David Does Video of USS Freedom

Check out this video David Axe has of the inside of USS Freedom. At about 1:00 in the movie, you will see what many in the comments have called a wide open passageway. That is the main deck (1) and he enters at the very end of it and walks all the way down. That is the only major passageway on the ship. Behind him at the entry point is the bridge.

To give you a sense of how spoiled I was on that ship, if you pause the video at 1:03 into the movie, there is a very short hall to the left with a few officer quarters at the end. I was in one of those quarters, and it was REALLY nice to be right there in the middle of everything. I took some pictures, which I may or may not post of how much space is in there, a lot more than one would see on any other Navy ship.

I'll continue my discussions about the LCS next week, I have already started sorting the some 800 photos I took while on ship, and still have a lot of different things I want to discuss. Interesting video, one thing many may notice in the video is just how enormous the aviation zone is on that ship. 2 H-60s and 3 Fire Scouts? No problem, while the aviation zone door will only allow one aircraft to enter or exit at a time, that space is huge. Also, that is the only elevator to the mission zone below decks, and you'll note it is too small for a vehicle. It actually drops into the middle of three huge mission zones below deck.

There is a larger hatch on the flight deck that can be removed by crane to the mission zone below, but the ship does not have a crane that can lift that hatch nor is there an elevator associated with that other hatch.

One final thought. David's video ends with a look at the USS Freedom bridge. Triangle not rectangle, I thought that was interesting. Two points. You'll notice the middle section of the bridge windows is not a window. Cmdr. Gabrielson came up to me at one point during the transit and told me that was one of the first things he intends to change. I agree with him, it is odd that you can't stand in the center of the bridge and see straight forward. Another thing you can barely notice in the video is those windows, they are built to be quickly replaced when damaged.

While this is a short tour of the ship, if you get a chance to take a tour yourself I highly encourage it. It is not a warship, it is a mothership, and when you take that tour you will understand why the payload that ship brings to the fleet isn't kinetic, it's space.