what could topple the aircraft carrier Gerald R4 looking at the enormous aircraft carrier one can't help but wonder how does this huge ship not topple over this is especially true when you look at the ship from the front an arrow hole is showing out of the water rapidly expanding and rising up it's like a pyramid placed upside down and if you look at the newest American aircraft carrier Gerald R Ford the feeling that the ship is about to topple over only intensifies not only is it an overturned pyramid but on its side hangs huge platforms
stacked with planes each weighing several tens of tons so how does this 100,000 ton block of metal not overturn or maybe the sailors are playing hide-and seek with death to understand this question let us first answer an easier one why does a ship which weighs tens or even hundreds of thousands of tons not sink throw a hammer or a wrench into the water and you'll have to look for them at the bottom but at the same time if you let it go a rubber ball stuck in the water up to the top of its head
will float up and sometimes fly out like a cork from a champagne bottle what pushes it out Archimedes Force it's equal to the weight of water that displaces the body when it sinks that is if the body weighs more than the water in its volume it'll sink completely into if not it will stay on the surface of the water in other words if the density of the body is lower than the density of the water the body will float a steel aircraft carrier with all its airplanes missiles and other other other other things has a
density lower than the density of water let's do the math the total volume of an aircraft carrier up to its top deck is approximately 1,300,000 cubic M or 46 million cubic feet the maximum weight of the aircraft carrier Gerald R Ford along with crew aircraft and fuel is 112 million kg or 247 million lb the average density of an aircraft carrier is equal to the ratio of its mass to its volume we get 86 kg per cubic M or 5.4 lb per cubic foot for reference the density of wood depending on the species 550 kg
per cubic meter or 30 to 45 lb per cubic foot so the density of an aircraft carrier is almost 10 times less than the density of wood that's why it's so high above the water but why doesn't it tip over Archimedes Force which keeps the ship on the surface of the water is applied at the center of the submerged part of the ship this point is called the center of buoyancy if the ship is tilted the center of buoyancy shifts to the side of the Roll along a specific curve the intersection of the vertical axis
of the ship with the vector of Archimedes force is called the metacenter if the ship's center of gravity lies below this meta Center the ship is stable if it lies above it the ship will capsize the greater the distance between the meta Center and the center of gravity the more stable the ship is but if you think that knowing this Theory making a ship including an aircraft carrier stable is a simple task you're mistaken it's a complex task requiring many tricks from designers proof that the theory sometimes does not coincide with practice are numerous ship
FRS the cause of which is a violation of the stability of the ship moreover they occur Even in our time when it seemed with the help of computers can be calculated almost every breath of the ship on April 16th 2014 the South Korean fer Seawall capsized killing more than 300 people most of whom were school children the main causes of the disaster were overloading of the vessel and improper placement of cargo at the moment when the ferry was making a turn it was tilted and overloading and improper alignment led to a complete loss of stability
which caused the cap size and this is not the only case in the last 10 years after all the aircraft carrier is home to many airplanes and helicopters which are constantly taking off and Landing the same Gerald Ford is home to 40 to 44 fa8 EF Super Hornet Fighters 5 to7 EA 18g Growler electronic warfare aircraft 3 to4 e2d Advanced Hawkeye long range radar detection air aircraft 2:3 c2a Greyhound Transport Aircraft and 6 to8 mh6 RS Seahawk multi-roll helicopters plus the multi-ton aircraft take the elevator from The Hanger to the upper deck before taking off
and this cannot but affect the stability of the ship and for the words in addition constantly consumed fuel for these aircraft which are located at the bottom of the ship as the most protected Place therefore the center of gravity of the aircraft carrier is constantly Rising again thereby reducing the stability of the ship but that's not all when an aircraft carrier is accepted into the US Navy it must pass rigorous test trials in particular the shock trials this is one of the most significant tests for new aircraft carriers and other warships shock trials simulate conditions
in which a ship may be exposed to explosions such as underwater mines or Torpedoes the essence of the test during shock trials powerful charges usually underwater are detonated near the ship the purpose is to test how the ship and its systems react to strong vibrations and shocks like those that might occur in a real Combat situation and whether the resulting shock wave could capsize the ship the USS Gerald R Ford underwent such tests in 2021 explosive devices up to 40,000 lb or about 18 tons were detonated near the ship the test showed that the aircraft
carrier could withstand such blasts without critical damage this was the first test of its kind for an aircraft carrier in 34 years the second type of test is maneuvering tests hard turns and maneuvering tests maneuvering tests involve making sharp turns and complex Maneuvers at high speed the purpose of the test it's important to evaluate how the ship behaves during sudden changes in course and speed and how this affects its stability navigation systems and crew performance aircraft carriers despite their enormous size must be able to change directions quickly to evade threats such as Torpedoes or missiles
watch the 100,000 ton USS Gerald R4 dashing to the left at 30 knots that's 55 km an hour or 34 milph how much its flight deck is tilted about 30° can you imagine the mighty forces that can tilt 100,000 tons so much so how do you achieve such magnificent stability for such a huge ship well there are several measures first of all it's a special shape of the hole which is made in such a way that the center of gravity of the ship is lowered as much as possible and vice versa the center of buoyancy
is raised as much as possible particularly noteworthy is the underwater bow of the ship's bow bulb it's designed not only to reduce water resistance as many believe but also to increase stability equally important to the stability of the ship is the ballast system or ballast tank system system it's used to regulate the distribution of weight on the ship allowing it to maintain a stable position and balance even as the weight on board changes such as when airplanes take off and land or when supplies and fuel are loaded in addition ballasting helps ensure the proper draft
of the ship and reduces roll when making turns or in heavy rocking conditions the tanks are located on the sides and in the KE area the system is controlled automatically or by command from the control room the automatic mode is used for routine operations such as taking off and landing of airplanes the human Takes Over Control in non-standard situations or special operations for example in preparation for a sharp turn of the aircraft carrier water's pumped in and out using powerful pumps with a capacity of thousands of lers per minute also modern aircraft carriers including Jerald
R Ford are equipped with active stabilizers these are movable blades that compensate for the side rocking of the ship rotating depending on the direction and strength of the Waves this allows for significantly reduced transverse and longitudinal rocking even in difficult sea conditions such a system works automatically by computer commands receiving information about the position of the hole through gyroscopes but even such a complex system to improve the stability of the ship sometimes fails for example in December 1953 the aircraft carrier USS Benning was caught in a severe storm in the Pacific Ocean the ship experienced
severe rolls and shock waves resulting in damage to the deck aircraft and other equipment several airplanes ended up on the deck that had not been secured properly and were washed into the ocean and in 1969 the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise found itself in a similar situation in the same Pacific Ocean due to the strong rocking and wave impact several airplanes on the deck were seriously damaged and the deck equipment failed so much for the ocean they called the Pacific but it seems that America's newest aircraft carrier is immune to such situations in 2022 the USS
Gerald R Ford hit an extreme se- roll during a training exercise the ship encountered a wave of significant height which resulted in serious rolls the aircraft carrier structure withstood these loads and there was no damage to the aircraft but we shouldn't forget that an aircraft carrier is warship therefore it can be exposed not only to Natural Forces but also to enemy weapons before the Advent of hypersonic weapons in principle American aircraft carriers were considered invulnerable the loss of enemy forces to destroy them was considered unacceptable for example a successful attack on an aircraft carrier required
about 50 to 60 Soviet strategic supersonic bombers tu22m according to the NATO classification backfire p500 bazalt or p700 Granite cruise missiles were used for the attack these anti-ship missiles were intended to break through the air defense systems of the aircraft carrier strike group due to their high speed up to Mach 2.5 and maneuverability it was expected that in this case the loss of the Soviet strategists would be up to 40 to 50% of the attacking group in this case for a reliable defeat of the aircraft carrier should be at least 20 to 30 direct hits
of such missiles unless of course they were not equipped with nuclear warheads in this case the probability of disabling or destroying the aircraft carrier could reach 70 to 80% but with the Advent of hypersonic weapons such as Russian ziron missiles and Chinese Y j21 and df7 missiles the situation has changed now fewer missiles are needed to defeat aircraft carriers and the probability of breaking through missile defenses is increased so how do aircraft carriers improve their survivability in the face of enemy strikes first and foremost the hope lies in a layered missile defense system this is
primarily the AIS combat system installed on Cruisers and destroyers as well as the phic cwiz automatic close-in missile defense system which uses rapid fire cannons to destroy missiles fa18 Super Hornet fighter jets will also be involved in repelling the missile attack electronic warfare systems would come into play but if despite everything the missiles have reached their Target in this case the main hope for for watertight compartments the entire ship is divided by watertight bulkheads into separate compartments these bulkheads ensure that each compartment is isolated from the others so that if one of them is flooded
water will not spread throughout the ship if a ship is under torpedo or missile attack damage to the hole can cause one or more compartments to flood but the bulkheads prevent water from spreading further preventing serious roll or loss of buoyancy if water enters a compartment it's automatically sealed all passages into it are closed and water cannot spread beyond that compartment the exact number of watertight compartments on the Gerald R Ford aircraft carrier is not publicly disclosed because it's important information related to the safety and combat stability of the ship however based on the design
and operational experience of previous Nimitz class aircraft carriers several conclusions can be drawn aircraft carriers of this class have several hundred watertight compartments on all decks the lower Decks that is below the water line include engine rooms fuel water ammunition and provision storage these compartments are traditionally made the most protected as damage in this area can have a critical effect on the buoyancy of the ship there are also special areas such as airplane hangers which are necessarily divided into compartments so that all aircraft are not lost at once engaging the automatic pressurization system is an
emergency on the ship in this case the highest priority is to save the ship not human life if there are people in a compartment that's been isolated due to water intrusion no one will open the compartment for them they would be doom and there are many examples of such situations for example in 1960 on the American submarine USS sargo during its Anchorage in Pearl Harbor there was an explosion of the liquid oxygen system automatic systems worked and isolated the damaged compartment but several crew members inside were unable to evacuate and died in 2007 during an
exercise in the Arctic aboard the British nuclear submarine HMS tireless a ventilation system malfunctioned causing an explosion and fire two Sailors died when the compartment's automatic containment system malfunctioned cutting them off from evacuation sure it's brutal but such cruelty is Justified otherwise a ship could be lost and there would be many more casualties of course having watertight compartments is not a Panacea if the damage to the hole is significant water enters several compartments at once and the ship loses stability this is what happened on November 8th 2018 off the coast of Norway with the Norwegian
frigate K&M Helga ingstad which collided with an oil tanker after the Collision The Vessel lost stability capsized and partially sank the main cause was loss of stability due to a breach and flooding of compartments below the waterline we hope this will not happen to the aircraft carrier let's not forget that its average density is 7 to 8 times less than that of wood and for such a tree in quotes to sink it must be very much saturated with water we think we've explained in detail and clearly explained why the modern American aircraft carrier of Gerald
R Ford type is not threatened by overturning and destruction in general unless only by a nuclear strike that's another story we're waiting for your comments on this issue we'd be grateful for a thumbs up and subscriptions to our Channel see you soon [Music]
