Postcards from the bottom of the continent
March 16th, 2010 | Carriers Foreign navies Life at Sea Photos | Posted by Phil Ewing
The carrier Carl Vinson was accompanied by Chilean attack craft on a transit through the Straits of Magellan on Monday // MC2 Ashley Van Dien / Navy
Thanks to a highly capable team aboard the carrier Carl Vinson and its “shotgun” escort, the cruiser Bunker Hill, we have a highly motivational set of photos of the ships’ transit this week through the treacherous Straits of Magellan, connecting the Atlantic and the Pacific.
Check out a panorama from Carl Vinson’s bridge, and this panorama that looks like it’s from vulture’s row, and this shot of QMSN Erich Hoffman actually plotting the ship’s transit, and this shot of Bunker Hill in the straits, and here’s another one of Vinson with some Chilean fast-attack craft and here’s a great one of an HH-60H Seahawk from HS-15, the “Red Lions,” in an otherworldly sunset on the carrier’s flight deck.
Although Scoop Deck has never had the pleasure of going through the straits, it’s a narrow run that can include unpredictable winds and currents, according to our amateur understanding, which makes it all the more interesting when big capital warships go through. They have no choice, though, because carriers are too wide for the Panama Canal.