WEBVTT

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(wolverine growl)

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- Welcome to another episode
of the House of Wolverine.

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This week, we'll be taking a look

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at the advanced weapons elevators
aboard USS Gerald R. Ford.

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(upbeat music)

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- Good day.

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I'm Lieutenant Donny James,

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Gerald R. Ford's advanced
weapons elevators officer.

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And my job here is pretty much to manage

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and maintain Ford-class
advanced weapons elevators,

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from operating to doing
maintenance and just upkeep

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all the elevators we have
on board here on Ford.

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On board the ship here, we have
11 total weapons elevators.

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Advanced weapons elevators.

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That'll be four upper
stage weapons elevators.

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Seven lower stage elevators.

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Upper stage elevators are pretty much

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the ones that service the flight deck

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and down to the transfer area.

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As you see here, we're in the

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aft weapons handling transfer area.

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So we have four of those elevators

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that service from the flight
deck to the transfer area.

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The lower stage elevators primarily go

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from the hangar base on the main deck area

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down to the magazines.

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That's the primary difference.

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So it goes from anywhere
from the magazines

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up to the hangar base

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or from the transfer area
up to the flight deck.

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Completely cuttin' down,

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eliminating having to handle ordnance

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within the hangar base
and in the mess decks

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as we would see on a Nimitz class.

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The big thing about Ford-class AWEs

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is it's all electromagnetics.

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We don't have the hydraulic system

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and the wire ropes and pulley system

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as we would have on Nimitz class.

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All electrical PLC driven,

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electromagnetic propelled vehicles,

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that move platforms between the decks.

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And we have two additional elevators

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that Nimitz class don't have.

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Utilities is an additional elevator.

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It's our primary Medevac elevator,
and often used for cargo,

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weapons as well, stores,
mail, things like that.

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(upbeat music)