life on an aircraft carrier

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, also recognized as the first aircraft carrier of the U.S. Navy. This centenary prompted me to rummage through the archives and reorganize the 80 rolls of 35mm black and white negatives I have shot over the past 40 years as a photojournalist in the United States. navy personnel

Life On An Aircraft Carrier

The year was 1981, and the Chief of Naval Operations had just submitted a proposal to Congress for the status of the Navy for the next fiscal year. In his report, Adm. Thomas B. Hayward expressed his growing concern about the problems and stresses ships have been subjected to in recent years. The urgent need to maintain a sustained presence in the Indian Ocean, including the commitment of the U.S. Navy. In the Mediterranean and Western Pacific, it created what Admiral Hayward described as, "attempting to meet the needs of three seas in one strategy. --half of a naval sea. We have had such a world deployment since World War II Difficult combat conditions for the team."

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These expanded deployments in the Indian Ocean present new challenges for the Navy as they begin to affect the Navy family. In those days, letters were the main way for repatriated people to stay in touch with their families. Due to the repetitive routine of passenger work, sailors have a lot to write about. Back home in the United States, their wives are solely responsible for all the running and raising of the family during these Chinese New Year trips.

My thinking as a photographer is that photo interviews can be a way to share and help those in the family understand the feelings that sailors repeat every day. 4, 680 and 500 officers were sent by airship to Indian Ocean stations.

For months, I asked my editor and the key staff of my team about the benefits of doing a story like this, and got nowhere, until that lunch that changed everything. I was lucky to be recognized by the Air/Aerospace Writers Guild for writing and filming a story on the Navy Blue Angels maintenance crew. I had the honor of attending the Association's annual luncheon with Adm. Bruce Newell, Secretary of Naval Affairs. After the event, Admiral Newell asked me what I wanted to do next. I didn't hesitate to express my desire to write about marine life. His response: "Let's do it."

With the Admiral's permission, my editors jumped in. After a few weeks of planning, I was approved to work part-time on the USS

Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier

(CV-66), the ship is preparing to leave its home port of Norfolk, Virginia, for deployment in the Indian Ocean. On April 4, 1981, I was on board when the waving families left the harbor. The following month we crossed the Atlantic and entered the Mediterranean with a short stop in the Spanish port of Palma. Subsequently, on May 6, the ship embarked on a 104.5-kilometer voyage from the Suez Canal to the "Gonzo Station" in the Indian Ocean. Carrier passes through Suez Canal for first time since tiny USS

Before the Six-Day Arab War in 1967. It's also a first for larger ships, as the canal has been remodeled to accommodate larger ships.

In 1981, photographer Jim Preston had the opportunity to document everyday life aboard the USS America. (Photo by Jim Preston, US Navy PH-1)

With the full support of the Captain, Captain. James F. Dorsey, I have full access to record the crew and manage the aircraft as they go about their daily business. When I work out of a photo studio, every day I start looking for something new to photograph.

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In addition to taking photos, I also made sure to get quotes from my subjects to supplement the published photo essays, allowing the crew to share the experience in their own words.

I've been itching to start taking photos of aircraft performance at airports. It's unlike anything I've seen in my photography career before or since. Dangers are everywhere, and you always know that when the four catapults launch the plane from the bow and the cat at the waist, you can totally hear the noise of the afterburner. Hundreds of men in green, brown, purple, red, yellow, white and blue shirts are busy at work, pulling together to the elaborate music that keeps them going. Launch and return approximately 80 aircraft at an altitude of 1,048 feet. Shirt color is the Navy's way of easily identifying duties at airports, as crews work together in this noisy and dangerous environment where normal communication is difficult. Now I'm one of them, wearing a green shirt that says "PHOTO" in big black letters, snapping it up.

Defense training is ongoing and general exercises are also regularly conducted. Drills were carried out on board to ensure that if anyone fell overboard, they would be rescued quickly. As Captain Dorsey explained, "We have to keep drilling to gain experience. It's interesting that the boat is driven every day by 19 and 20 year olds. I see the back of the whole boat. They do a great job ” (Photo by Jim Preston, U.S. Navy PH-1)

More experienced employees are responsible for training younger employees. One quickly learns that there is no room for conformity in this environment. I can totally understand Roger Parker, third mate, aviation bosun, when he said, "I was very nervous the first time I was on the flight deck, but I was happy. I was scared." I'm still happy, but you can't forget about safety, Otherwise it will find you. Here, even the smallest things can hurt you. "

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Every day, cockpit crews walk hand in hand across the deck looking for foreign object debris (FOD), such as screws, wires or pens, that could damage the aircraft's engines. Now, the daily symphony begins again. Red shirts install regulations, green shirts supervisors polish the canopy and repair their designated aircraft, brown shirts remove binding chains, shirt officers refuel the aircraft, yellow shirts handle everything. . Pilots start arriving on their notice, checking their planes and preparing to launch into the steam that will take them from zero to 170 miles per hour in two seconds. Fighter planes, attack planes, anti-submarine planes, reconnaissance planes, search and rescue planes, and surface transport planes were dispatched one after another, with almost no one on board. The action was a hodgepodge of photo opportunities wherever I went.

Don Fretwell, Chief Aviation Boatswain's deputy, shared: "It's another thing to be a captain when you consider that there are only 12 other people in the world who have the job. Everyone who works here has a high-level [job] ]. Of course it’s dangerous, but I don’t see it that way ... I have to make sure my men are thinking about safety. One thing is everyone is accountable to the other.”

When the last batch of planes took off, the planes began to return and landed on the runway in the middle of the sea. The pilot extended the tailhook, carefully guided the aircraft onto the deck, grabbed one of the four lines holding the rails in place, and brought it to an immediate stop. Once on deck, they raised their tail fins and taxied until the crew joined them and returned to the double-sided cockpit. (Photo by US Navy PH-1 Jim Preston)

One day I was photographing airplanes in a storm, and while I was concentrating on the pilot, he asked me why I was photographing in such conditions, and I said, "Because you have to be here." If workers have to work in the rain, so do I Work in the rain. (Photo by US Navy PH-1 Jim Preston)

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Everywhere I went on the boat, there were interesting things to photograph. As I wandered around the hangar, the first thing I noticed was a strange light shining in the giant elevator shaft. The contrast of light in the dark hangar bay provides a strong black and white image of the crew at work. I discovered the indirect effect of this kind of light casting from the side of the hull, which is called sponsons. One day I was checking and heard a violin. I followed the music to the gangway where I found Gunner's Mate Third Class Kevin Kirby playing solo. Kirby shared, "Last year, I would have come with a big list, but somehow, I got used to waiting... away from home. I still had to find a place to escape on my own. If you

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