Ship Trip: A Proper Navy Experience

Air-cushioned landing craft that we used to board LPD-22

Cutaway view of San Antonio-class LPD warship on which I conducted testing

I’m aboard LPD-22 holding a partially built Anemometer tower

Our team checks the alignment of the single Anemometer that was installed on the ship’s bow

Our team checks the alignment of the single Anemometer that was installed on the ship’s bow

Our team ties down the Anemometer towers to the ship's flight deck

Anemometer tower array alignment

Anemometer tower array setup

Completed Anemometer towers arranged in one of many arrays for airwake testing

End-of-test relaxation! The hammock was our test conductor’s idea. He took a photo of each of us in the hammock.

I volunteered to help an engineering team improve their ability to model rotary wing aircraft launch and recovery envelopes from an amphibious warship. This team was outside of my Flight Vehicle Performance Branch and needed help to measure the airwake behind San Antonio-class LPD warships, which stands for Landing Platform, Dock. The back of these ships flood with water to fit two massive air-cushioned landing craft that, in turn, can transport troops, tanks, and trucks. These ships also fit V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft and other helicopters.

I traveled out to Hawaii with this engineering team for a one-week trip aboard a particular LPD named LPD-22 San Diego. My role was to set up towers that held instruments called ultrasonic anemometers. We used these instruments to measure the unsteady winds behind the ship at various ship speeds, wind speeds, and crosswind angles designated by the team.

I also helped connect the anemometers to the data acquisition system aboard the ship, and moved towers into various arrays. The data is being used to spot-check predictions from a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model. This model-based engineering was another prime example of the work I do in my branch. It significantly reduced the amount of testing needed, saving on costs for the Navy. This test-verified model will be used to produce safe launch and recovery envelopes for aircraft. Launch and recovery envelopes are simply lists of ship speeds, wind speeds, and wind directions for various aircraft to takeoff and land safely on a given type of ship.

What a terrific experience it was to be aboard an active US Navy warship with both Sailors and Marines. The command aboard the ship made us feel welcome and the accommodations were great. We were stationed around Hawaii for the entire trip with great weather and awe-inspiring scenery. It doesn’t get any better than that!  

I had the rare opportunity to be transported on and off the ship aboard one of the massive air-cushioned landing craft. But the most unique experience of all was seeing Pearl Harbor not from land as a tourist, but rather sailing through and docking in it aboard an actual US Navy warship with Sailors and Marines!