Video image of the day

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Saturday night and several thousand folks saw the christening and launch of the USNS CESAR CHAVEZ (T-AKE 14), the newest of the Navy's multi-use general purpose cargo ships.

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We weren't able to be there for it but it looks like she was a little reluctant to dip into the waters of San Diego Harbor. We'll check in with our peeps to see what the deal was.

Video clip of the day

Last night witnessed the launch of the USNS WILLIAM MCLEAN (T-AKE 12) at NASSCO shipyard here in San Diego.

In this particular video, you get a good look at the removal of one of the spur shores which are the last things holding the ship from sliding down the ways and into San Diego Harbor. The franticness of removing the 12"x12" shores, air-arcing off the steel clip that is welded to the bottom of the ship, grinding down the remnant steel and slapping some anti-foulant paint on the bare steel mere minutes before the ship starts down the ways, makes this evolution our favorite part of the whole launch process.

We've been fortunate enough to participate in 15 such launches over the years and though we've also been fortunate that in each one, the ship all moves in the same direction and about the same speed and without any (except once) negative consequences, the whole experience never gets old.



Fair winds and following seas to the Billy Mac!






(Did you catch us? We make a couple of cameos)

USNS WASHINGTON CHAMBERS (T-AKE 11) launch

So, this is what we've been up to today. Actually, we were onboard and as of the penning of this scheduled post we are still onboard. Hey, maybe it's time to start live blogging these launch events.


This is the first video we saw posted. We'll add or replace if any better ones come up on Youtube.


The WASHINGTON CHAMBERS motto: UT MARE QUOT UT VENTUS

To the sea and into the air

Fitting for the father of naval aviation.








(Addendum #1):

A little time floating around onboard the CHAMBERS before she was tugged to her berth and 20 years on the waterfront got us a little nostalgic... and Elvis a little torchy. Folks, "Shipbuilding"

Rainy skies and high tides (UPDATED)

Confirmed. Our favorite part of the job is launch week.

The USNS CHARLES DREW (T-AKE 10) was launched this morning at 0735 into San Diego harbor. She is a general purpose cargo ship that will be capable of underway replenishment of naval combatants in need of fuel, food, spare parts, ammo… whatever – the DREW will have it.

Picture at left is of shipyard workers burning off the steel clips attached to the flat bottom of the ship that were supported by the spur shores that were knocked out moments before this photo was taken. It is one of the last acts that is performed before the trigger is released and the ship slides off the ways and into the water.




The launch went flawlessly. The ship had creeped a full two inches down the ways in the last 24 hrs. prior to launch. She was itchin' to go. Always a good sign.

(UPDATE #1): Courtesy YouTube, we've got video evidence of the launch below. Dig the tsunami effect as the displaced water rushes back in and up the ways.

Good things come to those who wait... and wait...

If you were awakened yesterday morning in the metro San Diego area by a loud ship’s whistle, it was most likely from the USNS WALLY SCHIRRA which successfully launched as the 8th ship of the T-AKE Class vessels.

…not without some tense moments, though.

The pucker factor was extremely high both onboard and on the VIP stand as she was reluctant to try out the water, sitting atop the ways for 2 or 3 minutes after the champagne bottle was cracked over the bow and the trigger was released.

After this hesitancy, she gracefully slipped into the waters of the San Diego Harbor. No harm, no foul.



Fair winds and following seas to the SCHIRRA and her crew.

The Launch of the USNS CARL BRASHEAR

Folks, you know you’ve hit the big time when you get on YouTube. The launch, which is part of a larger tribute to Carl Brashear the first amputee Navy diver and the first African-American Navy Master diver, is at the front of the video clip. Previous posts on the launch here.

You will be able to see the smoke from the grease caused by the friction between the sliding ways and the ground ways and the tsunami effect from the water that was displaced by ship pushing it out, rushing back in (and soaking quite a few people on the launch of the 1st ship of the class, the LEWIS AND CLARK) as well as the ship’s stern kicking out to port as a result of Bernoulli’s principle.

Enjoy!

WET!

... and she floats, too.

The USNS CARL BRASHEAR was christened and successfully launched yesterday morning at 10:50 AM.

We'll hopefully have more on this later.

(UPDATE #1): Interesting phenomena that may only interest us: Notice how the stern of the vessel has kicked-out to port? That’s not the tugs doing it, that is a natural occurrence owing to launching from Ways 3 at the yard. The sea wall on that Ways extends out about 130 ft. further on the port side of the vessel than the starboard side.

So what is happening is a physical demonstration of Bernoulli’s principle. As the ship is sliding into the water, that water between the hull of the ship and the sea wall is being pressed out at a greater velocity than the water on the starboard side of the ship, where there is no sea wall. Bernoulli’s principle dictates this difference in the velocity of the water creates a corresponding difference in pressure – the water pressure on the port side of the ship will be lower than that on the starboard side so the aft end of the ship, which is the first part of the ship to experience this physical state will be “sucked towards” the sea wall resulting in the the ship rotating in a clockwise direction (bow of ship at 12 o’clock position).

And yes, if the sea wall were longer, there would be a small issue of the port side of the ship slamming into it.

Holy smokes that was evil! We hereby sentence ourselves two Red Hook Long Hammer IPAs and the 2nd half of the Baylor-Uconn game to purge that geek outbreak on a Friday night.

We haven’t forgot about Radio KBwD. Owing to circumstances down in the Gulf, we are doing something a little different. Tune in tomorrow.