US Aircraft carrier, USS JOHN C STENNIS VISITED SABAH, MALAYSIA, 30TH SEPTEMBER 2012

I am among selected few lucky guests who were invited abroad this gigantic war machine







Note the machine gun at the left, a warning to uninvited guests...















Lesson : Don't mess with the Americans

Imagine being on an aircraft that accelerates from zero to 165 knots in two seconds when taking off.

A group of local leaders and journalists from Sabah, East Malaysia, had this rare experience on- board a C21 utility aircraft that took them to the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis, 926km from here over the weekend.

The landings and takeoffs, which saw acceleration peaking at 4Gs, were enough to jolt and blow one's senses.

Weighing 97,000 tonnes, the USS John C. Stennis is one of the largest aircraft carriers in the world. It is more than 333m long and 20 stories tall.

Crewed by more than 5,500 personnel, it is capable of handling 90 aircraft, including the C21. The USS John C. Stennis is nuclear-powered and its mission is to conduct sustained air operations.

While onboard, the visitors, including state Legislative Assembly speaker Datuk Seri Salleh Tun Said and First Division Army Commander Major General Datuk Mohd Zaki Mokthar, witnessed flight operations, which included catapult launches and arrested landings or "traps".

Commanding officer Captain Ronald Reis said an aircraft landed on deck at full throttle. There were four arresting wires to stop a landing aircraft. This happened when the aircraft's tailhook caught one of the arresting wires.

He said a catapult was used to launch an aircraft at full power during takeoff.

Aircraft operating from the USS John C. Stennis included F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, F/A-18C Hornet, E-2C Hawkeye and the EA-6B Prowler.

The visit was arranged by the United States Embassy as a prelude to the aircraft carrier's three-day port call in Kota Kinabalu, beginning Sunday, 30th September 2012.

Don't mess with the Americans..

Kapal pengangkut pesawat USA, USS JOHN C STENNIS, berlabuh di Kota Kinabalu, 30 September 2012

Antara rakyat Sabah yang bertuah, dijemput menaiki kapal raksaksa ini




Tujahan pesawat Hornet dan Super Hornet buatan McDonnell Douglas ini boleh mencapai kelajuan Mach 1.8, bergerak dari 0 ke 300 km sejam dalam masa kurang 2 saat!! Malaysian pun ada pesawat jenis ini


Sila beri perhatian ke atas sebuah Machine Gun besar di kiri gambar ini, yang menanti pelawat tak diundang!!















Masyarakat Kota Kinabalu memang bertuah, selepas lawatan pasangan diraja England, Putera William dan Kate Middleton, September lalu dan pemimpin no.2 dari parti Komunis China, kini Sabah menjadi persinggahan kapal pengangkut pesawat berkuasa nuklear kelas Nimitz, Amerika Syarikat, USS JOHN C STENNIS di pelabuhan kota kinabalu, pada Ahad 30 September 2012 dan menarik minat warga Kota Kinabalu.

Kapal yang membawa 5,000 anak kapal dan 76 pesawat termasuk jet pejuang FA18F SUPER HORNET dan FA18C HORNET, pesawat Prowler, Greyhound dan helikopter Sea Hawk dan Kinght Hawk, melakukan persinggahan 4 hari di Kota Kinabalu, selepas pelayaran tanpa henti selama sebulan dari Amerika Syarikat.

Ini kali pertama sebuah kapal pengangkut pesawat melakukan persinggahan di Kota Kinabalu.

Kapal sepanjang 333 meter ini pernah menyertai misi ketenteraan Amerika Syarikat di Afghanistan.

Sepanjang berlabuh di Kota Kinabalu, 5000 anak kapalnya terbabit dalam pelbagai aktiviti termasuk kebajikan dan sukarela, selain mempelajari kebudayaan tempatan.

Ini persinggahan pertama kapal raksaksa ini selepas belayar tanpa henti dari Amerika Syarikat, Ogos 2012 lalu.

Untuk rekod, Amerika Syarikat mempunyai 11 kapal pengangkut pesawat atau aircraft carriers, 10 daripadanya dari kelas Nimitz dan 1 dari kelas Enterprise.

Setiap kali berlaku perang, Presiden USA akan kata where are the carriers?

Permerintah CARRIER STRIKE GROUP 3, LAKSAMANA MUDA CHARLES N GAOUETTE berkata :

"the benefit that we get from coming to kota kinabalu is we learn about other people, where they live, how they are, we get to see those people, & as americans this is one of the things we need to work on we tend to like large country we tend to focus on ourselves, so we have 5,000 people who are coming to malaysia to learn about you."

atan dalam Bahasa Malaysia beliau berkata "faedah yang kita dapati menerusi lawatan ke kota kinabalu, ialah kami belajar mengenai masyarakat di sini dan 5,000 anak kapal ini mahu mempelajari lebih banyak mengenai Malaysia."

Lessons from this : Dont mess with the Americans!!