Life On Board A Floating City: The USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72)
This video was one of those local TV News station stories done by those who, for the most part, never served and generally have no clue about such things. It is an earnest and well done piece that gives the uninitiated a fair understanding of what life looks like aboard one of the mightiest warships in the world.
One of the comments that the news anchor makes early on in the piece is that the ship is really very much like a small city, with its own airport. Everything that a city has to offer is configured into the architecture of these massive ships. There are over 3,000 officers and sailors in the crew of an aircraft carrier like the Abraham Lincoln.
Sailors work out in the ship’s gym.
The Abraham Lincoln is a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and as big as she is, she can move through the water as fast as some speed boats you can see on a lake. She can produce her own water, and her sick bay is as advanced as any modern, well equipped hospital. Her crew can shop at her store or work out in her gyms. She has a U.S. Post office aboard, and her crews ratings and skills are as diverse and expert as those that are needed to run any small city.
The cafeteria can hold many more hungry sailors.
Of course, the main purpose of a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier is to project immense amounts of power when needed to any part of the world. The Abraham Lincoln has a compliment of some 50 Striker aircraft aboard. These are mostly the FA-18 Hornets and Super Hornets that are capable of both air to air and air to ground combat. She also carries several types of helicopters and assorted other types of aircraft.
She is an engineering marvel in every way.
Roast beef is served.
You will see some of the spaces and ratings on board the Abraham Lincoln here, from the kinds of spaces that are available for the crew’s off times, to the mess hall and what they are capable of, to the heart of the operations on an aircraft carrier; the flight deck.
Jets take off from the flight deck.
Though I joined the Navy, I never had the experience of serving aboard ship, as I was on the “Green Side”, that is with the Marines for most of my enlistment. I was able to go aboard the Abraham Lincoln on one occasion several years ago and the sheer size of it was impressive enough, but as a former Hospital Corpsman, I was most interested in seeing what the medical facilities looked like. I could not believe the sophistication and the size of Sick Bay with its operating rooms, intensive care and regular hospital units, dental capacities, etc. It really was like what would be available in a regular hospital in many ways.
All in a day’s work for the sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.
Enjoy this short news video. It will give a brief, incomplete, but very good overview of life aboard a United States Navy aircraft carrier.
Learn ore in this video.
The Veterans Site wishes all who are currently serving aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln and all the other active duty carriers Fair Winds and Following Seas!
