USS George Washington CVN 73

[Jesse D O'Neill]

hello. i thought this would be a nice thread to start for people serving on CVN 73 or those w/ friends or relatives serving on CVN 73. the basic CVN 73 facts are:

Builder: Newport News shipbuilding Co., Newports News, VA

Crew: 5,680 (3,200 Ship, 2480 Air Wing)

Propulsion: two nuclear, four 5 bladed props

Speed: 33 - 38 knots (Card my brother gave says 33, Most Websites 35, brother says an officer told him 38, my brother claims ship has made it over 40, which woulnt suprise me)

Length: 1092

Width: 257

Home Port: NewPort News, VA

 

[Michael H. Standart]

40 knots would surprise me. One of the enduring myths about nuclear powered vessels is that they're super fast, and they're not. What they can do is sustain high speed for a very long time because fuel isn't really much of a concern. There remains the limiting factors of the available horsepower and the shape of the hull which make doing anything above 30+ knots something of a problem. You can't get past hydrodynamics.

I'd say more, but I'm very literally not at liberty to discuss it as the exact speed capability of the ship is classified.

 

[Jesse D O'Neill]

I didnt know the top speed for aircraft carriers was classified, i thought that was only for nuclear submarines. well if such things are classified, they shouldnt have told my brother, cause he's the least likely person to keep quiet about it. as for 38 knots and above for CVN 73 George Washington (Carrier), ill take that as a fair judgement thats probably 75% chance of being right because me and my brother have spent most of our lives on boats, and i currently own a speed boat thats a bit faster (65 Knots), though 25% for him being wrong as it's his first time being on a ship of that size, though he has been on ships before (A Ship is any Watercraft 65 Ft or Longer).

 

[Michael H. Standart]

Jesse, the only thing I can do is invite you to do the math for yourself. The ship has 280,000 shaft horsepower available. Quite impressive in it's own right and it might seem like you can achieve warp speed with a reactor.

The reality is that you can't.

That 280,000 shp has to move up to 102,000 tons of mass and it has to move a hull where the immersed area is 1040 feet long, 134 feet wide, with a draft of up to 39 feet. That's a length to beam ratio of around 7.8 to 1. Not an inhearantly fast hullform and it goes as quickly as it does only by way of the "Push hard until it moves" approach. You cannot compare a speedboat with an aircraft carrier and hydrodynamics makes no allowances for the "Golly-gee-whiz-wilikers-wow" mythology that springs up around these ships by way of 'tween decks gossip.

Eventually, you get to the point where resistance in the water is so great that you could actually double the available horsepower and get only 1 or 2 knots of extra speed out of the beast. Tween decks story telling notwithstanding, there's nothing whatever magical about a nuclear reactor as all it really is is just another way to boil water to produce steam.

 

[Jesse D O'Neill]

I cannot consider my brother source to be tween the deck info talk. his source was officers on the ship and also the Captain, who he frequently talks to when he can. so i would say his sources are quite reliable.

 

[Michael H. Standart]

And my source is the information posted on a brass plaque on the engine room telegraph which displayed what speeds were possible with what engine revolutions. While I cannot go into any greater detail then that, suffice to say that what's literally engraved on brass is a lot more dependable then "I heard it from....[insert supposedly unimpeachable sources here.] Especially when that information is essential data that the OOD has to know and which has to be right! The safety of the ship depends on it.

Jesse, I mean no disrespect to your brother, but that long string you gave me is exactly the thing that qualifies as "tween decks gossip." I spent too many years in the Navy, with the last one on that particular ship not to recognize it when I run into it. That's why I put my trust in primary sources rather then "I heard it from so and so who got it from the captain and who knows him very well."

And once more, I would invite you to do the math using the numerical values I gave above. You can get some surprisingly reliable figures that way. It works well enough for naval architects, and it'll work for you.

 

[Jesse D O'Neill]

Your source of info seems reliable, so ill put the ship's top speed somewhere between 33-38 knots, which i think is reasonable.

 

[Michael H. Standart]

<shrug> Fair enough.

Are there any other aspects of carrier life you'd be interested in? I can tell you quite a bit about day to day operations, particularly flight ops.

 

[Jesse D O'Neill]

well i am wondering what those little circular objects all over the deck are for. just little circles, only a couple inches in each direction, and they look like they could be used for tying planes down or drains. whatever they are used for they are over the deck.

 

[Michael H. Standart]

Those are ther padeyes used for chaining aircraft to the deck. Contrary to some popular myth, aircraft carriers do pitch and roll in a seaway and have been known to take water over th bow. Get some really good rolls in, or take a wave over the bow and combine that with a 20 to 30 ton aircraft...well...I think you can see why you would want one of these bird securely chained down. The fright flight deck has literally tens of thousands of these padeyes arranged from bow to stern.

There aren't really any drains to speak of though there are scuppers along the flight deck's edge so water can flow off the deck.

 

[Michael H. Standart]

From The Navy Newsstand:

GW Departs Dry Dock in NNSY

quote:

By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class (SW/AW) Katrin Albritton, USS George Washington Public Affairs

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (NNS) -- USS George Washington (CVN 73) (GW) successfully completed its move from the dry dock at Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY) to a pierside berth April 25, one week earlier than previously scheduled.

The berth shift marks a significant milestone in the Planned Incremental Availability and Docking (PIA+D) period before the ship heads to Japan in 2008.

“It’s very important to GW, and to the whole enterprise, that our repair and maintenance work stay on or ahead of schedule,” said GW Commanding Officer Capt. Dave Dykhoff. "Team GW made schedule adherence one of our primary goals during this shipyard period at NNSY, and we’re very pleased to be moving out of the dry dock a week early.”

Story at http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=29082

Comment: This brings back some memories. When I was stationed on this ship, she was going into drydock at this shipyard.

 

[Michael H. Standart]

From The Navy Newsstand:

CNO Expects GW to Call Yokosuka Home in Summer 2008

quote:

WASHINGTON (NNS) -- USS George Washington (CVN 73) "GW" is on track to head to Yokosuka in summer 2008, according to Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Mullen.

In his weekly podcast to the fleet - now available at www.navy.mil - Mullen said the "GW" will relieve USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63), marking the first time a U.S. Navy nuclear-powered vessel will be permanently forward deployed in Japan. Mullen called it a "historic move."

“I find the city very supportive of this move for George Washington,” Mullen said of his recent visit to Yokosuka, and meeting with the city's mayor, Ryoichi Kabaya. “Many, many people have worked hard. For everybody involved in that, it’s important we focus on that and stay with that — as I like to say — until all lines are doubled and she’s in port over there.”

Story at http://www.news.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=30350

Comment: A nice rosy picture there but I wonder if somebody may be a bit out of touch. The Japanese don't have a lot of reason to love anything nuclear. Still, the last of the fossil fueled carriers is on the way out and if they want a carrier forward deployed, their options are mighty short.

 

[Michael H. Standart]

From The Navy Times:

Japanese group sues over nuclear carrier

quote:

TOKYO – A civic group opposed to stationing a U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in Japan has sued the government to halt harbor work being done to accommodate the warship, a lawyer said Tuesday.

The Navy is slated to deploy the USS George Washington next summer to Yokosuka, just south of Tokyo. The Nimitz-class carrier replaces the diesel-powered carrier Kitty Hawk.

Story at http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/07/ap_japansue_070703/

Comment: The Kitty Hawk is a steam turbine powered vessel which is fueled by navy distillate, also known as deisel-fuel-marine. (DFM). That fine point aside, I'm amazed it took this long for this particular shoe to drop. "Nuclear" anything is a nasty word in Japan.

 

[Michael H. Standart]

From The Navy Newsstand:

USS George Washington Gets Underway for Sea Trials

quote:

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (NNS) -- USS George Washington (GW) (CVN 73) left Norfolk Naval Shipyard on Aug. 27 and headed for sea trials.

Sea trials, which are expected to be completed later this week, are traditionally the final hurdle for a shipyard maintenance availability and are designed to assess GW’s material readiness and ability to rejoin the fleet as a fully operational unit.

Once complete, GW will return to the U.S. 2nd Fleet to commence final operational preparations to relieve USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) as the Navy’s forward-deployed aircraft carrier in Japan in 2008. The $300 million, 11-month Planned Incremental Availability plus Docking is expected to be completed on time and within budget.

For the rest, see http://www.news.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=31469

 

[Michael H. Standart]

From The Navy Times:

GW sails Monday for new homeport

quote:

The carrier George Washington is to sail Monday for the last time from Naval Station Norfolk, Va., its homeport since the ship was commissioned, on the cruise that will take it to its new assignment in Japan as the only U.S. forward-deployed carrier.

The ship is relieving the conventionally powered carrier Kitty Hawk, scheduled to return to the United States for decommissioning this summer.

Full story at http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/04/navy_carrier_departs_040608w/

 

[James Smith]

Coming in late to this discussion, but as I calculate it the GW's theoretical hull speed is 43.21 knots. To what degree does hull form really affect that? After all, if the GW weren't so beamy, it'd have a deeper draft and offer the same amount of resistance to the water--wouldn't it?

--Jim

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>To what degree does hull form really affect that? <<

To a very great extent. The beamier the hull, the greater the resistance. Eventually, you can get to the point where you can double the horsepower and all you'll get is one extra knot of speed.

Contrary to a lot of popular belief, nuclear power isn't some sort of magic bullet which makes warp speed possible. What it does is use a core of fissionable material to create a lot of heat which is then run through heat exchangers to produce steam. What a nuclear reactor does accomplish is let the ship sustain her very best speed for a very long time, but you're still limited by the horsepower available.

43.21 knots?

Dream on!

 

[Michael H. Standart]

From The Flagship:

George Washington bids Norfolk final farewell

quote:

NORFOLK – The aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73) with its crew of approximately 3,200 Sailors departed Monday, to begin its journey to Yokosuka, Japan to replace USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) as the United States’ only permanently forward-deployed aircraft carrier.

Commanded by Capt. Dave Dykhoff, GW will be the flagship for the George Washington Strike Group, commanded by Rear Adm. Phil Cullom and comprised of: Carrier Air Wing Seventeen (CVW-17); the guided missile frigate USS Kauffman (FFG 59); homeported in Norfolk, and Destroyer Squadron 40 (DESRON 40) and the guided missile destroyer USS Farragut (DDG 99); homeported in Mayport, Fla.

More at http://www.flagshipnews.com/articles/2008/04/10/news/top_stories/top01.txt

Photo gallary at http://www.norfolknavyflagship.com/shared-content/gallery/?galleryid=4&gallery_page=0&album_page=0&albumid=114&mediaid=1176

 

[Michael H. Standart]

From The Navy Newsstand:

Carrier Strike Group Commander Stresses Interoperability, Partnerships

quote:

WASHINGTON (NNS) -- Transiting through the Strait of Magellan on board USS George Washington May 9, the commander of Carrier Strike Group 8 explained the importance of interoperability and partnership building in the Southern Hemisphere.

The Strait of Magellan is located along the southern edges of the South American continent.

More at http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=37029

 

[Michael H. Standart]

From The Navy Times:

Japanese court rejects anti-carrier lawsuit

quote:

TOKYO – A Japanese court rejected a lawsuit Monday demanding a halt to harbor work to accommodate a U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier that is set to be based south of Tokyo starting in August, a court spokeswoman said.

For the rest, see http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/05/ap_japansuit_051208/