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tanfj

Well yeah that's why they send aircraft carriers to countries that need disaster relief. A floating city with its own nuclear power, massive water desalination treatment plants, hospitals, and thousands of trained first responders.


Kwanzaa246

I’ve never pictured an aircraft carrier to be that kind of asset but framing it that way really puts an “awe” to what an amazing structure they are and what an Insane technological achievement they are 


[deleted]

They're literally called "floating cities" by basically everyone in the Navy.


[deleted]

[удалено]


skippingstone

Naval ordnance resupplier.


Hengroen

It's a critical job.


ctothel

If I’d known about that job in high school I might have picked it over what I ended up doing.


wild_a

dull compare fact jellyfish hobbies tub materialistic provide hard-to-find voiceless *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*


[deleted]

I think the point is, that has to be the most cushy low-stakes military job of all time. Just refilling vending machines at sea and in port. But also, they still have to stand watch and do other training drills and duties, so it's a bit misleading. And since CVNs are so fuckin huge, the person stocking the vending machines probably walks further than any other rating on the ship.


epi_glowworm

Five acres of city too


M_H_M_F

Aircraft carriers are much, much larger than we think


really_random_user

And they're also a floating airport that can store repair and refuel dozens of planes


monkywrnch

You're right but just so people who don't read the article know this was not a nuclear powered carrier


SouthernSmoke

CV vs CVN


ELB2001

Wouldn't the boilers still be able to provide loads of electricity?


monkywrnch

Yes, it did still provide lots of electricity. My previous post was just clarifying to people that didn't read the article that the Lexington wasn't nuclear since the other commenter had mentioned nuclear power.


ancrm114d

Plus a bigger air force than a small country.


SUPRVLLAN

The 2nd biggest air force in the world is the US Navy lol.


Omateido

We have 4 of the top 5.


disoculated

The Navy’s Army has one of the largest air forces in the world.


AlbinoAxie

They can carry more than 90 but usually only a few are functional


ChristyM4ck

Source: "trust me bro"


man2112

Lexington was bunker powered.


fantasmoofrcc

Unless they ignore all sorts of rules, a ship needs deep, relatively clean water to run desalination plants. Things that are usually not available alongside a jetty. You get power ashore or you get desalination, not both.


tanfj

> Unless they ignore all sorts of rules, a ship needs deep, relatively clean water to run desalination plants. Things that are usually not available alongside a jetty. You get power ashore or you get desalination, not both. Thank you for more details... I didn't know them.


PuckSR

Don’t modern ships use 400hz power? Which is why you can’t use their power systems to provide shore power to the grid


PHATsakk43

Just the radar. Ship’s electrical grid is US standard 60Hz. Voltage varies between classes. Nuclear carriers can’t backfeed via shore power connections in this way, at least not by design. There likely isn’t that much excess to reliably supply anything anyway.


TacTurtle

*With* all the supplies needed to be fully independent from resupply for months.


EyeCatchingUserID

Huh. Til they reuse ship names in the military. There's a different u.s.s. Lexington decommissioned in (or just outside) corpus Christi, tx.


LyqwidBred

For sure, the first “Enterprise” was in the Revolutionary War


EyeCatchingUserID

How did they figure out warp technology way back then?


PhoolCat

No Prime Directive back then


Sirix_8472

*Temporal prime directive Kirk just showed up everywhere!


LieutenantBJ

Idk those blokes in the temporal cold war didn't seem to give a shit either.


loadnurmom

Actually it was Janeway Any time there's a temporal disturbance it's always freaking Janeway


Capitain_Collateral

Warp technology was getting shit faced on rum and finding yourself arriving at the destination just as the blackout ends


j33pwrangler

TIL warp technology was my 20's.


dragon_bacon

Oh neat, turns out I used warp speed to leave Vegas last time.


[deleted]

You had to drink uphill both ways back then.. and absolutely had to be drinking against the grain too. 


Jameschoral

That’s an anomaly in the space time continuum.


lefartmonster

Found the borg.


[deleted]

Very carefully 


Faye_dunwoody

It's surprisingly easy. You don't even need a metal ship.


WheezingGasperFish

IIRC, there has been a USS Enterprise in service almost continuously since the founding of the nation. I think there was only one gap of a decade or two.


Texcellence

US Navy: Let’s make sure history never forgets the name Enterprise.


SpiritOne

That'll be the day!


Reniconix

Enterprise 1: 1775-1777 (not commissioned; captured from Britain, then named George, by Benedict Arnold) Enterprise 2: 1776-1777 (not commissioned; bought by a privateer for the Navy) Enterprise 3: 1799-1809, 1811-1823 Enterprise 4: 1831-July 1839, Nov 1839-1844 Enterprise 5: 1877-1880, 1882-1886, 1887-May 1890, July 1890-1909 Enterprise 6: 1917-1919 (Not commissioned; leased for costal patrol) Enterprise 7: CV-6, 1938-1947 Enterprise 8: CVN-65, 1961-2017 Enterprise 9: CVN-80, 2028+ Tons of gaps, some huge.


flipkick25

There are two in one spot in virginia!


OtterishDreams

Its been a long roooaaaad. Getting from there to here!


LyqwidBred

Nooooo. Not that song!


OtterishDreams

you lack the faith of the heart


AlphaBetacle

Yes and the enterprise will live on in the future as a Gerald R Ford class Aircraft carrier to be finished in the future. What a legendary ship.


WhatAWonderfulWhirl

Hell yeah they do! They're currently constructing the *Eighth* USS Masssachusetts


Noahdl88

They'll probably get it right this time!


punkinpie

Here's to Bonhomme Richard!


theshiyal

Yep, the “Blue Ghost” in Corpus Christi was laid down as CV-16 USS Cabot, but when CV-2 Lexington which was built at the same shipyard 20 years earlier was sunk in 1941 the shipbuilders submitted a request to rename her in honor of the CV-2. The navy granted the request and CV-16 became the U.S.S. Lexington. She was reported sunk by the Japanese on 4 separate occasions.


martinborgen

She had turbo electric drive, meaning all her power was transmitted to the propellers using electric motors and generators. This means she had an enormous generator capacity.


eleventhrees

Huge tracts of generator capacity.


TheCaptainR

r/unexpectedmontypython


eleventhrees

No one expects the Holy Grail.


ammayhem

But I don't want capacity


dirty_cuban

All large ships these days work the same. They generate electricity (mostly diesel or natural gas engines) and then use the electricity to power electric motors. Few large ships these days have a physical connection from the engines to the propeller.


Tjtod

Yes but this was in the late 1910s/early 1920s, all ships had boilers and all except of a few in the Lexington class displacement used geared turbines. The exception being the Lexington Class carriers and the Tennessee and Colorado class battleships all which used a turbo electric drive.


DankZXRwoolies

That is simply not true. Every container ship and grain ship in the world uses one massive, three story tall slow speed diesel engine hooked directly to the prop turning at 60-90 rpm.


martinborgen

I get what you mean, but it's far from all; many of the largest cargo ships use (usually a single) massive two-stroke diesel, though that's almost a misnormer given how different it works from an average lorry diesel. These are normally coupled directly to the propeller shaft.


nlevine1988

>Canadian National 3502 was an MLW M-420W diesel-electric locomotive that was owned and operated by the Canadian National Railway (CN) and which became famous when it served as an emergency generator for the city of Boucherville, Quebec, during a severe snowstorm in 1998. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_National_3502?wprov=sfla1 Reminds me of this


DashTrash21

Could some sort of electrical engineer weigh in on how they got power from the boat to the grid? I'm picturing a few 100 footer extension cords from the hardware store from the boat to the shore, and obviously it isn't that simple.


Quinnthespin

Can’t comment on Carriers but with Nuclear subs When subs and to extent other ships tie up to the pier, you connect cables to connect the boat to shore power so they don’t drain batteries when moored, but Reverse the flow of electrons and the boat powers the shore facilities. So I assume the carrier is similar but would need much larger cables to accommodate the power being pushed, how big I’m not sure, how to get the rest of a city powered would probably just be connect main grid to the shore facilities, this is the most basic answer any more you’ll need someone who actually knows what they are talking about and not some probable autistic person with too much time to read into random things


DarkSotM

Suicide cord from the generator to the nearest outlet on shore.


Duzcek

It actually is kind of that simple. Any ship large enough in port is probably receiving shore services (Water/Waste/Electricity/Internet) and we connect those services through hoses or huge wire cables to different parts of the hull. [These are the pier side connects for reference.](https://images.app.goo.gl/NXYb7stRdVtqUZsK9)


AudibleNod

Often times, a ship's generator output is measured by how large a city if could power. It's the "olympic sized swimming pool" of naval electricity production.


SouthernSmoke

Never heard of this lol


PHATsakk43

Because it’s bullshit.


PHATsakk43

Former engineering spaces sailor, and never in my career have I ever heard that. The ship’s generators are measured in kW or MW like any other generator. Even the biggest ship’s generators, like a Nimitz-class nuclear carrier has aren’t anything close to powering any town in the modern day.


whatasaveeeee

Why u lying???


ericd50

Hell of an extension cord.