I’ve been meaning to share these for a little while, but Bill’s recent Firewall on The Human Landscape seemed like an excellent lead-in, so here we go: I present to you episode one of the USS Nimitz’s “XO’s 5 Star Jobs”, which checks out some of the less glamorous departments and tasks required to keep an aircraft carrier running smoothly. It’s a fascinating look into some of the behind-the-scenes stuff that civilians would usually never get a glimpse of, but it also showcases one of Bill’s points about how the brass (the good ones, anyway) interact with the enlisted men, treating them with respect despite their lower paygrade.
(Hm–in the process of finding a picture of the Nimitz for the post cover, I came across this article: Two Big Reasons Why Russian’s Aircraft Carrier is Having So Many Problems. Dates back to 2016, but is in solid agreement with Bill’s point, and in pointed contrast to the close attention to maintenance and adherence to safety protocols displayed in the Nimitz videos.)
11 replies on “XO’s 5 Star Jobs, ep 1: Welding Shop”
Very interesting article.What great jobs to learn! Always a great need for welders and any other hands-on type jobs.
The Russian carrier is one weird looking ship. The upturned end looks like it could cause takeoff problems. Not that I know anything about carriers. 🙂
Me either, but I had the same thought. Maybe it’s supposed to fling them up, like a ski ramp?
The “ski jump” at the bow actually helps the jets take off by giving them that much more altitude when they leave the deck. The Kuznetsov does’t have catapults to throw the planes into the air. The planes have to do it w/ only their own engines. Brits’ brand new Queen ‘Lizbeth also has a ski jump.
Ah, so it’s the low-tech solution.
Down side is that it severely limits the range and firepower of the planes.
That’s what I suspected–always a trade-off somewhere.
Also, the article on the Kuznetsov was pretty interesting. Unfortunately for the Russians, the ship devolved into a show piece pretty quickly. And a pretty piss-poor one. I’d be interested in a look at Chinese procedures. They seem to be working patiently and methodically towards an effective naval air arm.
Yeah, China definitely seems like the more likely to cause problems in the foreseeable future, at least from the naval end of things. Which is a sad come-down for the Russians. (Though I must admit my perspective on the Soviet navy is based almost entirely on “The Hunt For Red October”….)
From the book? Good. The movie? Less so.
That’s was a pretty good video. Definitely a pilot episode. If the Navy PAOs have any sense, they’ll push these vids on SocMedia so more people see.
Yeah, the production values/pacing improve a bit in subsequent episodes.