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Re: Catapult Extensions

David, a few words about catapult deadload test shots. Usually the task is tedious, boring and proceeds at glacial speed unlike launching activities at sea with aircraft. Occasionally however the unusual happens and the pucker factor appears out of nowhere. The initial deadload shots from New York Shipbuilding (Camden Div) were a big hit with the folks in Phila. The bow was pointed towards the city across the Delaware River. Prior to launch we were required to activate a very loud siren that apparently could be heard across the river in Phila. Many office workers would come to their open windows and watch the deadload come flying off the flight deck and hit the water with a very large and very, very high plume of water. Cheap entertainment. We made the newscasts and the papers.
Later when the ship was brought to the Phila. Naval Shipyard on the opposite side of the river we continued the deadload test program but now we were south of the Walt Whitman Bridge and the bow was pointed towards New Jersey. When we fired our last shot and all the official and necessary data was in hand for certification, the test engineer announced he wanted one more shot from Cat 1, just to see what the Cat could do. We positioned the lightest deadload (probably less than 10,000 lbs) and used a very high steam pressure. (At the time the cats max launch pressure was 1000 psi). Normally we launch deadloads at a slight bow down condition to facilitate the deadload angling over and hitting the water front first where it is most structurally sound. For this shot, the ship was bow up. I don't recall the end speed but suffice to say, that orange tank was haulin! The deadload hit the water flat and skipped and skipped and skipped like a flat stone until it came to a stop in the New Jersey mud on the other side of the river. I was only an E-3 at the time and wasn't required to do any 'splaining' but rumor was that it was a catapult malfunction that caused the deadload to turn into a rocket.
Another deadload incident occurred towards the end of the yard period in San Francisco in the spring of 62. We were firing Cat 4 all morning and broke for lunch. All morning there was a barge in the water off the port angle deck with a large crane that was installing whip antennae along the catwalk. Also off the port side, the USS Oriskany was coming pierside perpindicular to the Hawk. Her bow was aimed at our island and her position was very close to us. Just prior to lunch the largest deadload in the inventory (I believe 120,000 lbs) was loaded on the flight deck by the shipyard riggers in preparation for the first shot after lunch. The deadload was positioned athwartship abreast the island and the wheels were chocked only on the stbd side since the ship had a stbd list (operative word here is HAD). Unbenownst to anyone topside, the Engineering folks were playing with ballast and put the ship in a portside list. Just as we were manning up on the cat, the deadload started rolling across the flight deck towards the port catwalk (and the Oriskany). The cat deckedge operator (David Rich) looked up and couldn't believe his eyes nor could he get out of the way. He was held captive by the neck strap of the sound powered phones. Fortunately the phones he was using had an extra long cord that allowed him to run aft in the catwalk and just get clear of the deadload as it crashed through the catwalk, shearing off a one hour old antenna, liferafts and just missing the Fresnel Lens platform. Fortunately the barge that had been there all morning had moved because that is exactly where the deadload entered the water. No harm, no foul...no one was hurt. The flight deck rigger boss was red faced. Dave Rich was red necked. The sound powered phone cable almost decapitated him when he ran out of cable when running away from the deadload. Note: Never again did we fasten the strap to the breastplate. The Oriskany bow was packed with crew gawking at the Hawk- newest and biggest in PacFlt. I guess at first they thought we had an athwartship catapult but man is it slow! When they realized we just had a major screw-up, of course they thought it was hilarious. We of course were embarassed. Perspective is everything ! The ABs of the Oriskany didn't let us forget that incident for a long, long time.

Re: Catapult Extensions

Richard, As long as we are talking Cats maybe you can put to rest some of the other stories that I heard. Oh by the way, I do remember hearing about the 'skipper' that wound up in the mud banks on the Jersey side. Wish I had seen that one.
One story had to do with tearing up the water break on one of the cats. The story I heard was that the shipyard installed a valve handle that was labeled backward. So when the cat was fired it fired into a 'dry' water brake. Any truth to that one?

Re: Catapult Extensions

David, no truth at all about the shipyard mis-labeling a valve that resulted in a 'dry' waterbrake shot. During construction the vast majority of piping/valves were either not labeled or crudely labeled and then painted over since one of the last functions of construction was painting. While we were in Camden and waiting to start testing the cats, we spent a lot of time following air, hydraulic, water, steam etc. lines as I'm sure many other divisions did with their equipment. Even if a valve was mis-labeled, it is a series of pressure switches that allow the electrical sequence to continue. Closed valve...pump loss...low pressure one or more water brake cylinders equals NO GO (can't fire the cat).
The above describes just one of many, many safety features that prevent firing the cat unless all systems are GO.....UNLESS you have a Cat TWO Electrician who one day earned the famous (infamous?) nickname 'No Load Jones'. We were at sea during the first WestPac and Flight Quarters were secured. All four cats were steaming but in standby which meant that the steam receivers were charged to 550psi, steam watches set, the pistons and shuttle were stowed approx 15 ft AFT of the water brakes and the water brake pumps were OFF. Note: At the time it was thought if the pistons were stowed fully forward (the spears into the choke rings) that the ships normal vibration would prematurely wear the choke rings. Anyway, throughout the cats, "not a creature was stirring"....except No Load Jones!..."when up on the roof there arose such a clatter." CLATTER HELL...it was like a bomb going off on the port bow. I was aft on the 03 and it sounded pretty serious. At first I thought maybe one of the anchors let loose but it didn't take long to determine that "No Load" had fired the Cat into a dry water brake. Said he was doing maintenance and energized the FIRE solenoid using an external power source and bypassing all the built-in safeguards. Luckily the pistons could only travel 15 ft before bottoming out but with a 550 psi head of steam it jammed the spears into the choke rings. At the time I was Cat 3 Cat Captain so not my problem right!
Not surprisingly the cat would not RETRACT. It was jammed. It took Tilly to finally break it loose. Chief Paul Wales told me to go in there and see what damage occurred. I reminded him that the number on my green jersey had a "3" on it and not a "2." It took a nanosecond for him to convince me that I really ought to do as he said. The choke rings were made from phosphor bronze, a material that is harder than woodpecker lips and there was evidence of material that was displaced. Changing choke rings at sea is a very big job so I spent hours and hours in the water brake tank filing, grinding, massaging and willing the choke rings into some semblance of functionality. I told the Chief there was nothing more I could do but it might work. We fired a couple of 40 psi no-loads (no, not "No-Load" Jones but it was tempting) with success. The Cat Officers, Air Boss and Handler were told explicitly that Cat 2 was good to go but ONLY for low energy shots...NO Whales, NO Crusaders, NO Phantoms! It went well for several days with Cat 2 being fed only low energy stuff. Then during a routine daytime launch I looked forward from my position on deck around Cat 3 and saw an F-8 Crusader taxiing onto Cat 2 for launch. I thought ...'this is not good!' And it wasn't. Cat 2 was jammed and out of commission. Now we had to do a water brake job at sea. They wouldn't let us work on it during daytime flight quarters because they didn't want Tilly stuck on the bow...just in case. So we had to work at night using the Braille method of disassembly ,no lights ( might blind bridge personnel). We entered Sasebo with the brakes on deck but we could not remove any of the 42 bolts from the jet rings. Instead of tack welding the bolt heads per the drawing, a full circumference stainless weld was applied by ???? We were unsuccessful removing the bolts. The folks at Ship Repair Depot, Sasebo contracted with SSK Shipbuilding to bring the brakes to their shop, remove the bolts, change the choke rings and reinstall on board with our guidance. I spent several days in their shop observing them squatting on their haunches wondering what strange piece of equipment was before them. On the way back to the ship with the ready-to-install brakes, we got word that SSK was going to strike at the end of the day. Hearing this, one of our Cat Officers, Lt. Malcolm 'Red Dog' Guess decided to bribe them with lots of food and beverages from the wardroom with a promise of staying on the job until complete. They were very appreciative and ate until all the food and drinks were gone. Then they left the ship never to be seen again. We were left with dirty dishes, a red-faced 'Red Dog' and a catapult to reassemble. No doubt while we worked into the night to finish the job, "No Load" Jones was telling sea stories and sucking Sapporos in some Japanese bar.

To the Webmaster : I apologize for rambling in my responses and taking up so much space on the message board. I think we are encouraged to reminisce about our experiences aboard the 'Hawk but I hope I am not overdoing it.

Re: Catapult Extensions

Richard and David, no need to apologize for the lengthy post. These stories and memories need to be told and shared and are more than welcomed. There has got to be thousands of stories out there, so shake up those brain cells guys and keep this Message Board active. Charlie, Webmaster

Re: Catapult Extensions

I agree with you Chuck. These tales are very interesting, informative entertaining and even historical. I seem to have lived a sheltered life in V-6.
Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, one can not be everywhere.

Re: Catapult Extensions

One of the Bridle Arrestors was removed in Bremerton during the COH Overhaul in 1982. The second was kept as the A-4 Skyhawks were still used by training squadrons from Pensacola.

Re: Catapult Extensions

I was on the Kitty Hawk when she was in dry dock at the Philedephia Naval Shipyard.
That was between 86-90 SLEP (Ships Life Extention Program). She had two of the four horns and arresting gear harnesses removed at that time due to the A-7's were obsolete. However, the "just in case" scenario was applied and they kept 2 of the four on Cat 1 & 2. They later decided to remove those on or after a West PAC cruise in 1992. They were no longer needed due to the newer fighters like the super Tomcat and the F/A-18's (Super Hornets). Hope this gives you an answer to your questions. God bless and Welcome Home.

Jon Ince

Re: Catapult Extensions

Jonathan,
The original post on this subject was titled catapult extensions which some folks called horns, booms, and most recently in your post, arresting gear harnesses. They are in fact bridle arrestor booms. The Kitty Hawk and other four catapult carriers never had four, only three for Cats 1,2 & 3. The 'booms' were used to house energy absorbers early on (MK-1) and later bridle arrester track topside (Mk-2 & 4). The bridle arrester systems were not used for nose gear launch equipped aircraft which began with the A-7 up to and including the Hornet Series.
The A-7 being obsolete had nothing to do with the 'booms' being removed. They were removed for two primary reasons:
1) Bridle/pendant type aircraft were no longer in air wing inventory.
2) Topside weight removal. Beginning in the mid-80s there was a concerted effort in the carrier Navy to get rid of any and all unneccessary topside weight. Getting rid of the booms, machinery and topside track was a considerable step in the right direction.
Retaining a boom or two for a "just in case" scenario has some validity however the reason has nothing to do with Hornets. When the training carrier (the Lexington) was approaching decomissioning, it was expected that east coast CVs (primarily JFK) would rotate the duty however there was a possibility the Training Command would come to the west coast (and they did at least once). At the time the training command was still using T-29s (?) and A-4s, both bridle launch aircraft so it was prudent that several west coast carriers retain at least one boom and bridle arrester capability on Cat 1. After much start up problems, the Training Command finally transitioned to the T45 which is a nose gear launch aircraft and the need for the booms/bridle arresters disappeared.