Carrier Life

Shipboard life takes some getting used to.  As an officer (even just an ensign), I avoided many of the more arduous physical duties, and as aircrew we were further removed from a lot of the day to day drugery. One further advantage was the fact there was a war on.  The peacetime Navy was famous for its spit and polish and insistence on completing the paper work.  This emphasis evaoporated as we came onto the "line", i.e., positioning the carrier strike group in the northern Gulf of Tonkin in preparation for the systematic bombing of North Vietnam.

For a "newbie"  (new guy) like myself there was a lot learn.Figuring out the day to day necessities was fairly easy:  the head (lavatory)  was just around the corner from  my shared stateroom on the second deck.  There were two wardrooms (dining facility for officers) we used regularly.  One was located forward on the O-3 level (first level underneath the flight deck).  Food was served cafeteria-style,  24 hours a day when we were on the line, in view of the operational intensity.  We could eat in our green flight suits, so naturally it was known as "the gator mess."

The other wardroom was located on the second deck, the deck just below the hangar (or main) deck) and slightly aft of amidships.  This was more formal, and meals were served by the stewards, and linen was provided.  Didn't eat there too much.

How did I fill the day when not flying?  As a new "boot" ensign pulled out of training I had a lot to learn.  Fortunately, there were a lot of faciilies to help learn and pass the time:

• Ready room (see top) :  a good place to hang out just to get a feel for what was going on.  Flights were briefed here, sometimes with a televised briefing from IOIC (see below) for events involoving the whole air group.  The Squadron Duty Officer stood his watch there.   The PLAT (Pilot landing assistance television) was installed prominently.  The PLAT showed landings from the  of a camera installed in the deck centerline, at the optimum landing spot.  Aircrew returning from a mission usually stopped by here after a mission to decompress.  Also, movies were shown every night! 

• "The Vault" As a recon squadron, we had our own special compartment for storage and review of classified documents.  We always planned our flights individually, and this is where we did the planning.  Spent many a fascinated hour here reviewing the intelligence documents on threat aircraft and missiles.

• IOIC  or Integrated Operational Intelligence Center (see diagrams nearby) - The other component that with the RA-5C formed the "Integrated Operational Intelligence System." A lot of the capability didn't end up being used because of the nature of the air war we were fighting (e.g., attack only against preapproved targets).  As a Heavy Attack squadron, we were assigned missions to attack the Soviet Union as part of the nation's Single Integrated Operation Plan, AKA Global Thermonuclear War.  We planned these missions here.

• ASSC- Maintenance spaces.  My ground job was at first Division Officer for the AQ division, responsible for maintaining the ASB-12 bomb/nav system.  Later I was Line Division Officer and spent a lot of time in the Line Shack just off the flight deck.

• Line shack -In an aviation squadron, the line division was responsibe for the day-to-day maintenance, routine servicing,  pre- and post- flight checks,  asstinging the aircrew to strap in, leading the pilot through checks of flight controls, and so on. this was a demanding job for a young sailor.  for example, leading the pilot through pre-flight checks was a lot more ibvolved than one might think.  For one thing, the A-5 had over 15 discrete flight control surfaces to check.  A"normal" aircrcraft might have 5 or so.  These surfaces were interconneded in a complex way (e.g. the lateral flight control system shown in the figure a the bottom of this page,)  Pilot and plane captain went thorugh these checks before every flight.  Including pre-flight walkaround and start up procecues, it took aobut20 minutes, somewhat more than "kick the tire and light the fire" for earlier generations of aircraft.

Almost all, the Line Diision work was conducted on the flight deck, so I had to be  on deck a good deal, which I was glad to do.   That's where the action was!  Flight deck personnel wore characteristic colored jerseys and cloth helmets. Line division personnel wore brown jerseys and helmets;  I wore a brown jersey and green helmet: brown for line division, green for supervisor.  I soon learned to keep my head on a swivel.  Getting blown overboard or worse, getting sucked into an intake  were not unknown.  During my tour we had a sailor lose a foot in a taxiing accident and another was killed when the aircraft he was riding the brakes on was pushed off the flight deck.  Not unreasonably, the sailors working on the flight deck qualified for hazardous duty pay.

• Pri-Fly  - or Primary Flight Control (see above) was where the Air Boss and his helpers lived.  This was the equivalent to an airport control tower.  As aircrew we had open entry, and stood watches during recoveries.  Very good view  of landing aircraft.  Saw some near misses!

• Vulture's Row-  for an open-air view of aircraft recovery, Vulture's Row couldn't be beaten.  Located on the aft part of the isand around 4 levels above the flight deck, it provided an excellent view of recovering aircraft.  Fortuitously I could also see the Line Division sailors as they were about their tasks readying aircraft for flight and securing them post flight.

• CATCC- or Carrier Air Traffic Control Center-  equivalent to FAA enroute Centers run by the FAA back home.  Very interesting.  Case 3 (night or bad weather) recoveries were monitored from here.

• Flight deck control:   we junior air group officers stood "integrity watch officer" watches, to ensure the integrity of the air group aircraft, both on the flight deck and the hangar bay.  We stood this watch in Flight Deck Control, located in the forward part of the island, on the flight deck level.  This space was dominated by a replica of the flight deck, with each aircraft on the deck accurately  represented.  This was updated continuously as needed.  As part of the the watch duties we needed tour the flight deck and  hangar decks regularly to ensure aircraft were tied down, no leaks were present.  In addition we need to check on fire fighting facilities.  One of these was the "Conflagration Stations" located in each of the three hangar bays.   These play a key part in shipboard damage control, an issue the US Navy takes very seriously indeed, having learned the hard way during WW II.