USS George Washington
Visit to Key West, Florida -- March 2000       Pg 1
Page created by John Dolan-Heitlinger  CDR  USCGR (ret.) 

On Thursday, 16 March 2000 me and about 16 Navy League folks and other friends of the Navy
flew out to the USS George Washington, (CVN-73) a US Navy aircraft carrier,
by Carrier Onboard Delivery (COD) flight in a C-2 Greyhound, a fixed wing, twin turboprop cargo plane.  
The landing was a tailhook landing and the takeoff was a catapult shot.  Great stuff! 

A grateful thank you to the United States Navy, the officers and crew of the USS George Washington,
CAPT Scott (Scooter) Johnson, CO of NAS Key West, and the Key West Council of the US Navy League. 
They could not have been more gracious hosts.  The visit helped us all understand the might of the US Navy
and the challenges faced and sacrifices made by our sailors. 

Here are a few photos and comments from that visit.  If you would like to see more detail in the photos
you can right click copy them to your own computer. 
Following these are some photos from a visit a few days later by boat with my daughter Claire. 

Inside the COD cargo compartment where we buckled in for the ride.  You thought we were in the cockpit?	A view aft from the tower.  That would be where the plane lands and tailhooks a cable that stops them... quickly.
View forward to the ship's bow... planes are travelling at close to 200 miles per hour when they reach the end of the deck.	Mid-deck view, a plane on its downwind leg, which will be followed by its turning approach to land on deck, is in the distance.
AE-6 Prowler landing.  Note the bulbous electronic warfare pod on its tail.	S-3 Viking landing.  S-3s are used as submarine hunters and in-flight refueling aircraft.

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