USS Gerald Ford... Skipping Trucks

eggtimer rocketry
madcow rocketry
Wildman Rocketry
Shop deals on ebay
The Rocketry Forum

Help Support The Rocketry Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Peartree

Peartree

Cyborg Rocketeer
Staff member
Administrator
Global Mod
Joined
Jan 5, 2009
Messages
7,671
Reaction score
3,845
Location
Alliance, Ohio
Have you ever tried to skip stones off of a pond or lake? Here, as the USS Gerald Ford tests its new catapult system it ends up "skipping" large trucks (not pick-ups but almost semi sized trucks) off the ocean.

https://twitter.com/spectatorindex/status/828234422923063298

[video]https://twitter.com/spectatorindex/status/828234422923063298[/video]

Sorry I can't get the video to appear here. The only source I've found is on Twitter and the forum software doesn't seem to like that.
 
Here's a youtube video with test articles instead of trucks.

[video=youtube;sVVMs4pnJ8I]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVVMs4pnJ8I[/video]
 
That looks like the new electromagnetic catapult system (I'm not seeing steam coming out), which I heard was not working as well as the old system. In fact, I thought I had read that they were going back to the steam system, iirc.
 
Don't they know anything??? If they want it to skip more than once they need to spin it. Duh!
 
The_Lone_Beagle said:
That looks like the new electromagnetic catapult system (I'm not seeing steam coming out), which I heard was not working as well as the old system. In fact, I thought I had read that they were going back to the steam system, iirc.
Click to expand...

Not what I heard. The issue was with the planes carrying lighter loads getting accelerated a bit hard for the pilots. Give them a little time.
 
First was definitely a "Wheeled Sled" used for testing. The second one, the camera footage is so crappy it's not easy to make out if it really is a "truck" or another test sled.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/navy-ships/a16066/navy-railgun-emals-launch/

1434558204-woooo.gif



Now, I have heard of old cars being shot off a carrier before. In one case, something like the captain's old worn-out car.

But certainly 50%, if not 100% of the video is not a "truck" being shot off. Unless the Navy calls those test articles "trucks", then the rest of the world "assumed" those were like pick-up trucks.

Oh, I went back and looked at Peartree's post #3. It has the SAME footage as the short misleading video has, but showing what they really were, not trucks:

Peartree said:
Here's a youtube video with test articles instead of trucks.

[video=youtube;sVVMs4pnJ8I]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVVMs4pnJ8I[/video]
Click to expand...

That video was posted in June 2015. Washington Post story about it, calling them sleds, not trucks.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...f-an-aircraft-carrier/?utm_term=.7f0f8bcd53d4

Same for Popular Science:
https://www.popsci.com/watch-navy-test-new-electromagnetic-catapult-hurls-planes-air

Yet "Social Media" and other "Copy and paste, do not THINK, do not VERIFY" websites have this video "blowing up" now, like it's recent news and the Navy shot off Ford or Chevy or Dodge trucks for giggles.

"It's on the internet, so it has to be true"

BTW - None of the above is meant as a criticism of Peartree, it's how you cannot trust the accuracy at face value of a lot of the stuff posted on the web.
 
Last edited:
I hope they are recovering those things from the bottom of the Ocean!
Our poor Oceans have enough garbage in them.
They may be solid blocks of steel, but they have wheels.
Wheels have bearings, bearings have grease.
I'm sure any pivot point also has a lub of some kind.
 
When I was a kid, my Scoumaster told us a story from when he was in the Navy. He said that they were transporting a large group of either civilians or Navy families on an aircraft carrier and had all of their cars parked on the deck. At some point they called all of the people out on the deck and told them there was an issue with one of the cars, and they needed the owner to step forward and claim the car. Apparently it was a piece of junk they had brought on board for this joke, and it didn't actually belong to anyone. So when no one claimed the car, they let it rip with the catapult and sent it flying into the ocean! He said the force was so great, parts were flying off it!

That guy had a lot of crazy Navy stories.
 
They are recovered and reused. If you look at the background in the videos, they are at the pier. The trucks are being launched into the James River at the shipyard in Newport News, VA.
 
The_Lone_Beagle said:
That looks like the new electromagnetic catapult system (I'm not seeing steam coming out), which I heard was not working as well as the old system. In fact, I thought I had read that they were going back to the steam system, iirc.
Click to expand...

markkoelsch said:
Not what I heard. The issue was with the planes carrying lighter loads getting accelerated a bit hard for the pilots. Give them a little time.
Click to expand...

The_Lone_Beagle said:
Latest update:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...able-main_trump-catapult-705pm:homepage/story
Click to expand...

Those sleds are recovered and recycled. Nothing in that water as far as 'marine life' larger than bacteria that'll give you things that a shot can't cure.

Steam is simple, reliable, and the fact that we've been doing it with steam for so long, in so many different ways means that there is precious little new left to learn. Originally the Navy did not want to commit to a hull with unproven tech like this, but Congress forced it down their throat. It was advertised as cheaper, easier, less labor intensive, and with a lower maintenance and longevity cost. That is, as soon as they finally finish developing it.

I was on active duty and in the yard when she was being built. As first of class, she was designed and built to easily and rapidly retro-fit steam in the event that EMALS does not mature as expected. Easily and rapidly means another year long or more shipyard availability (wet or dry, to be determined).

The technology and reliability is not maturing anywhere near as expected. Industry information out of Lakehurst and at NAVAIR all but confirms it.

The company that I work at now that I'm retired makes many, many different parts for this class of ship. I install and service things on it all the time.

It's a train wreck.
 
Not so impressive. The Ike did it first in pre-commisioning. We shot one all the way across the james river into the bird sanctuary.
 
It seams to me instead of installing it on a new ship, it would be far cheaper to build a mock up of it on a peer.
All the bugs and rework are done until they get it right. After that, any upgrades to the system can be done on the mock up first.
That would not need a ship to be taken out of commission to upgrade and work out the bugs of the upgrade.
And as for the landing arrest system, I would say the same thing needs to be done on a Naval Air Base.
Rework on a ship I bet is terribly expensive.
Why are we building multi billion dollar ships with systems that don't work and are not proven?
Isn't that like putting the cart in front of the horse?
And the politicians shoving the Digital Thing down the Navy's throat, sounds like some politicians took bribes by huge companies and needs to be investigated.
And companies fined and politicians fired.
 
Prototypes WERE/ARE being developed shore based, but they started building the FORD before development was/is complete...... they still haven't fully matured the system regardless of location. But hey, we have a new carrier ! :)
 

Similar threads

Winston
Mysterious Space Launch Mothership A Missing Link In Area 51's Past?
Replies
5
Views
881
aerostadt
aerostadt
Winston
Self driving vehicles and infrastructure vulnerability
2 3
Replies
75
Views
6K
Winston
Winston
Winston
Putin's six "superweapons"
Replies
10
Views
2K
Winston
Winston
Wayco
Tweety Bird
Replies
21
Views
3K
Glasspack
Glasspack
georgegassaway
New KSP mission, to "Mars" (Duna) and back.
Replies
1
Views
5K
georgegassaway
georgegassaway

Latest posts

Back
Top