http://www.members.optushome.com.au/gpahl/ship.jpg

Courier Mail

ONE of the world's biggest floating cities will cruise into Brisbane this afternoon when the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan arrives.

The massive ship, which is home to 6000 crew, will be hard to miss when it docks at Fisherman Islands.

At 77m high, 344m long and 78m at its widest point, the 97,000-tonne USS Ronald Reagan would dwarf one of Brisbane's biggest landmarks.

The $A5 billion ship is 3m higher than the Story Bridge, 62m longer and 54m wider.

The flight deck covers 1.82ha and the vessel is powered by two nuclear reactors – which allow it to operate for more than 20 years without refuelling.

The reactors will remain in operation even while the ship is docked just kilometres from the inner city.

The USS Ronald Reagan, which costs about $A3.68 million ($US2.75 million) a day to operate, carries enough food and supplies for 90 days.

The cooks serve 20,000 meals daily – and the crew use as much water in a day as 2000 homes.

The ship has its own newspaper, as well as a radio and television station to provide news and information from around the world to the crew – who also have access to nearly 1400 telephones.

The warship will first be visible as it passes Caloundra at noon, and will sail down the coast until it reaches Fisherman Islands three hours later.

Holy jesus!

How awesome would it be if you could go on this thing when it gets here.

Mmm that certainly is one extremely impressive piece of machinery!

Home to 6000 crew, looks like cs_master and persay are gonna be real busy servicing all the seamen!

That's awesome! Might go check it out.

$A3.68 million ($US2.75 million) a day to operate

f***! If it is operational for every day of the year, that thing costs about $1.3 BILLION a year to operate. I hope they think it's worth it!
I guess in the end though that is a FRACTION of the US defence budget. Kinda mind boggling.

Its probably not operational all year round, but it probably is worth it given what a massive asset an aircraft carrier is

It's always amazing to see the documentries on these kinds of vessels on the Discovery chan every now and then.

Damn shame it's full of Americans though :(

$A3.68 million ($US2.75 million) a day to operate

fark me that's amazing

I wonder if Brissy clubs and pubs will get invaded by american soldiers over the next few days?

Damn shame it's full of Americans though :(

Haha, you'd think you'd be whinging about it being full of blokes...

These machines are bloody awesome. Their huge weakness is though, they are sitting ducks.

last edited by casa at 12:42:16 23/Jan/06

These machines are bloody awesome. Their huge weakness is though, they are sitting ducks.

That's why they're surrounded with a zillion other ships and have constant air patrols around them, making them massively expensive targets to go after

I wonder if they would let my kids have a little run around on it? Maybe play with the controls a bit? I would tell them not too touch the big red buttons. They would absolutely love it!

f*** your kids... I would absolutely love it!

How about "forget about your kids! I would absolutely love it!"

I wonder if there's some vantage points we can goto to get some happy snap.s

Casa's wording leaves a lot to be desired

any better pics of it?

has it already docked ??

i saw a few female sailors* walking along adelaide street on my lunch break 5 minutes ago ? unless they were aussies part of the welcoming committee or something ?

*one was horribly ugly, the other wasnt too bad, but probably a lesbian.

last edited by Strik3r at 14:14:31 23/Jan/06

any better pics of it?

yeh there's stacks

im gunna head over now to fishermans island and try and see it up close

These machines are bloody awesome. Their huge weakness is though, they are sitting ducks.

yeah if you can get close to one of those things, you deserve to sink it.

http://www.reagan.navy.mil/August_6/images/050819-N-8213G-274.jpg

Thats pretty fkn awesome.

Anyone know if they just came back from Iraq, and how long they are here for?

Last year Brisbane was some big ship's first port of call after they finished their service in Iraq, and they spent up big. pumping millions into the local economy (and whore houses). I remember hearing about ordinary chicks whoring themselves out to meet the demand of all the marines.

Infact...didnt kat...oh dont worry :D

f*** all those s***ty riced up wank cars, That thing is a true phalic enhancer!

Wy are they spending so much money to send it to Brisbane?

Perhaps the blue team was winning so the red team moved their carrier to the Pacific for a while. Who knew real life Battleships could be that fun.

I was reading that these things have pretty heavy jamming around them when they dock for public displays and stuff. Anyone lost carrier around this beast?

Does anyone know if they're letting people on it to check it out? Always wanted to go on one, I missed out the last time I had the chance by a couple of minutes in Sydney :(

just went to fort lytton to try and get a peek, stood around for half an hour before security kicked us out. failure.

Just checked with the port authority, NO PUBLIC ACCESS :(

Brisbane cruisers are appently doing a cruise to within 200mtrs of it though.
3630 2666.

I'll pass on that cause it would just be a wall of steel from that close.
Pinkenba would be the place to get a view and take some pics. I'm going down Thursday morning.

It sails out again Friday morn.

Anyone lost carrier around this beast?

Whether there was an Aircraft Carrier actively jamming signals (such as mobile phones etc) there, I imagine not too many people would notice any difference considering how s***e Telstra's mobile network coverage can be at times =)

I live in a street surrounded by megahouses (mansions etc) in Robertson an you can rarely get a decent connection of more then one or two weak bars displaying signal strength

The aircraft carrier is apart of a fleet of 5 or so ships. My housemates bro is on one of the cruisers. They have been parked at San Diego for the past 6 or so months and are doing a tour of the persian gulf for 6 months... So it is quite operational all year round...

My brother works as a tour guide for free at the McArthur museum in the city and as a result we get a free tour of the carrier on wednesday. Were allowed to bring cameras as well so i'll be sure to post some pictures.

Now, witness the power of this fully armed and fully operational battlestation.

Oh, it is you my friend who are mistaken, about a great many things!

gee they are up to date, their official (i think?) website already has the brisbane info!

http://www.reagan.navy.mil/

front page

i am gonna send arty to the carrier, should be plenty of tards camping the chopper.

How much is that tour worth?

who sunk my battleship?

http://www.brisbanecruises.com.au/Data.htm

$40 an adult

Time to practise my deus ex/gta:sa skills and infiltrate the aircraft carrier.

how much to charter an ordinary cargo plane, if JAG has taught me anything it's that you can safely land an ordinary Hercules on a carrier

how much to charter an ordinary cargo plane, if JAG has taught me anything it's that you can safely land an ordinary Hercules on a carrier

Provided of course you have permission to land an they ain't scrambling fighters to intercept and shoot you down along with what I can only imagine would be some insano AA capability (unlike the s***e on a BF2/BF2:SF Carrier)

We come in Peace! Shoot to Kill, Shoot to Kill. Men.

i am gonna send arty to the carrier, should be plenty of tards camping the chopper.

haha, nice.

photos

source

at fort lauderdale
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5f/Uss_ronald_reagan_cvn-76.jpg

more:
side
front
sailors

edit: broken links removed

last edited by Cam at 22:51:38 23/Jan/06

only 1 of ur pics works

me + gf just went for a drive out to pinkenba to see if we could spot this mofo. drove for ages but couldnt find him :(
we didnt go down any of the dodgy dirt tracks in the soarer though, but you could probably get a good vantage point down one of those. anyone know of a good spot?

ps. we might not have found ronald reagan, and although i wouldve expected to see spook and his barge, we actually found maxe at hogs breath cafe - whatta lovely surprise!

pps. about 20 sailors (looked high ranking) came into hogs breath and were gawking at my gf as we walked out. i let them, as my 'welcome to brisbane' gift.

ppps. that was my first ever hogs breath steak and it pwnt.

heheh Strex, nice. Maybe I should shop my missus around :p

hogs breath rocks

i might check it out tommorow, seeing as im allowed access to the actual wharfs :D

certainly a mighty impressive machine

last edited by Burgz at 23:42:45 23/Jan/06

the beat had a big sign out saying 'The Beat welcomes the navy personnel of the USS Ronald Reagan'

i could not stop laughing

hogs breath cook there steaks really slow in the overn over a long period of time

hence why they are so tender

These machines are bloody awesome. Their huge weakness is though, they are sitting ducks.

I don't think you know what you talking about

US Navy scouting Aussie brothels

Not that Brisbane brothels were expecting any problems with their American visitors.

"I'll have to be honest and tell you that the fellows are fantastic customers, they are so well-mannered," Mr Inskip said.

"The ladies like them because they're so respectful.

"They're very aware that they're representing their country, and that's why they behave so well."

when i was driving down brunswick st in the valley last night, i saw two hookers talking to this one sailor. he was obviously trying to secure a 2-4-1 deal.
go son! do your country proud!

I think I should man whore myself to get some extra cash.

Man that's one big ship. In our recent NZ trip we went on the Ferry to cross from North to South Island and I thought that was a big ship! It's got nuttin' on this monster.

So you're still going out with that little chicky babe, hey Strex.

Bastard!

8-)

yeah she has tamed the strex :(

game over man, game over.

some real photos from the big bertha today

http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/8483/240120061584pw.jpg

http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/1622/240120061567jb.jpg

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/3439/240120061571re.jpg

ps <3 my nokia n70

last edited by infi at 19:48:45 24/Jan/06

where did you go to see it infi?

northern bank of the river. there were hundreds of cars proceeding in and out this arvo controlled by traffic cops. no directions you just had to stumble your way there, but its very close to luggage point sewerage plant.

Did you go up Pinkenba way? I might go see this beastie tomorrow.

yep go past pinkenba hotel all the way to the end of the road.

but its very close to luggage point sewerage plant.

Well, where else do you expect to find a floating septic tank

last edited by HERMITech at 21:38:26 24/Jan/06

Had the tour today and it was awesome :)

http://www.members.iinet.net.au/~namatanai/carrier/DSC02630.JPG

http://www.members.iinet.net.au/~namatanai/carrier/DSC02633.JPG

http://www.members.iinet.net.au/~namatanai/carrier/DSC02635.JPG

http://www.members.iinet.net.au/~namatanai/carrier/DSC02643.JPG

http://www.members.iinet.net.au/~namatanai/carrier/DSC02646.JPG

http://www.members.iinet.net.au/~namatanai/carrier/DSC02649.JPG

http://www.members.iinet.net.au/~namatanai/carrier/DSC02650.JPG

http://www.members.iinet.net.au/~namatanai/carrier/DSC02652.JPG

http://www.members.iinet.net.au/~namatanai/carrier/DSC02657.JPG

http://www.members.iinet.net.au/~namatanai/carrier/DSC02658.JPG

http://www.members.iinet.net.au/~namatanai/carrier/DSC02660.JPG

http://www.members.iinet.net.au/~namatanai/carrier/DSC02664.JPG

http://www.members.iinet.net.au/~namatanai/carrier/DSC02665.JPG

http://www.members.iinet.net.au/~namatanai/carrier/DSC02667.JPG

http://www.members.iinet.net.au/~namatanai/carrier/DSC02672.JPG

http://www.members.iinet.net.au/~namatanai/carrier/DSC02686.JPG

http://www.members.iinet.net.au/~namatanai/carrier/DSC02687.JPG

http://www.members.iinet.net.au/~namatanai/carrier/DSC02692.JPG

http://www.members.iinet.net.au/~namatanai/carrier/DSC02693.JPG

http://www.members.iinet.net.au/~namatanai/carrier/DSC02634.JPG

http://www.members.iinet.net.au/~namatanai/carrier/DSC02670.JPG

http://www.members.iinet.net.au/~namatanai/carrier/DSC02679.JPG

http://www.members.iinet.net.au/~namatanai/carrier/DSC02681.JPG

Enjoy :)


last edited by Resonate at 17:59:59 25/Jan/06

Holy s***zu!
Those are some great pics, looks like it would have been awesome.

holy f***!
That is some badass s*** right there... You're going to make alot of people jealous.

Try an sell the pics to one of the local rags

i'm sure the media would have already been on there and taken pictures

Dude, how'd you get on!@#

Although I'm not too jaded because it looks like there's no Tomcats on board?

Haha, my brother works at the general mcarthur museum in the city part time for experience purposes and as a result, because mcarthur was a u.s general back in ww2, the people who work there always get offered free tours of any u.s warships that dock. I pretty much invited myself and went with him.

Apparently they did have 20 F-14D tomcats onboard but they have all been phased out by super hornets. :(

last edited by Resonate at 17:56:13 25/Jan/06

yeah how did you get on? you must be connected.

i met with someone high up today and he got to go on a 350km ride in one of the jets out to sea and back.

one does not just walk onto the uss ronald reagan.

Awesome pics!

wow the f18-e is sexy.

still, more f15s plz

you son of a bitch resonate! jealousy.

I was going to post some pics of mine from the other side of the river .. but now I won't :(

Awesome pics though!

Jesus Tittyf***ing, I want one of those all for myself so, so badly :(

Oh wow, awesome shots!!!! God they remind me so much of a tour of the Independance taken over ten years ago... Man those are big farking ships. What I wouldn't give for a stroll around this one here.

*sigh*


Pity about no Tomcats, they look even cooler up close too.


Anyhow my wife and son are flying to Townville tomorrow morning so I'll be pushing for a starboard window seat for her. They should have a fantastic overhead view on take-off.


last edited by C0deBasher at 19:55:41 25/Jan/06

i would give my f***ing kidney for a tour

Does anyone know what time on friday it will be leaving ?

i would give my f***ing kidney for a tour

ha ha It's worth it too, those ships are bloody amazing. The size of the hanger deck alone is something that has to be experienced to be beleived.



last edited by C0deBasher at 20:11:49 25/Jan/06

Oi, Codebasher. Stop oogling the carrier and code the 32/64x multiplayer maps for Special Forces =)

nice pics

The RE was full of sailors last night lol

one sailor was so desperate to get on that he offered a free pill in exchange for finding a supplier

awesome pix!

So much for trying to go through the right channels to arrange a tour. Sent Monday, only just go the error message.
=================================

**********************************************
** THIS IS A WARNING MESSAGE ONLY **
** YOU DO NOT NEED TO RESEND YOUR MESSAGE **
**********************************************

The original message was received at Mon, 23 Jan 2006 11:55:10 GMT from [157.153.3.104]

----- Transcript of session follows ----- ... Deferred: Connection timed out with reagan.navy.mil.
Warning: message still undelivered after 1 day
Will keep trying until message is 2 weeks old

--
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.1.375 / Virus Database: 267.14.23/240 - Release Date: 25/01/2006

=====================================

Stupid US Mil e-mail

BTW, great pics Res. Glad someone from here got onboard to take some.

last edited by E.T. at 11:39:52 26/Jan/06

yeah good luck with them getting an email from some random requesting a tour and them actually granting it

oSaMa@hOtMaIl.cOm says:
hay qt pie ;) wat r u up 2!? can i cum visit ;)
USS RONNIE says:
sure guy

Thats impressive alright, I'm surprised though they permitted camera's onboard. I would have thought they would have banned them due to security reasons or something like that. I'm guessing there were some area's you wernt permitted to enter/not allowed to photograph?

anyone know what time they are pushing off tomorrow ?

wow!

great pics Resonate!

yeah good luck with them getting an email from some random requesting a tour and them actually granting it

sif you have any idea how it was presented. Pfft

Yeah your right on that one. We had a squad leader for a guide and he was under strict orders on what areas we wernt allowed to take photos and other areas we wernt allowed to enter. We pretty much toured most of the below decks though. :)

last edited by Resonate at 17:05:43 26/Jan/06

I've heard they are shipping out around 8-9am tomorrow (with the high tide).

cheers for the info TK, i will head out around 630 tomorrow morning to see the shove off. My girlfriend is faithfully following me and getting up at the crack of dawn to see a boat. woot

you sure must love yanks.

i work at that qantas shed on main myrtltown road, and there was a procession of cars, non stop, from 7am until iwent home at 330pm, it was a traffic jam all day long. so yes there a few people who obviously love yanks

If your heading to see it, keep in mind of the possible traffic of people wanting to see it too (although its not a public holiday tomorrow they still might get a few wanting to see it in action).

NEWS - Jellyfish threat to nuclear behemoth

THE USS Ronald Reagan can single-handedly take on a nation's armed forces but met its match in Moreton Bay's jellyfish.

The slimy invertebrates were being sucked into the 97,000 tonne ship at such a rate generators were constantly switched over and local fire crews placed on stand-by as the creatures disabled full on-board capacities.

The world's largest aircraft carrier was due to leave Brisbane at 8am today after the 6000 crew enjoyed five days of shore leave.

link

went out today at 7am, lots of people there - around 100 or so and probabily 20 cops consisting of 5 patrol cars, 4 mounted and a large number of foot patrol guys. When i left at 8ish a few hippies came in with anti nuke flags and s*** and i then realised why the cops where there.

Pretty cool tho even tho it didn't do much - it just sat there

well worth the 6am start tho

Apparently they did have 20 F-14D tomcats onboard but they have all been phased out by super hornets. :(

But tomcats are so much hotter :(

Here are some pics I got from the US carrier I almost got to go on in Sydney:

http://trog.qgl.org/site/media/pics/war/carrier_in_sydney/TN_DCP_0778.JPG http://trog.qgl.org/site/media/pics/war/carrier_in_sydney/TN_DCP_0779.JPG http://trog.qgl.org/site/media/pics/war/carrier_in_sydney/TN_DCP_0781.JPG http://trog.qgl.org/site/media/pics/war/carrier_in_sydney/TN_DCP_0782.JPG

http://members.optusnet.com.au/furgle/FP/c1.jpg
http://members.optusnet.com.au/furgle/FP/c2.jpg
http://members.optusnet.com.au/furgle/FP/c3.jpg
http://members.optusnet.com.au/furgle/FP/c4.jpg
http://members.optusnet.com.au/furgle/FP/c5.jpg

Apparently it only had 1.7m of water of water between its hull and the bottom of the brisbane river!

Getting it in was a remarkable feat – there was just 1.7m of water between the bottom of the ship and the bottom of the Brisbane River when it arrived on Monday with its 6000 crew on board.

Holy f***!

The guy that directed the ship in deserves some respect.

^ true .dat!