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| Europe |
| Mechanical faults force French aircraft carrier out of commission |
| 2009-03-14 |
| France's sole aircraft carrier, the The aircraft carrier only took to the sea again in early December after an 18-month-long repair and maintenance. Mechanical faults were discovered in links between the two of the four turbines and their propeller shafts in the aircraft carrier, said the navy in a statement. "It will take a couple of weeks to get to the exact root of the problem and to come up with an action plan," it said. "Repair could take a few weeks, even a few months." Jerome Elulin, a spokesperson for the navy, said one of the parts that had faults was replaced in the last maintenance. The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the flagship of the French navy, is named after French statesman General Charles de Gaulle and is the only serving French aircraft carrier. The ship can operate a fleet of up to 40 aircraft, and its runway is 195 meters long and the fly deck measures 12,000 square meters. Fitted with the SATRAP computerized, integrated stabilization system, the Charles de Gaulle's weapons are managed by a Senit combat management system, which has the capacity to track up to 2,000 targets. It is also equipped with the SAAM missile system, two nuclear pressure water reactors, eight Nexter 20F2 20 mm guns, four Sagem Defense Securite Sagaie 10-barrel trainable decoy launchers and the Thales ARBR 21 radar warner. Its construction began in December 1987 but was stopped on four occasions due to budget constraints. It was first tested in January 1999 and entered service in 2001. In February 2000, a nuclear reactor trial triggered the combustion of additional isolation elements, causing a smoke incident. In November 2000, the port propeller broke, forcing the ship to be out of commission for four months. |
| Posted by:john frum |
| #20 Tom Cruise almost died during filming Top Gun. In the scene where he parachutes into the water, he got entangled with the shrouds. A Navy rescue diver observing the filming realized what had happened and dove in to rescue him. He was unconscious when pulled from the water. |
| Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2009-03-14 23:16 |
| #19 After? After what? The revelations? WTF happened? She was smoking hot! |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-03-14 22:37 |
| #18 ROTFLOL GolfBravo |
| Posted by: lotp 2009-03-14 22:21 |
| #17 A Retired Navy Captain friend of mine was friends with the Captain of the USS Enterprise where some Top Gun scenes were filmed. He relates his friends stories of Tom Cruise strutting around the ship like a little Bantam Rooster. Cruise made it known he would like a fighter jocks jacket with all the patches. The crew complied and presented him with a jacket with various patches from the ship departments, Special Services, Laundry, Meteorology, Ships Stores etc. He never knew the difference. |
| Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC 2009-03-14 21:41 |
| #16 Speaking of 2000 pound bombs, Kelly McGillis Before After |
| Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC 2009-03-14 21:28 |
| #15 Any reason I got sent to Roadside America even though the last comment posted? Besides the almost comment that Val Kilmer is the DoD's latest 2000 pound bomb. |
| Posted by: ed 2009-03-14 20:43 |
| #14 This call for some Top Gun: |
| Posted by: ed 2009-03-14 20:40 |
#13  |
| Posted by: 3dc 2009-03-14 20:20 |
#12 Charles de Gaulle? |
| Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC 2009-03-14 19:27 |
#11 New US Air Force Aircraft Carrier Unveiled |
| Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC 2009-03-14 19:14 |
| #10 Mechanical faults force French aircraft carrier out of commission Really oughta just make that the F10 key or somethin'. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2009-03-14 19:07 |
| #9 Sorry. That was aimed at Nimble Spemble, not the erudite exposition of 3dc. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2009-03-14 18:04 |
| #8 *giggle* So true. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2009-03-14 18:03 |
| #7 Satrap ( Persian: ساتراپ ) was the name given to the governors of the provinces of ancient Median and Persian empires, including the Achaemenid Empire and in several of their heirs, such as the Sassanid Empire and the Hellenistic empires. Satrap is derived from the Old Persian xÅ¡aθrapÄvÄ ("protector of the province"), from xÅ¡aθra ("realm" or "province") and pÄvÄ ("protector"). In Biblical Hebrew, the word is spelled ×Ö²×ַשְ××Ö·Ö¼×¨Ö°×¤Ö¸Ö¼× ahashdarpÄn (only in the plural ×Ö²×ַשְ××Ö·Ö¼×¨Ö°×¤Ö°Ö¼× Ö´×× ahashdarpenim). In Greek, the word was rendered as ÏαÏÏάÏηÏ, satrápÄs, and was romanized as satrapes, from the Old Persian xÅ¡aθrapÄ(van)). In modern Persian this would have naturally evolved to Ø´Ùربا٠(shahrban). "Sharban", translated from modern Persian, literally means "town keeper"; (ﺷﻬﺮ "shar", meaning "town", ïºïºï»¦ "ban" meaning "keeper"). There is a link, via Sanskrit, to the warrior class of India, the kshatriya. The word satrap is also often used in modern literature to refer to world leaders or governors who are heavily influenced by larger world superpowers or hegemonies and act as their surrogates. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2009-03-14 17:56 |
| #6 Careful. I'm not sure how long ago the French retired their last cheap and chippy chopper. Which reminds me of a joke some here may not have heard. Three men were to be guillotined one day during the French Revolution, a philosopher, a priest and an engineer. The executioner explained to them that they had a choice. They could go face up without a blindfold in which case, if the blade did not cut their head off, they would be freed. Or they could go face down with a bag over their head, in which case, they would be executed no matter how many tries it took. The philosopher thought for a moment and decided that he had nothing to lose by taking a chance and going face up. "Sunny side up!" he said. The blade was wound up, released and whoosh, down it came, stopping two feet above his head! The priest seeing this thought, if God would save an atheist like that that philosopher, surely he would save me. "I will go facing my Lord." he said. The blade was wound up, released and whoosh, down it came stopping two feet above his head! The engineer thought to himself, two data points. I think there's a trend here. "Face up." he said. The blade was wound up, but before it could be released, the engineer shouted, "I think I see your problem. There's a nail protruding in the channel about two feet up on the right." |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2009-03-14 17:40 |
| #5 *Somebody* signed off on these items. In most countries heads would be rolling. |
| Posted by: Parabellum 2009-03-14 17:26 |
| #4 As I recall without Googling, the propulsion system had a number of problems all based on the fact that what the French chose to do was good for a heavy cruiser but not good for a carrier. It was sort of a 'GM' approach. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2009-03-14 16:30 |
| #3 Sorry, anon. :-( |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2009-03-14 16:01 |
| #2 Is this a design issue or a maintenance issue? Hum, given the endless tragi-comedy of the "rocky" construction of the ship, amply detailed by the satirical weekly "le canard enchainé" back in the days, and the fact that the french army's vehicular pool literally is falling apart due to old age and lack of funding, I'd say... both! |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2009-03-14 15:33 |
| #1 Is this a design issue or a maintenance issue? Both require lots of money, I just wonder where the money isn't being spent. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2009-03-14 14:42 |