In the "If it ain't broke don't fix it" department...

[dprimm]

All the parts for my sub were obsolete. It came from a class of subs that only numbered 5. 3 were decomm'd before I joined, and the Ethan Allen was decomm'd while I was in.
So, if a part wasn't in the "system", we had to have it manufactured.
China won't make a part unless you need a million of them.
But there are American Manufactures and Machine Shops that will do it.

f

the shop I work in makes all sorts of that stuff. New and old.


How some of it was ever made when I look at the plans boggles my mind. One example: the spec called for stainless steel and aluminum to be welded together. Uhhhh?

 

[Nazgul]

The carrier I was on was the last oil fired boiler carrier. They had been driving them with nukes for years when it was built. Not sure why this was done.

Don

 

[IndyBeerman]

The carrier I was on was the last oil fired boiler carrier. They had been driving them with nukes for years when it was built. Not sure why this was done.

Don

So you was on the USS Kitty Hawk, my father was a Gunners Mate 1st class on the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CV-42) right before he left the Navy in 1960 and married my mom in 61.

 

[Vigilant]

Seriously, this thread had potential, now you can’t even fap to it?

 

[Alamo]

No replacement?
They can replace anything.
The question is.. costs.

This. Down in the article someplace it notes they keep some people on hand just to fabricate parts for the computers when they break down. Somebody's tired of doing this, so hence the upgrade.

When I entered active duty with the 552nd AWAC Wing in 1982, there were two variants of the E-3A. The earlier ones, about half the fleet at that point, still had CC-1 computers with genuine magnetic core cpus, little chunks of magnetic material that were magnetized to represent 1 or 0. The CC-2 computers were "modern", and eventually replaced the CC-1s. They also used 800 bpi tapes, which were old even in 1982, but were more reliable and flight qualified, so they were used for a number of years. I suppose now they use solid state drives and who knows what for the computer.

 

[Mr Evilwrench]

Magnetic cores were slow, but they were righteous. Non-volatile storage medium. Lose power and you don't lose state, you can just power back up and continue from where you left off. The cores were all woven by hand, and they were getting tiny.