Aircraft Carriers III
- Thread starter Jeff Head
- Start date
Awesome my friend, a dream has come true, and to be able to witness her departure to become a real warship, now that is history in the making!
In other 'other other' news:
UK JOINT LIGHTNING FORCE TO JOIN WESTLANT19 IN EARLY OCTOBER 2019
It can now be announced that the UK Joint Lightning Force (UK JLF) will deploy up to 7 F35Bs from their home base of Marham in late September 2019 by Voyager AAR tanker to the USA to join WESTLANT19.
They will join HMS QE from the first week of October for 5 weeks to complete the various flight deck training approvals and initial Operational Training (OT) phases which are the main focus for this deployment. (See our pinned post detailing this activity)
The aircraft will be flown from on board by UK JLF RN and RAF pilots from all 3 extant Sqns - 617, 207 and 17.
An AAR deployment is being used for this deployment rather than embarking in U.K. waters prior to the westwards transatlantic crossing as none of the pilots are yet deck qualified for landing. The initial landings will be done in the calm coastal waters off the US East Coast and equally pertinently with a F35B capable base nearby for any diversion requirements. it also minimises the time (5 weeks rather than 14) that the UK F35Bs ate away when there’s so much else still to do to get them up to full operational readiness and also be available for urgent self deployment to any new trouble spot if required.
During the deployment HMS QE will also embark up to 4 US F35Bs understood to be 2 from the Integrated Test Force (ITF) at Patuxent River USNAS and 2 from VFMAT-501 from Beaufort USMCAS. The latter will allow QE class deck approval training for USMC pilot instructors prior to a USMC F35B Sqn starting training on the QE class later in 2020 in readiness for that Sqn’s embarkation aboard HMS QE as part of its F35B air wing for the UK CSG21 deployment in early 2021.
So in sum we can expect to see up to 11 F35Bs operating off the QE during her WESTLANT19 deployment - whether all concurrently is not clear yet but such will only be likely during the period early Oct to early Nov.
UK JOINT LIGHTNING FORCE TO JOIN WESTLANT19 IN EARLY OCTOBER 2019
It can now be announced that the UK Joint Lightning Force (UK JLF) will deploy up to 7 F35Bs from their home base of Marham in late September 2019 by Voyager AAR tanker to the USA to join WESTLANT19.
They will join HMS QE from the first week of October for 5 weeks to complete the various flight deck training approvals and initial Operational Training (OT) phases which are the main focus for this deployment. (See our pinned post detailing this activity)
The aircraft will be flown from on board by UK JLF RN and RAF pilots from all 3 extant Sqns - 617, 207 and 17.
An AAR deployment is being used for this deployment rather than embarking in U.K. waters prior to the westwards transatlantic crossing as none of the pilots are yet deck qualified for landing. The initial landings will be done in the calm coastal waters off the US East Coast and equally pertinently with a F35B capable base nearby for any diversion requirements. it also minimises the time (5 weeks rather than 14) that the UK F35Bs ate away when there’s so much else still to do to get them up to full operational readiness and also be available for urgent self deployment to any new trouble spot if required.
During the deployment HMS QE will also embark up to 4 US F35Bs understood to be 2 from the Integrated Test Force (ITF) at Patuxent River USNAS and 2 from VFMAT-501 from Beaufort USMCAS. The latter will allow QE class deck approval training for USMC pilot instructors prior to a USMC F35B Sqn starting training on the QE class later in 2020 in readiness for that Sqn’s embarkation aboard HMS QE as part of its F35B air wing for the UK CSG21 deployment in early 2021.
So in sum we can expect to see up to 11 F35Bs operating off the QE during her WESTLANT19 deployment - whether all concurrently is not clear yet but such will only be likely during the period early Oct to early Nov.
Glad to see this.
One reason is that it brings another Ford class on line soon. And that's good.
I see so many people him-hawing about the Ford. But it is a completely NEW CLASS. New reactors, new elevators, new catapults, new traps, new Island, new electric system, new radars, new self defense system, new berthing for he crew, new crew size and duties, This is not just a remake of a tried and tested Nimitz, this is a wholly new carrier and it is stepping over several technological lines that NO ONE has ever crossed before.
So take a break with the chicken little crap. It is not easy at all to do such a thing...and I spek as one who has been in the middle of large DOD project, like The Virginia Class, like THAADS, like the MLRS and the A-7 long ago...these things are tremendously complex...nd the ford is probably one of the most complexy overall systems we have done in decades!
Despite that, the USS Ford is out there as we speak and she is launching aircraft, and she is loading ordinance. And she is trapping aircraft. And she is still, next to the Nimitz class until she gets everything squared away...and SHE WILL GET IT SQUARED AWAY, the strongest carrier on the planet and able to take on and defeat with her CSG any ther she had to...and we pray she doesn't have to...but shw could, even with her issues.
Now, right now she is not as fast as they want in sorties rates...she is not as efficient as they want with the weapons elevators...and there are other problems. But they are working on it and they are making progress, and THEY WILL fix it.
The other reason I am glad to see the Island landed on the JFK is that it brings us one step closer to the USS Enterprise, CVN-80. If I was in love with a ship, it is CV-6, CVN-65, and soon CVN-80.
I predict to you all here that the Ford, like the F-35 will live up to all its expectations. They will be the cutting edge in carriers for the next fifty years and the problems will be corrected. Just remember what I said to start...there is A LOT OF NEW TECHNOLOGY going into this carrier. No other nation could probably even attempt such a change all at once. But the US Navy will make it work...mark my words on it.
I probably will not live to see the new Enterprise finished and to sea...but I hope to live to see her under construction and that will be enough.
One day, a few years from now, when 3-4 Ford class carriers are out there doing everything they are supposed to do...think back on me, and on this post.
Everybody nay sayed the F-35...now enough countries can't buy them. They have lowered the price like they said they would...and no one believed they could. They are achieving sensor fusion making each one a mini-AEW, and no one believed they could. Many nations are now opting for them for their VTOL carriers...and no one (except maybe for yours truly) believed they would take off like that...and that is going to make a HUGE difference.
Now instead of 4-5 US carriers in the Western Pacific, there are those 4 or 5, there are up to 4 escort carriers in the Wasp and America class in the Pacific from the US, there are four more from Japan and Korea, Potentially two more from Australia and two more from India. That means with the F-35B in the mix, a true 5th gen stealth strike fighter, instead of 4 or 5 carriers, there will now be12-16 carriers. And they all can build more...and I for one, believe Japan, if pushed will build at least two more larger carriers.
China will not be able to outbuild all of those countries...then add Spain, Italy, the UK and others to that same mix. The F-35B is making a HUGE difference, and potential nations who would try and overcome that, are just not going to be able to...and I believe they will figure it out pretty soon. With now there being, within a couple of years, 16 carriers available in the Western Pacific...again not to mention the other US carriers, LHDs, and LHAs, or other allied in the Atlantic and the Med....it's just too much to try and keep up with.
Anyhow, for those who took issue with some of my spelling, thanks for pointing out mistakes so I can correct them...also, thanks for all of those who defended me.
My condition grows worse and it is not going to get better.
I will happily be here as long as the good Lord allows me to...and I do not fear moving on when He decides it is time. In a couple of weeks, we will have our 15th grandchild, that's another thing I am glad I will get to see...probably the most important. We and our kids are raising them all very well to know and love God above and follow His gospel..
It is HIS will, and HIS will is always for the best. Who am I...or who are any of us to think for a minute that we know better than He does.
God's blessings to you each, and to your friends and families, and to all of those who out of good will and a good heart seek to defend their people and nations.
@Obi Wan Russell @bd popeye @Air Force Brat @TerraN_EmpirE @asif iqbal @Equation @siegecrossbow @Deino @
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@Obi Wan Russell @bd popeye @Air Force Brat @TerraN_EmpirE @asif iqbal @Equation @siegecrossbow @Deino
....as to the above...do not get me wrong. The Chinese should be proud of what they have accomplished. In the space of 15 years they have taken what amounted to a coastal defence force and turned it into a powerful blue water Navy. Experience counts in these things, so all the decades and decades that the UK, France, Germany, Japan, and Koea and Australia and others have been working with and exercising with the US Navy, practising what amounts to every conceivable scenario they can come up with makes all of those nations strong...and any one of the larger ones (Japan, the US, France, Korea etc) would be a difficult fight for the Chinese...and do not think they would not. You would make a huge mistake to underestimate what they can do, even with the numbers they have.
The point is, because of treaties they would not be alone for long in any case.
Having said that, still, the Chinese have developed what must be considered in terms of numbers and technology the second most powerful Navy on earth and they should be proud of that...and we, like they, should not underestimate them. They too are doing a LOT OF EXERCISING. They look squared away...and you can ask Popeye...there is a certain look, confidence, bearing about naval personnel who are confidant and squared away and the Chinese have it.
I congratulate them on it...and I understand their pride.
Just the same, the western nations are buying an assigning F-35Bs to their jump jet carriers precisely because the Chinese have succeeded very well and they are worried and know they have to find a force multiplier and something to even the field.
They see that they can make up a lot of ground on the carrier side by buying F-35Bs and arming the Dokdos, the Isumos, the Canberras, and others with them, and then exercising them with the US Navy and Marines...and they are doing it.
In one way China should be proud that they are causing such a reaction...om another hand, perhaps they moved little too fast, because with the very strong capabilities and naval abilities these countries already have, getting them all to bring on the F-35Bs together like they are doing means a lot of thought went into it, and they coordinated it. Might have been better for China to go a little slower so that these other nations did not all jump into this new game together...because that is what they have done. They have been driven to make a strong, joint statement...and it a strong one.
As I said, on one side the Chinese deserve to be proud of what they have accomplished...on the other, it may have been better to still accomplish it, but perhaps to do so a little slower.
Building four Type 055s at once followed immediately by four more...building the Type 001A, and building the Type 002 Catobar , apparently two at a time, was perhaps too much to throw at these countries at once.
But that is just my own opinion.
....as to the above...do not get me wrong. The Chinese should be proud of what they have accomplished. In the space of 15 years they have taken what amounted to a coastal defence force and turned it into a powerful blue water Navy. Experience counts in these things, so all the decades and decades that the UK, France, Germany, Japan, and Koea and Australia and others have been working with and exercising with the US Navy, practising what amounts to every conceivable scenario they can come up with makes all of those nations strong...and any one of the larger ones (Japan, the US, France, Korea etc) would be a difficult fight for the Chinese...and do not think they would not. You would make a huge mistake to underestimate what they can do, even with the numbers they have.
The point is, because of treaties they would not be alone for long in any case.
Having said that, still, the Chinese have developed what must be considered in terms of numbers and technology the second most powerful Navy on earth and they should be proud of that...and we, like they, should not underestimate them. They too are doing a LOT OF EXERCISING. They look squared away...and you can ask Popeye...there is a certain look, confidence, bearing about naval personnel who are confidant and squared away and the Chinese have it.
I congratulate them on it...and I understand their pride.
Just the same, the western nations are buying an assigning F-35Bs to their jump jet carriers precisely because the Chinese have succeeded very well and they are worried and know they have to find a force multiplier and something to even the field.
They see that they can make up a lot of ground on the carrier side by buying F-35Bs and arming the Dokdos, the Isumos, the Canberras, and others with them, and then exercising them with the US Navy and Marines...and they are doing it.
In one way China should be proud that they are causing such a reaction...om another hand, perhaps they moved little too fast, because with the very strong capabilities and naval abilities these countries already have, getting them all to bring on the F-35Bs together like they are doing means a lot of thought went into it, and they coordinated it. Might have been better for China to go a little slower so that these other nations did not all jump into this new game together...because that is what they have done. They have been driven to make a strong, joint statement...and it a strong one.
As I said, on one side the Chinese deserve to be proud of what they have accomplished...on the other, it may have been better to still accomplish it, but perhaps to do so a little slower.
Building four Type 055s at once followed immediately by four more...building the Type 001A, and building the Type 002 Catobar , apparently two at a time, was perhaps too much to throw at these countries at once.
But that is just my own opinion.
Jura The idiot
General
there's the Ford incredible success update inside
USS Harry S. Truman Suffers Major Electrical Malfunction, Raising Questions About Upcoming Deployment
:
"Also at Newport News is USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), which is in a post-shakedown availability that has , as the shipbuilder and Navy try to address remaining issues – chiefly related to the advanced weapons elevators and the nuclear propulsion system – before the carrier can fully enter the fleet and begin working towards its maiden deployment. The PSA is currently set to end in October, but the Navy has said the elevators won’t be completely fixed and certified by then."
USS Harry S. Truman Suffers Major Electrical Malfunction, Raising Questions About Upcoming Deployment
:
"Also at Newport News is USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), which is in a post-shakedown availability that has , as the shipbuilder and Navy try to address remaining issues – chiefly related to the advanced weapons elevators and the nuclear propulsion system – before the carrier can fully enter the fleet and begin working towards its maiden deployment. The PSA is currently set to end in October, but the Navy has said the elevators won’t be completely fixed and certified by then."
Badges of units participating in Westlant 19:
QE with RFA Tideforce and the French Frigate La Motte-Piquet in company heading westwards:
Glad to see this.
One reason is that it brings another Ford class on line soon. And that's good.
I see so many people him-hawing about the Ford. But it is a completely NEW CLASS. New reactors, new elevators, new catapults, new traps, new Island, new electric system, new radars, new self defense system, new berthing for he crew, new crew size and duties, This is not just a remake of a tried and tested Nimitz, this is a wholly new carrier and it is stepping over several technological lines that NO ONE has ever crossed before.
So take a break with the chicken little crap. It is not easy at all to do such a thing...and I spek as one who has been in the middle of large DOD project, like The Virginia Class, like THAADS, like the MLRS and the A-7 long ago...these things are tremendously complex...nd the ford is probably one of the most complexy overall systems we have done in decades!
Despite that, the USS Ford is out there as we speak and she is launching aircraft, and she is loading ordinance. And she is trapping aircraft. And she is still, next to the Nimitz class until she gets everything squared away...and SHE WILL GET IT SQUARED AWAY, the strongest carrier on the planet and able to take on and defeat with her CSG any ther she had to...and we pray she doesn't have to...but shw could, even with her issues.
Now, right now she is not as fast as they want in sorties rates...she is not as efficient as they want with the weapons elevators...and there are other problems. But they are working on it and they are making progress, and THEY WILL fix it.
The other reason I am glad to see the Island landed on the JFK is that it brings us one step closer to the USS Enterprise, CVN-80. If I was in love with a ship, it is CV-6, CVN-65, and soon CVN-80.
I predict to you all here that the Ford, like the F-35 will live up to all its expectations. They will be the cutting edge in carriers for the next fifty years and the problems will be corrected. Just remember what I said to start...there is A LOT OF NEW TECHNOLOGY going into this carrier. No other nation could probably even attempt such a change all at once. But the US Navy will make it work...mark my words on it.
I probably will not live to see the new Enterprise finished and to sea...but I hope to live to see her under construction and that will be enough.
One day, a few years from now, when 3-4 Ford class carriers are out there doing everything they are supposed to do...think back on me, and on this post.
Everybody nay sayed the F-35...now enough countries can't buy them. They have lowered the price like they said they would...and no one believed they could. They are achieving sensor fusion making each one a mini-AEW, and no one believed they could. Many nations are now opting for them for their VTOL carriers...and no one (except maybe for yours truly) believed they would take off like that...and that is going to make a HUGE difference.
Now instead of 4-5 US carriers in the Western Pacific, there are those 4 or 5, there are up to 4 escort carriers in the Wasp and America class in the Pacific from the US, there are four more from Japan and Korea, Potentially two more from Australia and two more from India. That means with the F-35B in the mix, a true 5th gen stealth strike fighter, instead of 4 or 5 carriers, there will now be12-16 carriers. And they all can build more...and I for one, believe Japan, if pushed will build at least two more larger carriers.
China will not be able to outbuild all of those countries...then add Spain, Italy, the UK and others to that same mix. The F-35B is making a HUGE difference, and potential nations who would try and overcome that, are just not going to be able to...and I believe they will figure it out pretty soon. With now there being, within a couple of years, 16 carriers available in the Western Pacific...again not to mention the other US carriers, LHDs, and LHAs, or other allied in the Atlantic and the Med....it's just too much to try and keep up with.
Anyhow, for those who took issue with some of my spelling, thanks for pointing out mistakes so I can correct them...also, thanks for all of those who defended me.
My condition grows worse and it is not going to get better.
I will happily be here as long as the good Lord allows me to...and I do not fear moving on when He decides it is time. In a couple of weeks, we will have our 15th grandchild, that's another thing I am glad I will get to see...probably the most important. We and our kids are raising them all very well to know and love God above and follow His gospel..
It is HIS will, and HIS will is always for the best. Who am I...or who are any of us to think for a minute that we know better than He does.
God's blessings to you each, and to your friends and families, and to all of those who out of good will and a good heart seek to defend their people and nations.
@Obi Wan Russell @bd popeye @Air Force Brat @TerraN_EmpirE @asif iqbal @Equation @siegecrossbow @Deino @
Well stated Jeff, and many Blessings back to you and the whole Head Clan!
Again, well stated my friend!