USS Theodore Roosevelt: a view from the beach
posted by Paul
With over 200 cases of maritime piracy reported each year, naval vessels (like the USS Theodore Roosevelt) are indispensable in protecting the innocent and keeping our loved ones at sea safe from the modern-day-missile-launching-gun-wielding pirate.As many of you will already know, this aircraft carrier was invited by the SA Navy and our government to visit Cape Town and meet with senior naval and governmental officials. The reason for the visit (apart from experiencing our beautiful city) is to foster better relations between our respective navies and to discuss matters of maritime security.
I'm not sure what the Americans were up to today, but we watched for about half an hour today as helicopter after helicopter left with some sort of cargo suspended below. While helicopters are cool and all, to be honest, I'm waiting with excitement to see if any of their F18 fighter aircraft take to the skies. :)
11 Comments:
The shining sea looks amazing on your photo!
Apparently, according to a wry John Maytham on Cape Talk, we won't be seeing any of their aircraft flying...our petrol is too expensive!
No f-18 flights because the ship has to be moving in order to launch them.
I would guess the suspended cargo is fresh milk, eggs and other perishables that don't last long at sea.
Nice shot again today.
jm, thanks :)
dustymuffin, yeah, John does make a valid point there... if only... :)
Eric, ah, I never realised that. Is that because the jets need the extra speed for take-off? On that point, what would happen if they were travelling in the same direction as a really fast wind?
Ah great, now I understand the whole Theodore Roosevelt comment :)
Is it true that the public will be able to view Theodore Rooseveldt on Wednesday and Thursday afternoon?
Oh, I love that image, it is stunning!
I think the public can view the the carrier anytime they want from the shore, but will not be allowed aboard. The only people onboard is by invitation...
Paul,
There would not be an occasion where the wind would be going the same direction as the aircraft during launch.
The ship turns into the wind so that the 'relative' wind is 10 degrees off the port bow for launching aircraft.
example would be that if the ship is traveling 020 degrees 'true' and the wind is blowing 080 'true' then the ship must turn to 090 degrees true in order to get a 10 degree 'relative' wind across the bow.
that is a very basic example. I hope it makes sense.
Eric, ah, okay, it does make sense, thanks. I was wondering whether or not the ship would have to turn into the wind and what would happen if the crew were caught by surprise by an enemy craft and thus did not have time to turn sufficiently.
Silly me... I guess your answer would be that they're never caught by surprise? :P
I would imagine that it's not that easy to sneak up on a piece of sophisticated hardware like the TR, so I guess they would have time to turn into the wind, and thus "There would not be an occasion" would hold true. :)
Standby, I'm about to publish a couple of rocking TR pics.
Lovely beach. I like those golden reflections.
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