Military Ships Sending AIS

[Paul]

I don't usually see military ships sending an AIS signal, but a couple of
days ago I monitored (from my house) the USS John C. Stennis, a Nimitz-class
nuclear-powered aircraft carrier ( http://www.cvn74.navy.mil/ ). The
Stennis was steaming north, about 60NM offshore of San Francisco, on her way
to her home port of Bremerton, Washington. The Stennis has just completed
service in the Mideast. I sent her some "welcome home" email, and got a
nice reply from her navigator. The Stennis arrived in Bremerton yesterday.

The AIS data was interesting:
---------
Name: AIRCRAFT CARRIER 74
Position at 08/29/2007 21:40:24
MMSI: 111111111
Call: NJCS
Type: reserved, No additional information
Length: 1,115.5 ft
Beam: 255.9 ft
Draft: 40.0 ft
Destination:
SOG: 21.8 Kt, COG: 326.6° T
---------

That MMSI has to be "non-standard". I saw the name, did some googling, and
discovering that the Stennis is "CVN 74", which indicates (from Wikipedia):
---
The Nimitz-class supercarriers are a line of nuclear-powered aircraft
carriers in service with the US Navy, and are the largest capital ships in
the world. These ships are numbered with consecutive hull numbers starting
with CVN 68. The letters "CVN" denote the type of ship: CV is the hull
classification symbol for Aircraft Carriers, and N to indicate
nuclear-powered propulsion. The number after the "CVN" means that this is
the 68th "CV", or aircraft carrier.
---

I do wonder what the Navy policy on AIS is. You may have seen my posting
back in April, about receiving AIS and corresponding via email with the
SBX-1 Sea-Based X-Band Radar -- a floating, self-propelled, mobile radar
station designed to operate in high winds and heavy seas.

-Paul

 

[Bruce in Alaska]

I do wonder what the Navy policy on AIS is.

I suspect that when in US Waters, and not under ELint Blackout, that
they follow the Standard Rules of the Road for all US Flagged Vessels,
and that includes AIS, Xband Marine SeaSearch, VHF CH16 & CH13 Radio
Watches.

Bruce in alaska

 

[Paul]

I suspect that when in US Waters, and not under ELint Blackout, that
they follow the Standard Rules of the Road for all US Flagged Vessels,
and that includes AIS, Xband Marine SeaSearch, VHF CH16 & CH13 Radio
Watches.

Bruce, that apparantly wasn't the case during last October's Fleet Week here
in San Francisco. While I was sailing on the bay, watching the ships come
in, neither the US nor Canadian Navy ships were transmitting AIS. The US
Coast Guard sends AIS, and of course all the commercial vessels did. I
have seen numerous "Military Sealift" ships on AIS, but not the regular
Navy, and had assumed that Navy ships never transmitted AIS until I saw the
signal from the Stennis this week.

-Paul

 

[Tapio Sokura]

I don't usually see military ships sending an AIS signal, but a couple of

It depends. From what I've observed on this side of the pond, sometimes
they transmit AIS and sometimes not. I'd imagine that during peacetime
in crowded waters they tend to send AIS more often than otherwise. But
most of the time they are just receiving AIS.

Tapio

 

[David Scheidt]

:came across the "President Truman" via AIS in the Andaman Sea (off
:Malaysia) that denoted itself as a carge ship. Doing 22Kn so obviously
:not a cargo ship. Exercises were going on in the area
:Tony

APL owns a container ship called the President Truman. Its cruise
speed is 24 knots, so it really could have been a cargo ship.

 

[Larry]

"City Marina, City Marina, Stennis. Can we get a slip for a couple of days
with power and water and a pump out?"......(c;

(100A 240VAC isn't gonna be enough, me thinks....(c


Larry