LIFE INSIDE AND ON THE USS NIMITZ (CVN-68).

Or on anyone of the nine other carriers in this class!





Nimitz class carriers are powered by two A4W nuclear reactors, the designation standing for:


A = Aircraft carrier platform
4 = Contractor's fourth core design generation
W = Westinghouse, the contracted designer


A4W reactors are pressurized water reactors (PWRs), jointly designed by Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory and Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory and built by Westinghouse Electric Company. Their reactor cores are expected to operate for about 25 years before refueling is required. The Nimitz class supercarriers (all ten of them, although there are three subclasses) are thus far - and will remain so - the only ships to use them, boasting two A4Ws rated at 550 MWth each. These generate enough steam to produce 140,000 shaft horsepower (104 MW) for each pair of the ship's four shafts – two per propulsion plant – plus approximately 100 MW of electricity for all of the carriers' other electrical needs. While the two A4W reactors were a tremendous improvement over the USS Enterprise's 8 (eight) Westinghouse A2W powerplants, the successor of the Nimitz class, the Gerald Ford class, boasts even more impressive reactors in the form of two A1Bs (for Bechtel), with an approximately 25% higher output yet.


Very interesting info on marine nuclear powerplants here.



MFBB.

RECOMMENDED VIDEOS: LIFE ON A USN SUBMARINE.

Must see video dealing with life on USS Wyoming (SSBN-742), an Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine in commission since 1996.





Hat tip Theo Spark.


MFBB.

ZUMWALT FINISHES SEA TRIALS, ENTERS PORTLAND HARBOR.

Watch this video from Maine Imaging Photography. It shows the USN's Zumwalt (DDG-1000) entering Portland Harbor following sea trials in December. The Zumwalt is the first of three of its class, stealth destroyers being built for the Navy by General Dynamics BIW (Bath Iron Works) in Maine.




Woooooow, what a cute video!!!! What a nice ship.

On a sea like a billiard table.


Below is a pic of the German battlecruiser/battleship Scharnhorst prior to July 1939.






Here's a pic of the same ship, post August 1939.






Spot the difference? The Kriegsmarine considered both the Scharnhorst and it's sister ship the Gneisenau rather poor sea boats, bow-heavy and slow in turning.

That is why in the summer of 1939 both battlecruisers/battleships were fitted with a so-called Atlantikbug (Atlantic Bow).

To be sure, this adjustment was no wonder cure. Scharnhorst and Gneisenau continued to suffer from non-combat damage in heavy seas - during which "A" turret could barely be used. But is was an improvement.

I am no naval engineer, much less a seafarer. My marine expertise limits itself to having been on board ferries across the North Sea, the Irish Sea and the Skagerrak. But when I look at the Zumwalt... I seriously wonder whether this ship can survive in a North Atlantic monsterstorm. The rationale for its bow is that it should "pierce the waves". It may pierce it so well that in a heavy storm it becomes a submarine.

Oh yeah... look where the Zumwalt's bridge is vis-à-vis the Scharnhorst's and Gneisenau's. Even with their new Atlantikbug, both ships could get "wet" to the bridge. I wonder what it's gonna look like on the Zumwalt's bridge in storms like these...




e.g. at the 1:01 mark.

I fear the Zumwalt is going to end up as but little better than the LCS - investment-wise of course. I have heard positive things about BIW so maybe they can make it a better ship than I imagine. But I do have serious doubts. Maybe, at some time in the future, BIW will be asked to fit the DDG-1000 and its sister ships with an Atlantikbug of their own.


MFBB.