First Sea Lord is given the full carrier experience on visit to Gulf

Britain’s most senior sailor flew on to one of the most powerful warships in the world for a first-hand look at front-line carrier operations.

First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope joined the USS John C Stennis, a 100,000-ton leviathan supporting operations in Afghanistan, to help pave the way for Britain’s next-generation carriers.

Her Majesty’s Ships Queen Elizabeth and Prince of Wales, currently under construction, will be the largest warships ever to fly the White Ensign – and signal a return to traditional carrier operations.

Unlike the current generation of Invincible-class carriers, the sisters use catapults and arrestor gear (‘cats and traps’ in Fleet Air Arm parlance) to launch and land aircraft, rather than ski ramps and vertical landings as embodied by the Harrier jump jet.

‘Cats and traps’ is what the Americans do with aplomb. The Stennis operates F18 Super Hornet strike fighters as well as propeller-drive aircraft and helicopters – up to 90 aircraft in all.

The carrier is also home to one Fleet Air Arm aviator, Lt ‘LOThAR’ Collins (‘Loser of the American Revolution’, a callsign given him by his American comrades), who’s flying a single-seat F18 strike fighter from the Stennis’ deck with the ‘Tophatters’ (Strike Fighter Squadron 14) on missions over Afghanistan.

Lt Collins is one of numerous Royal Navy pilots flying with the Americans. Their experiences will be crucial as the Senior Service looks to re-learn the art of carrier strike operations ahead of Her Majesty’s Ships Queen Elizabeth and Prince of Wales entering service later this decade.

Queen Elizabeth – Britain’s first traditional aircraft carrier since Ark Royal IV which was paid off in the late 1970s – is taking shape on the Forth (she’ll be assigned her first member of the ship’s company later this year).

The carrier programme has already devoured one million working hours in yards and factories across the land building equipment and sections of the ship.

Hand-in-hand with the construction of the sisters, there is a wealth of lessons to be learnt in terms of both the complexity of the flight deck and hangar choreography as well as the command and control that comes with combining fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters.

With that in mind during a recent visit to Royal Navy units and personnel in the Gulf, Admiral Stanhope joined the US Navy’s Rear Admiral Craig Faller, Commander of US Carrier Strike Group 3, aboard the Stennis.

No aircraft carrier experience would be complete however without the live launch and recovery of fast jets, and what better way to gain a first hand perspective of the utility of carrier strike than from the cockpit?

In the experienced hands of Cdr Vorrice ‘Heavy’ Burks USN (Commanding Officer of the “Black Aces”) Admiral Stanhope proceeded to “kick the tyres and light the fires”, strap himself into the back of a twin-seat F18 and accelerate off the front end.

Safely recovered, and having “buzzed the tower”, Admiral Stanhope reflected on his experiences aboard the flat-top:

“Being catapulted from 0-150 knots in a couple of seconds is certainly a tick in the ‘Taskbook of Life’.

“We know carrier aviation is a hugely-complex business and we will get there again; the Royal Navy will once more be able to project an unhindered fixed-wing strike capability anywhere that the government wants UK power and influence to be felt.”