Why Don't MONSTER WAVES Flood Flight Decks of Aircraft Carriers?

Why does the flight deck of an aircraft carrier never flood in monster, even in the fiercest storms at sea? These cities on the sea withstand the raging waves, but how? Are they truly unsinkable? And how do these technologies protect the crew and aircraft on board?
An aircraft carrier's resilience in extreme weather conditions begins with its most prominent design feature: high freeboard. Freeboard, the vertical distance between the waterline and the flight deck, is exceptionally generous on carriers, often exceeding 65 feet (20 meters). This substantial height provides a crucial buffer against flooding.
Even in the most severe storms, enormous waves struggle to crest high enough to directly impact the flight deck. While spray and localized wash-over may occur, the core operational areas of the ship remain well-protected. High freeboard effectively minimizes the risk of the flight deck becoming inundated.
#aircraftcarrier #roughseas #usnavy
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[@juanbatch8494]

Having spent a few years on board carriers I think one of the most important features of a carrier is the ability of the carrier to flex. I remember one trip coming back from the Med. We hit a bad Oct. Storm. I was amazed to view the bowel flexing in the opposite direction of the stern. The ship was bending like a pretzel. Something to truly behold. This flexing keeps the ship from ripping itself apart in rough seas.

[@bigkiwial]

The bowel???

[@solarizedmonkeyman]

Can relate. I've flexed my bowel in rough seas a few times.

[@knitwit7082]

*BOW and stern Ships don't have bowels

[@PGeorge61]

Give the dude a break...it was likely spell check.

[@merylloseke6363]

I served abroad the USS Ranger CVA64 in the later 60's. We weathered a Typhoon while in the South China sea and waves were breaking over the bow. The ship suffered three bent ribs and a buckled floor on the foward compartments on the first deck. This was also in the area of my berthing area.

[@HarrisonMoorer-pp3zj]

Retired last year but in my 25yrs all I did was this Flight Deck as a ABE. We work on the launch and recovery equipment catapults and arresting gear. This was and truly a magnificent, but very dangerous job. I've seen fires, aircraft crashes, cable breaks, and man overboard. But haze grey underway is the only way to go. Great video brings back good memories.

[@MrBadbob60]

I was on the George Washington with the 160th SOAR , the only US Army Special Ops Aviation unit in the world. What an experience that was!! Took A seal team to god knows where over open water (we crewbies in the back didn't need to know where we were going so just did our thing as always.) So we came to a hover over open ocean and can not to this day believe what I was witnessing and was being a part of. Our "customers" got up and "fast roped" out the back of my MH-47 Chinook onto the deck of a submarine! Every time I reflect on that mission I have a hard time believing that that was me that did shit like that! All that I can say is, "who do you know that gets to do shit like that? Death Waits in the Dark! Night Stalkers' don't quit!

[@MrBadbob60]

I forgot my main reason for posting. I remember a conversation with a ship crewmember about the roughest seas in the world. He said if you stood on the middle of the flight deck and looked around, you can't see the water. We looked out at a destroyer in the distance and it made me think of a bottle bobbing around in the sea. We could hardly feel a thing!!

[@sandybowman7140]

I'm so proud of the US Navy Carriers & impressed with the Engineering Prowess that it took to build & envision them. I just can't, for the life of me, understand how anyone could be disloyal to these great men & women - thank u for sharing this video, it will help me pray for protection & blessing! Love the USA! ❤🇺🇲🇺🇲🙏🧎‍♀️🇺🇲❤️🌊🌊🌊

[@michaeltrudeau1496]

Depending on the severity of the storms, of course. Most of the time during really bad weather we do our maintenance in the hanger deck. Minor maintenance is a different story. It’s no fun but at least you’re not on the deck very long.

[@davelew86]

I was onboard USS FORRESTAL CV-59 with VF-11 IN 1990-91. We sailed into a storm and I was on the flight deck while huge waves reached and powered over the deck... We were finalizing tie-downs of aircraft. 5 of us made a circle and locked arms to make to the back of the island where we fell into the hatch. Rough day

[@michaeltrudeau1496]

The USS Forestfire, that was an inside joke as you remember, in high sight there was nothing funny about that incident. on a lighter note you are as old as me I was on the Ranger back in the 80s, thanks for your service shipmate.

[@davelew86]

@@michaeltrudeau1496 for your service as well shipmate! Squidly diddly 🤣

[@ronaldmcmurray6274]

I was on board has intrepid a top heavy LPD. She rolled like a bastard even in relatively small seas. The only good thing about the ROYAL NAVY is that the junior rates are allowed 3 cans of beer per day and petty officers and above have their own bars on board, where they can drink as much as they want including spirits but must ,ahem, be sober for duty and emergency situations. In reality if your not on watch you can drink what you want . But most only have one of two beers at sea as you only want to sleep when not in watch or working part of ship.

[@abhcoat]

Went thru a bad storm in the mid 80's aboard the Coral Maru, water riped off part of sponsons port and starboard. Waves were cresting over the bow onto the deck. Carriers are large but they are still small compared to the ocean.

[@rodhennessy9428]

Never driven through a hurricane, huh? Both Hugo and Andrew. Waves right over the bow hitting the flight deck. Screws out of the water. That was the adventure part the ads tell you about.

[@jimgoble48]

Served on the old Balwark and I remember the waves coming over the flight deck. Scary and a wake up call of how powerful nature is. I'm sure over the last 60 years designs are better now

[@justachipn3039]

In 77 or 78 on a Med Cruse (CVA-62) we went through a storm and had waves breaking over the flight deck. Lost around 60' of Catwalk on one side and 40 or 50 on the other. For some dumb reason they left a A-7 forward flight deck and it wound up 1/2 way in the no longer their catwalk. Bowed the floor in 2nd Con... where the little windows are up front. What a ride... remember the BOOM when we hit a wave and the whole ship shook...

[@minhthunguyendang9900]

Not having your experience in affronting giant waves 🌊 aboard a carrier, I can however relate of the boom everytime the 1944-built ship(LSSL, 300tons, flat bottom, rounded bow)I was on, ploughed into a trough between 8-feet waves. It wasn’t boom but brroombrrrooommm & it wasn’t even a storm, just some rough seas, but enough to make me appreciate how water 💦 could be that rock-hard.

[@justachipn3039]

@@minhthunguyendang9900 Yeah, the waves we had had 8' waves "or bigger" on top of 25-30'+ waves/swells !!! Have no idea what the wind was, but it was blowing froth off the white caps. Damn it was fun !!!

[@minhthunguyendang9900]

@@justachipn3039 One detail still with me is of one poor seaman completely incapacitated by a furoncle on the rear, flat on his belly in his berth suffering from seasickness & unable to turn around. I had to assume his watch too since we were both in engines. I was not that seasickness-resistant, but my fear 😰 of shipwreck kept me from feeling it !

[@JimRobbins-mo3nn]

On USS Carl Vinson in ‘89 on way to S Korea hit a bad storm in South China Sea, hit a large wave and dented 2 top panels on bow, I remember when that hit, shook the ship something fierce, then called man overboard, luckily nobody was lost

[@ButchBaird-ie5us]

I remember coming back home from the Med in 77 on the Saratoga CV-60. A bunch of life raft barrels getting ripped off of the starboard side & bending the steel that held them.I was with V-4 working on the deck

[@damrheinaz]

This was great! Thank you!

[@alokranjan2814]

Unleashed movement of rough seas the marvelous engineering kept safe but the tsunami waves it's hard to beat,may engineering conquer in its time ,nothing impossible.

[@PSFBVolunteers]

March 1993, USS Constellation. Sea trails off Florida (Mayport) coast after SLEP Philadelphia. One of the strongest Nor'easter to travel up the east coast, formed off the coast and we were right in the middle of it. We were hit by a monster wave that was estimated to be over 70 feet. The only thing left on the fantail was the control shred for jet engine testing.

[@stephensmith1794]

HMAS Melbourne went through waves

[@billstephenson2864]

Thank you for sharing , I’m amazed how this Aircraft Carrier is built .

[@aneeseldeen3467]

The Carl Vinson features a 5 blades propeller. On the stbd aft shaft.

[@williamdodge5123]

USS FORRESTAL CV-59 82-84.

[@williamdodge5123]

DCC POOW. Maintained 4° list to port underway to keep inbound craft away from the superstructure. This was done by flooding amd pumping voids with seawater. Had massive voids aft that when flooded, it would change the draft of the carrier in feet. Took many hours to pump out same.

[@jrmotorsports5532]

Thank you for the information.

[@thompsop09]

To all of you who've served in our nation's armed forces - THANK YOU!!! We the people, owe you a debt that can never fully be repaid. Your sacrifice is like no other to ensure the freedoms we enjoy here in the U.S. that remain the envy of the world. Blessings be upon each of you and to the greatest military power the world has ever seen.

[@user-qm8xo2wg9e]

Served on the USS Saratoga cv 60 as a ABE tough on the flight deck during a storm.

[@danb9312]

Never saw anyone on two aircraft carriers in the late eighties having any kind of harness. Nor did I see anyone in your video wearing a harness

[@concernedjim]

We used to crack walnuts in the expansion joints on the USS Wasp. That was 63 yrs ago in 1961 or so. Wasp is probably razor blades now.

[@greggweber9967]

Ever see the films of an aircraft carrier in Admiral Halsey's fleet pitching so much during I think Typhoon Cobra? Up and down. They were smaller. Watch "Victory at Sea".

[@HDSME]

My friend was on a carrier he said the entire bow was curled and caved in ! Carriers get alot of wave damage

[@jesuschristislord9150]

Matthew 6:19-21 NKJV 🔴 "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; [20] but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. [21] For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also..✝️✡️

[@DaveyMacnail]

I never see an aircraft on an aircraft carrier getting an engine wash and rinse, due to the salt water atmosphere at sea. We have to do it after every flight of an Apache helicopter after it has flown within 10 miles of the coastline. It is regular procedure in The Netherlands. Maybe you can tell me, or maybe there is a video that shows us the engine wash and rinse of an aircraft on an aircraft carrier. Thank you.

[@larrybremer4930]

That footage of F-35s getting swamped and knocked around on the awash deck looks like an expensive day for the taxpayers. I knew aircraft were often tied down on deck but thought that was only for convenience but I guess there is not space for everything inside the hanger deck because I would have thought nothing would be left on deck in that kind of weather. Was it not possible to fly a few planes to land bases so everything could be secured in the hanger?

[@minhthunguyendang9900]

There are pictures of RN carriers on the Arctic 🥶 convoys with waves washing over their decks.

[@misterbig9025]

Do airplanes get swept overboard by giant waves?

[@ronaldpetrovich]

There are spots all over the flight deck and the hangar deck that allows you to tie down the aircraft. I was a cook so I don't know what they are called but they were all over in both places.

[@ronaldpetrovich]

CVN-72 USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN 91-93.

[@bradhendrie8927]

Padeyes

[@user-jr2dz3vn5h]

👏👍🤙

[@alokranjan2814]

Advice _ At the tsunami movement the ship must be converted in to Submarine,a hardest vision in scientific age this is also possible, trust me.Voyagers are going on its path.

[@garymittelstadt7821]

WTF?

[@JohnDrewVoice]

The most dangerous places to be on an aircraft carrier are the flight deck and the elevators during a storm. Once, while on carrier qualifications in the North Atlantic, the carrier I was stationed on encountered extremely rough seas that repeatedly washed over the flight deck. Flight operations were discontinued, and the deck crew began taking aircraft below into the hanger bay. Two crewmen were washed off an elevator into the frigid waters. One who drowned was retrieved by helicopter. The other managed to grab and hold onto the understructure of the elevator for about a half hour before fellow crewmen heard him yelling for help. The flight decks and elevators are likely the most dangerous places to be on an aircraft carrier.

[@user-kc8lf8hk7c]

I was on the hangar deck whe the ordies were swept off the elevator

[@stonecut4u2now]

Who put you men in such danger? Were you in a war footing? I would hope the Capitan was either relieved or reprimanded!

[@JohnDrewVoice]

@@user-kc8lf8hk7c The event I was describing took place in 1971.

[@JohnDrewVoice]

@@stonecut4u2now The event I described took place in 1971. I did not name the ship or its captain for this reason. I only described the event from my perspective. I cannot know if the captain was under orders to conduct flight operations in such conditions, and I do not know if there was an investigation of the event or the carrier's captain. The carrier was laid down in 1943 and launched just before the end of World War II. So, she was quite an old ship by 1971. The captain at the time is likely long dead as he was at least in his fifties in 1971. I recall a hangar bay door coming off its tracks and collapsing to the deck during that same rough weather cruise, which was off the coast of Maine or Nova Scotia in winter. I was flown off the ship during that cruise to attend a Navy school, and I never again visited the ship. It was scrapped in the late 70s.

[@corleone5382]

Can aircraft land and airborne at the same time in a carrier? Or it has to wait one to another??

[@Mauther]

Even mother nature knows not to mess with America's boats.

[@reybob679]

Why does this channel only speak of carriers? I was in the Navy. There is more than Carriers

[@stevecoe6260]

The CCP has a L O T to learn!

[@flywesleybyrd]

Ahhh I get it, this was a 15 minute Navy advertisement, recruiting is at an all-time low 🤪

[@jesuschristislord9150]

REPENT AND FOLLOW JESUS CHRIST BEFORE ITS TOO LATE ✝️✡️

[@richarddelagarde5194]

9m , *Why do you post Jewish icons with requests to follow Jesus Christ? I thought everyone Knew that Jews have never accepted Jesus Christ and do Not believe that he he's a y Messiah!

[@frankleespeaking9519]

This should have been a 3 minute video.

[@JJ-rf7dg]

a 13 billion dollar ship is designed not to flood on flight decks

[@Dick.B]

I was stationed on the SARATOGA in the late 70’s, early 80’s. My rack was on the starboard side forward. I was directly under the starboard cat. When we weren’t launching, I wasn’t sleeping. It’s amazing what the human body can adapt to. I served on 5 different class of ships, and the seas shown on this video are quite rare. To have blue water on the flight deck takes a lot, and yes, King Neptune has the ability to put water up there, it doesn’t happen often. One of my favorite things to do was to watch the ‘Small Boys’ ride the storms we would just cut through. My first ship was a Fast Frigate, and one storm had all non-essential tied into their racks. It’s much nicer watching from the cat walks of a carrier than to ride it out.

[@ronaldmcmurray6274]

I'm ex Royal Navy but I still don't understand why we see the helicopter up forward when the carrier is ploughing through the waves.