USS Ronald Reagon looses junk (incl Hornet)

If this had been Charles de Gaulle we would never hear the end of it. Of course, they also had to cut up the hull of USS Ronald Reagan to replace part of the engine (IIRC) last year after it had been destroyed by the crew.

During the 1980s, all garbage that was thrown overboard from the carrier Ranger (from personal experience… I was aboard) was required to be weighted, and a hole was punched in each bag to insure it filled with water & sank quickly.

This was important for security reasons, as Soviet ships would shadow the carrier, and frequently tried to retrieve our garbage to look for information.

It was also regarded as a way to control pollution, as only certain items could be thrown overboard, and the required “sink-ex” meant that nothing would be where birds or sea-shores would be at risk.

Apparently, with security no longer a concern, the USN has become lax in its policies, which is not good! Controlling the disposal of garbage has become an even greater concern world-wide than it was in my era, and to see the USN being so careless is a black eye on the US Armed forces.

My apologies to the Australian people from this ex-Marine.

As for the Hornet… apparently it hit the flight deck hard, before the arresting wires, and was too severely damaged to continue flight. The pilot ejected safely, and was rescued. Other aircraft in the air were landed at a nearby airfield while the debris was cleared from the deck, and equiment was inspected and adjusted. The diverted aircraft were later flown back to the ship.

Alepou, I am used to posts about US aircraft mishaps being used to denigrate the US military, and the US, in general… if that was not your intention, then I apologize.

It is sad to read that most of the article was spent covering the MARPOL issues than the loss of the aircraft. Sign of the times I guess.

Yeah some are just a little touchy! 😮

http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=53248

Cheers,
Alepou 340MB

Oh dear! But accidents do happen, I guess.

Perhaps this forum could do with a sub-forum to deal with incidents like these…..