Wednesday, April 1, 2015

A - USS Abraham Lincoln CVN72

My Theme / Timeline

Nothing like jumping right into the BIG topic!

The Lincoln was my second and last ship during my enlistment.  I reported on board in late December 1994 and due to mis-communication in my orders (2 different report dates noted so I opted for the earlier one) was told to go chill a couple days on base (Naval Air Station Alameda, CA) and come back after the beginning of the year.

This was my home for the next 28 months.

(from the 1995 WestPac Cruise Book)

Oh, I forgot to mention in my Theme Reveal - I was a postal clerk.  Yup, I worked in the post office.  We had a real one with our own zip code like all US Navy ships do.   We sold stamps & money orders & sent out and delivered a LOT of letters & packages to the crew.  So back in the day before the Interwebz got big, we were some pretty important peeps!

Some basic stats about a carrier the size of the Lincoln.....
Commissioned - 11/11/89
Crew (with airwing) -  approx 5500 people
overall length - 1092 feet
overall width - 257 feet
overall height  - 206.5 feet
speed - in excess of 30 knots
flight deck - 4.5 acres
2 anchors @ 30 tons each
4 aircraft elevators
4 aircraft catapults
2 nuclear reactors (one of which is below the post office)
4 mess decks (eatin' places) 1 standard food line, 1 fast food line, a Chief's mess and an Officers' mess

So when they say a carrier is like a floating city....yeah.  it is.  There are stores and barber shops and machine shops and everything you can think of necessary to keeping this thing running and the crew happy.

It was my favorite command of them all.   Went to a lot of places I never would have gotten to otherwise and met a lot of good friends.

#AtoZChallenge

12 comments:

  1. Huh I never knew that about carriers, that's pretty cool!

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    1. It was a slight culture shock when I got there. I'm sure I walked on board the first time with my mouth hanging open!

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  2. Sounds like you really enjoyed it on the carrier. I could never imagine living on a ship. Sometimes I forget what it was like before the internet and email - post was so important.
    Tasha
    Tasha's Thinkings | Wittegen Press | FB3X (AC)

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    1. This was totally my favorite command. I even just love the look of a carrier - so majestic!

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  3. Wow, this is really interesting! I didn't realize each ship got its own ZIP code. I'm not too familiar with Navy life, so it'll be really neat to hear more about your experiences.

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  4. Love your theme. Hope you'll cover some of your liberty ports somewhere in B through Z. I remember the days before e-mail!

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    1. Yes, I do cover some of the places I've been to! Places I normally wouldn't have chosen to go to on my own but were still cool to see.

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  5. Wow, a real eye opener for me about what an aircraft carrier is really like!
    Life & Faith in Caneyhead
    I am Ensign B ~ One of Tremp's Troops with the
    A to Z Challenge

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  6. Oh my! That IS a city at sea. Wow. Just. Wow. Thanks for the glimpse of what your days where like aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. I did care package support for women in the Navy this year after learning a little from females who are deployed on what it's like living and working on the ship.

    ~Nicole
    A to Z Challenge Co-Host
    The Madlab Post

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    1. It depends a lot on where you work. I was in an office and never had any problems with anyone else. The girls who worked in machinery spaces or with the weapons (guy dominated fields) probably took a lot more crap than I did.

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