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Naval Aviation and Watches

JWL

Member
Do naval aviators stand watch while serving on a carrier, or any other ship on which naval aviators are stationed?
 

Gatordev

Well-Known Member
pilot
Site Admin
Contributor
Yes. Everyone, at sea or ashore, stands some sort of duty. Even those that are senior enough to not be on a watchbill are still standing some sort of implied duty at times.
 

Gonzo08

*1. Gangbar Off
None
Do naval aviators stand watch while serving on a carrier, or any other ship on which naval aviators are stationed?

Sure do. There are several different types:

SDO: Ready room duty. A JO managing the flight schedule and answering the phone at the duty desk.
Pri-Fly Duty (aka Tower Flower): Generally a JO up in the tower during CASE I launches and recoveries. Acts as a squadron rep for the Air Boss/Mini Boss and also a relay between the jets and the ready room. Can also help with any emergiencies.
CATCC (Carrier Air Traffic Control Center): Same as Pri-Fly except generally done by an O-4 or Skipper/XO (Air wing front office gossip time). Posted for launches and recoveries during Case III/night ops.
CVIC: There are several duty positions for aviators in the Intel Office on the boat during combat ops and large force exercises.

There are also several additional duties during port calls such as Shore Patrol, Intergrity Watch, Boat-O (all JO watches), and Air Wing Duty Officer (O-4).

Long story short, yes, there's a crap ton of duty, and it becomes an interesting game trying to figure out what duties to take to maximize your off-ship time during port calls.
 

Ken_gone_flying

"I live vicariously through myself."
pilot
Contributor
Do naval aviators stand watch while serving on a carrier, or any other ship on which naval aviators are stationed?

Please tell me you aren't primary complete and you are using this information for selection choices.
 

Uncle Fester

Robot Pimp
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Sure do. There are several different types:

SDO: Man the phone, make coffee/popcorn, get harassed by Skipper for a stupid Roll-em choice. Spend all day answering "is (callsign) in the ready room?" phone calls.
Pri-Fly Duty (aka Tower Flower): JO for the Boss to yell at when your idiot squadonmates arouse his ire by doing something stupid where he can see them.
CATCC (Carrier Air Traffic Control Center): Same as Pri-Fly except it's a Hinge for CAG to yell at, and at night. Motohinges volunteer "for the visibility" and then wish for invisibility after the first recovery.
CVIC: Some bullshit to get out of Flower/SDO. Nobody in the squadron is fooled, you fucking non-hacker no-load.

There are also several additional duties during port calls such as Shore Patrol, Intergrity Watch, Boat-O (all JO watches), and Air Wing Duty Officer (O-4), all of which are some asinine Shoe nonsense to make you glad you're not a Shoe and make them feel better about their poor life choices.

FIFY.
 

Pags

N/A
pilot
Or as an aviator on a ship's company you have your pick of equally terrible underway and in-port watches.

Underway: pretend you're excited about being a SWO and stand all the stupid watches that a 900' long boat requires. Most of your time on these watches is spent being equal parts terribly bored and worried that maybe you did run over a buoy/fishing boat/etc at 0330. The only benefit to them is that they all lead you to an OOD Letter that you can put in your record to show that you're a good company man.

In port: All roads lead to CDO In Port which involves being very worried about what flags are flying, whether or not the bells that were rung for a random O-6 were suitable, whether or not the lights that outline the big numbers on the island and whatever "don't call them Christmas lights" lights that are strung are on after dark, and whether or not the boat is on fire. You get an equally fancy letter suitable for framing that shows your dedication to the company.
 

jollygreen07

Professional (?) Flight Instructor
pilot
Contributor
Or as an aviator on a ship's company you have your pick of equally terrible underway and in-port watches.

Underway: pretend you're excited about being a SWO and stand all the stupid watches that a 900' long boat requires. Most of your time on these watches is spent being equal parts terribly bored and worried that maybe you did run over a buoy/fishing boat/etc at 0330. The only benefit to them is that they all lead you to an OOD Letter that you can put in your record to show that you're a good company man.

In port: All roads lead to CDO In Port which involves being very worried about what flags are flying, whether or not the bells that were rung for a random O-6 were suitable, whether or not the lights that outline the big numbers on the island and whatever "don't call them Christmas lights" lights that are strung are on after dark, and whether or not the boat is on fire. You get an equally fancy letter suitable for framing that shows your dedication to the company.

Holy shit. This. All of this.
 

Pags

N/A
pilot
Is that frowned upon? On a side note does someone still "pipe aboard" on port calls?
Oh God yes. And Xenu help you if you fuck it away.
What @Uncle Fester said. As an aviator you think no one cares about all the damned bells, whistles, and flags until you have to answer to a number of O-5s and O-6s as to why some random flag or another is flying, why the four bells rung by an E-2 went "dingdingding ding" as opposed to "dingding dingding", and why colors weren't done at the EXACT same time as all the other ship in the basin*.

Also turns out that parts of a ship catch on fire or flood more frequently than you'd think. Most of my duty days involved some form of "fire fire fire..."

*only answer: we were right; all the other ships are fucked up
 

JWL

Member
I'll take these responses as a yes?

Aviators stand watches like anyone else, or perhaps not like anyone else, but stand watch nonetheless.
 
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