How Does World's Largest Aircraft Carrier Stay Level?

One of the biggest concerns for aircraft carriers is the risk of US Navy sailors or planes falling overboard. This warship has more than 6000 sailors on board, nearly 100 fighter jets worth over 30 million dollars each, and many luxury amenities you'd find in a city. It weighs more than 100,000 tons and is over 1000 feet long. On July 8th 2022, a fighter jet flew off the deck of the mighty USS Harry S. Truman due to unexpectedly violent weather in the Mediterranean Sea. This shocking incident raised suspicion as to how the events took place considering the capability of the aircraft carrier to withstand harsh weather conditions.
How did this happen and what happens when an aircraft carrier runs into a heavy storm? How does such a massive ship manage to stay level and prevent millions of dollars worth of aircraft from drowning in the deep ocean? #aircraftcarrier #usnavy #sailors

[OG]

I'm a retired USN MCPO. I have been at sea in storms on a number of aircraft carriers including Midway, Enterprise, Independence (full tour), Saratoga, Constellation and most of the nucs (not including any of the last four.) Much of what you report is almost true. Almost none of it is completely true.

I have seen green water over the bow a dozen times on a carrier. I have been in storms that required ALL the aircraft to be flown off or stored in the hangar deck. That is a barely possible thing and an extreme emergency response.

Sea keeping abilities are not strictly a matter of size. 30 foot sailboats and fifteen foot dinghy's survive the same storms as aircraft carriers.

It's about how you sail your ship; not how big it is.

[joemoore]

I was on the carrier Constellation in the 70's. We were caught in a typhoon off Thailand and even for it's massive size and weight it was quite a ride. The flight deck was closed off to anyone and all hatches and doors were secured closed. All aircraft were tied down with 24 chains ( if you could find that many ). We watched the sea through our shop bulkhead door and it would scare the death out of you to see how powerful the sea can be. 80+ foot swells and rollers is a sight you will never forget. Hitting the swells at 90 degrees to keep from rolling over would cause the whole ship to hesitate for a second from moving forward . For a 100, 000 ton ship that was impressive.

[stephenjaglowitz]

I was air wing on USS Enterprise two cruises. We were part of a 3 carrier battle group off the Aleutian Islands in 1983 with USS Midway and Coral Sea. We encountered heavy weather with waves breaking over the bow, damaging some aircraft on the flight deck. Many were sick. The raw power of the ocean is unbelievable and can toss around a 100, 000 ton ship like a matchbox. God bless our shipmates on the destroyers and frigates who had it far worse then we did.

[RetiredSailor]

I've been in rough seas all over the world. Experienced my first rough seas off the coast of Georgia in 1983 on USS Semmes DDG 18. Seas were 25-30 feet. Semmes was only 437 feet long and 47 feet wide. Getting caught in between swells, the ship took deep dips and rolls at the same time. Got severely sea-sick that night. Had other bouts of rough seas in the Indian Ocean, Southern Pacific off the coast of Chile, northern Atlantic off the coast of Norway, and the Mediterranean Sea.

[geraldmurphy]

Good afternoon my Fellow Americans. This Brings back memories. I myself was on the USS Franklin D Roosevelt, 1977. What your seeing is something to show you what exactly we went through. You have to pay attention what s going around you at all times. This helps you understand how much happens aboard a AIRCRAFT carrier. Retire Navy Veteran ⚓️ ⚓️⚓️

[joshuamitchell]

I was there when the jet flew overboard last year. That was an insane day. It didn’t stop us from flying though we flew 4 hours later.

[computernerdtechman]

I served onboard the USS Carl Vinson CVN-70 back in the 1980's. There was only one time during the 2 years aboard that I felt the ship rock.
We were skirting along the edge of a typhoon in the Indian ocean travelling from Gonzo Station outside the Persian Gulf to a port visit in Perth Australia.
In fact, we were so used to having a stable environment that we had never bothered to tie down the computers on our desks. And when we the skirted the edge of that typhoon, several computers in different departments had slid off their desks onto the floor. We actually had waves coming into the hanger bay. Fun time.

[pollypenson]

💙💙💙💙Thanks to all of our Active Military and also the Retired Military.🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

[jfjerez]

Is increíble the quantity of sailors here expressing their experiences in an Aircraft Carrier. I was going to also express my experience but is already expressed here in a variable of ways, I so happy to hear them as I experienced also, 20 years in the Navy and many deployments on 4 carriers I think I can also relate to them.. job well done.. all I can add is to image that the incredible sized hangers doors needed to be close because the waves were getting into the hanger bays? Scarring moments, and all that with the height tech the carriers have to to be stable, this show how the nature of Gods sea how powerful is, that anytime God decide to stop it, He will … Thank you God to let us be.. thank you to all of you for your service!

[RetiredSailor]

Ships can't drop anchor to the sea bed unless it's in shallow water. The chain is only so long. It's not the anchor that holds a ship in place, it's the chain's weight.

[jimhollywood]

Prior to being on the Nimitz I was on the FDR. We hit extremally heavy seas from a storm and were headed into the waves. That said there were times the water seemed to catch us as water poured over the bow over the end of the flight deck. Very humbling out there.

[rorlowski]

I was a Tin Can Sailor!! Some guys I ran into said they watched us and were surprised we survived.

[richardgreen]

As part of AntiSub Squadron 24 (VS-24) operating S-2Es aboard the USS Randolph (CVS-15) coming back from the Med across the North Atlantic in mid December 1967, we had a number of wild rides. Normal tied downs for the S-2E were 6, 2 on each wheel, as Joe pointed out in his post we were at 24 tie downs. On a previous trip like this the Air Group lost an S-2E over the side. First reaction was that there weren't enough chains until they went out (after seas calmed down) and discovered 24 missing pad eyes in the deck. The violent weather pulled them out.

We were taking green water over the first helo spot on the flight deck (about 60' back from the hurricane bow). As many aircraft as we could get in the hanger bay, were there and the rest were on the fantail (pad eyes had been replaced during a yard visit before we sailed in September of 1967. The catwalks were all closed and no one was to go outside.

In the JO Bunk room (the one for VS-24 was under the port cat, the one for our sister squadron was under the starboard cat). We could feel the ship nose up on one wave and then nose down into the next wave and the entire ship shuddered when that happened, along with the high pitch whine from the screws when they came out of the water. Keep in mind that although the Essex class carriers were a bit shorter and lighter than the Forrestal class and above, our overall length was still 888 feet.

The ones I really felt sorry for were the small boys (Destroyers) that were with us and attempting to hold position.

[williamdodge]

Carriers maintain a four degree list to the port side. This helps keep landing aircraft away from the Super Structure ( island).

[charletonzimmerman]

Went thru a "CLASS-5" Hurricane, off Africa onboard CV-67, USS John F. Kennedy, 1980 Helo blades, broke off, & flew aft off the flight deck, was called to the Bridge, for Lightning hits too the Mast, CO, was "LAUGHING" ! I was alittle, shook .

[raymason]

Ships don't tilt, they heel. Notice how he skips over the gyro stabilizers. No way the ballast tanks can shift water quickly enough to counter seas.

[dennisteagueCV]

I served aboard USS MIDWAY 81-84 MM3
As a Machinist-mate down in the hole, we encountered several at sea rolls and it was quite the experience.
I was assigned at Sea Duty Bilge Pumper this was a busy job.
Pumping bilges was an art, we did not really pump them all dry, we mostly shifted water to other spaces to help maintain buoyancy. Keep those Fly boys happy!

[srel]

Wow I am not Navy I doubt I could even stand, thank you for this information, respect to our Naval Crew / aviators

[forrestholcomb]

I've served on both Ships and Submarines. Submarines on the surface are far worse than any ship because of their rounded hull. The East coast is worse than the West coast because of how far out the continental shelf extends off of the East coast so you have to surface farther out. I remember my Sub doing 45 degree rolls side to side. Back in Engineering only myself as Reactor Operator and the Engine Room Supervisor were still on our feet and not throwing up. So I operated the throttles, the Reactor plant and the Electric plant while the Engine Room Supervisor operated all the equipment outside of Maneuvering. It was a busy 3 hours.

[geraldgoodman]

I was on the Oriskany back in 1973 very smooth ride. I miss those days now.