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The Enterprise being decommissioned marks the end of a very successful 50+ year experiment; as it was the very first nuclear powered carrier ever built. The introduction of a nuclear fuel source for the Navy's largest vessels has enabled these floating cities to operate for sustained periods of time without the constant need to be refueled while underway. Instead Nuclear carriers are typically refueled every 20-25 years; which is done typically at the ship yard that constructed the ship. This refueling process lasts 4 years because the entire ship is given a massive overhaul to update and modernize it's systems. During the Enterprise's career she played a role in the Cuban missile crises, launched the first strikes against Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan,Played a small bit part in Star Trek 4, and was even the flag ship of Naval legend Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz. Her Home port for most of her career was in NAS Alameda in California, but was eventually transferred in 2012 to NAS Norfolk in Virginia; where she performed her final deployment before being retired. After her final deployment she was retired and then transferred up river to Newport News Naval Shipyard to begin the de-fueling process. While she has spent the last few years in retirement her official decommissioning wasn't until just now. The remainder of the ship will be taken apart and the metal recycled for future use. The Navy does not plan on letting the Enterprise namesake end with her however. A new Gerald Ford class carrier with the name Enterprise has been approved and will be constructed at the Newport News Naval Shipyard, which is where the original Enterprise was constructed and will ultimately be laid to rest. Here is a local news outlet's reporting of it. http://www.13newsnow.com/news/military/navy-decommissions-legendary-uss-enterprise/392520625 Here is a picture of the Enterprise birthed in Norfolk. She is the third from the bottom ship with "65" written on the side.

My best friend just graduated boot camp and I'm trying to help him pick out a laptop. He said his price range is no more than 1,000USD but i'm i'm gonna chip in 500 for a better one and some peripherals as a graduation present. i saw the sticky post recommending this one: https://www.amazon.com/GL502VM-G-SYNC-Gaming-Laptop-i7-7700HQ/dp/B01MS14CQH/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1484861311&sr=8-1&keywords=asus gl502vm 7700hq&tag=linus21-20 and i think it would be great. He's only going to be using it for games like League and FFXIV but if the latency isn't too bad i'd like to try to play pubg with him. So I'm wondering if there's something I've missed or if someone has any better recommendations.

Hey LMG, I am an active duty military member and I would like to ask you a question, I am close to deploying and I would like to ask if you and your associates would be interested in sending out a monthly flash drive to bring to me and the crew aboard my ship (CVN-70) the joy of your content while we are deployed, I'm not asking for early content, but more so the catalog of content that you have released over the past month, with which I will try to distribute the best I can amongst the crew, I will gladly pay for the cost of the usb required to send your content, this is a way for myself, and the other men and women aboard my ship to stay connected with the outside world via one of our favorite media outlets. I understand that you might miss our request and I am unsure of which way to approach your business for this request, but I hope to hear back from you. -Mrliquidmetal

Just wanted to wish my fellow Veteran's a thanks and my prayers. As a an Army Captain I am proud of the different service men and women of the Military. I just wanted to say thanks and wish you the best of luck in your careers! "All Hell Can't Stop Us" My Soldiers and myself waiting for a wrecker on a 100 degree day outside of Fort Carson. Long trip yet to Nebraska.

Damage control is arguably the most important aspect of operating a multi-billion dollar warship. So much so that every sailor, regardless of rank, is taught how to fight fires. Even a small fire started in a trash can could quickly become unmanageable and cause millions of dollars worth of damage, or worse. Tragedies such as the 1967 USS Forrestal Fire (CV-59), and the 2012 USS Miami (SSN-755) fire serve as stern reminders to how important firefighting is onboard ships. Fires onboard Navy ships are not as rare as you might think. Ships are essentially floating cities, sometimes housing more than 5,000 Sailors and Marines during a deployment. Accidental fires can occur for a variety of reasons such as negligent sailors smoking where they're not supposed to or just operational hazards such as equipment failures or jet fuel fires on the flight deck. The fact that you are out to sea without many options for escape make even the most trivial fires extremely dangerous. A remote operated firefighting robot would be a really cool tool to have. Its LIDAR and infrared camera systems would make operating equipment in thick smoke a non issue whereas humans would have to mainly operate on feel. It could also be deployed into very hazardous conditions without fear of loss of life. For example, deploying a robot into a space in which a halon or CO2 fire suppression system has been activated could be invaluable for damage control. It's humanoid design is also a benefit as it reduces the amount of modification of existing fire fighting equipment required for the robot to operate it. The theory being, if a human can operate a fire hose nozzle or other damage control equipment, then so can this robot. Navy ships are also far from handicap accessible with their steep ladders and "knee knockers" which form watertight boundaries (see below picture). These obstacles would make a wheel or track based robot pretty useless except on large area decks such as hanger bays or flight decks. A sailor polishes a "knee knocker" onboard a US Navy Ship The idea of the robot being able to complete basic maintenance work is an interesting idea. It could be used for inspections of confined spaces (such as inside tanks) which could be in a potentially harmful environment for humans. Other than that I'm having a little bit of trouble trying to think of tasks that would be acceptable for such as robot outside of damage control. Damage control would be the idea location as the robot could be sent into other high risk environments other than fires. It could help to mitigate such situations as steam leaks, flooding, toxic gas, etc. Sensors could also be used to perform air quality tests to ensure human entry is safe for example. Some of the biggest hurdles I see for the project would be developing a robot which can successfully overcome shipboard obstacles such as operating hatches, vertical ladders, and maneuvering through scuttles (see below picture). In the end, I really don't see artificially intelligent robots ever replacing humans for maintenance requiring critical thinking or even dangerous tasks such as firefighting in my lifetime at least. Remote operated robots however could be a huge advantage. A Sailor climbs through a watertight "scuttle" See the below sources for more information. Sources: http://www.computerworld.com/article/3031657/robotics/navy-calls-on-researchers-to-create-firefighting-humanoid-robot.html http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=85459

It's nice to see Ike is using its newly acquired free time wisely. It's the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) for anyone interested.

http://news.yahoo.com/watch-u-navy-laser-weapon-two-ships-video-173218470.html

Before we begin - This is a new ship and many things about this ship are still classified from public view, all information is obtained from documents released and interviews about this ship. The United States Government is launching a new class of carrier code named "Ford Class Carrier". This new carrier is designed to be more efficient and last longer than the current day Nimitz. At the current time the US Navy is building two of these new ships, and they have 10 planned to phase out of the older Nimitz class. The new carrier class will be fitted with "FEL'S" or Free-electron laser, these lasers can be fired at 1$ per shot and consumes around 10 Mega watts of power from the ships two nuclear reactors. The ship will have (an unsaid amount) of IBM COTS or super computers to help the carrier target and calculate decisions to a certain point. [Will post more when I have a chance] P.S - I realize this information is pulled from Wikipedia, however this is well documented and I'll post more links to other sources very very soon.

Yesterday, a man went to The US Navy Yard and shot some people. For more information go here Yesterday I went to school like it was any other day until when I was walking home. As I neared my house I saw my dad, who works at the Navy Yard, returning home after walking the dog. I thought he might have been fired but you REALLY need to screw up to be fired from the government. So I quickened my pace and arrived at home. When I got home I asked my dad what he was doing at home. He casually said: "The was a shooting at work" at first I didn't believe him but he was serious. I was glad he was OK but I wondered why I wasn't contacted in any way. No one at the school knew anything. The next day at school we had a moment of silence followed by an announcement from my English Teacher: "It really sucks there are people out there like that and that many innocent people had to die but, that's life.*Short Pause* I knew this was happening by the end of the announcements (around 9). An email was sent out to all staff not to tell any children about what had happened in-case anyone's mom or dad worked at the Navy Yard or they might get out of control." WHAT?! If I had known that I would have called my Mom to see if she knew what was happening. What was the worst that could happen? Would a student pull out a gun and start shooting people too? All that would happens is some students would want some answers and a few might get emotional. Is that really too much for a teacher to handle and do you classify that as "out of control"? Do you think it was right that my school withheld information? Answer in the polls and add anything you would like to say in the comments below.