AV-8 flight ops off US Warship 51

[barefootdipole]

156.8 US WARSHIP 51 announces warning to all maritime traffic of flight ops off it's deck.

1811z 251.6 PAWN 11 calls GIANT KILLER announces itself as a flight of 2 AV-8's off US WARSHIP 51 working in area 15 off NC coast


( DDG-51 Arleigh Burke USS 51 )

Barefootdipole
coastal SE NC

 

[n3bxv]

Can Harriers operate off of a Destroyer, do they have enough deck space?

The LSD-51 U.S.S. Oak Hill is another option based just on the Number.

 

[barefootdipole]

n3bxv...thanks.....and yup, i saw her offshore this afternoon and was a LSD , so had to have been her !

(i thought the LHA deck for a seahawk woulda been rather tight for two harriers ( HI! ) but the Arleigh Burke had just been here with the T.R. carrier group....so musta still had her hull number on my mind !)

other MEU pre-deployment amphibious assault work going on too.....very busy here now.

barefootdipole

 

[Declared_Hostile]

Can Harriers operate off of a Destroyer, do they have enough deck space?

Not that I am aware of. Probably not so much a question of space as a question of strength of the surface of the pad material to the harrier e exhaust which is quite destructive. That and the entire concept of operating a harrier from a destroyer doesn't seem practical. While you technically can launch one vertically it is rarely done due to the constraints of weapons loads and fuel etc. In other words it wouldn't be very useful. The ability to operate helicopters you would lose would outweigh any use a single or pair of harriers any their limited fuel and weapons loads carried aboard ship might have.

In my armchair opinion anyway.

 

[DPD1]

Don't think I've heard of them using any ship but the main carrier. But one of the dock ships might technically be possible.

On the same subject, maybe you have heard them say this before landing... Anybody know what "check water switch" means? Is it an actual switch, or are they referring to some sort of configuration in the aircraft that they switch when going from water to the deck?

Dave
http://www.dpdproductions.com
- Custom Scanner, Aviation, MURS, GMRS, Marine & Ham Antennas -

 

[barefootdipole]

LSD harrier landings more than possible---actual.

water supply on a harrier is perhaps the most vital element--equal to fuel supply and more critical because less lbs of water onboard--water cools the engines after viffing and going into vertical descent...and theres only about 90 seconds of supply, so you had better get off the pot or **** real quick....ultra critical.

barefootdipole

 

[DPD1]

Oh, OK... So they're reminding them to turn on the water while going into hover. I had a feeling it might be something like that, but I wasn't sure.

I've heard Cobras base off the docks a couple times, but not the Harriers. I'll have to listen for that one. It's more interesting now with the ESG groups than it was before... More variety of things going on, and more stuff that you would normally hear happen with CSGs.

Dave
http://www.dpdproductions.com
- Custom Scanner, Aviation, MURS, GMRS, Marine & Ham Antennas -

 

[dlbrock]

I served on a Guided Missile Destroyer in the US Navy and the main deck is not constructed in a way to support the heat generated by a Harrier taking off.

 

[Declared_Hostile]

A Harrier can not only destroy deck material with heat but with pressure. You put the vertical thrust of a Harrier on certain paved surfaces and you will rip off the blacktop pavement and such. I remember stories relating instances of this happening at airshows and different times when Harriers showed up at unfamiliar places. You can't mess around with that exhaust from them.

As an aside the F-35B is supposedly a little better as far as heat issues goes due to so much of the thrust being generated by a lift fan rather than the hot thrust section of the engine itself. Whatever material you're taking off from is still going to take a terrific beating though from the thrust of the fan and engine.

 

[bcradio]

It's been my experience that the US Navy uses random numbers in it's WARSHIP callsigns.

 

[barefootdipole]

never random WARSHIP numbers around here,anyway, always follow hull numbers around here so as to visually identify themselves to neighboring civilian surface traffic (ie, shrimpers ! HI ! ) they are warning on ch 16 156.8 to stand clear, as an example.....when there are multiple US WARSHIPS in the area it's nice to know which specific one is hailing you and requesting specific course movements ...and if you are not near that particular WARSHIP, then they must be calling some other 'unidentified commercial vessel off their port bow' !

barefootdipole

 

[bcradio]

Good point.. I guess they don't think that is too much of an issue here in the Juan de Fuca strait, as the numbers have nothing to do with the Hull numbers here.. Not all that much miltiary traffic in the area though..

never random WARSHIP numbers around here,anyway, always follow hull numbers around here so as to visually identify themselves to neighboring civilian surface traffic (ie, shrimpers ! HI ! ) they are warning on ch 16 156.8 to stand clear, as an example.....when there are multiple US WARSHIPS in the area it's nice to know which specific one is hailing you and requesting specific course movements ...and if you are not near that particular WARSHIP, then they must be calling some other 'unidentified commercial vessel off their port bow' !

barefootdipole