Why a steering wheel on carriers?

[Broadsword2004]

At this link, if you scroll down, you see a picture of a man on helm watch on a carrier ship. I know that modern crusie ships have no steering wheels; they have control sticks and such to steer them. I am just wondering why a modern carrier would still use a steering wheel? Isn't that a lot slower for maneuvering and such, especially for modern warfare?
http://www.navy.mil/view_photos.asp?page=13&sort_type=0&sort_row=1

 

[Schnugg]

It's a "shoe" thing....don't even bother trying to figure it out.

This ain't no sh*t but, ....The Stennis once lost it's little wooden "wheel" during PIA overhaul in 99 and had to get underway with a metal stick where the wheel would have been until a new wheel could be fabricated. They had to use something to turn the post to move the rudders.

We eventually found the wheel in deep storage in a fan room a year later. We put a Club car lock on it and gave it to the Ship's Gator at an AOM as a gag.

 

[HueyCobra8151]

That isn't the boat.

He just has a really big, tricked-out van, and him and his buddy are driving home after deployment

 

[PropStop]

big steering wheels are cool. it isn't as if they're mechanically linked in any way to the rudders, so they could be push buttons and work just as well. All ships ought to have a bigass wheel - just to be cool.

 

[smittyrunr]

I'm curious about what part of 'modern warfare' you think involves needing to maneuver a carrier so quickly...
The JFK and dhows that nobody would miss aside, the carrier most often needs to turn quickly to get into the wind to launch/recover aircraft... or to turn away from the E-2 in the groove. :icon_tong

 

[Penguin]

Well, I'm sure in the next "realistic" Hollywood war movie Harrison Ford or someone will need a big a** wheel to put the carrier into the powerslide in the Suez Canal to keep from hitting the terrorist boat with the nuclear weapon onboard...blah, blah, blah. You know, modern surface warfare, right?

 

[Broadsword2004]

Yeah, I was the guy who asked questions non-stop to the teachers

No seriously, what I meant was, from my limited knowledge of ship warfare here, I just meant if you suddenly needed to turn the ship fast or something, I think it would be a lot faster to turn by pressing a control stick left or right or whichever way, and the ship turns automatically. Regardless of whether or not the wheel is mechanically connected to the rudder (s) (which yeah I know it isn't), the ship will only turn as fast as you can turn the wheel.

And by the term "modern warfare," I just meant with the new types of torpedoes and such out there, if you ever encountered a threat, you would want to be able to maneuver around as fast as possible, which having a big wheel to turn would prevent I would think. If you encounter an enemy submarine, you don't want to have a slow method of turning (if a Navy ship would turn from the submarine in a confrontation; I don't know how it would work).

And yes, a wheel on a ship is cool, but I asked this because I assumed the wheel as an inferior way to steer a modern navy ship the size of a carrier (I thought that, not saying it is true, but I assumed so since cruise ships don't use wheels these days). Also, the military is supposed to emphasize function over "coolness." Having a big gun on the front of a Navy ship I am sure is cool to, but if you seriousy don't need it, don't have it.

And yes, I also know the chances of a modern carrier encountering a submarine or anything is pretty slim, but military stuff is supposed to be made for when the going gets rough; like how all fighter craft, even if they should never see a direct dogfight with another aircraft because of their high-tech missiles, they still have a machine gun on them that can fire if such a thing occurs.

 

[Broadsword2004]

Also, I really did NOT mean for this to be some annoying, "come on kid, use your head" - type of question, it was something I was legitimately curious about. This is a Navy forum, so what better place to ask?

 

[CLAM97to99]

They put the huge A** wheel on it so it can be turned fast. Study your physics. It will also help you on the ASTB.

 

[fc2spyguy]

Ok, I've been on the helm of a cruiser (not for long it was an ESWS thing) but they had pretty much zero resistance. You can spin that thing like a top if you need to. And it doesn't take much to put it into the stops of the rudders. It's quite maneuverable(sp?).

 

[fc2spyguy]

They put the huge A** wheel on it so it can be turned fast. Study your physics. It will also help you on the ASTB.

Actually, the bigger the wheel the more you have to turn it to affect the rudders. The destroyers have a small basically car steering wheel on em.

 

[smittyrunr]

One point to note- any ship (CVN, CG, DDG, FFG) CAN turn and the wheel can move much futher/faster than your CO would ever like it to. Turn hard enough and fast enough and aircraft start sliding into each other = bad mojo.

 

[CLAM97to99]

Actually, the bigger the wheel the more you have to turn it to affect the rudders.

Actually after I posted that I started thinking about it and thought I might have made my self appear stupid. But this Isn’t be the first time.

The destroyers have a small basically car steering wheel on em

When my family was stationed in GITMO every time a Celeb came down my dad was put in charge of showing them around and a good time. Charlie Daniels came down and my dad took him on a destroyer that was in for training. When Charlie Daniels saw the steering wheel on the ship he almost died laughing because he expected to see the huge steering wheel.

 

[Dunedan]

You were that kid in school that asked non-stop question, to the annoyance of the rest of the kids.... wern't you?

Pat, I was thinking the same thing, and then something like everybody and their brother seems to have taken an interest in this conversation...

 

[kmac]

Ok here's a question: Can anyone legitimately tell me that, given a cold cat off the bow, the ship can turn to evade a ditching aircraft? We'll say we've got 10 knots of natural wind.