The Time When I Went To Sea For 6 Months On An Aircraft Carrier  − 14 February, 2000

So, in January of 2000, I went to sea on the John C. Stennis, which at the time was the second largest aircraft carrier in the world.  The "boat" as it is not so affectionately referred to is a big gray bohemoth of a beast that carries over 4000 crew members.  It is a Nimitz class carrier with 2 nuclear reactors, and approximately 85 aircraft.  From fore to aft, it measures over 1000 ft (longer then 3 football fields end to end) and at its mid section is 250 feet wide.  It's a freakin floating city, that's always buzzing, and banging, and you're constantly surprised each and every moment by whats going on around you.  For me, the path between where I slept, and where I worked took me down 2 ladders, across 1/3 of the hangar deck, under about three to four wings of aircrafts, around a 1 group of people transporting ordnance of some sort, then up two ladders, and voila, I'm at work.  So back up for a second, and go back to the part where I mentioned where I slept, because that in itself was pretty amazing too.  Imagine if you will a room that has approximately 125 beds stacked three high, and the lights are only on for the three hours that overlap when the day shift gets up, and the night shift goes to sleep, (or vice versa).  There are 2 bathrooms each of which has about 4 commodes, 2 urinals, 4 showers, and 4 sinks in them.  Over a ten year period each bed, urinal, commode, shower, and sink will serve well over 100,000 sailors.  (I'm glad when I was on board, the boat was only a year or so old.)