Each test moved the bomb progressively
closer to the carrier. full ship shock trials which evaluate a
ship's ability to withstand the shock of
an explosion and keep fighting are rare
occurrences that most navy sailors never
experience. The last carrier to be shocked was the
uss theodore roosevelt in 1987.
The service released photos and videos
of the latest testing including one that
shows the ship jolting as the blast wave
hits with crew bracing for shock. Two ford sailors told insider about
their experiences with the latest shock
trials, offering perspectives from both
the bridge and below deck.
Lieutenant commander Greg Sutter the
assistant navigation officer and the
officer of the deck during the testing, was on the bridge about 100 feet above
the water line while electricians made
second class John Dakinay was in the
repair locker located around the
waterline.
There was an eerie feeling as we counted
down the last few seconds, knowing it was
about to go off, Sutter said.
L lieutenant counted down to the blast
on the 1mc the shipwide broadcasting
system. from the bridge sutter could see the
powerful explosion the smoke and the
giant wave building. During the final test he could smell
something like gunpowder, then the ship started rattling and
shaking, he said.
Dakane who was stationed in a repair
locker down on the second deck, described
distinctly hearing a loud bang through
his hearing protection that he said
shocked me quite a bit the first time.
"You are able to feel the vibration
throughout the ship and the rocking of
the waves," he said.
The rattling of the carrier from the
initial blast and the aftershocks lasted
for about 10 to 15 seconds. You could
feel it through your whole body as the
percussion hit, Sutter said. I wouldn't say it was as much as a car
accident or anything, but you could
definitely feel the thump of it hitting
you. this feeling is fairly unusual for
carrier sailors.
Aircraft carriers like the ford are
nearly 1,100 feet long and cut through
most seas with minimal rolling. The ship's bridge team typically take
turns slowly and choose courses to
minimize the ship's pitch and roll
recognizing that abrupt movements can
damage planes and injure crew.
Sailors who had gone through extensive
training prior to the testing were at
their battle stations for an hour before
the explosive charge was detonated. It goes from unnerving to about 10
seconds of shock and awe, then all of a sudden sutter said
everybody snaps back into their training.
Decane said the same about his
experience telling insider that their
training definitely kicked in. He said everyone grabbed their gear
immediately and was ready to respond to
whatever may have happened.
Captain Paul Lanzalotta, the Ford's Commanding Officer told reporters that
the testing definitely did break some
things, but there were zero catastrophic
failures on the ship, zero situations
where we had flooding, zero fires.
Rear Admiral James P. Downey program
executive officer for aircraft carriers
said that the damages were largely minor
issues explaining that the navy didn't
see damage to the high-risk systems in
the manner that we thought we may.
Ford sailors said they were somewhat
surprised by the limited impact on the
carrier, a first-in-class ship featuring
a wide variety of new technologies and
capabilities. There was a momentary loss of some
systems, Sutter said.
The systems that went down temporarily
were back online in a matter of minutes
though. I would have thought that we would have
lost more than what we did, i would have
thought that it would have taken longer
to bring those systems back on, he said.
Both sutter and dakini told insider the
recent full ship shock trials reinforced
their confidence in the ship and crew's
ability to take a hit and continue the
fight.
