USS Ronald Reagan

In photography by webmeister Bud

You don’t feel small until you’ve stood on the flight deck of a Nimitz-class nuclear-powered supercarrier as long as the Eiffel tower is tall.

20100615 - USS Ronald Reagan-01Canon EOS 450D (XSi) · Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5
16 mm · 1/250 s · f/10 · ISO 200

An F-18 fighter jet. 0-150 MPH in 3 seconds taking off. 80-0 MPG in a split second landing.

Tranquilize me now.

20100615 - USS Ronald Reagan-02Canon EOS 450D (XSi) · Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5
16 mm · 1/200 s · f/10 · ISO 200

You’ve not felt small until you’ve stood on the flight deck of a Nimitz-class nuclear-powered supercarrier as long as the Eiffel tower is tall.

20100615 - USS Ronald Reagan-03Canon EOS 450D (XSi) · Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5
10 mm · 1/250 s · f/10 · ISO 200

This is a Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk of the US Navy’s Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Four.

There were a few of these things below deck which looked like Transformers mid-transformation. They were . . . collapsed. Their rotors were all folded back and their tails were hinged into the bodies to give ’em a smaller footprint.

’cause, y’know, it’s all about space-saving on an aircraft carrier.

=)