The entry into combat service of the Abraham Lincoln nuclear aircraft carrier was overshadowed by an incident involving the radar of the air traffic control system and the US national flag. The rotating radar antenna wound a rising flag around itself, which caused the ceremony to be somewhat blurred. A video of the incident appeared online.
Abraham Lincoln, the fifth Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, left San Diego on January 3 for combat service. It has already been called historic, because for the first time such a large US Navy ship went on a campaign under the command of a woman, Captain Eni Bauernschmidt, appointed to this post a year ago.
In the American navy, there is a tradition to raise the national flag in the harbor as large as possible - in the States, in general, they like everything huge. With Abraham Lincoln, this custom played a cruel joke, as a star-spangled banner the size of a volleyball court wound around the rotating antenna of the AN/SPS-49 radar.
The flag-raising ceremony had to be interrupted. The radar also stopped - and it is not known whether the flag interfered with it or the device was turned off. At the same time, the ship's main radar, AN/SPS-48, was stopped. The aircraft carrier went to sea with the national flag wound on the mast. The reaction to the incidents of the US Navy command is still unknown.
The embarrassment that happened to the aircraft carrier may please supporters of the theory that women have no place on the bridge. Although the captain is probably not to blame for what happened. Giant flags raised on American ships at the entrance to and exit from the port look beautiful and cause pride, but in some cases they can cause problems, writes The Drive. The publication also recalled that aircraft carriers of the Nimitz type are planned to be equipped with new, more powerful AN/SPY-6 radar with fixed antennas.
Anton Valagin
