the continental United States.
CIWS: Close-In Weapons System, pronounced “see-whiz.” Gatling gun with built-in radar that tracks and fires on inbound missiles. If you have to use it, you’re dead.
COD:
COLLAR COUNT: Traditional method of determining the winner of a disagreement. A survey is taken of the opponents collar devices. The senior person wins. Always.
COMMODORE: Formerly the junior-most admiral rank, now used to designate a senior Navy captain in charge of a bunch of like units. A destroyer commodore commands several destroyers, a sea control commodore the S-3 squadrons on that coast. In contrast to the CAG, who owns a number of dissimilar units, e.g. a couple of Tomcat squadrons, some Hornets, and some E-2s and helos.
COMPARTMENT: Navy talk for a room on a ship.
CONDITION TWO: One step down from General Quarters, which is Condition One. Condition Five is tied up at the pier in a friendly country.
CRYPTO: Short for some variation of cryptological, the magic set of codes that makes a circuit impossible for anyone else to understand.
CV, CVN: Abbreviation for an aircraft carrier, conventional and nuclear.
CVIC: Carrier Intelligence Center. Located down the passageway (the hall) from the flag spaces.
DATA LINK, THE LINK: The secure circuit that links all units in a battle group or in an area. Targets and contacts are transmitted over the LINK to all ships. The data is processed by the ship designated as Net Control, and common contacts are correlated. The system also transmits data from each ship and aircraft’s weapons systems, e.g. a missile firing. All services use the LINK.
DESK JOCKEY: Nonflyer, one who drives a computer instead of an aircraft.
DESRON: Destroyer Commander.
DICASS: An active sonobuoy.
DICK STEPPING: Something to be avoided. While anatomically impossible in today’s gender-integrated services, in an amazing display of good sense, it has been decided that women do this as well.
DDG: Guided missile destroyer.
DOPPLER: Acoustic phenomena caused by relative motion between a sound source and a receiver that results in an apparent change in frequency of the sound. The classic example is a train going past and the decrease in pitch of its whistle. When a submarine changes its course or speed in relation to a sonobuoy, the event shows up as a change in the frequency of the sound source.
DOUBLE NUTS: Zero zero on the tail of an aircraft.
E-2 HAWKEYE: Command and control and surveillance aircraft. Turboprop rather than jet, and unarmed. Smaller version of an AWACS, in practical terms, but carrier-based.
ELF: Extremely Low Frequency, a method of communicating with submarines at sea. Signals are transmitted via a miles-long antenna and are the only way of reaching a deep-submerged submarine.
ENVELOPE: What you’re supposed to fly inside of if you want to take all the fun out of naval aviation.
EWs: Electronic warfare technicians, the enlisted sailors that man the gear that detects, analyzes, and displays electromagnetic signals. Highly classified stuff.
F/A-18 Hornets: The inadequate, fuel-hungry intended replacement for the aging but still kick-your-ass potent Tomcat. Flown by Marines and Navy.
FAMILYGRAM: Short messages from submarine sailors’ families to their deployed sailors. Often the only contact with the outside world that a submarine sailor on deployment has.
FF/FFG: Abbreviation for a fast frigate (no, there aren’t slow frigates) and a guided missile fast frigate.
FLAG OFFICER: In the Navy and Coast Guard, an admiral. In the other services, a general.
FLAG PASSAGEWAY: The portion of the aircraft carrier that houses the admiral’s staff working spaces. Includes the flag mess and the admiral’s cabin. Normally separated from the rest of the ship by heavy plastic curtains, and designated by blue tile on the deck instead of white.
FLIGHT QUARTERS: A condition set onboard a ship preparing to launch or recover aircraft. All unnecessary personnel are required to stay inside the skin of the ship and remain clear of the flight deck area.
FLIGHT SUIT: The highest form of Navy couture. The perfect choice of apparel for any occasion — indeed, the only uniform an aviator ought to be required to own.
FOD: Stands for Foreign Object Damage, but the term is used to indicate any loose gear that could cause damage to an aircraft. During flight operations, aircraft generate a tremendous amount of air flowing across the deck. Loose objects — including people and nuts and bolts — can be sucked into the intake and discharged through the outlet from the jet engine. FOD damages the jet’s impellers and doesn’t do much for the people sucked in, either. FOD walkdown is conducted at least one a day onboard an aircraft carrier. Everyone not otherwise engaged stands shoulder-to-shoulder on the flight deck and slowly walks from one end of the flight deck to the other, searching for FOD.
FOX: Tactical shorthand for a missile firing. Fox one indicates a heat-seeking missile, Fox two an infrared missile, and Fox three a radar guided missile.
GCI: Ground Control Intercept, a procedure used in the Soviet air forces. Primary control for vectoring the aircraft in on enemy targets and other fighters is vested in a guy on the ground, rather than in the cockpit where it belongs.
GIB:
GMT: Greenwich Mean Time.
GREEN SHIRTS:
HANDLER: Officer located on the flight deck level responsible for ensuring that aircraft are correctly positioned, “spotted,” on the flight deck. Coordinates the movements of aircraft with yellow gear (small tractors that tow aircraft and other related gear) from maintenance areas to catapults and from the flight deck to the hangar bar via the elevators. Speaks frequently with the Air Boss.
HARMS: Antiradiation missiles that home in on radar sites.
HOME PLATE: Tactical call sign for the
HOT: In reference to a sonobuoy, holding enemy contact.
HUFFER: Yellow gear located on the flight deck that generates compressed air to start jet engines. Most Navy aircraft do not need a huffer to start engines, but it can be used in emergencies or for maintenance.
HUNTER: Call sign for the S-3 squadron embarked on the
ICS: Interior Communications System. The private link between a pilot and a RIO, or the telephone system internal to a ship.
INCHOPPED: Navy talk for a ship entering a defined area of water, e.g. inchopped the Med.
IR: Infrared, a method of missile homing.
ISOTHERMAL: A layer of water that has a constant temperature with increasing depth. Located below the thermocline, where increase in depth correlates to decrease in temperature. In the isothermal layer, the primary factor affecting the speed of sound in water is the increase in pressure with depth.
JBD: Jet Blast Deflector. Panels that pop up from the flight deck to block the exhaust emitted by aircraft.
USS
