USS George Washington CVN-73 Model

USS George Washington (CVN-73) is the sixth Nimitz class nuclear-powered supercarrier, and the fourth ship of the US Navy to be named after the first president of the United States. She was laid down on August 25, 1986; launched on July 21, 1990; and commissioned on July 4, 1992.

George Washington is 1,092 feet long, 257 feet wide, and is as high as a 24-story building at 244 feet. The supercarrier can accommodate approximately 80 aircraft and 6,250 crewmembers. There are over 2,500 compartments on board requiring 2,520 tons of air conditioning capacity, enough to cool over 2,000 homes. Her four distilling units can make 400,000 gallons of potable water each day and her food service divisions serve 18,000 meals per day.

Since commissioning, George Washington has made six Mediterranean Sea/Persian Gulf deployments. In 1994, during her maiden deployment, she served as the backdrop for the 50th anniversary of D-Day. In 1996, she was host to a historic meeting of the Joint Military Commission composed of the military leaders of the Former Warring Factions in Bosnia and Herzegovina. She also played a vital peacekeeping role in Operation Decisive Endeavor in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and enforced the no-fly zone over Southern Iraq as part of Operation Southern Watch.

On September 6, George Washington was presented with the 2000 Battenberg Cup, which was awarded annually to the Atlantic Fleet ship or submarine with the greatest crew accomplishments during the previous calendar year. It was the second time the ship had won the award; the first time was in 1997. The crew also accepted the Flatley Award for aircraft carriers with the best aviation safety record. On June 23, George Washington was presented with the 2002 Battenberg Cup for the third time.

On September 13, 2004, GW sailors returned to sea to perform carrier qualifications, conduct training drills and fine tune their warfighting skills, in order to keep the surge carrier in top form if the need to deploy should arise. On November 3, 2004, George Washington welcomed Strike Fighter Squadron 122 (VFA-122) “Flying Eagles”, the Fleet Replacement Squadron for the Navy’s newest fighter, the F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet. It was the first time the fighters had been launched and recovered on the carrier.

On January 5th, the residents of Fernley, Nevada awoke to a chilly surprise from the nearly freezing water pouring through their neighborhood and invading their homes. A canal that carries irrigation water suffered a ditch bank failure, and several hundred houses were caught in the path of the fast moving water, flooding many to a depth of several feet. As part of an immediate response by military assets, Navy helicopters rescued 18 people from the flooded area.

The water flooded several subdivisions with almost reaching 8 feet where most of the cars were completely submerged. Local emergency officials were calling for assistance. Eventually, the first of two HH-1N Huey helicopters was airborne and heading to the flooded area, 30 miles from the base. In command of the aircraft was Lt. Brent Hardgrave, a search and rescue (SAR) pilot with the Naval Air Station (NAS) Fallon “Longhorns”. Cmdr. Doug Russell, NAS Fallon executive officer was the second pilot, with two aviation ware fare systems operators rounding out the crew.

Several individuals were stranded by the rising waters, and evacuation efforts became the priority. The helicopter crew made multiple trips between the victim’s houses and a staging point where bus transportation was shuttling people to a temporary shelter set up in the local high school. Several families were able to climb into the aircraft from their flooded front lawns, a hover maneuver called a “one skid,” while two folks were hoisted to safety from the roof of their car.

In addition to the HH-1N Huey support, NAS Fallon’s Seabee detachment, Construction Battalion Maintenance Unit 303 provided 140,000 empty sandbags. A second Huey was not needed in the flood zone, and instead provided communications support between the Navy and the civilian authorities. Other Navy efforts to help included providing 140,000 empty sandbags from NAS Fallon’s Seabee detachment, CBMU-303, and staging several Coast Guard C-130’s that arrived to deliver FEMA-supplied Meals-Ready-to-Eat and bottled water.

President Nixon ordered a halt to American bombing in North Vietnam following peace talks in Paris. Henry Kissinger initiated the draft of the peace proposal with the representatives from North Vietnam, South Vietnam and United States which had been at the negotiating table. The proposal contains the progress that has been made that compromises on all sides.

President Richard Nixon halts the most concentrated bombing as well as mining, shelling and all other offensive action against North Vietnam. Although attacks against the North Vietnam had been halted, air assaults continued against communist forces in South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

Instead of having a peace treaty among these nations, North Vietnamese representatives walked out of secret talks with Kissinger. President Nixon issued an ultimatum to Hanoi to send it representatives back to the conference table. The North Vietnamese rejected Nixon’s demand and Nixon ordered Operation Linebacker II air campaign against the Hanoi area. The operation was the most concentrated air offensive of the war dropping 700 B-52 sorties and more than 1,000 fighter-bomber sorties dropped roughly 20,000 tons of bombs.

After 11 days of intensive bombing, North Vietnamese representatives agreed to return to the talks and quickly worked out a settlement. The Paris Peace Accords were signed on January 23 and cease-fire took affect five days later.

Pensacola, Fla. – A Navy Blue Angels pilot was killed in a plane crash on April after his F/A 18 Hornet went down near a Marine Corps station in Beaufort, S.C. The crash occurred after an error by Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Davis when he failed to properly tense his abdominal muscles to counter the gravitational forces of a high-speed turn.

“In his final turn to attempt to rendezvous with the other Blues, he put a very fast, high-G turn on the aircraft. A real aggressive turn,” said Capt. Jack Hanzlik, a Navy spokesman and former aviator.

The reason why Davis lost control of the plane was due to a temporary decrease in blood flow to his brain, leading to disorientation. However, Davis worked to regain control of the plane and in the last few seconds, he realized his low altitude and attempted to save the aircraft, according to a report by Marine Lt. Col. Javier J. Ball.

“Kevin had performed these maneuvers in training and in the fleet. He had done them in similar situations and he had a history of performing them well without any problems,” Hanzlik said.

The Pensacola-based Blue Angels fly without the G-suits that most fighter pilots wear to avoid blacking out during such maneuvers. The suits inflate and deflate air bladders around the lower body, forcing blood to the brain and the heart. However, the air bladders can cause a pilot to bump the control stick, so the Blue Angels instead learn to manage the forces by tensing their abdominal muscles.

The accident at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort was the Blue Angels’ first crash since 1990 and the 26th fatality in the team’s 60th year in history.

The navy has increased its exercise requirements for Blue Angels pilots with an additional focus on abdominal muscles, considering that tragic encounter. The team has also stepped up its requirements for centrifuge training tailored for Blue Angel pilots.

Eight people were injured and some homes were damaged when the plane came crashing in a residential area about 35 miles northwest of Hilton Head Island, S.C.