SHAKEDOWN

the USS Independence newest addition to America's Fleet air power is quite a ship by any standard you'd care to set to begin with she's big from stam to Stern she measures very nearly a qu of a mile and she's fast capable of better than 30 knots which is faster than most people water ski four propellers each 21 ft across backed by 200,000 horsepower drive her at the speed she requires to be effective from her vast flight decks jet bombers can operate and this takes plenty of Elbow Room Elbow Room in this case means just over 4 Acres of Flight Deck you could put the passenger liners America and United States down on the flat top side by side and have room left over recently the independent sailed from Norfolk to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba with her first compliment of jet aircraft her purpose [Music] Shakedown your first impression of the independence is one of gigantic eyes if you need convincing just follow one of the ship's mailmen on his daily route not counting the escalator there are several miles of corridors inside the [Music] independence we came aboard on Sunday and a cleared space on the hanger deck provided the floating city with its Church edifice as usual attendance was good it's no exaggeration to call this ship a floating city its population is something near 4,000 men location anywhere on the oceans of the world between one breakfast and the next she may change her address by as much as 600 miles true to her name the Independence at Sea is self-sufficient what she needs she carries with her the crew quarters set a new standard of comfort and convenience with foam rubber mattresses on every bunk and build in lockers for personal belongings each bunk also has its own fluorescent reading lamp and an individually adjusted air conditioning Outlet Monday morning things started to hum the purpose of the independence her reason for being is the operation of combat aircraft this is her job and one for which she and her men are well equipped with the first light The Hanger deck buzzed into life with smooth efficiency the deck Crews and aircraft handlers jockeyed the aircraft onto elevators lifting them swiftly to the flight deck to be parked in position to begin operations at launching time the independence carries more than 100 of the latest type Jets ranging from the little Skyhawk smallest atam bomber in the world to the medium Crusader to the 70,000 lb Sky Warrior jet bomb while the Jets are being positioned on the flight deck other parts of the flight operation team are getting down to business in the Pilot's ready room the highly trained young men who fly the aircraft get the word weather wind the schedule of operations for the day on the bridge as the time nears for flight operations to begin the word is passed to pickup speed with a course change that will bring the ship around to head into the wind the giant power plants below wind up 20 knots 30 knots primary flight control or prly as it's called aboard ship is in charge of every phase of launching and Landing operations here the information is gathered wind velocity ship speed all the data that catapult officers below will need to set up the necessary pressure on the giant steam catapults the wind speed is also posted visually for the benefit of all on deck in the Pilot's ready room the teletype Taps out its four familiar words everything is moving on schedule on the flight deck the members of the various teams are standing by ready to go button down all helmets secure a loot gear on Deck stand clear of intakes and tail fights start your aircraft now prly sends down the word time for the Rescue helicopters to take off and get into position anytime that aircraft are taking off or Landing the rugged and reliable copters will be hovering for and at ready to make a split-second pickup should anything go wrong as launching time draws near the sense of excitement on Deck increases prly keeps things [Music] moving with engines running the first jets are positioned over the powerful steam [Music] catapults everything is [Music] ready one final formal step remains to be taken prly calls the captain on the bridge requesting permission to launch aircraft permission is granted the command goes down launch [Music] aircraft each aircraft is logged into into the air the pertinent data kept in running balance throughout flight operations the independence is capable of launching an aircraft every 30 seconds each one able to deliver Atomic destruction on targets beyond the range of previous carrier aircraft the complex operation on the flight deck is a study in teamwork and timing as one after another the Jets are lined up and catapulted into the air as the flights become airborne prly turns over control to the cic combat information center which tracks and directs the aircraft during their Airborne operation keeping radar contact the combat information center provides jets in the air with needed information direction to targets altitude speed and at the completion of a successful Mission a heading that will bring the planes back to home base as part of today's flight problem the ship's Navigator plots a new course calculating the new position on which the pilots will have to home [Music] in on the bridge the new course is set up by the Helmsman and the heading and rendevu point are relayed to the combat information center here minute by minute cic keeps track of its aircraft in flight and for a while the huge flight deck is empty but already preparations are underway for the recovery of aircraft now the lso landing signal officer comes into the spotlight as he starts bringing the Jets back aboard this is the tricky part everything has to be calculated to the last second of time mile of speed and pound of aircraft and fuel weight the arresting cables are set to the exact weight and landing speed of the aircraft involved just a little too much tension or too little on the arrest cable can spell [Music] Disaster One one by one the Jets come aboard with the yellow shirt boys continually clearing the deck forward to make room for more Jets coming in at the Jets land under full power insurance against the occasional Bolter when the hook misses the cable and the pilot has to take her up and around again as they say practice makes perfect long before the final command came over the loudspeakers secure from flight operations we'd gotten an impressive idea of the power latent in this newest of our ocean ranging air bases a profound respect for the ship and for the men who make the USS Independence a formidable addition to America's power for [Music] peace