USS Abraham Lincoln - CVN72 (20060430)

Aircraft Carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN72) and its accompanying vessels paid Singapore a visit recently and NCC was invited to send a few cadets to make a tour of this magnificent vessel.

After much coordination between NCC HQ and the US Embassy, a group of NCC cadets and officers were given the approval to report to Changi Naval Base on Apr 30, 2006.

On the actual day, 16 cadets and officers arrived at the main gate of Changi Naval Base (CNB) at 0930hrs to be processed. After the roll call was completed, the visitors were made to wait for the transportation to the carrier.

Once the allocated bus arrived everyone hurriedly climbed aboard and there was a sense of excitement in the air. As the bus made a turn in CNB, the guests were greeted with a view of the carrier in the distance. Moving closer, the size of the aircraft carrier became evident. As it was later established, there are about 18 levels on the aircraft carrier.

All the guests for the tour were given a second round of security checks by the US Navy before allowing to proceed to the entrance gangplank.
An escort/guide brought the group up onto the ship and was handed over to the Publicity Officer in the Hangar Deck. The large area usually used to store the aircrafts was filled with crew and guests. There were a few planes on display from the various squadrons including the F-18 Hornets, the Sea Hawk Helicopter, and the E-2 AWAC.

The Publicity Officer (PO) gave the members of the tour a quick brief of the ship's characteristic. Some facts include:
1. The carrier's crew is about 5500
2. The carrier is CVN-72 is a Nimitz Class Carrier and nuclear powered
3. It is part of the 9th Carrier Group
4. There are 6 squadrons of planes and helicopters
(for more information please hop over to this unofficial US Navy site - link)

With the introductions over, the PO divided the tour group into three groups with two tour leaders per group. The itinerary for the tour was set to include the following places on the ship:
1. the bridge
2. the flight deck
3. the Lincoln Room

The tour leaders for the group with the NCC Cadets were LTCDR Kevin and LTJG Torres. The first stop was the bridge. From the hangar to the bridge involved a lot of walking and were privileged to be able to take the blue tiled floor - which apparently are meant for higher ranked personnel. In fact, the tour group was privileged to walk through the Commander's door exiting the hangar area.

At the bridge, the view was impressive. Most of the aircrafts were stowed on the flight deck and the view from the bridge (more importantly the CO's chair) was awesome. While some group members took the opportunity to take pictures while sitting on the CO's chair, the others quizzed the tour leaders about the carrier and their aircrafts.

The guides are seasoned Navy personnel. LTCDR Kevin has been with the Navy for 13 years and is qualified both as a jet fighter pilot and a helicopter pilot. His current appointment on CVN72 is the Assistant Air Operations Officer. LTJG Torres is an AWAC pilot.

After the view from the top the group was lead down to the flight deck where LTJG Torres took the time to show the arresting cables and the catapault system. It is a rare chance to have the opportunity to be to see the flight deck close up.

The group was given a chance to take pictures with the planes on the deck. Everyone clamoured to have their picture taken with the F18 and the Sea Hawks.

After the flight deck - and lots of sun - the final stop was suppose to be the Lincoln Room, but the guides decided to make a slight detour - a bonus for the cadets:
1. the flight briefing room
2. the Air Ops room

The last stop was the Lincoln Room. This little museum at the entrance of the ship displays information about the namesake of the ship. It chronicles the history of President Abraham Lincoln and the ship.

The whole group was brought back to the hangar and given a chance to get some souvenirs related to the ship.
The tour effectively ended at 1200hrs.

Participants from NCC included the following:
LTC (NCC) Peter Lai
CPT (NCC) Gary Pek
LTA (NCC) William Aw
CLT Eugene Chan
CLT Tan Kok Teng
CLT Soh Xin Ren
CLT Tong Jing Kai
CLT Clarence Chew
CLT Muhd Tarmidzie
CLT Yvonne Chia
CLT Ahmad Syafiq
CLT Yvonne Lim
CLT Nur Ammarah
CLT Tay Fen Nie
MSG Joseph Chan

Here is a snapshot of the activity from that day.

Here is the link to the photos from that day:
USS Abraham Lincoln Visit Photo Set Link
All photos on photo site are at 1024x768 resolution. For people interested in having the original size photos of 3488x2616 - please contact LTA(NCC) Aw at [anwarasw at gmail dot com] and make sure that you can receive attachments up to 90MB in size (Each photo is about 2MB in size). Otherwise, arrangements can be made to have the photos burned onto a CD and a 1-1 exchange done.

Cheers!