I'm aboard a ship that performs the
most complex and most dangerous operations in the entire US Navy. It has a massive flight deck,
but its not an aircraft carrier. See, aircraft carriers deal with problems from far away by launching aircraft, but amphibious ships deal with crises face to face by putting
Marines on the ground. Of course, the flight deck of an aircraft
carrier remains to be one of the most dangerous places to work. But when it comes to
complexity of operations, amphibious ships have no rivals. They're the only platform that
requires the integration of two forces, navy sailors and Marines. They are also the only ships that operate
a well deck as well as a flight deck, which makes amphibious operations extremely sensitive to weather conditions. In fact, they have eleven people on the
ship whose only job is to analyze and forecast the weather. And if you still remain unconvinced,
consider this: Within just 6 hours of receiving an order, an amphibious ship must be ready to
mobilize its Marine Expeditionary Unit for a mission. For an aircraft carrier,
that planning cycle is 72 hours. But why USS Bataan carries
a massive refueling rig, even though it could pretty much
steam around the world without ever needing to refuel, why the ship operates AV-8
Harriers but not F-35Bs, even though both aircraft can
take off and land vertically. And why if you're good at Tetris,
you may have a career with the US Navy, is Not What You Think! If you could park a drone on top
of a supercarrier and look down, you will see the same thing
happening day after day, launching and recovering aircraft. Amphibious ships,
on the other hand, are a lot more versatile given
that they can operate aircraft as well as watercraft. But this versatility comes at a price. Sea conditions can have a significant impact on well deck operations. For example, low tides can turn a bay
into a mud flat within hours. This means beach landings need to be
coordinated such that troops and equipment dont get stuck on the beach for hours until the tides come back. But this is where USS Bataan's eleven
weather specialists come into the picture. Six assistant forecasters deploy devices
that measure oceanographic information every hour, and five weather forecasters
produce predictions every 12 hours. These predictions are an essential
input into well deck operation planning. The well deck on USS Bataan is like a
giant garage that opens to the water. This allows certain types of
amphibious vehicles to get in and out of the well deck. A flooded well deck looks kind
of like a big swimming pool. So I had to ask the question: Would you ever do a swim call inside the well deck? It's been done before. It's very unsafe though, because when you flood in open space like this,
and this is a large space, you get something called
the free surface effect. So when the water sloshes around, it bounces off the walls and
it's very unsafe for people. LCUs are one of the primary watercraft
used for transportation of troops, vehicles and cargo to shore. So we can take two LCUs, which is landing craft utility they're actual boats. They need six to 8ft of water in the well deck in order to come in. So we drop the stern and the stern gate
and we flood it and the craft come in, and then we can also take LCACs. LCAC or landing craft air cushion
is another popular method of ship to shore transportation. Since LCACs can simply hover, the well deck doesn't need
to be flooded for them. LCACs are much faster than LCUs,
but it can carry only half the payload. It may not look like it, but LCUs actually have
living accommodations and can sustain a crew of 13 for ten days. Getting an LCU to come into the
well deck is a bit of an ordeal. So when the craft are coming in,
my sailors, the boatswain's mates or the seamen
are up on these wing walls with lines, and they throw the lines over to
the LCUs and they actually have to adjust how the craft is coming in. On the other hand, an LCAC can come into the well
deck without any external help. But it's a very tight entry. There's only about 1ft
of space on each site, which is why the craft
has bumpers all around, in case it hits the
sides of the well deck. Another interesting fact about
LCACs and LCUs is how they can link up inside the well deck. You'll have three LCACs at a time,
or two LCUs at a time, and their ramps connect, so they're able to have the
vehicles on the furthest LCU or LCAC drive across all of the
others to enter or exit the well deck up into the storage area. And managing that storage area is a challenge in and of itself. Weighing at 27,
000 tons, Wasp-class ships are the
heaviest man made objects to ever be rolled across land. They can also carry a
massive amount of cargo. That said, loading all the equipment into
the ship is like playing Tetris, but in three dimensions. One dimension is loading everything
efficiently and making use of all the available space. The second dimension is the order
at which everything is loaded. For example,
if the ships headed to a contested area, certain equipment needs to be
offloaded onto the shore first. You wouldn't want those things
buried behind all the other cargo. The third dimension has to do
with the weight of the cargo. Remember, all this equipment adds a significant
amount of weight to the ship. So it's critical to load everything
in a way that keeps the ship balanced. The planners also need to ensure
that there are open lanes between the cargo for fire protection
and other safety consideration. To play this game of Tetris on the ship,
a loading plan is generated in advance. Marines would then pre stage
everything that needs to be loaded, which could take up to a week. Then as soon as the ship
arrives at the pier, everything is loaded
based on the loading plan. The hottest place on USS
Bataan is the flight deck. These flight decks are very interesting... Wow, it's hot! Of course,
that was because of the sun, but when AV-8 Harriers vertically
land on this flight deck, they can make it very hot. In fact, the reason F-35s are not currently
allowed to land on USS Bataan is because the intense heat generated by their
exhaust can warp the flight deck... But this issue can be resolved like
they did on Bataan's sister ship, USS Wasp. The flight deck of USS Wasp
has been coated with a special material called Thermion, which is extremely heat resistant
and extremely expensive. So only certain spots on
the flight deck are treated, and those are the only areas
that F-35s can land on without damaging the flight deck. There are no catapults and no
arresting systems on this ship. This is why it exclusively houses
US Marine aircraft like the Harriers and Ospreys, which have short takeoff and vertical
takeoff and landing capabilities. But it may also carry variants
of helicopters like the CH-53, SH-60,
and AH-1. Depending on the operation, the ship could carry different
combinations of air combat elements. For example,
in a full assault configuration, the air group can have
as many as 22 Ospreys, while in a sea control configuration, USS Bataan carries upwards
of 20 AV-8B Harriers, supported by six SH-60 Seahawk
helicopters for anti submarine warfare. Emergency landings on supercarriers
are typically done with the help of a barricade to catch the incoming aircraft. But on USS Bataan,
they have something much simpler. On June 7,
2014, Marine Corps captain William Mahoney
realized that his front landing gear had malfunctioned. Lucky for him, USS Bataan was equipped with a stool
specially made for scenarios like this... So with help from the control tower, the pilot was able to align the
Harrier before eventually dropping the nose dead-center on the stool. It's scenarios like this, that necessitates the need
for a massive crane like this, which can help move damaged
aircraft out of the way Right next to the crane,
there is a small yet mighty fire truck. It holds 750 gallons of water and is
always here on the flight deck on standby in case any fires need to be put out. Those on the firefighting duty
need to wear this shiny suit, which is rated for 2000
degrees Fahrenheit. On a day like this, which is kind of hot, what does it feel like to have
that thing on all day long? It feels like a sweatsuit. Luckily,
they are on two hour rotations, which makes it easier on hot days. Yeah, I definitely wanted to
try on the sweatsuit. It was actually more comfortable
than it looked and also a lot more expensive than I thought. The jackets and the pants combined,
$16, 000. Not a bad look for a $16,000 suit. The hangar bay is where the aircraft
are stored when they're no longer needed on the flight deck. Two elevators allow the aircraft
to be moved between the flight deck and the hangar bay... These elevators are huge, so big that in order to
transit the Panama canal, the elevators need to be folded in. The hangar bay can also be used to
perform maintenance on the aircraft, and there are shelves all
around to store spare parts. For example,
inside these giant boxes, helicopter blades are stored. Like any other navy ship, firefighting equipment is
accessible throughout the ship... Sailors do fire drills on a regular
basis to gain familiarity with the ship's layout and equipment, and also to prepare for
different scenarios. That is also what Marines
do while underway, doing drills nonstop,
in addition to eating and hitting the gym! Because the ultimate
baton on USS Bataan... is its Marines. Marine expeditionary units,
or MEUs, are the crisis response
force of the United States, and a crisis often
demands a quick response. This is why it could take as little as
6 hours from the time an order comes in until a MEU has to be ready
to execute that mission. This short planning window is called R2P2,
short for Rapid Response Planning Process. R2P2 includes organizing and strategizing, deciding which aircraft needs
to be deployed and bringing them to the flight deck, figuring out how many marines and what
kind of weapons must be put ashore, determining the best mode of ship
to shore transportation based on the weather forecast, and so on. Aircraft carriers,
on the other hand, typically operate under a
72-hour planning horizon. That's because their primary
mission is not crisis response. They're often involved
in theater response, which are large scale operations like Desert Storm. What differentiates a MEU from other
crisis response teams like the Navy SEALs or US Army and US Air Forces IRF, is the ability to have air logistics,
ground combat, and command and control in one package, anywhere in the world. The rapid response nature
of amphibious operations is why ships like USS Bataan
can do things like replenishment through the well deck, which can be very useful. During Operation Iraqi Freedom,
USS Bataan was running low on ammunition. The issue was that receiving supplies
using vertical replenishment meant that Bataan had to pause
its flight deck operations. On the other hand,
being replenished alongside meant that Bataan would be
tied to the supply ship, limiting its maneuverability. So they did something that
aircraft carriers cannot do. The supply ship first transferred
the required ammunition to another amphibious ship that was nearby... That amphibious ship moved the
supplies to its well deck and loaded them into LCACs. The LCACs then delivered the ammunition
to Bataan through the well deck, which allowed the ship to continue
its flight deck operations without interruption. Well deck replenishments can also be
facilitated during a stern gate marriage. That's when an LCU and a
ship align their stern gates. This allows for quick resupply missions
from ship to shore or between two ships. Speaking of replenishment, USS Bataan carries about
1 million gallons of fuel. That's enough for the ship to
pretty much steam around the world. But that doesn't explain why USS
Bataan has its own refueling rig. Our FAS 1 station. So FAS is Fueling At Sea, and then we have RAS stations,
which is Refueling At Sea. So,
essentially, a RAS is when we're taking something from someone else. A FAS is one we're
supplying to someone else. Oh, I did not know that! So we can supply fuel to,
say, a destroyer. They'll just come alongside. We'll connect our rig,
and they can take fuel from us. A destroyer would typically need
to receive fuel every three days. But if,
for whatever reason, an oiler is not available,
an amphibious ship can act as an oiler. This giant refueling rig is
specifically here for that reason. The US Navy likes to have fun
with naming things on their ships. Remember the Broadway on USS New York?.. Well,
this is stairway to heaven on USS Bataan. Can you guess what's behind this door? Well,
if you guessed a stairway, you're right! The stairway leads to the bridge. So it's relatively small. So this big ship is controlled with this little wheel here. Tiny wheel. Look at this. But this wheel is not the only
navigation tool on this ship. Yeah, it's amazing... For personnel to navigate
their way around the ship. There are these plates on
the wall called the bullseye. They're similar to street signs
telling you where you are, but only if you know
how to interpret them. So what do these numbers on the
plate mean the first four numbers. So the first number is
the level you're on, up or down. So we're on the zero-two level,
so we're up from where we came in... This is the frame number. So how far forward and aft you are. This is from centerline if
you're port or starboard. So port is even numbers. Starboard is odd. And then this last one is the type of space. So L means living space. What would be another
example of another space? E for engineering spaces,
M for ammunition spaces, and W for water storage areas,
to name a few. It could take up to a couple of months
for someone new to fully know their way around without using the bullseye. Aircraft carriers are,
by and large, designed for blue-water operations, which means they operate from
the middle of the ocean as far as hundreds of miles at sea, whereas amphibious ships are
designed to get close to the shore, as close as 10 miles out. This means that amphibious ships have to
deal with two types of threats: blue-water threats that aircraft carriers, too,
deal with when far from land, but also green-water threats
when they're close to shore. This includes things like torpedoes,
mines, short range anti ship missiles,
and drones... Plus,
the closer a ship gets to shore, the higher are the chances of
it being detected by the enemy, which eliminates the element of surprise. To deal with these threats,
some prep work needs to be done. Harriers might take off from Bataan's
flight deck to soften a target on land, which is military lingo
for blowing things up. Marines may also get help from
an aircraft carrier to level a particular coordinate. Prior to getting the LCACs
and LCUs into the water, a reconnaissance team of four
or five people would survey the area using a rubber boat. They look for mines that
may be moored in the water, as well as checking the beach to
ensure it's clear of landmines. Even though LCACs hover on the surface, they still exert some
pressure on the water, which could trigger
certain types of sea mines. If needed, an EOD team would first
have to clear the beach. Only once a safe passage
has been confirmed, Marines would be
transported to the beach. Of course,
if the target area is 150 miles inshore, instead of doing a surface
insertion and then drive into the target area on Humvees, it might make sense to just do
a direct vertical insertion with the help of V-22 Ospreys. Then Huey or Cobra helicopters may
be sent out to suppress enemy fire while the Marines are brought in. With all this said, since Marines need to be transported
off the ship and fight in proximity to the enemy, the rates of injury can be high. This is why the hospital on USS Bataan
is much larger and better equipped than hospitals on aircraft carriers, even though they carry
about half the personnel. Amphibious ships are also used
for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief missions, making larger hospitals a necessity. A Marine Expeditionary Unit has the
advantage of taking the fight to virtually any point on the enemy's coastline, but this comes at the cost of managing
extensive logistical operations, overcoming environmental factors, and facing often heavily
defended coastal areas. The transition from sea to land is
the most vulnerable phase for marines, since they can be targeted by the enemy. Countering this demands
effective suppression of enemy defenses and rapid movement. The need to integrate naval,
air, and land forces under urgent timelines, is why such operations enabled
by this ship and its crew, are the most complex... of military endeavors.
