flight deck and the hangar bay. Small wooden cutouts represented each plane on the ship, and crew members circled them on the board according to their real-world positions.
They also took small random objects like nuts (the metal things that are attached to screws, not anything wooden) and plastic pin tops and put them on top of the cuts to reflect certain details. The they stored in a buttered metal can. Open the image in another window, zoom in and you can see them.
It seemed somewhat late for automation and indeed, electronic screens mounted on the wall contained the exact same information. The staff explained that they needed a Ouija board handy in case the computers got stuck. They can use it as a backup. Other than that, they seem to use the board as the main tool with the computers as backup. I think they just liked the simplicity and weirdness of the low-tech board, and it has a certain charm.
The balcony off the captain's bridge has an unusual name, Eagle Row. It offers a great open air view from the flight deck. I guess you could see people on the balcony of the flight deck and they must have looked like a bunch of vultures hanging around there. In the picture you can see two people on the left. They line up like an eagle. We have a chance to do the same later that evening. I filmed the night landing scene in a video from there.
Bridge Aircraft Carrier Uss Intrepid Foto De Stock 1494947291
But I have nothing more to add to this. I only mentioned it because I liked the creative name.
A bunch of other activities took place in the island. We can usually take pictures as long as we keep the display screens out of pictures. In some cases, we are asked to avoid photography. Therefore, I can mention some of these places, although I have nothing to show for it.
Air traffic controllers performed similar activities to their civilian counterparts, ensuring that aircraft remained safe in the surrounding airspace. Another group monitored enemy penetration in a certain range, preparing to take military countermeasures if necessary. The staff members stayed in rooms without windows, sometimes we accessed them by going through other rooms without windows they had to disinfect or cover certain screens before we entered. We only saw what we needed to see.
The island also contained a large array of communication equipment and antennas for all kinds of purposes that were never revealed to us. The crew explained in detail what they could talk about, although I'm sure the ship's capabilities far exceeded anything I would ever learn.
The Captain's Bridge On The Uss Yorktown Aircraft Carrier, Patriots Point Naval Museum, Charleston, South Carolina Stock Photo
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