A Saeta in a low pass

Right place, right equipment, right moment, ..right photographer..great photos

Ja… the Bonnie (CVA-31) was stricken 20 Sep. 1989, and sold for scrap on 4 Feb. 1992.

The following modified Essex-class carriers were still in USN possession in 1980:
CVA-11 Intrepid – stricken 30/9/80 (preserved as museum New York City, N.Y.[CVS-11])
CVS-12 Hornet – stricken 25/7/89 (preserved as museum Alameda, Ca. )
CVA-16 Lexington – stricken 26/11/91 (preserved as museum Corpus Christi, Tx. [CVS-16/AVT-16])
CVS-20 Bennington – stricken 20/9/89 (sold for scrap 12/1/94)
CVA-31 Bon Homme Richard- stricken 20/9/89 (sold for scrap 4/2/92)
CVA-34 Oriskany – stricken 25/7/89 (sunk as reef 17/5/06)
CVA-38 Shangri-La – stricken 15/7/82 (sold for scrap 9/8/88 [scrapped in Taiwan][CVS-38])

The only other existing Essex-class carrier is the CVS-10 Yorktown, which was stricken 1/6/73 (preserved as museum Patriot’s Point, Charleston, S. C.. She was formally dedicated as a memorial on the 200th anniversary of the Navy, 13 October 1975.)

1973-1976 were the years of “the great scrapping”… with 7 modified Essex-class carriers meeting the torches:
CVS-9 Essex – stricken 1/6/73 (sold for scrap 1/6/75)
CVA-14 Ticonderoga – stricken 16/11/73 (sold for scrap 1/9/75 [CVS-14])
CVS-15 Randolph – stricken 1/6/73 (sold for scrap ?)
CVS-18 Wasp – stricken 1/7/72 (sold for scrap 21/5/73)
CVA-19 Hancock – stricken 31/1/76 (sold for scrap 1/9/76)
CVS-33 Kearsarge – stricken 1/5/73 (sold for scrap _/2/74)
CVS-36 Antietam – stricken 1/5/73 (sold for scrap 28/2/74 [only partially modified])

The “unmodified” Essex-class carriers were disposed of as follows:
CVS-13 Franklin – stricken 1/10/64 (sold for scrap 27/7/66 [AVT-8])
CVS-17 Bunker Hill – stricken 1/11/66 (retained as moored electronic test ship San Diego until Nov 1972; Scrapped 1973 [unmodified from WW2 configuration][AVT-9])
CVS-21 Boxer – stricken 1/12/69 (sold for scrap _/2/71 [LPH-4])
CVS-32 Leyte – stricken 1/12/69 (sold for scrap _/_/70 [AVT-10])
CVS-37 Princeton – stricken 30/1/70 (sold for scrap _/5/71 [LPH-5])
CVS-39 Lake Champlain – stricken 1/12/69 (sold for scrap 28/4/72)
CVS-40 Tarawa – stricken 1/6/67 (sold for scrap 3/10/68 [AVT-12])
CVS-45 Valley Forge – stricken 15/1/70 (sold for scrap 29/10/71 [LPH-8])
CVS-47 Philippine Sea – stricken 1/12/69 (sold for scrap _/3/71 [AVT-11])

note that the 7 which had been designated CVA were the only ones with steam catapults, all others had hydraulic ones.
CVA=Attack Carrier
CVS=Anti-Submarine Carrier
AVT=Aviation Transport (later Aviation Training Ship)
LPH=Landing ship, Personnel, Helicopter

The following site shows which ships recieved which modifications, and when.
http://www.history.navy.mil/branches/cvcvn.htm

27A was a strengthening of the flight deck & handling equipment, H-1 catapults replaced by H-8, larger elevators,fitting for jets, removal of the twin 5″ guns, and hull bulging from 93′ to 101′.
27C was installation of C-11 steam catapults and stronger arresting gear, more flight-deck strengthening, aft elevator moved to starboard deck-edge, and hull bulging to 103′.
125 was enclosing the bow, adding the “angle deck”, re-aligning the arresting gear and replacing it with one with half the wires, and lengthening the forward elevator.
125A (CVA-34) was the 27C & 125 with metal over the wood flight deck aft and the strongest arresting gear fitted to any Essex carrier.
144 was ASW oriented and included a SQS-23 bow-dome-mounted sonar [early 1960s](CVS-9, 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 33).

CVA-11, 14, 19 received 125 in the later period, not another 27C or 17C.
CVA-16, 31, 38 received 125 along with 27C in the same period.

A nearly off topic question… What were the carriers that appears supposedly in San Francisco Bay in one of the “Dirty Harry” Films?

Where you come from?
If you come from a compact digital, any DSLR will be great step ahead, D50 nice, 350D a bit nicer.
a good and not expensive 300 mm lens is the sigma APO 70-300

I think you’re very confused about the relevance of the Map.
It’s desing was the mother of all the transport system map desings of the world in the following millenium, and is going to survive meanwhile there are some transport system working.

It was a simple, but brilliant idea that has allowed millions of people in the world to understand this kind of maps.

Designer: Harry Beck

By the early 1930s, the London Underground network had expanded so considerably that it was difficult to squeeze all the new lines and stations into a geographical map. Passengers complained that the existing map was crowded, confusing and hard to read. It was decided that the network was too big to be represented geographically and the Underground commissioned one of its draughtsmen Harry Beck (1903-1974) to devise a more efficient method.

Basing his map on an electrical circuit, Beck represented each line in a different colour and interchange stations as diamonds. The crowded central area was enlarged and the course of each route simplified into the form of a vertical, horizontal or diagonal line. The diagrammatic map was produced on a trial basis as a leaflet in 1933 and Beck continued to refine it until 1959.

Harry Beck’s map has created such a powerful impression that it dominates our perceptions of London’s geography. A variation of his original design is still used by London Underground today, and Beck’s concept of a diagrammatic map has been imitated all over the world.

“Harry Beck’s Tube Map is design perfection – created as a labour of love, and beautiful to behold, but a monument to practicality too. Still simple after all these years – and still working.”

James Naughtie