When An Aircraft Carrier Goes To War | Forces TV

As the sun descends over the Arabian Gulf, the US Navy plane returns from a seven-hour combat mission over Syria, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, this has been the daily routine since last December,

when

it arrived here leading his

aircraft

carrier

strike group The Sharp End. of the United States air war against the Islamic State, the Roosevelt known as CBN 71 was here at the beginning of operations against Israel. In 2015, the CIA estimated the terrorist group had 31,000 fighters three years later and it is believed there are still fewer than a thousand. I live locked in a small area of ​​the Euphrates River Valley in eastern Syria, so it's a pretty complex battle space right now, so if you look at the place where Isis has been cornered, that's very small now.

That said, there are a lot of different armies that are involved and so in an effort to manage all the rules of engagement to make sure that we're targeting the right things and we're doing it in light of the rules of engagement that we're given, it's very , very complex for pilots from the air. -aerial perspective and air-to-ground perspective very close quarters with multiple military and multiple tactical

aircraft

throughout the Roosevelt left San Diego in October joining two other U.S. super

carrier

s, the Nimitz and Ronald Reagan, in the Western Pacific in a demonstration of force. she to North Korea from there she continued her 12,000 mile journey and finally reached the Arabian Gulf in December.

The typical number of sorties per day for us is about 80 across the entire carrier, but actually going to the beach in support of the operation, the inherent resolution on average is between 14 and 20, so we definitely support about the same number of sorties, but as you mentioned about two years ago,

when

we were here, this airman was here doing raids, we do a lot, we did a lot more raids in two. years ago or now we don't do it so many there is less Isis actually attacking the USS Theodore Roosevelt cost 4.5 billion dollars around 3 billion pounds and was commissioned in 1986 one of 10 Nimitz-class super aircraft carriers operated by the Navy of the US on board It carries 70 aircraft and more than 5,000 sailors and airmen.

A flight deck is more than 300 meters long. The length of 39 London buses. During the Gulf War, the Roosevelt flew more missions than any other aircraft carrier, and after the 9/11 attacks, she was this ship. Since she launched the first airstrikes against Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, Rosevelt carries 44 F-18 Hornets and Super Hornets electronic warfare transport planes and 11 Seahawk helicopters beneath her in her hangar. Every inch of bay space is used for hundreds of engineers and technicians working around the clock to keep their nine squadrons operational, America's big stick, and it's not hard to see why during their latest deployment to the Gulf in In 2015, its aircraft carried out almost 2,000 combat sorties against the Islamic State. 3 years into the mission, the mission has changed and so has the battlefield.

Islamic State and now. be limited to a much smaller area of ​​Syria and for the pilots who fly those missions to find them is much more difficult. In January, Roosevelt's planes launched airstrikes against the Islamic State headquarters building in Syria, killing one hundred and fifty terrorists in one fell swoop last month. for the first time launched simultaneous attacks on Syria and Afghanistan on the same day with all gear around 30 pounds aboard CBN 71 with 298 pilots, among them is Mark, a naval aviator since 2006, has flown missions over Afghanistan and was a member from The Blue Angels team in the US Navy is equivalent to the Red Arrows.

As I said, we are there to support US

forces

on the ground and eliminate the Isis occupation area, so a lot of what we are doing now is until the intelligence arrives. gather, locate Isis, develop those objectives and then once we have essentially met the prerequisites for the development of that objective, we will execute some type of attack. Flying towards an aircraft carrier is a particularly dangerous business, the ship itself moves at more than 30 miles per hour to generate the wind necessary for the plane to fly while approaching at 150 miles per hour the Jets have to engage one of the three arresting cables in an area no larger than the tennis courts guiding them to the deck are the landing signal officers making sure they are on the correct glide path to make a safe recovery six stories above the deck is the main flight control, it's run by ex-Navy pilots and here they monitor all air movements within five miles of the carrier staff here in the tower that we watch do the batter make sure the planes don't crash into each other and things like that and we also watch the flight deck to make sure that nobody gets in front of a plane that's landing or in front of a plane that's taking off and things like that so that everyone knows what they're doing sometimes they let you know maybe they just make a loop and run around the flight deck some fire the planes and prevent them from taking off if we have to save a life a few stories below are the launch operations room where they choreograph this complex ballet of moving parts and the board you are looking at right here , this is the Ouija board, okay, this is a direct representation of what you'll see on the flight deck, all the annoying little stencils that you'll see, this is actually where the planes are right now.

Okay, right now we will launch the yellow pins, the yellow pins followed by the green pins, so what I do is manage all the planes on board from the flight deck and hangar bay below, before long the sun drops below the horizon and the Roosevelt descends into darkness, but this is a 24/7 war and operations from her deck continue through the night. The jets take off in the dark and then return from their missions at 18,000 feet. whether it's three miles and then you'll see we've got them all lined up, they're starting to come in now and it's going to come pretty quickly, we'll be landing it about once a minute, three decades after the CBN 71 was launched and it still offers massive military power. a big stick but it still hits hard the pilots who fly those bombing sorties don't travel lightly as Jeremy from attack fighter squadron two two showed us, so this is a special helmet that when the visor

goes

down it will show a symbology and the helmet like that helps us do a better job on the plane and then the rest of the year we have a G-suit harness to get into the seat.

I'm very glad and then a survival vest has a lot of things Camelback for drinking water mask for talking and breathing flashlights, all kinds of things, yes, a lot of things here. Oh, heavy, not very heavy, so I don't know, probably 20 kilos of volatile, very heavy, so yeah, it keeps us safe, although it helps us get a job, the USS Theodore Roosevelt. It is effectively a floating city that houses more than 5,000 sailors and airmen who deploy on average for seven months at a time. One of the largest warships in the world. She operates on an impressive scale.

Perhaps the pilots describe it as the best roller coaster in the world. just before takeoff they adjust their F-18 planes ready to fly take their hands off the controls and wait to be shot down from the deck at 170 miles per hour by the steam catapult of the aircraft carrier cvn 71 is effectively a small floating city on average The one that is far from home for seven months in a row Roosevelt was the fourth of 10 super aircraft carriers built for the US Navy. Its crew includes just under 3,000 sailors and more than 2,000 airmen and other trades the desalination plant of the aircraft carrier can produce one and a half million liters of fresh sea water every day; the interior is equipped with two thousand five hundred kilometers of cables and wiring; 1,400 telephones; 14,000 pillowcases and 28,000 sheets; the carrier's crew can call home and send emails, but some things remain prohibited fraternization is still frowned upon and alcohol is strictly prohibited for all armies.

The Internet is both an advantage and a nuisance when trying to prevent operational security or OPSEC details from being disclosed on social media. The result employs a pretty clever tactic. There are five wipes right now that are at home in San Diego. and one of them, his main job is to monitor what's going on Facebook to see if anyone is doing something contrary to us and as soon as he sees something, he sends me an email and we take care of it immediately. Theodore Teddy Roosevelt was the 26th president of the United States serving from 1901 to 1909 throughout the ship there are reminders of him and his passion for naval power Commanding the aircraft carrier is Captain Carlos Sada Yellow a Navy pilot who flew on the opening night of the Iraq War in 2003 Downstairs in his cabin area is a collection of Roosevelt memorabilia, the room itself is a replica of the president's own office and is furnished with the help of his family, a couple of items that are of interest on the wall.

Here was Theodore Roosevelt's first speech at the US Naval War College, where he spoke. about the importance of having a strong Navy and the benefits to the nation and stability around the world here is a certificate of commissioning while president from one of the officers who was aboard the example fleet he created, the Great White Fleet that was around the world and personally signed by Theodore Roosevelt and donated to us to remind us of his commitment and actions that transformed our Navy into a global maritime force. Fitness is a big part of life on board a ship, some for pleasure, some less so.

So for these US Marines today it's all about pushing themselves to the limit trying to stay in fighting shape far from home. One thing the US military is very good at is bringing America with it wherever it

goes

, from coffee in America to family dining and, of course, local sports hoopla and what might be more American than The Super Bowl is now four in the morning and on this messy deck dozens of sailors have gathered to watch the big game to cheer on their teams and forget for a few hours about their thousands of miles from home.

They feel good. You know, we ended up not washing any jet states, so we just sat and watched football. You know, it's a good time to reset and just enjoy and forget that we were on the boat for a long time. three hours or so, so you know, I really appreciate you watching the game too. Anthony Dutton, 21, a native of Columbus, Ohio, strongly supports the Philadelphia Eagles in a football, like I said, I'm more of a suicon, but any team against the Patriots I will support. I feel like it's a way to relieve stress when you're watching a football game.

It's always fun, it's always fun, especially getting hit. I mean, I used to play and that was one of the things I like: receiving success and being able to sit there and say yes, I play. The Roosevelt has five kitchens that prepare more than 18,000 meals a day. This kitchen alone serves 4,300 meals every morning and there are enough supplies on board to stay at sea for three months we receive what is called resupply I see once a week I park every Thursday and I receive approximately and we are between 300 pallets of fresh food frozen so we can sustain it, so we spend about 65 thousand a day on food.

Just during a break in the flight, the crew gathers outside for what is called a Fahd walk, sweeping the deck for foreign objects, even something as small as a coin that could be sucked into a jet engine and cause a potential accident on average, the Roosevelt. Sailors work thirteen and a half hours a day with one day off a week when you join the Navy that's what you want to do How did you end up in this position? It was not what I expected. At first I was nervous and didn't do it. I want to do it, but once I got the job I really enjoyed it, so I like being out on the flight deck.

I'd rather spend seven months outside than inside. The living quarters on the carrier are based on age and some are cozier than others here in one of the alleys we have six shelves per ally and the middle shelf on the bottom shelves is coffin style meaning they rise up as you can see here and we keep all our things here, all the essential toiletries, clothes and As you can see, this alley is quite narrow. I can barely walk through it and with six people in here, it can be quite narrow and compact. I have to really like your neighbors and be able to put up with them for like seven. months, in addition to these American aviators, a Royal Navy exchange pilot is also aboard the Roosevelt flying the F-18 for the past few years.

British sailors and airmen have been training on these Nimitz-class warships learning the skills they will need to operatefrom the United Kingdom's new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers. My job before this was part of the training for Queen Elizabeth and I prepared her strike group and her strike commander for her to prepare to do that. It's a phenomenal ship that Queen Elizabeth is and bring the air to her. Weapon here and the escort ship she plans and I think it will be a phenomenal asset to help us for now, although the US Navy ships remain unrivaled, the next generation of super Americans carry the Ford class, but you will enter in service from 2020.

On board will be the F-35 Lightning and in the coming years squadrons of unmanned fighter aircraft with our nuclear reactors refueled. Roosevelt herself has another 20 years left in the useful life of these Nimitz-class aircraft carriers that will continue to deliver American military power around the world. Well, that's all for this week. See you next time. Probably the most dynamic environment I've seen is for her hair, her assets are going to make this work and they click as smoothly as it does. An enormous amount of work. Oh yeah, a typical amount of outings for us. The day is about 80 across the carrier, it's very, very complex for the pilots from an air-to-air perspective and an air-to-ground perspective.

Very tight spaces with multiple military personnel and multiple tactical aircraft throughout the battle. I would say that is not the case. Also, we are still conducting strikes and carrying out that close air support mission and Isis is still on the ground, they are not gone and they are not going to take you out.