Fleet week, SF

a reply to: verschickter

That's what their original purpose was, as thrusters. Notice that it took four to six to do it on those. They weren't very efficient.

Then the Seawolf tried it out for propulsion and were able to get crazy speed out of it. They're slowly making their way into the civilian world now because of their efficiency.

a reply to: Zaphod58

I still crack up thinking about just how hard the # must have hit the fan over that one.

I keep crossing my fingers that one day the guys at TTR, Palmdale, or Groom will make the same mistake.

a reply to: Barnalby

Heads rolled at the yard where it happened.

a reply to: Barnalby

In this case, # hit the screw -because someone screwed up big time.

a reply to: verschickter

That shot is actually a pretty damned accurate conjecture at what a Flight I Los Angeles class boat's screw probably looked like.

The Los Angeles design was about 5-10 years older than the Ohio's, and the Los Angeles, especially the Flight I boats, were designed for primarily for speed, whereas the Ohio, being a boomer, is designed for silence above all else. So it's very likely that an LA would have a screw with fewer blades and more surface area, with a less complex shape, owing to mid-70's CFD that was better optimized for running at the 40-45+ knots that the LA's still-classified flank speed most likely is.

FWIW, the technical advising for that film was so good that IIRC either a filmed scene or the original script outed that the US Navy uses gravimetrics to fine-tune the INS hardware with one throwaway line of background dialogue on the Dallas. Supposedly, folks in the Navy were THRILLED about that one as well.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Oh, I'm sure many a USN career came to an abrupt end over it.

a reply to: Barnalby

That's the only reason they got away with it. The Flight II used a different screw that was refitted onto the Flight I boats, and the 688i used a third screw. Sadly Dallas is to be decommissioned next year and eventually scrapped.

a reply to: Zaphod58

It's sad to see the Flight I's go, but then again they make even the Ticonderoga's look young. Speak of THAT devil (that's parked at Pier 4 barely 3 miles from me), just as the Virginia keeps getting more and more interesting, I'll be curious to see what lessons from the Zumwalt get carried over to whatever replaces the Ticonderoga's.

My money is on an adaptation of the Zumwalt hull carrying the most powerful AESA that they can fit on that superstructure, and loaded with SM3's to serve primarily as a BMD platform with extra area-denial capabilities that uses its stealth to blend seamlessly into commercial traffic around whatever country it's looking to "suppress".

Also, the Swiftsure class was the first type of submarine that was fitted with a shrouded pump-jet, and the Trafalgar's were the first to be launched with them fitted (the Typhoon's fittingly agricultural glorified Kort Nozzles don't count!), but I'm sure you knew that...

If I could do life over again, I would have responded to those recruitment packages from Annapolis or crossed the pond to join the Royal Navy. I have a hard time imagining a job that's not "being the Green Lady/Blackstar/Senior Citizen/Brilliant Buzzard's pilot" that comes close to the technological awesomeness of being an officer on an attack boat.

Even if the British crews have to deal with barely more crew space than on a Type 209, at least there's booze!

a reply to: HomeyKXTA

Rather than start a new thread, I thought I'd follow up here. Apologies for the poor quality photos - I had a 3 year old in tow, so I left the Nikon at home, so I only had my phone.

Spent the day across the harbor from the Zumalt.


F-22


F-22 & F-35 over the Zumalt


Heritage Flight - Avengers?




The Angles came around after, but my phone was running out of juice...

a reply to: Virgil Cain

Great photos man! I had to ascend from our viewing spot for some h20. Almost missed the F-22, and apparently totally missed the 35! This is the first time I even Heard there was one out and about!
Which day did you take your photos?

a reply to: HomeyKXTA

Thank you! These are from this afternoon - Maryland Fleet Week in Baltimore Harbor - I seem to have left out that little detail. These are the practice runs. Full show is tomorrow and Sunday. Wish I had my good gear on me as there was a lot of great photo ops.

a reply to: Virgil Cain

Ahhhh, I see! I thought the photos you took were of the fleet week in San Francisco!
I was wondering how I totally missed an F-35 over the bay area.
it looks like you had a great spot to view such cool stuff, pity the blue angels didn't arrive before your battery went out, but at least you still have a few more days of them demonstrating, hopefully you'll be able to attend? It'd be great to see some more up close and personal shots of those F-22's
The F-22 you saw probably wasnt a part of the raptor demonstration team, as they only flew one fleet week this year.
But in my opinion, that's just as cool

a reply to: Virgil Cain

If you look closely at the Zumwalt there's an MQ-8 Fire Scout on her landing pad. They loaded one aboard for the Baltimore festivities.

originally posted by: HomeyKXTA
a reply to: Virgil Cain

Ahhhh, I see! I thought the photos you took were of the fleet week in San Francisco!
I was wondering how I totally missed an F-35 over the bay area.
it looks like you had a great spot to view such cool stuff, pity the blue angels didn't arrive before your battery went out, but at least you still have a few more days of them demonstrating, hopefully you'll be able to attend? It'd be great to see some more up close and personal shots of those F-22's
The F-22 you saw probably a part of the raptor demonstration team, as they only flew one fleet week this year.
But in my opinion, that's just as cool

It was a bit confusing the way I phrased things. I hope to get back down sometime in the next two days with the Nikon. The F-22 was solo (except for the bit with f-35), but demonstrated some pretty agile moves for an aircraft its size - I'm not sure I've been this close to one before, but man, they are loud. The F-35 was hanging out on the periphery for much of the Raptors run, but it came in for the final 1/3rd or so. I had the impression the two planes hadn't worked much together as a pair - they just sort of flew around in formation for a while with no acrobatics.

a reply to: Virgil Cain

They won't. It's a sort of heritage flight so they'll just make a few passes in formation together.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Yup - I noticed that, but it didn't get airborne that I saw. The Coast guard had a SAR demo where they put a swimmer in the water and plucked em back up - I think it was a Dolphin they were flying. There was a SeaHawk parked on the same pier as the dolphin, but it didn't get airborne either.

Some edited pics -

DP

a reply to: Virgil Cain

As far as I've heard they're not going to fly it. They're having her commissioning ceremony in Baltimore and wanted it on deck for it.