Famous Ankles

It was Fleet Week. In yesterday’s post, I talked about the outside and the inside of the USS Kearsarge, a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship, or a LHD. It took me a while to find exactly what “LHD” stands for. I found it in a GAO report that states: “Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) ships are the Navy’s new class of amphibious assault ships to support a Marine landing force. These ships can accommodate three landing craft, AV-8B Harrier aircraft, and the full range of Navy and Marine Corps helicopters. Commissioned in 1989, the U.S.S. Wasp (LHD 1) is the lead ship of this new class of multipurpose amphibious assault ships. Between 1992 and 1998, the Navy added five more LHD ships to its fleet. LHD class ships can accommodate 104 officers; 1,004 enlisted sailors; and 1,894 Marine Corps troops.”

Anyway, I finally got to the flight deck. It is mildly impressive. Or massively impressive. Depending on if you can be impressed by something more than three football lengths long and holding really cool aircraft. But no Harriers. Unfair! I wanted to see me a Harrier. Anyway, I was ready to be impressed and was impressed. It’s just big.

In the above, not the small circles on the deck. More tie downs. These guys are serious about wanting to secure stuff when necessary.

There were several types of helicopters on display. Below is the CH-46 Sea Knight.

And then there was the MV-22B Osprey. It was at the front part of the flight deck. They allowed a walk-thru and I managed to get a picture of the cockpit. You weren’t allowed to sit up there, but it was cleared for viewing.

The Osprey is a tilt-rotor aircraft. Eventually, it may replace many/most/all of the helicopters. It has a lot more range and a lot more speed than the copters. I, for one, am still a bit concerned about them. I think the Osprey was cancelled at one point due to concerns over the complexity of the engineering and testing failures. They seem to have worked them out, but you never know.

Here’s the view from next to the Osprey. I really like the view of the conning tower from here.

There wasn’t free reign to wander around. Lots of secured areas. I imagine all the coolest stuff is behind here…but then the Osprey itself is awfully cool. There were a number of secured areas below and no ability to see the crew quarters and the like.

But the coolest I saw was the MH-60S Knight Hawk helicopter. This one is used in sea rescue. I talked with one of the guys doing the public relations stuff. He was a Navy rescue jumper. Yeah, one of the guys who jumped into the ocean to rescue people. We talked for a while. He was still in training (it’s about a 1.5 year course) and had done a lot of interesting stuff. The biggest seas he’s jumped into? About five or six foot swells. If it’s only your head above water, them’s mountainous waves. He expressed a lot of interest in getting into the artic training. That’s apparently the creme-de-la-creme of the job. Unreal stuff.

Just in case you don’t know, you’re warned…

After I left the ship, I was going through to the exit and saw something that interested me. The bomb disposal display. I talked with another of the crew. They had just gotten back from Iraq and had done a lot of work finding and disposing of bombs. Nicely done, guys.

I don’t know their names, their classifications, or anything about them. The below ships weren’t set for tourist like me. I presume they are cruisers.

As I was walking away, there was an overflight. No, they didn’t land on the carrier.

-H

Memorial Day weekend always marks NYC’s Fleet Week where New York is visited by Navy ships and sailors and Marines are spotted everywhere. It reminds you how casual the city is and how grimy the streets are when you see the sailors in their blinding white uniforms.

This year, the City was visited by the USS Kearsarge, a helicopter/Osprey/Harrier carrier. As Navy carriers go, it’s no Nimitz-class ship; but it is big. Baby, it is big!  (844 feet long and 106 wide.)

Even the entrance-way is huge. Forgive my poor picture taking. There’s just no way to do justice to this ship without special equipment and a lot more talent than I have.

Getting in was a little tough. The ship was all the way on the West Side at 12th Avenue. You had to go through security and their metal detectors seemed to be pretty sensitive. At least I didn’t go when it was really busy as I had to go through it three times. The last time I removed a nickel and two pennies from my pocket. That seemed to do the trick.

Once inside, it’s a whole world in there. They were all set up to give us a song and dance. Fortunately, there was no singing nor dancing. The crew was on their very best behavior. Everyone was unfailingly polite, courteous, and friendly.

Note the circular items on the floor/deck. They were everywhere. I found a crew member and asked about them. They are tie-down sites. Apparently they can be easily raised and used to secure anything and everything in the event of heavy seas.

They had lots and lots of weapons and equipment out for public inspection and the like. Look at this place. It’s huge, even though it is just an entryway to the downstairs/below area of even more stuff. That’s a ramp at the middle front of the picture and even it has tie down points. They are everywhere.

The Kearsarge is an amphibeous assault ship, in addition to its carrier duties. That meant there were boats within the ship. And there were a number of these boats. Some may have been ships.

This young man appears to be getting educated and maybe recruited. There was a virtual reality training system that he was testing out. It looked pretty cool.

And by amphibeous assault craft, we mean this guy. Big. Wow, it was big. If it didn’t have the weirdest ramp for getting into it, you’d think in was part of the carrier. It was that big. I think everyone had trouble getting up that ramp. It seemed designed to require the stiffest shoe soles that you could imagine. It was all about traction for the vehicles that would be loaded/offloaded from the craft.

Here’s another shot from the inside. You know what those fans mean? I think it means I was on a hovercraft.

They are proud of their work. Here’s their patch: Amphibeous Work Horse of the Fleet – Assault Craft Unit Two.

My next post will take us up onto the flight deck. That and a little bit more was the highlight of the visit.

The Kearsarge appears to be the only one of the ships that gave tours. There were a couple of cruisers (or whatever) docked nearby.

-H