YANKEE DO: A STORY OF SEA POWER

when I was told 6 months ago that I would be spending a year with the American six Fleet as a NATO exchange officer little did I I think I would be pleasant at a launching and may this ship staunchly weather the rack of wind and wave bravely serving her Mission and bring all hands safely to good Haven and with these words hold it please here use this instead ginger ale oh really mat you're impossible n II merely Frugal should we waste good champagne lay on woman break it clean and short and with these words I now CR the the good chip Yankee too all right crew let's get her bottom wet [Music] [Applause] even in the first weeks of my exchange JY with your Navy I must admit you Americans are a strange breed oh how come there is always a deeper meaning behind your glib remarks and you always question everything for example well why the name of the boat YY do why a name that's a question mark well the question's Justified until the vessel's been tried and tested Mac while you're on this deeper meaning kick please tell me this five a change of bottle your scotch fality needn't extend of their American champagne partly the label Margo con being a NATO power was not the NATO touch appropriate yes ma Yan Doodle went to town riding on a pony suck a FEA in his and cold Sil song typical of your American brag and Swagger Yank It Up yank first said speak softly but carry a big stick you only do that by half mind the music and the step with the girls behind we had a song that brag somewhat entitled britanna rules the waves and now Yan dudle keep it up with a question mark always that question mark Yankee do or don't question marks everywhere Brad notices it most when he comes back from sea duty but you know we question almost everything about about us in our country oh you know the whole bit how we're soft and fat and immature and undisciplined you're undisciplined and complacent and unwilling to sacrifice we second rate we doomed to early burial yes the Ugly Americans gets a bit thick doesn't it this is important son what we've done today is something people have done since man first hollowed out a tree or tied two logs together we floated a box on the water and that's the best and the cheapest way of moving almost anything to almost anywhere hey Dad look the Big E boy that's some box that's right son quite a box the USS Enterprise first of the nuclear carriers nukes we call them I can hardly wait to fly off of her I guess practically every pilot in the Navy feels the same way I do the largest and fastest warship afloat her eight nuclear reactor Supply 280,000 horsepower to her four propellers that can take her 20 times around the world on one charge of fuel she's as long as a 100 story skyscraper is tall and tall as a skyscraper too 16 levels from Keel to flight deck above her deck Towers the island packed with long range radar communication equipment and control centers two Bridges topped off with a dome that houses a unique battery of electronic countermeasure and detection devices No Smoke Stack for her nuclear reactors make no smoke eight ship of the same name but this one's the biggie all right over 1,000 ft of Flight Deck two ocean liners wide room for four football fields or aund of today's hottest Jets or tomorrow's below deex hangers to handle them all and over 3,000 spaces into compartments for equipment storage and living space we've put good things into it that mean more than physical statistics maybe you can measure her best by the 5 million man days of work or by the years she took the design by the hundreds of companies in 50 states that provided her materials and components from the smallest transistor to her reactors are the huge steam catapults that launcher planes we've put the best we have into it design material working skills and hopes yes hopes the hopes and sacrifices of 180 million people there goes a catapult test now speak softly with her Teddy Roosevelt could have whispered reminds me of the Biblical Art and not only in her proportions explain that Mac the AR carried in her two of each in all the world Yonder vessel has much in her of all your country it's an interesting thought it's worth looking into I should be back in time for her sea trials after my duty with your Fleet but then I hope to be greatly enlightened on many of your question marks [Music] rip TI Tower this is accomodate 205 one Fox Trot 8 uniform 2 m South approximate fuel State 3.5 request landing instructions over Roger accommodate 205 this is Rip Tide Tower continue inbound called starboard side for break over there she lies a few Acres of Steel named after a second Roosevelt the carrier FDR a floating Air Base all it takes to room and board and maintain aircraft and men and all that stacked telescoped wrapped up in a single great box roaming anywhere too anywhere on the watery surface of our globe [Applause] 205 count a fine beginning for me a normal cure of Duty as an exchange pilot with a US Squadron carrier born we steamed Eastward toward Europe and the Mediterranean a great ship on her way to Fleet duty but while she moves ahead in stately Grandeur there are a thousand things to do that must be done today if not sooner for a carrier never catches up on her mission of training and readiness oh [Music] [Music] every day is another chance to hone every man and every Department to a Sharper Edge of Readiness and efficiency to take off the rough edges and make all the pieces fit together smoother and closer [Music] throughout the ship over 3,000 men Sailors flyers and Marines all with their duties live and work in the rhythm of the ship's sex watches all around the day and night while some sleep or have off time others work another watch has Meal Time and from watch to watch the everyday business of working and living goes on like in any small City [Music] like in any small city except we ain't got Dames like any small city except this city moves at any time between anywhere and anywhere like any city except that all its citizens serve a unifying Mission and purpose under a single Authority through the long watches of day or night the skipper is lashed to his solitary MK responsible for ship and All Aboard [Music] her we'll make our first sorty at 0900 Maguire will take the first first division the rest of the flight will Rendevous at Angels 20 overhead are there any questions 15 minutes of tedium ah very well now what say Johnny what say we have another good old fashion controversy let's sleep instead come on now I'll speak as a good Submariner let's don't bring them into this and by the way it's Submariner not Submariner and who invented this language were speaking you did along with the Magna Carta warm beer cold houses and the aircraft carrier of course it's true the angled de was ours and the mirr and meatball had got the jet safely aboard the ship we improved upon Him ah that was a splendid controversy when half the authorities in the world said the carriers will never fly Jets the carriers ended yet here we are St sailing and flying and well we could engage in gentle controversy while elsewhere trained men exercise their skills and responsibilities doing everything necessary they keep our P's ha trigger ready for action work party from section five report to hanger B one making sense of a parking problem that would break the heart of a New York cop or London Bobby practicing trades and skills on which our lives and the life of the ship so directly depend pieces fitting together and if one fits wrong quite a few US Dollars will go into the drink along with one scotch [Music] pilot character purpose something worth looking into an attack carrier is exactly what the name implies a weapon system designed with one end in view offensive action fogy 045 120 designate V one VP accommodate 205 this is Riptide Vector 0454 Boy Over Riptide this is accommodate 205 Vector 045 for bogy over it's the the job of Carrier air to control the sky around him and to carry the attack to any enemy on land sea or air Dr and that's another controversy answer the carrier can and does regularly accomplish every mission of air attack and while she's doing so she's also using her special weapons of speed and Mobility wrapping herself up in the protective mantle of the Seas Open Spaces a quickly speeding needle in the nautical Haze stack this is the captain speaking men 6 months ago we took to the sea with a crew half trained half new a quarter on First Service after four months of underway training I was able to tell you that we could in time become a competent ship today as we enter the Mediterranean this ship is tight lean hard tough R well prepared to join a proud Fleet a highly qualified instrument of our national policy well fitted to accomplish whatever an attack carrier can do should should do or must do whatever an attack carrier can do should do must do that's a very big statement during combined operations with the fleet she's the center of a three- ring circus of sea power and it's a performance that goes on night and day any night she settles an old controversy for it was once said we'd never launch and retrieve high performance aircraft in darkness or in heavy weather yet night and day she fills the sky with her aircraft for attack amphibious support or any other Mission an aircraft may be called to perform [Music] far out ahead and to the flanks long range radar picket planes scan the sea each of them is a complete flying air control center from which carrier aircraft can be directed to their targets the fleet's Destroyers Patrol the sea against marauding submarines guided missile Cruisers and guided missile Destroyers are on hand to take part in anything from clearing the skies to amphibious support this afternoon Tactical Air is going to take a low-level training flight over the beaches and the port facilities in here here are the mosaics of the area and the first launch will go at 1300 [Applause] [Music] combined air operation All Hands turn two the carrier adding its power to all other El elements [Music] [Music] a sustained rotation of aircraft some are L others preparing to take off others returning from their missions [Music] [Music] a hard and ruling job Pilots Crews Airmen all ranks and ratings keeping the ship steady keeping the planes fly soft fat weak second rate undisciplined what do you this is the captain speaking well done to all hands for having completed 72 hours of successful combined sea and air operations by all Fleet units can do should do must do Yan do complete the many even now that question that oh no not another [Music] controversy a tour of Duty in the Mediterranean includes port sakur and this of course brings Shor [Music] leave I'll save it for sure come on the meaning of the ship is clear a symbol of national purpose and commitment the flag is shown 6,000 M from oshgosh Oria but to said there's no friendship between nations only between person and person so what of our men will their presence in the home city of a proud Allied Nation add or subtract from the precious store of goodwi and friendship tourists like anywhere but young and on their best behavior they've studied the language and customs and the history of their hosts hoping for friendly acceptance [Music] oh [Music] for [Music] they're a part of national policy and they know it they're showing not the flag but what it means and there's little doubt the meaning is understood [Music] ships are the best way of moving almost anything to almost anywhere that anything can be a flag and the image of a free people it can be a symbol of Readiness and resolve deployed in in the world's critical areas it can be a deterrent Force cooling the hot spots in the Cold War it can be a already response to creeping aggression with the proper military pressure directly and precisely applied for a carrier along with the other ships of our fleets and our fighting Marine Corps projects our policy with flexible Precision within 3 miles of any shore or across the shore too [Applause] [Music] sh hey you know there's nothing like it Mac this Outdoor Living he did you ever read our homemaking magazines there's two cars in every garage Pao on every hosle yeah I noticed you've rechristened The Vessel somewhat Yanke do we out the question mark That's Right Mac you see we found her a stun ship well tried and tested now now concerning some other questions about your strange Yankee breed yeah we have a habit of opposing questions and why not but on my recent tour I've had occasion to Enlighten myself I've seen a great carrier and its men a float and aure from such a vantage point is not hard to see to the heart of such matters so saying may I make a proposal somewhat less than Frugal anything to Welcome Home the prodigal Scott may I ask you to BR that fine bottle I so carefully set aside your months ago we're well ahead of you sir hurry now the stake will soon be done you poor Mac I have in mind the toast to a ship and also to a nation let us all prepare for a serious burst of NATO sentiment and that you may for I speak now of a great new ship today entering a upon her first trial and testing on the Open Seas as I've said before she carries much in her of all your nation and also much of strength and hope for my homeland and all the nations of the Free World much of strength and hope for she's a great added element of sea power extending the speed and endurance of the attack carrier she's a spearhead of balanced sea power a great and Dynamic Addition to the security of free men everywhere the world is mainly water and it's true and supported by all history that those Nations which control the oceans have kept their freedom against all tyranny so may this great new ship staunchly weather the rack of wind and wave bravely serving her Mission and safely bring all hands to good Haven a