Aircraft Carrier Bridge - From the surface of the flight deck, one feature literally stood above all others. He climbed several floors into the sky with a commanding view of everything that happens in and around the ship.
The Navy called this feature an "island." It's funny, I thought of the whole aircraft carrier as an island completely surrounded by ocean, with no land in sight. I think that made this deck tower an island-or-island.
Aircraft Carrier Bridge
Although large and visible on the carrier, this island would be quite small if it were an office building, which works to some extent. Compare it to the people and planes in the foreground and note its size. However, it served as the nerve center for the ship and the carrier group as a whole. Different functions were implemented in separate layers of the deck.
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The captain occupied the bridge, whose cabin is located several decks directly below. He could walk back to the bridge, climbing the steep steps if necessary to reach his seat. The bridge hummed with constant activity as we visited during an active deployment.
However, the captain did not personally steer the ship. I had visions of the captain standing on a large wooden wheel and turning it back and forth like in a pirate movie. Not like that. Instead, the captain gave orders that were relayed to someone on his staff, who then turned a wheel smaller than the one found on the car! Imagine an entire aircraft carrier, over a thousand feet (330 meters) long, guided from the bridge by a tiny physical movement on a tiny wheel.
Stannis also had a flag bridge, so-called Because a flag officer - in this case an admiral commanding a carrier battle group - occupied the space. In a previous article, I noted that the admiral and his staff were not deployed for these short exercises.
The Flag Bridge remained empty during our visit, so we had plenty of time to cross. It offered a great view of the flight deck and I spent a lot of time just watching the hypnotic cycle of take off and landing out the window. It never got old.
Royal Navy Aircraft Carriers
I also really liked the flight deck control center. It looked as good as expected, although the other feature, the Ouija Board, I appreciated even more. There were two layers doubling the flight deck and hangar bay. Small pieces of wood represented all the aircraft on the ship and the crew members moved them on board according to their current position.
They also took small random objects like nuts (metal things that are bolted on, not something wooden) and the tops of plastic brackets and placed them on top of the holes to show some detail. They were stored in a battered metal can. Open this photo in another window, zoom in and you will see them.
It looked like something was overdue for the automation, and indeed, the electronic wall-mounted displays contained exactly the same information. The crew explained that they needed a manual Ouija Board in case the computers ever broke down. They can use it as a backup. Moreover, they seem to have used the board as their primary tool with computers as backup. I think they just loved the simplicity and quirkiness of the low-tech board and it had a certain charm to it.
The balcony off the Captain's Bridge had an unusual name, Vulture Row. It offered a beautiful view of the open air flight deck. I think the people on the balcony could be seen from the flight deck and they probably looked like tadpoles hanging out there. There are two people on the left in the photo. They are in Vulture's Row. We had the opportunity to do the same that evening. I shot the night landing scene on video from there.
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But I have nothing more to add. I only mentioned it because I liked the creative name.
Other activities took place on the island. Generally, we could take pictures as long as we kept the screens out of the image. In some cases we were asked to refrain from photography altogether. So I can mention some of these places, but I have nothing to show for it.
Air traffic controllers perform the same activities as their civilian counterparts, ensuring that aircraft stay safely within the surrounding airspace. Another group monitored enemy incursions within a certain radius and was ready to take military countermeasures if necessary. These crew members stayed in windowless rooms, sometimes entering other windowless rooms. We only saw what was right for us.
The island also contained a large array of communications equipment and antennas for all sorts of purposes that were never revealed to us. The crew explained in detail what they could be talking about, although I'm sure the ship's capabilities were far beyond anything I would have ever learned.
Green At The Bridge!
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