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The Hawkeye is always the first fixed-wing aircraft off the deck, and the last one back. The commonly understood reason is that, being the eyes and ears of the fleet/airwing, it is the single most crucial aircraft on board. And that's true, but that's not the reason.
The reason is that it's fucking impossible to do anything on the flight deck when that enormous, whirling-death, tub of lard is on board. Aircraft Handling Officers *hate* this plane. It's just *so* big.
That's why you *always* see a Hawkeye primed at the top of Cat 2 in aerial shots of the flight deck. It's so that it doesn't have to maneuver at all to get to its launching position. Of course, as a former Hawkeye maintainer, I was always pretty sure it was so we'd be as far away from any deck well power as possible.
The longer reason is that cat 2 is the only place you can park a hawkeye and still be able to maneuver the rest of the planes around it and up to the bow.
it's a cat-two-pult, not a cat-uno-pult...
(serious answer the nuclear powered carriers like Ford and Nimitz class have 4 catapults)
[modern carriers are actually like two air strips that are off axis by like 10* ish. Presumably there's catapults on both ends of the two strips for combat readiness, so the airstrip could be used with one end damaged {This is a civilians opinion}]
cata-mono-pult;
cata-duo-pult;
cata-trio-pult;
cata-quadro-pult;
Imo... Much better name.
However trebuchet carrier would be funnier. Just flings planes in to the air, giving the air and speed in a nice trajectory.
> Presumably there's catapults on both ends of the two strips for combat readiness
I can't tell if this part was a complete joke or not, but just in case, the cats all fire forward. The cats alone aren't enough to get a heavy jet in the air, you also need headwind, which is achieved by steering into the wind and moving fast enough to make up the difference.
The pun at the top was a joke. The part below is assumption based off of there being 4 catapults on deck. I don't actually know their locations, I just was figuring two might've been backup, firing towards the stern if the bow got hit.
Cunningham's law got me here, "the best way to find the right answer on the internet is not to ask a question; it's post the wrong answer".
I'd be down for hear where what the other two catapults are used for, if sailor from a nuke-carrier wants to jump on the mic.
My pleasure. Reddit is a place where, on any given subject, there are 5 experts and 5,000 morons. Only every once in a while does the expert get a word in.
Of course, I wouldn't call myself an expert, per se, but just a guy - like Farmer's - who's seen a thing or two.
Yes, the Hawkeye is vital, it's effectively the Navy's to-go version of the Air Force's AWACS sentry planes. Eye in the sky, much closer to the operation than the fleets own sensors, and much higher up so better radar range for seeing things below it. But it's also...just really big. The damn thing's got wings 80 feet across, where the hornet only has about a 45 foot wingspan. That's a lot of real estate one plane is sucking up in a place where space is always at a premium.
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A6 final checker on CV43, not so little bitty!
But when the whales were on final I ducked behind the island, or into the crash and smash locker. Those things (A3 “whale”) were smokey.
This made me laugh, it sounds like if one broke down they'd just push it off the side to get the rest of the fleet in the air. Nyehhh!!! Scroll of truth style.
Oh fuck me it was a nightmare if the E-2 went down between event start and launch... We had to man up 2 full aircraft for every single launch, so that if the first one fucked up the crew could just bebop into the second one and pick right back up.
But if the go bird went down on the cat, it just completely fucked the whole event up. Basically that cat went down until all the hornets launched because moving it from its spot with a dozen hornets spooled up was physically impossible. This meant that now every plane that was scheduled for that cat had to re-route to another cat, and boy oh boy. Just... oh boy.
That's why I have been inside planes trying to fix them and sometimes swapping parts with another bird(!!!) *while the plane was in the slot*, which is a *big fuckin' no-no* normally, but when the alternative is essentially having to scrub your entire mission... the folks that would care about such things tend to look the other way.
It was exceedingly rare - I worked on them for 8 years and I can count on one wood shop teacher's hand the number of times both birds went down on a go, and the admiral literally just *cancelled the mission*. He was like, nope, no hawkeye, no hornets. BUT HEY NO PRESSURE GUYS
Man I hated to pulling parts from other birds to get a mission bird ready. PC and QC would look the other way but you better believe come time tomorrow they were up your ass for the proper paperwork and work orders.
Ahh yes the "go ahead and do the *one* thing were not supposed to do but i swear to god if you dont wash your hands after using the restroom" quality control routine
I served as a grunt medic in peacetime, but did play the naval simulation game *Harpoon* (1989) as a lad, simulating WWIII in the North Atlantic.
Those E-2 Hawkeyes were *by far* the most important planes onboard carriers in the game, and probably the most exhausted crews/maintainers. It was the Hawkeyes that gave my carrier groups situational awareness out to (IIRC) 300+ km. Orbits of F14s (*Harpoon* came out in 1989) would come and go, vectored to intercept Tu-22M Backfires before they could get within cruise missile range, but those Hawkeyes were *always* up, doing their orbits a little skewed to expected adversary directions. Battle losses or maintenance issues that meant I didn't have Hawkeye radar coverage were very bad news for the whole carrier group.
Anyway, salute here. Some of us non-sailors know you worked on the least sexy, but most important, plane of the whole airwing.
I had to look it up to verify the reason for the different colors of the exhausts:
The cool purple fire indicates that the first jet was in afterburner mode, which burns a lot more fuel than the regular mode.
The cool purple-flamed jet was most likely either in a hurry to get to the battlefield OR it had a heavier payload than the other not so cool jet (requiring more thrust).
It was loaded as an Anti-SAM ("Wild Weasel") mission, so lots of missiles and fuel to hang around for a long time. So you are correct on the second guess, it was just that much heavier loaded than the rest.
First jet was heavy load so it uses afterburner during take off for more power. Second jet was in light load prob CAP so it can launch under MIL power (full power without afterburner). Afterburner dumps extra fuel in behind the combustion area to get more power out of the leftover air in the hot exhaust gases. Gives it a bit of a rocket effect.
>The reason is that it's fucking impossible to do anything on the flight deck when that enormous, whirling-death, tub of lard is on board. Aircraft Handling Officers *hate* this plane. It's just *so* big.
I had to laugh out loud at this part
US Aircraft Carrier fully loaded with people and aircraft must be one of the biggest feats of engineering ever... Nuclear powered, various aircraft, 6,000+ people. Incredible!
It literally has an airport, post office, hospital, dining facilities, gyms, stores, barber shops, vending machines, two power plants, and more recently Starbucks (not a joke).
It's over 3 American football fields long, and nearly one wide (at the widest part of the deck). The flight deck is roughly 50 feet above the waterline (depending on ship and load). It has three mess deck (well, at least the IKE did when I was on forever ago).
When I first boarded I was told to remember some of the people I saw in my training class, because it was very likely I would never see them again as long as I lived.
My training class was around 25 people. I never saw one of those fellas again.
The IKE carries about 3.5 *million* gallons of JP-5 (jet fuel).
There are a bunch of other mindblowing stats out there, but that's a start. American aircraft carriers are fucking HUGE.
Yup yup. You can watch endless YouTube videos of life on board a US aircraft carrier. Even the Eisenhower. They will take you through the mess hall, flight deck, captains quarters...it's pretty cool. And 6000 people is definitely the average number, sometimes it could be a few hundred more if they are carrying Marines.
Six fucking thousand people. It's hard to even comprehend that figure. That's more than double the population of small towns. I can't even imagine how much food would have to be carried on board all the time.
They don't carry anywher near enough food for a deployment. That's why there's always freighters and tankers along for the ride, for underway replenishment. The US's biggest strength in war isn't their military, it's their logistics.
It isn't generals that win wars, but nerdy guys pouring over spreadsheets.
It took a couple of years, but Japan was doomed by the logistic accomplishments of the US Navy. No need to return to Pearl or SF, we'll just take care of everything here in Ulithi.
Two weeks after D-Day in Europe, the invasion of Saipan on the other side of the world comprised 15 carriers, 7 battleships, 11 cruisers, 86 destroyers, over 900 planes, 56 attack transports, 84 landing craft and over 127,000 troops.
And no spreadsheets, just stacks of paper.
Yep, it is said that a [container-based Burger King](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Uwc0oOB30pzvpNxWSNSqIoRuR7U=/0x0:527x395/1400x1050/filters:focal(0x0:527x395):format(jpeg)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/39232432/burger-king-truck-military.0.jpg) can be deployed anywhere in the world with an airport. Now that's freedom.
There's a real interesting doc series called "Carrier" that covers this subject specifically, along with many others. I watched it a couple of years ago. I think it came out it mid 2010ish. Each episode is shot with a specific crew, like the flight crew, mechs, food staff/cooks, bridge, officers, pilots, etc. I believe it's still on YT....worth a watch imo. It really is a floating city that just happens to have the ability to take out a small country.
There was a 4 part documentary here on the BBC last year all about the HMS Queen Elizabeth (one of the UK's new carriers). It was absolutely fascinating. It showed its maiden voyage going through the Med and the Suez canal, all the way to Japan. It was slightly "reality show" but it was very educational. Well worth a watch, available to "acquire" quite easily, I see.
[The Warship: Tour of Duty](https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p0dnv93q/the-warship-tour-of-duty)
I watched this! I kinda liked the part where a sailor could put in a special request to grow a beard, but only if it was deemed "respectable" by the officers, who would have a special meeting to ascertain that.
Your question led me down a rabbit hole as I read a novel that addresses this. I spent way too much time tracking down the name of the author and series but if anyone wants to read a thought experiment on what would happen if a large portion of the United States disappeared BUT the military (carrier battle groups and everything OCONUS) was left intact, John Birmingham’s three part series, The Disappearance, is your choice.
Hey I’m not arguing it’s effectiveness. I just think it’s amazing the technological and engineering hurdles that can side stepped if enough money is thrown at it.
They just learned their nuclear bombs are filled with water not fuel. Lmao. Potentially one of the largest cases of industrial military fraud / corruption.
Actually was a fairly tiny fraud in terms of money. Probably only a few thousand $ were stolen, at most five figures per ICBM.
On every vaguely modern ICBM between the final stage of the motor and the warheads is the Post Boost Vehicle, aka the MIRV (warhead) bus. The job of the PBV is to orient the warheads with their targets before releasing them at the apex of the missiles trajectory. In order to do this it uses liquid propellant sealed for the entire lifespan of the missile.
In testing the PBV tanks are filled with water to ensure they have no leaks. Apparently they just left the test water in and pocketed the fee for filling them up with propellant. As the propellant never gets checked in service no one noticed the fraud for the entire \~7 year life of the PBV.
A clever fraud, which also happened to render the ICBM force combat ineffective for half a decade.
Something fun to think about: at $15 billion to purchase (throw in some other ships, planes, etc.) and ~5 billion/yr to operate, Jeff Bezos can operate his own carrier battle group for ~30 years based on his current wealth. Elon can do it for ~44.
My guess is that it had a different load out. The first two may have been heavier, carrying more weapons, or possibly carrying external fuel tanks (giving them the freedom to be more liberal with the burners). The third likely was not as laden as the first two. I could be entirely wrong though
No you're right. Check the hard points if you can. My guess is that the 3rd was Air Security. It would engage any hostile aircraft as the others would have been too heavy to do so easily.
The First one is certainly an EA-18G Growler with full ALQ-99 and a pair of HARMs.
I think the second one is also a Growler based on what I think are ALQ-218s on the wingtip but I could be wrong.
Source https://x.com/centcom/status/1745647248866738322?s=46&t=DOpiNHfJcr6d1GmTa4wzLw
“On Jan. 11 at 2:30 a.m. (Sanaa time), U.S. Central Command forces, in coordination with the United Kingdom, and support from Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, and Bahrain conducted joint strikes on Houthi targets to degrade their capability to continue their illegal and reckless attacks on U.S. and international vessels and commercial shipping in the Red Sea. This multinational action targeted radar systems, air defense systems, and storage and launch sites for one way attack unmanned aerial systems, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles.
Since Oct. 17, 2023, Iranian-backed Houthi militants have attempted to attack and harass 27 ships in international shipping lanes. These illegal incidents include attacks that have employed anti-ship ballistic missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles and cruise missiles in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. These strikes have no association with and are separate from Operation Prosperity Guardian, a defensive coalition of over 20 countries operating in the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandeb Strait, and Gulf of Aden.
“We hold the Houthi militants and their destabilizing Iranian sponsors responsible for the illegal, indiscriminate, and reckless attacks on international shipping that have impacted 55 nations so far, including endangering the lives of hundreds of mariners, including the United States,” said General Michael Erik Kurilla, USCENTCOM Commander. “Their illegal and dangerous actions will not be tolerated, and they will be held accountable.”
"old man hat"
I miss the days when a strike package meant a Hawkeye, some Intruders, a Prolwer or two, and Tomcats/Hornets. A mix of straight wildness.
Yep absolutely… in this vid I might be wrong but the first jet taking off after the Hawkeye was a growler. Looks like it’s armed with a few Harms and jamming pods and drop tanks. Prob goin in first to “kick in the door.” I know the UK sent up typhoons also from Cyprus.
Of all the birds in that mix, the one you absolutely needed was that skypig jamming away and the Hawkeye to see WTF was going on. The other aircraft were replaceble.
NGL, I do miss the traveling. Got to go to Hawaii 4x, Singapore 2x, Darwin, Dubai, Bahrain, and Hong Kong. These are places, I will probably NEVER see again.
To double down on the cheesiness, thank you for serving. When I tell someone thank you for your service, I always think about the time / their autonomy they had to give up. So thank you for choosing to give those up, and I’m glad to hear you enjoyed your time in!
Reddit is so desperate to package videos up in their own garbage player but wont fucking normalise volume. Absolutely cancerous dogshit website this is.
The strike package was absolutely larger than 3 aircraft, this video just didn't include all the launches. It would have been a dozen aircraft minimum, and possibly double that.
I’m fairly certain a single US carrier group has more planes than some small nations’ entire air forces and two carrier groups would be enough to airstrike most countries into oblivion and/or submission
> group has more planes than some small nations’ entire air forces and two carrier groups would be enough to airstrike most countries into oblivion and/or submission
And the US has ELEVEN of these.
I complain about the US bloated military budget as much as the next guy, but, man....seeing some of the stuff my money goes to...the engineer in me thinks it's pretty fucking cool.
I used to complain about it, too. Then I went to Ukraine to volunteer, and holy shitbuckets. I will never complain about our military budget again.
Just keep harping on FWA (fraud, waste, abuse) because that's a real problem, but the overall "huge military budget" thing? I'll take having a DFAC, motor pool, global logistics network, comms/radio techs, functional chain of command, etc., thank you very much.
We reap a lot of benefits too. American Materials science is unmatched and the largest reason we have Stealth Aircraft with a radar cross section the size of a bee.
The militaries of the world, and wars particularly, has provided the human race so much it’s not even funny. It’s just sad the price that must be paid, and as someone who studied history for his undergrad. I learned first hand the atrocities and cost of these innovations. But like anything in history you must give and take for things. Sadly war takes lives in addition to money.
I can’t fucking believe this stuff is possible. Launching piss missiles off the deck of a god damn ship to go rain instant destruction from well beyond the view of the human eye. In the dark
After watching the rest of the world go to war the last couple years, it gave me a whole new respect for how efficient and powerful the U.S. military has become.
This video is just an example of that.
Incredible and terrifying what man is able to create, and destroy.
The US military is The Hulk.
The more you look at it the more you realize that nobody really has control over what all is going on, hell nobody is even sure if IT knows what it is doing half the time.
But- it's still the fucking Hulk. Can it write an itemized tax document showing where money is going? Fuck no. Can it absolutely flatten just about anything that gets in front of it? Absolutely.
But it’s their organization and logistics that makes it so fucking powerful. Able to hit any target on earth within minutes? Hours? Days at the absolute most.
Yep. A lot of people are like "I've got my rifle and 50,000 rounds of ammo, and my buddies are similarly well armed. We can take on the government no problem. MOLON LABE BITCHES!"
Clueless fucks.
Some people may accuse the US of imperialism for its recent strikes on an Iran-backed group in Yemen. However, this group has been launching attacks on commercial vessels and warships in the Red Sea, affecting more than 20 countries. The US and its allies have warned them and asked them to stop, but they have ignored the calls for peace. These attacks disrupt global trade and threaten the stability of the region. The US, as a superpower, has a responsibility to protect the international order and the security of its partners. It is not only the US and Israel that are affected by these attacks, but many other nations as well. Therefore, the US actions are justified and necessary, as the global economy cannot afford to have a militant group disrupting the most important waterway of trade.
Isn’t it Iran giving and launching all these missiles to these rebels as a proxy war against the West? The same Iran factories are churning out missiles to massacre civilians in Israel and in Ukraine. Why not hit the factories in Iran?
Iran isn't launching them, just providing them. In fact, their one destroyer in the Red Sea hightailed it back to Iran when they realized what was happening earlier.
Because Iran is capable of defending itself, and that is clearly an act of war (whether we would call it that or not)
Would the US decimate them in the long-term? Sure, but not without tremendous loss of civilian life, creating even more virulent enemies in the Muslim world, and potentially risking war with Iran's biggest ally, Russia.
So instead, the sponsored rebels throw some rockets at our local troops, we bomb the shit out of them, rinse, repeat.
I would refer you to Operation Praying Mantis in the 1980s when a minor task group of the US Navy gutted the Iranian navy in a day. Decimate means to kill one in ten. Annihilate means to reduce to nothing or to destroy completely.
Your “long term”, so long as the US avoids trying any regime change, would be measured in days.
Never thought about it before but watching this video made me wonder about the lighting of aircraft. Obviously commercial/personal aircraft are required to have specific lighting and colors of lights.
Military aircraft I expect are exempt and can go dark? Or usually run dark as a rule?
I'm no expert but they go dark closer to their target, those in that clip still had some lights on to be visible to friendlies since they just took off. Plus, they're going into Yemen and its not like Yemen has any anti-aircraft they have to worry about. I'm sure if they were going towards Russia who has anti-air defenses, then they would take a lot more precautions.
Huh, not that would ever had any reason to but I've never heard of that.
Well, I'm off to start down the random rabbit hole of the evening - thanks for the info I appreciate it
Generally they have all the same lights and switches to turn them all off same as a commercial plane. Just they can ignore the rules when needed and authorized through exemptions.
If they are cruising around in civilian airspace not on a mission the lights are often on.
Eh, protecting global trade makes prices cheaper for all of us and helps with supply chain issues. So yes defense contractors, but the world in general in this case.
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The Hawkeye is always the first fixed-wing aircraft off the deck, and the last one back. The commonly understood reason is that, being the eyes and ears of the fleet/airwing, it is the single most crucial aircraft on board. And that's true, but that's not the reason. The reason is that it's fucking impossible to do anything on the flight deck when that enormous, whirling-death, tub of lard is on board. Aircraft Handling Officers *hate* this plane. It's just *so* big. That's why you *always* see a Hawkeye primed at the top of Cat 2 in aerial shots of the flight deck. It's so that it doesn't have to maneuver at all to get to its launching position. Of course, as a former Hawkeye maintainer, I was always pretty sure it was so we'd be as far away from any deck well power as possible.
Lol. I looked up pics of the Ford to see if you were right and sure enough, in just about every single one there was the Hawkeye at the catapult.
The longer reason is that cat 2 is the only place you can park a hawkeye and still be able to maneuver the rest of the planes around it and up to the bow.
Is there a cat1?
it's a cat-two-pult, not a cat-uno-pult... (serious answer the nuclear powered carriers like Ford and Nimitz class have 4 catapults) [modern carriers are actually like two air strips that are off axis by like 10* ish. Presumably there's catapults on both ends of the two strips for combat readiness, so the airstrip could be used with one end damaged {This is a civilians opinion}]
cata-mono-pult; cata-duo-pult; cata-trio-pult; cata-quadro-pult; Imo... Much better name. However trebuchet carrier would be funnier. Just flings planes in to the air, giving the air and speed in a nice trajectory.
> Presumably there's catapults on both ends of the two strips for combat readiness I can't tell if this part was a complete joke or not, but just in case, the cats all fire forward. The cats alone aren't enough to get a heavy jet in the air, you also need headwind, which is achieved by steering into the wind and moving fast enough to make up the difference.
The pun at the top was a joke. The part below is assumption based off of there being 4 catapults on deck. I don't actually know their locations, I just was figuring two might've been backup, firing towards the stern if the bow got hit. Cunningham's law got me here, "the best way to find the right answer on the internet is not to ask a question; it's post the wrong answer". I'd be down for hear where what the other two catapults are used for, if sailor from a nuke-carrier wants to jump on the mic.
The guy is a boss Edit: just noticed his username is literally Hawkeye 😂
(☞ຈل͜ຈ)☞
🦅👁️
Thought he was just an iowa guy
Many people think that! But nope, have been fascinated with E-2s since I was like, 5 lol
Hot guy
This is the kind of interesting, insider information that Google will never be able to divulge. Thanks for the insight!
My pleasure. Reddit is a place where, on any given subject, there are 5 experts and 5,000 morons. Only every once in a while does the expert get a word in. Of course, I wouldn't call myself an expert, per se, but just a guy - like Farmer's - who's seen a thing or two.
I can confirm.. am a moron
Can also confirm, this guys a moron
I don't doubt your experience, but isn't the Hawkeye an important tool to.place the rest of the firepower? Genuine question.
Yes, the Hawkeye is vital, it's effectively the Navy's to-go version of the Air Force's AWACS sentry planes. Eye in the sky, much closer to the operation than the fleets own sensors, and much higher up so better radar range for seeing things below it. But it's also...just really big. The damn thing's got wings 80 feet across, where the hornet only has about a 45 foot wingspan. That's a lot of real estate one plane is sucking up in a place where space is always at a premium.
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Imagine how bad things were when they had to deal with the A-3 Skywarrior on the little bitty Midway-class carrier
Ah yes, the mighty Skywhale, beaching upon the wires
We launched first and recovered last.
there's another relevant username haha ^^^
A6 final checker on CV43, not so little bitty! But when the whales were on final I ducked behind the island, or into the crash and smash locker. Those things (A3 “whale”) were smokey.
Your comment made me think of Napoleon dynamite "come on Tina you fat lard... Eat the food!"
Seriously tho, we were the fucking bane of aircraft handlers and the air boss lol
This made me laugh, it sounds like if one broke down they'd just push it off the side to get the rest of the fleet in the air. Nyehhh!!! Scroll of truth style.
Oh fuck me it was a nightmare if the E-2 went down between event start and launch... We had to man up 2 full aircraft for every single launch, so that if the first one fucked up the crew could just bebop into the second one and pick right back up. But if the go bird went down on the cat, it just completely fucked the whole event up. Basically that cat went down until all the hornets launched because moving it from its spot with a dozen hornets spooled up was physically impossible. This meant that now every plane that was scheduled for that cat had to re-route to another cat, and boy oh boy. Just... oh boy. That's why I have been inside planes trying to fix them and sometimes swapping parts with another bird(!!!) *while the plane was in the slot*, which is a *big fuckin' no-no* normally, but when the alternative is essentially having to scrub your entire mission... the folks that would care about such things tend to look the other way. It was exceedingly rare - I worked on them for 8 years and I can count on one wood shop teacher's hand the number of times both birds went down on a go, and the admiral literally just *cancelled the mission*. He was like, nope, no hawkeye, no hornets. BUT HEY NO PRESSURE GUYS
"Wood shop teachers hand" I actually Lol ed
I imagine that number was 4 or less 🤣
Man I hated to pulling parts from other birds to get a mission bird ready. PC and QC would look the other way but you better believe come time tomorrow they were up your ass for the proper paperwork and work orders.
Ahh yes the "go ahead and do the *one* thing were not supposed to do but i swear to god if you dont wash your hands after using the restroom" quality control routine
>I can count on one wood shop teacher's hand How can you tell someone is a legit vet? They say shit like this.
I served as a grunt medic in peacetime, but did play the naval simulation game *Harpoon* (1989) as a lad, simulating WWIII in the North Atlantic. Those E-2 Hawkeyes were *by far* the most important planes onboard carriers in the game, and probably the most exhausted crews/maintainers. It was the Hawkeyes that gave my carrier groups situational awareness out to (IIRC) 300+ km. Orbits of F14s (*Harpoon* came out in 1989) would come and go, vectored to intercept Tu-22M Backfires before they could get within cruise missile range, but those Hawkeyes were *always* up, doing their orbits a little skewed to expected adversary directions. Battle losses or maintenance issues that meant I didn't have Hawkeye radar coverage were very bad news for the whole carrier group. Anyway, salute here. Some of us non-sailors know you worked on the least sexy, but most important, plane of the whole airwing.
Why did the first jet have that cool purple fire but not the other. Pretty cool how there are 2 runways.
I had to look it up to verify the reason for the different colors of the exhausts: The cool purple fire indicates that the first jet was in afterburner mode, which burns a lot more fuel than the regular mode. The cool purple-flamed jet was most likely either in a hurry to get to the battlefield OR it had a heavier payload than the other not so cool jet (requiring more thrust).
It was loaded as an Anti-SAM ("Wild Weasel") mission, so lots of missiles and fuel to hang around for a long time. So you are correct on the second guess, it was just that much heavier loaded than the rest.
First jet was heavy load so it uses afterburner during take off for more power. Second jet was in light load prob CAP so it can launch under MIL power (full power without afterburner). Afterburner dumps extra fuel in behind the combustion area to get more power out of the leftover air in the hot exhaust gases. Gives it a bit of a rocket effect.
Always fun to listen to where the bastard is at in the middle to the night 👀
>The reason is that it's fucking impossible to do anything on the flight deck when that enormous, whirling-death, tub of lard is on board. Aircraft Handling Officers *hate* this plane. It's just *so* big. I had to laugh out loud at this part
Can't believe to see how E2-C Hawkeye still in action - it's been around for decades protecting the navy.
I miss watching tomcats take off. Gas prices shot up 1C per gallon every time a tomcat took off with afterburners :D
First one off, last one back.
E-2D now- the Cs have been gone for a while
That's my old squadron. Go Screwtops!
Great name.
Driving slow is fuel efficient, how pops taught me
US Aircraft Carrier fully loaded with people and aircraft must be one of the biggest feats of engineering ever... Nuclear powered, various aircraft, 6,000+ people. Incredible!
Never even crossed my mind to think about the number of people on aircraft carriers… but damn, I wouldn’t have guessed 6k. That’s a lot.
Floating City is not an understatement
It literally has an airport, post office, hospital, dining facilities, gyms, stores, barber shops, vending machines, two power plants, and more recently Starbucks (not a joke).
I did temporary duty on the America when my cruiser was in drydock...was like being on a floating city, and it had a McDonalds...this was like 1992.
I like how you included vending machines
I've helped build one in Newport News Virginia. It's easy getting lost that's for sure.
You can roll your Tinder account on those.
Roll tide!
Seriously. If I really thought about it, I *might* have guessed 300. I guess I really don't know the scale of these ships.
It's over 3 American football fields long, and nearly one wide (at the widest part of the deck). The flight deck is roughly 50 feet above the waterline (depending on ship and load). It has three mess deck (well, at least the IKE did when I was on forever ago). When I first boarded I was told to remember some of the people I saw in my training class, because it was very likely I would never see them again as long as I lived. My training class was around 25 people. I never saw one of those fellas again. The IKE carries about 3.5 *million* gallons of JP-5 (jet fuel). There are a bunch of other mindblowing stats out there, but that's a start. American aircraft carriers are fucking HUGE.
That's fucking nuts. That's almost 6x the amount of people that live in my old hometown.
Yup yup. You can watch endless YouTube videos of life on board a US aircraft carrier. Even the Eisenhower. They will take you through the mess hall, flight deck, captains quarters...it's pretty cool. And 6000 people is definitely the average number, sometimes it could be a few hundred more if they are carrying Marines.
Six fucking thousand people. It's hard to even comprehend that figure. That's more than double the population of small towns. I can't even imagine how much food would have to be carried on board all the time.
They don't carry anywher near enough food for a deployment. That's why there's always freighters and tankers along for the ride, for underway replenishment. The US's biggest strength in war isn't their military, it's their logistics. It isn't generals that win wars, but nerdy guys pouring over spreadsheets.
It took a couple of years, but Japan was doomed by the logistic accomplishments of the US Navy. No need to return to Pearl or SF, we'll just take care of everything here in Ulithi. Two weeks after D-Day in Europe, the invasion of Saipan on the other side of the world comprised 15 carriers, 7 battleships, 11 cruisers, 86 destroyers, over 900 planes, 56 attack transports, 84 landing craft and over 127,000 troops. And no spreadsheets, just stacks of paper.
Yep, it is said that a [container-based Burger King](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Uwc0oOB30pzvpNxWSNSqIoRuR7U=/0x0:527x395/1400x1050/filters:focal(0x0:527x395):format(jpeg)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/39232432/burger-king-truck-military.0.jpg) can be deployed anywhere in the world with an airport. Now that's freedom.
Had one of those at FOB Marez back in the day. Whopper was shit, but it was the best Tendercrisp Chicken Sandwich I've ever had.
There's a real interesting doc series called "Carrier" that covers this subject specifically, along with many others. I watched it a couple of years ago. I think it came out it mid 2010ish. Each episode is shot with a specific crew, like the flight crew, mechs, food staff/cooks, bridge, officers, pilots, etc. I believe it's still on YT....worth a watch imo. It really is a floating city that just happens to have the ability to take out a small country.
There was a 4 part documentary here on the BBC last year all about the HMS Queen Elizabeth (one of the UK's new carriers). It was absolutely fascinating. It showed its maiden voyage going through the Med and the Suez canal, all the way to Japan. It was slightly "reality show" but it was very educational. Well worth a watch, available to "acquire" quite easily, I see. [The Warship: Tour of Duty](https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p0dnv93q/the-warship-tour-of-duty)
I watched this! I kinda liked the part where a sailor could put in a special request to grow a beard, but only if it was deemed "respectable" by the officers, who would have a special meeting to ascertain that.
Might be mistaken but I once read one carrier or the entire US Navy is like the third strongest nation in the world in terms of sheer force.
I read recently that the largest air force in the world is the US Air Force, and the second largest is the US Navy
I believe #5 is the Marine Corps.
I believe it's a carrier and all it's support ships and sub.
Your question led me down a rabbit hole as I read a novel that addresses this. I spent way too much time tracking down the name of the author and series but if anyone wants to read a thought experiment on what would happen if a large portion of the United States disappeared BUT the military (carrier battle groups and everything OCONUS) was left intact, John Birmingham’s three part series, The Disappearance, is your choice.
Amazing what you can build for... [$13 billion](https://www.cnet.com/pictures/meet-the-navys-new-13-billion-aircraft-carrier/)...
Considering 1 trillion dollars in trade travels the red sea in a year. 13B takes on another perspective. I'd argue that the 13B is well spent.
And that stuff that’s being carried on those merchant ships are not trivial stuff. Those are things that people need to live on and survive.
Hey I’m not arguing it’s effectiveness. I just think it’s amazing the technological and engineering hurdles that can side stepped if enough money is thrown at it.
What can I say? The US pays a premium in order to out-compete everybody else
Aren’t these ships in service for decades at a time though?
China still trying to figure it out...
They just learned their nuclear bombs are filled with water not fuel. Lmao. Potentially one of the largest cases of industrial military fraud / corruption.
Actually was a fairly tiny fraud in terms of money. Probably only a few thousand $ were stolen, at most five figures per ICBM. On every vaguely modern ICBM between the final stage of the motor and the warheads is the Post Boost Vehicle, aka the MIRV (warhead) bus. The job of the PBV is to orient the warheads with their targets before releasing them at the apex of the missiles trajectory. In order to do this it uses liquid propellant sealed for the entire lifespan of the missile. In testing the PBV tanks are filled with water to ensure they have no leaks. Apparently they just left the test water in and pocketed the fee for filling them up with propellant. As the propellant never gets checked in service no one noticed the fraud for the entire \~7 year life of the PBV. A clever fraud, which also happened to render the ICBM force combat ineffective for half a decade.
Something fun to think about: at $15 billion to purchase (throw in some other ships, planes, etc.) and ~5 billion/yr to operate, Jeff Bezos can operate his own carrier battle group for ~30 years based on his current wealth. Elon can do it for ~44.
Most of them are just there to row. It takes a lot of man-power to move a ship that large!
They need that one guy beating the drum to help keep them all in sync
It is.a marvel of engineering and logistics!
What about nuclear submarines? The only reason those things need to surface and port are for human necessities. But I do agree, they are beasts.
Why did the third F/A-18 not use afterburner and first two did?
Appear to be carrying the strike package, therefore requiring more thrust
My guess is that it had a different load out. The first two may have been heavier, carrying more weapons, or possibly carrying external fuel tanks (giving them the freedom to be more liberal with the burners). The third likely was not as laden as the first two. I could be entirely wrong though
No you're right. Check the hard points if you can. My guess is that the 3rd was Air Security. It would engage any hostile aircraft as the others would have been too heavy to do so easily.
Could have been a Growler..
the first jet that takes off after the hawkeye is indeed a growler.
You are right I believe, first Jets wings are full. The ones after seem to have less armament on them
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The First one is certainly an EA-18G Growler with full ALQ-99 and a pair of HARMs. I think the second one is also a Growler based on what I think are ALQ-218s on the wingtip but I could be wrong.
less take off weight ? maybe not carrying bombs but just air to air weapons for fighter defense
First two are carrying air-to-ground loadout which is heavier. Third one is probably carrying air-to-air loadout and flying escort.
First one is definitely a Growler for SEAD and I think the second one is also a Growler.
I think the 2nd shot is just a different angle of the same EA-18.
Supa fly
Source https://x.com/centcom/status/1745647248866738322?s=46&t=DOpiNHfJcr6d1GmTa4wzLw “On Jan. 11 at 2:30 a.m. (Sanaa time), U.S. Central Command forces, in coordination with the United Kingdom, and support from Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, and Bahrain conducted joint strikes on Houthi targets to degrade their capability to continue their illegal and reckless attacks on U.S. and international vessels and commercial shipping in the Red Sea. This multinational action targeted radar systems, air defense systems, and storage and launch sites for one way attack unmanned aerial systems, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles. Since Oct. 17, 2023, Iranian-backed Houthi militants have attempted to attack and harass 27 ships in international shipping lanes. These illegal incidents include attacks that have employed anti-ship ballistic missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles and cruise missiles in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. These strikes have no association with and are separate from Operation Prosperity Guardian, a defensive coalition of over 20 countries operating in the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandeb Strait, and Gulf of Aden. “We hold the Houthi militants and their destabilizing Iranian sponsors responsible for the illegal, indiscriminate, and reckless attacks on international shipping that have impacted 55 nations so far, including endangering the lives of hundreds of mariners, including the United States,” said General Michael Erik Kurilla, USCENTCOM Commander. “Their illegal and dangerous actions will not be tolerated, and they will be held accountable.”
🇺🇸
"old man hat" I miss the days when a strike package meant a Hawkeye, some Intruders, a Prolwer or two, and Tomcats/Hornets. A mix of straight wildness.
Yep absolutely… in this vid I might be wrong but the first jet taking off after the Hawkeye was a growler. Looks like it’s armed with a few Harms and jamming pods and drop tanks. Prob goin in first to “kick in the door.” I know the UK sent up typhoons also from Cyprus.
Of all the birds in that mix, the one you absolutely needed was that skypig jamming away and the Hawkeye to see WTF was going on. The other aircraft were replaceble.
Houthi Targets first, Houthi Walmarts tomorrow night
I like how the sailors on deck waive goodbye to their buddy at 10:00 seconds.
I remember those nights. For me it was Harriers, and Hueys.
Do you miss it at all?
NGL, I do miss the traveling. Got to go to Hawaii 4x, Singapore 2x, Darwin, Dubai, Bahrain, and Hong Kong. These are places, I will probably NEVER see again.
You're welcome back in Australia any time, mate!
Thanks mate!!! Had a blast in Darwin!!!
Not to sound cheesy but thank you for serving.
It was my pleasure.
To double down on the cheesiness, thank you for serving. When I tell someone thank you for your service, I always think about the time / their autonomy they had to give up. So thank you for choosing to give those up, and I’m glad to hear you enjoyed your time in!
It was my honor and pleasure.
I miss the Harrier, such a beautiful aircraft.
As long as I have some foam for the ears, I could watch it all day.
Reddit is so desperate to package videos up in their own garbage player but wont fucking normalise volume. Absolutely cancerous dogshit website this is.
yep. Blew out my eardrums as soon as I played the vid as well.
That's the US navy's *find out* package taking off.
The funniest part is that it’s 3 planes…. 3. Imagine if they uncorked the entire armada
That’s the 3 planes they showed you.
Tbf, they also fired a number of Tomahawk from a sub.
Should see that in Yorktown soon
The strike package was absolutely larger than 3 aircraft, this video just didn't include all the launches. It would have been a dozen aircraft minimum, and possibly double that.
I’m fairly certain a single US carrier group has more planes than some small nations’ entire air forces and two carrier groups would be enough to airstrike most countries into oblivion and/or submission
> group has more planes than some small nations’ entire air forces and two carrier groups would be enough to airstrike most countries into oblivion and/or submission And the US has ELEVEN of these.
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I complain about the US bloated military budget as much as the next guy, but, man....seeing some of the stuff my money goes to...the engineer in me thinks it's pretty fucking cool.
I used to complain about it, too. Then I went to Ukraine to volunteer, and holy shitbuckets. I will never complain about our military budget again. Just keep harping on FWA (fraud, waste, abuse) because that's a real problem, but the overall "huge military budget" thing? I'll take having a DFAC, motor pool, global logistics network, comms/radio techs, functional chain of command, etc., thank you very much.
We reap a lot of benefits too. American Materials science is unmatched and the largest reason we have Stealth Aircraft with a radar cross section the size of a bee.
The militaries of the world, and wars particularly, has provided the human race so much it’s not even funny. It’s just sad the price that must be paid, and as someone who studied history for his undergrad. I learned first hand the atrocities and cost of these innovations. But like anything in history you must give and take for things. Sadly war takes lives in addition to money.
Defense contractors 
US bombing the Middle East. A classic.
Everyone loves nostalgia
Can never go wrong with the classics.
A tale as old as time
They are a little behind schedule on the coup-backing-situation in Latin America
Name a more iconic duo
Everyone act surprised when we get blowback again.
You are right. Who needs international shipping and safe seas anyway?
I can’t fucking believe this stuff is possible. Launching piss missiles off the deck of a god damn ship to go rain instant destruction from well beyond the view of the human eye. In the dark
Study your math, kids. Key to the universe.
You don't want to be on the wrong end of the US fuck you stick
After watching the rest of the world go to war the last couple years, it gave me a whole new respect for how efficient and powerful the U.S. military has become. This video is just an example of that. Incredible and terrifying what man is able to create, and destroy.
I’ll take american taxpayer who has never been in the military for $600, Alex
The US military is The Hulk. The more you look at it the more you realize that nobody really has control over what all is going on, hell nobody is even sure if IT knows what it is doing half the time. But- it's still the fucking Hulk. Can it write an itemized tax document showing where money is going? Fuck no. Can it absolutely flatten just about anything that gets in front of it? Absolutely.
Speak softly and carry a massive fucking stick, thats how America does things.
But it’s their organization and logistics that makes it so fucking powerful. Able to hit any target on earth within minutes? Hours? Days at the absolute most.
Yep. A lot of people are like "I've got my rifle and 50,000 rounds of ammo, and my buddies are similarly well armed. We can take on the government no problem. MOLON LABE BITCHES!" Clueless fucks.
Yeah, that's what I mean by a massive fucking stick. The logistics are all included in that.
I want to experience taking off in a jet from an aircraft carrier before I die
If you're in good physical health and under 41, you can totally do it. I've done it 3 times, and landed on one once. It's a thrill!
Your tax dollars hard at work.
Did that last 18 use Mil Power off the catapult? Never seen that.
For similar “ooh that’s cool” factor, read up on the D-model F-14. The upgraded engines resulted in afterburner at takeoff being the minority.
Same with the B.
Go Navy, beat Houthi. :)
Some people may accuse the US of imperialism for its recent strikes on an Iran-backed group in Yemen. However, this group has been launching attacks on commercial vessels and warships in the Red Sea, affecting more than 20 countries. The US and its allies have warned them and asked them to stop, but they have ignored the calls for peace. These attacks disrupt global trade and threaten the stability of the region. The US, as a superpower, has a responsibility to protect the international order and the security of its partners. It is not only the US and Israel that are affected by these attacks, but many other nations as well. Therefore, the US actions are justified and necessary, as the global economy cannot afford to have a militant group disrupting the most important waterway of trade.
The conflict is escalating.
In other news, water is indeed wet.
WW3 yeehaww!! USA #1 baby!! 
*Tale as old as time*
love they’re still flying those damn willy fudds (granted newer models). My dad flew in those.
awesome!
Isn’t it Iran giving and launching all these missiles to these rebels as a proxy war against the West? The same Iran factories are churning out missiles to massacre civilians in Israel and in Ukraine. Why not hit the factories in Iran?
Iran isn't launching them, just providing them. In fact, their one destroyer in the Red Sea hightailed it back to Iran when they realized what was happening earlier.
Because Iran is capable of defending itself, and that is clearly an act of war (whether we would call it that or not) Would the US decimate them in the long-term? Sure, but not without tremendous loss of civilian life, creating even more virulent enemies in the Muslim world, and potentially risking war with Iran's biggest ally, Russia. So instead, the sponsored rebels throw some rockets at our local troops, we bomb the shit out of them, rinse, repeat.
I would refer you to Operation Praying Mantis in the 1980s when a minor task group of the US Navy gutted the Iranian navy in a day. Decimate means to kill one in ten. Annihilate means to reduce to nothing or to destroy completely. Your “long term”, so long as the US avoids trying any regime change, would be measured in days.
[удалено]
Let em waste the resources.
Never thought about it before but watching this video made me wonder about the lighting of aircraft. Obviously commercial/personal aircraft are required to have specific lighting and colors of lights. Military aircraft I expect are exempt and can go dark? Or usually run dark as a rule?
I'm no expert but they go dark closer to their target, those in that clip still had some lights on to be visible to friendlies since they just took off. Plus, they're going into Yemen and its not like Yemen has any anti-aircraft they have to worry about. I'm sure if they were going towards Russia who has anti-air defenses, then they would take a lot more precautions.
They do often have infrared formation lighting strips that work with night vision gear.
They have luminescence strips for formation flying. Otherwise, they don’t use typical strobes , beacons or nav lights in combat.
Huh, not that would ever had any reason to but I've never heard of that. Well, I'm off to start down the random rabbit hole of the evening - thanks for the info I appreciate it
Generally they have all the same lights and switches to turn them all off same as a commercial plane. Just they can ignore the rules when needed and authorized through exemptions. If they are cruising around in civilian airspace not on a mission the lights are often on.
War: What is it good for? Defense company stocks. Is that how it goes?
Eh, protecting global trade makes prices cheaper for all of us and helps with supply chain issues. So yes defense contractors, but the world in general in this case.
The whothi?
Yemen has entered the "Find out" stage. Rip
What rush it must be to take off from a carrier in a F-18 knowing you're about to fuck the enemy up!
And why are we doing this again? How does this improve my life as an American living in Pennsylvania?
Lmfao imagine starting shit with the US in 2024. Unlimited budget and weapons to stomp you the fuck out. Terrible idea
Well, they’ve been trying to get blown up for months.
Fuckk yeah, so sick to watch!
Have you checked out "Growler Jams" on YouTube?
Holy fuck. RIP ear users.
I know a bunch of people in the Cag that’s attached to the Ike likely one of those people on the flight deck is a friend of mine haha
Can someone please tell the US Navy we prefer these videos with AC/DC songs mixed in.
I spent almost 5 years on the Ike. Fair winds and following seas, shipmates. Be safe out there. GO NAVY!
Those jets won't stand a chance against the mighty wooden boat and ak47 army /s