Dwight Eisenhower (CVN 69) - Naval Cruise Book

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Flight A launch every 60 seconds . . . The aircraft carrier is America ' s most mobile and capable military platform. The combination of the ship and its air wing provide a globally recognized force that galvanizes U.S. resolve. IKE punches aircraft into the air from a dead stop to speeds approaching 170 mph in less than two seconds, and traps air- craft hitting the deck at similar speeds on a stretch of deck less than 500 feet long. But the catapults and arresting cables are use- less without people. More than 200 men move to the call of flight quarters. Deep within the ship, IKE ' s grapes, or aviation fuels specialists, operate pump rooms that provide JP-5 to fuel aircraft on deck. Air department per- sonnel endure the searing heat of the cata- pult machinery rooms and noise of the arresting gear machinery rooms to make IKE a ready airfield in any weather, day or night, anywhere in the world.

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IKE Sea deployment to fulfill defense commitments of the U.S. Sixth Fleet. Since that time, IKE has completed six Mediter- ranean Sea deployments, one Indian Ocean deploy- ment and various operations in the North Atlantic and Caribbean. IP operated with U.S. forces off the coast of Iran during the 1980 hostage crisis, off the coast of Lebanon assisting with evacuations in 1982, and in the Red Sea following the Iraqi inva- sion of Kuwait in August 1990. iSiSdiSi SSSSm The message in the seal: Five stars -- General Eisenhower Name -- President Eisenhower Blue field - U.S. Navy Rope border -- Unity Atoms - Nuclear power 1975: IKE ' S symbolic ship ' s seal: IKE nearing completion at Newport News Shipbuilding andDrydockCo.: Thejirstmile- stone in IKE ' s construction, laying the keel, on Aug. 15. 1970. ruction, the ceremony

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operations ... A recovery every 45 On deck, the constant movement of air- craft and equipment appears to be chaos at first glance. Further observation reveals a carefully orchestrated ballet of man and machine. Airplanes move only at the signal of yellow- shirted directors. Weapons are loaded by red-shirted ordnance handlers. The final safety check before a catapult launch is the job ofawhite-shirted checker. Blue shirts chock and chain aircraft, green shirts main- tain the catapults and arresting gear, v hile the purple-shirted grapes run the fuel hoses to aircraft on deck (Photos, clockwise from left: Catapult personnel prepare the deck for recoveries after the completion of a launching cycle; An F A-18 awaits its turn for launch while a green shirt stands by: Aircraft line the deck edge, leaving room for others to recover and launch: Aircraft stack up on the bow, keep- ing the landing area clear.)