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US Navy uses 40,000lb explosive to test warship

You're an idiot
I hope America never has to fight a war.

Construction began on 11 August 2005, when Northrop Grumman held a ceremonial steel cut for a 15-ton plate that forms part of a side shell unit of the carrier.[14] The keel of Gerald R. Ford was laid down on 13 November 2009.[2] She was christened on 9 November 2013.[5] Gerald R. Ford entered the fleet replacing the decommissioned USS Enterprise (CVN-65), which ended her 51 years of active service in December 2012.[15][16] Originally scheduled for delivery in 2015,[17] Gerald R. Ford was delivered to the Navy on 31 May 2017[6] and formally commissioned by President Donald Trump on 22 July 2017.[7][18][19] She is expected to leave on her first deployment around 2023 or 2024.[20] As of 2017, she is the world's largest aircraft carrier, and the largest warship ever constructed in terms of displacement.
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2005 - 2024 ................ 19 years to get it into a deployment. Lots of good pensions made off of this one.
 
I hope America never has to fight a war.

Construction began on 11 August 2005, when Northrop Grumman held a ceremonial steel cut for a 15-ton plate that forms part of a side shell unit of the carrier.[14] The keel of Gerald R. Ford was laid down on 13 November 2009.[2] She was christened on 9 November 2013.[5] Gerald R. Ford entered the fleet replacing the decommissioned USS Enterprise (CVN-65), which ended her 51 years of active service in December 2012.[15][16] Originally scheduled for delivery in 2015,[17] Gerald R. Ford was delivered to the Navy on 31 May 2017[6] and formally commissioned by President Donald Trump on 22 July 2017.[7][18][19] She is expected to leave on her first deployment around 2023 or 2024.[20] As of 2017, she is the world's largest aircraft carrier, and the largest warship ever constructed in terms of displacement.
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2005 - 2024 ................ 19 years to get it into a deployment. Lots of good pensions made off of this one.

USS Nimitz CVN-68
Laid down: 22 June 1968
Commissioned: 3 May 1975
Almost 7 years to the day

USS Gerald R Ford CVN-78
Laid down: 13 November 2009
Commissioned: 22 July 2017
Slightly less than 8 years for vastly more technologically complex ship

I guess you don't know as much about this as you think you do. And if you think you can do better, I think NAVSEA and Northrop-Grumman might be hiring program managers.
 
USS Nimitz CVN-68
Laid down: 22 June 1968
Commissioned: 3 May 1975
Almost 7 years to the day

USS Gerald R Ford CVN-78
Laid down: 13 November 2009
Commissioned: 22 July 2017
Slightly less than 8 years for vastly more technologically complex ship

I guess you don't know as much about this as you think you do. And if you think you can do better, I think NAVSEA and Northrop-Grumman might be hiring program managers.
Let me tell you what I do know..... My son was in Iraq (Photo).... Me and my welding crew were building hammers, pry bars and entry tools so they could make entry in some bad places and shipping it to them... Funny thing... The US Government spends billions on a boat and can't get a pry bar for a grunt in a war zone... Once again, I hope America does not have to fight a war.

Hobo
 

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It was stated correctly earlier.
U.S. ship yards are watered down with union mentality and mediocrity. Ive been through shipyard periods in my time with the US NAVY and as a civilian, from the U.S. to Korea, Singapore, Bahrain, Dubai, and as much as I hate to admit... Our shipyards suck in comparison
 
to be fair, it's more complex than the Nimitz but agree on duration of build. In ww2, didn't they pump them out in half yr increments? something like that
 
In ww2, didn't they pump them out in half yr increments? something like that
They were a hell of a lot simpler to make
The unions set aside their shit or the .gov bought their cooperation
Everyone gave a shit
We actually had far more shipyards than we do today

Just a few minor differences
 
I'm guessing that most of the anti union sentiment comes from people who never worked in a union job or were fired.

I have 35 years worth of opinion vested in a union job.

Most of the problem there was caused by unqualified managment and non union workers crying about their pay and benefits .

So if you don't have that T-shirt STFU.
 
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They were a hell of a lot simpler to make
The unions set aside their shit or the .gov bought their cooperation
Everyone gave a shit
We actually had far more shipyards than we do today

Just a few minor differences
yes very true and good points to raise.
 
I'm guessing that most of the anti union sentiment comes from people who never worked in a union job.

I have 35 years worth of opinion vested in a union job.

Most of the problem there was caused by unqualified managment and non union workers crying about their pay and benefits .

So if you don't have that T-shirt STFU.
So, unless you were in a union, you can't have an opinion about unions? I have read a lot of stupid shit in this forum. Hell, I've read a lot of stupid shit in this thread. You might have just topped it all.
 
I'm guessing that most of the anti union sentiment comes from people who never worked in a union job.

I have 35 years worth of opinion vested in a union job.

Most of the problem there was caused by unqualified managment and non union workers crying about their pay and benefits .

So if you don't have that T-shirt STFU.
current employment laws negate the need for unions however, I recognize a need, to a degree, still exists in very few industries. 99% of unions are money grabs, care nothing for the enterprise to which they belong only acting like a parasites. Unions should be the biggest supporters of immigration control, rep led gov't and as anti dem as possible with their open borders, free trade, global view.

For the life of me, can't see how public unions are even allowed as by definition they stand against the taxpayer!
 
current employment laws negate the need for unions however, I recognize a need, to a degree, still exists in very few industries. 99% of unions are money grabs, care nothing for the enterprise to which they belong only acting like a parasites. Unions should be the biggest supporters of immigration control, rep led gov't and as anti dem as possible with their open borders, free trade, global view.

For the life of me, can't see how public unions are even allowed as by definition they stand against the taxpayer!
I can't think of a bigger conflict of interest than allowing people paid by the taxpayer to negotiate against the taxpayer with the threat of witholding services from the taxpayer. Especially when so many of us just wished their jobs didn't exist at all.
 
current employment laws negate the need for unions however, I recognize a need, to a degree, still exists in very few industries. 99% of unions are money grabs, care nothing for the enterprise to which they belong only acting like a parasites. Unions should be the biggest supporters of immigration control, rep led gov't and as anti dem as possible with their open borders, free trade, global view.

For the life of me, can't see how public unions are even allowed as by definition they stand against the taxpayer!

Yup. Seen it both ways. Heinous inefficiency. Absolutely mind numbingly heinous...

I understand how they came about and tend to think there WAS a good purpose for them... Past tense.
 
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Don't confuse my support of the workers with an endorsment of the union itself.

They have all been bought off.
 
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I'm guessing that most of the anti union sentiment comes from people who never worked in a union job or were fired.

I have 35 years worth of opinion vested in a union job.

Most of the problem there was caused by unqualified managment and non union workers crying about their pay and benefits .

So if you don't have that T-shirt STFU.
I got those shirts from all over America.... Here's just one
 

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Yup. Seen it both ways. Heinous inefficiency. Absolutely mind numbingly heinous...

I understand how they came about and tend to think there WAS a good purpose for them... Past tense.
Honestly not sure that the arguments for there having been a purpose for them hold up. It is something that is fed to people starting in grade school by, you guessed it, union members. A lot of people don't study the subjects that would give them the analytical chops to understand why the arguments fall apart under scrutiny. Not saying that everything has always been hunky dory, but that they basically boil down, at some point, the the basic left wing bullshit argument of "THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!"
 
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Also some of you are le.

Are you also in a union?
And is your opinion of the workers the same?

Interesting vewpoint all of a sudden isn't it.
 
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Let me tell you what I do know..... My son was in Iraq (Photo).... Me and my welding crew were building hammers, pry bars and entry tools so they could make entry in some bad places and shipping it to them... Funny thing... The US Government spends billions on a boat and can't get a pry bar for a grunt in a war zone... Once again, I hope America does not have to fight a war.

Hobo
Prybars and hammers are far too cheap and ordering them offers insufficient opportunities for graft and vote-buying by having significant work performed in state. Far better to work on the big orders so pockets can be properly lined. Grunts are only cannon fodder after all /sarc.

The F-35 is a poster child for this. Work performed in every state in the union, with all the opportunities for graft and vote buying that come with it.
 
Unions are there to protect the workers from the greedy and merciless executive class

Union leaders are completely altruistic and only have the workers' best interests at heart

Union members are the hardest working individuals and put their own interests behind their love of their trade

Union members must ensure that lazy scabs do not infest their local shops thus causing a loss of productivity


These are the truest statements I have ever heard...They are as true as the statement.......

"I promise I won't come in your mouth honey"....HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
 
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"


How do you think they got that way? Duh
You probably actually believe that. You probably also believe that slavery, which existed for millenia, suddenly went away because people became more moral. Neither is true. All of the changes in labor practice and law are more easily, and better, explained by changes in efficiencies and technologies which have made certain practices we now look at as barbaric less necessary.
 
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The F-35 is a poster child for this. Work performed in every state in the union, with all the opportunities for graft and vote buying that come with it.
The problems with the F35 are a result of scab labor and corprate hiding engineering cost overruns by blaming it on uinion labor.

The scabs dont know enough to see the problems and can't asses where it came from.

They love those sheep in plant #4.
 
"


How do you think they got that way? Duh
duh! don't think anyone even intimated otherwise unless you're seeing things here duh' What are you 5?

I'd love for you to argue and present your case for why they are still needed. I'll play this game.
 
duh! don't think anyone even intimated otherwise unless you're seeing things here duh' What are you 5?

I'd love for you to argue and present your case for why they are still needed. I'll play this game.
I don't think they changed because of unionization. I think, for the most part, they changed because things like child labor were no longer useful. Unions might have shifted some timelines marginally, but when they did it was generally to the detriment of society.
 
I don't think they changed because of unionization. I think, for the most part, they changed because things like child labor were no longer useful. Unions might have shifted some timelines marginally, but when they did it was generally to the detriment of society.
I think it's a mix to be honest. Let's not forget the steel and coal conditions those guys worked in. I definitely don't think it's black and white but today, zero need for them
 
I think it's a mix to be honest. Let's not forget the steel and coal conditions those guys worked in. I definitely don't think it's black and white but today, zero need for them
Those conditions were terrible, except when you compare them to life before industrialization. Likewise, child labor was awful, unless you compare it to the early childhood mortality rate before industrialization. I think a lot of the worst conditions were not only transitory, but far preferable to the eras before. So yeah, I wouldn't want to live and work in those conditions, but they can't be seen in a vacuum. Like slavery, and I am not talking about race slavery but the overall practice worldwide, and serfdom, these things existed until there was a better way to do things. History classes make heroes out of early organizers. I just don't think it holds up to reality.

But we definitely agree on their utility now, and in so many of the professions in which they exist. And since we live now, that is perfectly good enough for me.
 
The problems with the F35 are a result of scab labor and corprate hiding engineering cost overruns by blaming it on uinion labor.

The scabs dont know enough to see the problems and can't asses where it came from.

They love those sheep in plant #4.

See this is where you're wrong. Union workers have fuck all in terms of some super secret sauce that makes superior products.

I've seen you guys work for ten years at was once Beech Aircraft.............I'll just say no more.

Also, "scab" labor manufactures (not just assembles) superior automobiles in the US than the UAW can ever dream of doing. There's a reason Honda's most advanced, most expensive, and most rare automobile is hand build by "scab" labor exclusively in Ohio for sale around the world including in the mothership Japan.

LOL
 
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Probably couldn't get or hold the position and jealous I expect.

Working within eyesight of someone making twice what you do will make a guy bitter. Lol
 
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Our ship yards are really shit yards of union waste and corruption.
I worked for years in South Korean ship yards and its amazing what they can crank out in comparison.

So, we should blame civilians, not GIs.

We get crap, yet somehow hack the mission.
 
So, we should blame civilians, not GIs.

We get crap, yet somehow hack the mission.7
I really dont have anything against the Unions other than they have ruined many of our industries.
I worked with an electrical engineer in south Korea that worked in the US naval shipyards and he was brilliant but was constantly comenting on how sloppy and inefficient the US union yards were.
 
Those conditions were terrible, except when you compare them to life before industrialization. Likewise, child labor was awful, unless you compare it to the early childhood mortality rate before industrialization. I think a lot of the worst conditions were not only transitory, but far preferable to the eras before. So yeah, I wouldn't want to live and work in those conditions, but they can't be seen in a vacuum. Like slavery, and I am not talking about race slavery but the overall practice worldwide, and serfdom, these things existed until there was a better way to do things. History classes make heroes out of early organizers. I just don't think it holds up to reality.

But we definitely agree on their utility now, and in so many of the professions in which they exist. And since we live now, that is perfectly good enough for me.
good points and agree
 
to be fair, it's more complex than the Nimitz but agree on duration of build. In ww2, didn't they pump them out in half yr increments? something like that

I think it ran about 18 months at full wartime production for a fleet carrier from keel to commission. A new carrier came online about every 6 months (there was a burst in 43 where it was every 2-3 months)--Hornet, Franklin and Ticonderoga were commissioned 13-14 months after being laid down. According to dates on wikipedia--it was roughly 450 days from start to commission. It helps to have more than 1 in the pipeline at a time =)

And of course the Ford has been commissioned for some time--as lead ship there is extensive testing of new systems.
Nimitz class took 5-6 years with of course Nimitz (being lead ship) taking the longest.

You don't want your brand new warship to have a fatal flaw when it is out there in combat (looking at you Japan...)
 
I think it ran about 18 months at full wartime production for a fleet carrier from keel to commission. A new carrier came online about every 6 months (there was a burst in 43 where it was every 2-3 months)--Hornet, Franklin and Ticonderoga were commissioned 13-14 months after being laid down. According to dates on wikipedia--it was roughly 450 days from start to commission. It helps to have more than 1 in the pipeline at a time =)

And of course the Ford has been commissioned for some time--as lead ship there is extensive testing of new systems.
Nimitz class took 5-6 years with of course Nimitz (being lead ship) taking the longest.

You don't want your brand new warship to have a fatal flaw when it is out there in combat (looking at you Japan...)
thanks for that info, much appreciated
 
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Most Euro manufacturing, auto builders and shipyards run with unionized workforces not only that workers and unions often have a seat on company bards and they are still quite successful .

Italian Fincantieri is one of the largest in the world and is churning out considerable tonnage of ships

But it seems chinese pace of ship construction is on whole next level
 
While I would keep an eye on the Chinese--make sure its an apples to apples comparison. Dropping a coastal vessel is not the same as dropping a capital ship. Capital Ships and Submarines win wars.

Also wrt to Aircraft Carriers, air operations is not something you manufacter--its something learned over long periods of time and a very important part of carrier group operations.
 
I really dont have anything against the Unions other than they have ruined many of our industries.
I worked with an electrical engineer in south Korea that worked in the US naval shipyards and he was brilliant but was constantly comenting on how sloppy and inefficient the US union yards were.

Have you personaly ever held a union job?
Have you ever worked at the
same facility on the same project as union labor?
 
Most Euro manufacturing, auto builders and shipyards run with unionized workforces not only that workers and unions often have a seat on company bards and they are still quite successful .

Italian Fincantieri is one of the largest in the world and is churning out considerable tonnage of ships

But it seems chinese pace of ship construction is on whole next level
slowdown, it's not quite the same and euro gov't have a responsibility to push for their success with contracts, taxes, stock/bond mandatory purchases, and other incentives. Not even remotely the same thing we have here
 
Ok all will not be but I should have said @XLR 308 because I think he is talking out his ass.

I was in the union long enough to see everything.
I have bennifited from them and also sold out by them.

When people talk shit about them without any experience it's just bullshit.
 
Unions are to Alcohol as the Mafia is to illicit drugs.