While aboard the USS Carl Vinson for a training cruise this past week, visiting journalists witnessed 200 sailors make an inspection walk of epic proportions.
The roar a fighter jet makes when it lands on an aircraft carrier can cause observers to shudder. That’s what I did on Wednesday as I stood about 100 feet from where F-18s were hitting the deck of the USS Carl Vinson as it cruised off San Diego on a training mission.I was awestruck a few hours earlier when sailors began to file onto the ship’s flight deck, which is longer than three football fields. In short order, about 150 of them were gathered near the bow.
This ritual is called a foreign object damage — or F.O.D. — walk. I had seen it done on small vessels, mostly recently the littoral combat ship Jackson, where 17 sailors lined up shoulder-to-shoulder to look for debris that could damage helicopters. But what I saw on the Carl Vinson was an F.O.D. of grand proportion. A disciplined mass of people slowly walked the length of the deck searching for anything that could lead to a crew member being hurt or killed.
I watched from Vulture’s Row, a balcony on the ship’s control island. Standing next to me were eight other journalists. For a moment or two, our chatter faded away. The only thing you could hear was the sound of cameras clicking. It’s also worth noting who was on the bridge while this was happening. In particular, I’m thinking of the Officer of the Deck, the person who directly carries out the captain’s orders, notably on matters of navigation and safety. I didn’t catch his name. But I got his age: 24.
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