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Monday, April 1, 2019

Crewman Catapulted Overboard From Ford

As if the USS Ford needs any more problems … 

In an accident described by Navy officials as “a freak combination of factors”, a Navy deck crewman was inadvertently catapulted off the bow of the USS Ford during pierside maintenance activities. 

The ship’s problematic weapon elevators were being tested for the first time after having all been installed but not yet certified.  Unexpectedly, the operation of a single elevator triggered the operation of every elevator.  According to Navy spokesman, Lt. Jack Wang,

Obviously, we did not anticipate this but when the number 4 weapon elevator was triggered with all the other elevators electrically on line, all the elevators simultaneously activated in the same direction.  Just like the EMALS catapults have been found to have to be all up or all down, as a group, the elevators, which use the exact same sequential electric motor concept as EMALS, apparently are linked the same way, through a common weapons elevator capacitor.  If one moves, they all move.  This appears to be a common design flaw with both EMALS and the elevators.  We’re still investigating but it’s clear what happened. (1)

While this elevator flaw was bad enough, the unanticipated massive electromagnetic surge of all 11 elevators activating simultaneously caused an inductive relay activation of the firing circuits of the four EMALS catapults to engage and fired the cats.  Three of the four cats harmlessly fired but on one of the bow cats a deck crewman was sitting on the launch bar attachment trolley and when the cat fired the crewman was carried along and flung off the bow.

We were fortunate that the EMALS capacitor was at a low energy state and the cat shot was not a full speed launch.  It was just fast enough that the crewman couldn’t react in time to roll off but not fast enough to harm him. (1)

The crewman landed in the water about 50 ft in front of the carrier.  He was uninjured and able to swim to the stern where an arresting gear cable that was waiting to be installed was used to pull him back up to the flight deck.

When asked what it felt like to be catapulted, the crewman observed,

There was a surprising amount of vertical oscillation during the launch.  I had seen that on F-35 launches but they told us that problem was fixed.  I’m lucky I didn’t have one of those heavy helmets on that the pilots wear. (1)

Always looking to put a positive spin on things, the Navy spokesman noted,

While the incident was unfortunate, it did demonstrate that Ford’s elevators are all now working. (1)

The spokesman went on to address the aftermath of the incident,

CNO Richardson has already formed a committee, chaired by Admiral Merrill Stubing, to investigate, report, and make recommendations to prevent this from happening again. (1)

Off the record, the spokesman wryly noted,

Unofficially, the crewman is now the only person in the Navy who is credited with a cat and trap without an aircraft. (1)

The incident will have no impact on the Ford’s maintenance availability which is scheduled to be completed in early 2029.



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(1)Broken Defense website, “Ford Catapults Crewman”, Brandi Forall, 1-Apr-2019

22 comments:

  1. A navy spokesman was quick to point out they wouldn't want to operate anything other than every lift and catapult at once anyway....

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  2. "The incident will have no impact on the Ford’s maintenance availability which is scheduled to be completed in early 2029." Sorry for being thick, what does that sentence mean?

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    1. Ford is currently undergoing a maintenance availability to install elevators and fix the various problems identified during trials. The availability is already been extended several months past the original scheduled completion date. As an April Fools post, the 2029 completion date is just a humorous poke at the multiple extensions that have already occurred.

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  3. Replies
    1. Glad you enjoyed it. Did you get the reference to Adm. Merrill Stubing? That one might be a bit too old for most readers. Hint: Love Boat TV series

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  4. First kudos to the crewman calm enough after being launched off a ship to notice the vertical oscillation. That is good sailor!

    But all the elevators tied together? The cats together? That is a design flaw, not a mistake in production or part problem. This is a combat flaw.
    One hit in the right place in combat or one single saboteur can render the ship incapable of combat. That is a design vulnerability. Added to that, it is computer controlled so we can add a cyber vulnerability point as well.

    Independent steam for cats and hydraulics for lifts. You can’t computer hack steam.

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    1. The key to any good April Fools piece is to weave in enough truth so as to make the piece plausible. The EMALS are, indeed, electrically tied together as we've documented in previous posts. In order to work on one, they all have to be spun down. They can't be electrically isolated and worked on individually. That's a major combat design flaw.

      I have no idea whether the elevators are also tied together. That's the plausible extension of a nugget of truth that makes the scenario initially believable.

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    2. Flawless application of April 1st.
      Things are so bad with the Ford that that you could have said the sea sparrows had temporarily locked onto the catapulted crewman and I’d have probably still for it.

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    3. "the sea sparrows had temporarily locked onto the catapulted crewman"

      Ooooh, that's a good one! I should have done that. Catapulting him off the ship and then shooting him in midair. Why didn't I think of that?! Oh well, there's always next year.

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  5. LOL....Happy 01 April CNO

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  6. Happy April Fool's! Sad though that it seemed so credible for more than 1 paragraph!

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    1. "Sad though that it seemed so credible for more than 1 paragraph!"

      Plausibility is the key to a good April Fools piece. Fortunately, the Navy has an endless supply of actual ridiculous scenarios that can be nudged into humor pieces!

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  7. A similar incident happened the week before. The ship's mascot, Felix, was shot off the deck into the armor belt of a nearby LCS and darn near sank it. He's a little worse for wear but should recover. Felix, not the LCS. It will never be the same.

    Trondude 5952

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  8. Why do all my media sources today continually make me want to believe crazy things?! First forgotten weapons with his video of the L.M.P. 1889 and now you!

    Btw, you made this a little to believable... congrats on a stellar April 1st article.

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  9. "The incident will have no impact on the Ford’s maintenance availability which is scheduled to be completed in early 2029"

    LOL

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  10. Did anyone see the story today saying that the US Navy had trained fish to help detect enemy ships/subs!! It referenced Scientific American...
    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/us-military-fish-underwater-spies-marine-life-darpa-a8847706.html

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  11. This was an exceptional piece of 1st April humour. Such are the problems with the Ford that I only realised it was humour after reading the third paragraph. Nicely done.

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  12. At least the RN only do this to a piano, the story goes that it was stolen from an RAF Mess then blessed by the padre before the shot.
    It is a good story, good enough to be true.

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